The App Store has nothing to do with subscription pricing. Are there explosively successful consumer software subscription services? All the ones I can think of which get close to piercing the general consumer consciousness are also-rans (Napster, Rhapsody), or are hardware locked (Xbox Live Arcade, which is more paying for arbitrary online access to Microsoft than anything -- the actual game content is still priced outside of the subscription, and on competing services on the Wii and PS3 online connectivity itself is free). I can't think of any subscription based marketplace (either subscribe to browse the contents of this marketplace risk free, or a marketplace for various subscription services) that has ever really caught in digital space. I'd love to be told what I'm missing here though! I don't really pay attention to this stuff from anything other than an end-user standpoint so I'd be interested in some great service or network I didn't know about.
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The App Store has nothing to do with subscription pricing. Are there explosively successful consumer software subscription services? All the ones I can think of which get close to piercing the general consumer consciousness are also-rans (Napster, Rhapsody), or are hardware locked (Xbox Live Arcade, which is more paying for arbitrary online access to Microsoft than anything -- the actual game content is still priced outside of the subscription, and on competing services on the Wii and PS3 online connectivity itself is free). I can't think of any subscription based marketplace (either subscribe to browse the contents of this marketplace risk free, or a marketplace for various subscription services) that has ever really caught in digital space. I'd love to be told what I'm missing here though! I don't really pay attention to this stuff from anything other than an end-user standpoint so I'd be interested in some great service or network I didn't know about.