iPhone 3.0 Enables Virtual Goods

Apple held an event today previewing the upcoming iPhone 3.0 software update and the new developer tools due out this summer. Many are excited about the end user features in the release. I mean, who can’t get excited about cut and paste, right?

But most interesting to me were the new sales models available to developers creating applications for the iPhone. Instead of just the single upfront purchase of an app, developers can now charge users a recurring subscription or opt to charge users for individual content and features from within the application.

By enabling in-application purchases, Apple has opened up the platform to a whole new generation of virtual good and micro-transaction driven applications. During the preview event Electronic Arts gave a demo of The Sims 3 which appeared to allow users to buy virtual goods for their character. This is just the first of many iPhone applications that will use an incremental purchase strategy going forward.

So there are now 13 million iPod Touch and 17 million iPhone devices sold, making for 30 million devices capable of running iPhone apps. That’s impressive. Add to that the iTunes Store, where all of these App purchases take place, with its sleek parental controls for setting allowances and retail gift game cards available everywhere.

All of this makes for an impressive, friction-free virtual world platform.