State of Mobile Apps. Please Trend This Way.

It is no secret that the state of mobile application software has been trending into a dark and terrible place in the last few years. This is, of course, hugely driven by consumers with warped perceptions of the value of quality software. A large population of app consumers feel that a developer's time is worthless and everything on the internet, including apps, should be free, and this is the number one reason why the internet at large is a trashy ad filled gutter of filth. Because of this lack of perceived value, developers are now pulled into this terrible practice of lacing an application with ads, or being forced to give the app away by limiting the full experience and enjoyment of the app with in-app purchases. These practices do nothing but further degrade the value of software as a whole. These trends are starting to jump the gap over to desktop software as well, because to most people, software is software no matter the platform. To the uninformed consumer, a shoddy free mobile game is the same as a PC game which took 10 months to create. I do hope that this trend changes, and in a hurry! Every so often I come across a game or application that is doing it right and it is a glimmer of refreshing hope. Most recently the game Monument Valley landed on my iPad. This game is beautiful, intriguing, fun, and something that felt like truly a new idea. Best of all, they are charging $3.99 for it and it is quite popular! It is a one time purchase, no in-app purchase crap to unlock levels or "pay to play", just a quality game at a very fair price. I hope this type of transaction becomes the rule rather than the exception as we move to a more mobile world.