Rumor: iPhone to Get a Premium App Store
As Apple gets ready to preview its new software developers' kit and an updated iPhone operating system next week, there could be some changes to the company's App Store too. — We're hearing rumors that Apple could introduce a “premium” …
Context & Ripple Effects
Two weeks after reports that iPhone app prices were tanking as developers slashed prices in a race to the bottom, Gadget Lab hears Apple may counter with a 'premium' App Store tier, timed to next week's SDK and iPhone OS preview. The rumor sits at the origin point of a strategy arc the corpus keeps returning to: years later, Apple was still pushing upmarket, from an 'Ultra' iPhone above the Pro Max to Pro Max-exclusive features like the periscope lens carrying higher prices.
First-order effects
- Developers would gain a second storefront where apps can be priced above the race-to-the-bottom levels that followed the initial $0.99 gold rush, directly addressing the deflation documented when app prices tanked.
- Buyers face a split App Store: budget titles in one tier, higher-priced 'premium' software in another, changing discovery and price expectations ahead of the SDK/OS announcement.
Second-order effects
- If a premium tier lifts average selling prices, competitors building app ecosystems (Palm, BlackBerry, Android at the time) come under pressure to offer comparable premium placement rather than compete purely on free-app volume.
- Apple gains an additional merchandising lever — tiering, featuring, and pricing control — that deepens its gatekeeper role over what succeeds on the iPhone.
Third-order effects
- The pattern points toward Apple treating curation and tiering of its storefront as durable product strategy: the same instinct later shows up in hardware (an Ultra-tier iPhone) and in splitting the store experience itself (a dedicated games app).
- Over time, platform owners who control distribution can shape entire market price structures — a dynamic that has made App Store economics and commission terms recurring subjects of regulatory scrutiny.
The trend: This rumor is an early data point in Apple's long-run push to stratify both its hardware lineup and its App Store into premium tiers, using curated storefronts as a pricing and differentiation lever.