Two version of the same app sitting side by side. One flashes “Get App”. The other says “Buy App”. Which one would you go for?
Does lite versions help in the sale? Or do they slow down the sale? When should you go for a Lite version?

Spore Origins, one of the offerings by EA and also one of the most famous iPhone/iPod touch games was originally priced at $9.99.  Right now, it has a Lite version as well. And that’s not all, giving it company is PacMan Lite as well.

What’s happening here is that these Lite versions are soaring up the ranks at the App Store, sometimes at the cost of their more illustrious original versions.

When these games were launched first the scenario was different. Launched in the early days of the App Store, they enjoyed an almost supreme and solo run with their loyal users installing them right on to their iPhones/iPod touchs.

Within  four months and more than 200 million downloads later it seems that the whole scenario has taken a dramatic topsy-turvy turn. The “app”alanche has arrived. And has especially hit the “Games” category. Users now have choices. Each new arrival, especially if they are free, are just a click away from sitting pretty in the App Store ranks since the phenomennal click-o-phobia has ensured that free apps have a remarkable tendency (no matter what they do) to get downloaded your iPhone/iPod touch.

What this click-o-phobia (or mania?) has done is that it has shoot some of the new arrivals, right at the coveted top 10 at the App Store, forcing the old guards to make room.

So much for the effect of the Lite versions.
Now, some sunny Sunday thoughts on the phenomenon of the Lite.

Let’s follow the old adages. First things first. Why do you need a Lite verion in the first place? Blame it solely on Apple’s whimsical policy at its hi-tech and ground breaking store. The store in itself is brilliant. Shiny and sleek. However, this store, strangely, does not allow any demo of the product. So, apart from the freebies, if you like to see a sample of a pricey app before making up your mind on buying it, all you have , is the Hobson’s choice. Either risk your dollars and buy it (can you hear the  developer of “I Am Rich” chuckling somewhere?)or do window-shopping at the world’s most famous online store.

So the beautiful store should allow a demo space, shouldn’t it? After all it keeps 30% of the revenues for “Store Keep”. Why not arrange a demo space?

However, as long as Steve Jobs, ahem Apple, approves this, you have to accept this (sigh). So how to make the best of this situation?

The reason why developers are going for Lite versions over youtube demos, I guess is the fact that there is a difference in advertising and direct version. Someone plays a part of the game on youtube, you decide on that and buy that. Fine, but not entirely. Youtube might hide some irritating facts. After all there is nothing like the “try before you buy”. After all youtube is not an alternative for the “try before you buy” option.

The most important thing about the Lite version of a game however, is nothing else but its teaser quality. After all Apple did set the precedent for this through the Macintosh commercial, the greatest teaser ad of all time. That said, we all remember the famous 1984 Macintosh ad vis-à-vis the not so famous Macintosh sale. 

We know that the Lite versions are not teaser advertisements. They are teaser promotions. What if you can squeeze in enough teasing and tickling staff into your promotional Lite version? QUestion is, does the Pac Man Lite have enough teasing and tickling quality to lure the buyer to the full fledged and pricy version?

How to do it? That always is the biggest question. What is the perfectly tickling and teasing quotient to turn a trier into a buyer? What’s the final balance?

Some people are clever enough to take advantage of this and Apple’s stupidity as well. There is no dearth of positivists after all. Take the case of some of those free apps that show direct, on-your-face ads while the app is on.  That’s the downside in quite a few Lite versions since this might tax you, if you are on a limited data plan. Also, lining up their other games and apps in this Lite version.

If nothing else, I guess it does help the developer to take stock of the user psyche and behavior. Tracking conversion of clicks and tweaking them into purchasing is affter all the heart and soul of digital economy.

Finally, does it offer an insight into the mysterious world of ”app”onomics? Has Apple’s economic ecology just discovered a new organ? Demo games, information about the developer’s other games within those games and more and more ads within those demos/Lite versions?

Have a nice Sunday. Are you going to the App Store today?