苹果iOS 4.3最近备受关注的一大原因在于该系统的应用内置付费政策调整，为了防止年幼的儿童在无意中购买大量的虚拟货币，苹果将应用内置付费系统的15分钟内免输支付密码的设置，修改为每次交易均需重新输入密码的支付要求。

freemium-titles

游戏邦获悉，《华盛顿邮报》在上个月曾报道有儿童多花了将近100美元购买《Tap Zoo》和《蓝精灵村庄》的虚拟货币引起家长投诉一事，为了让家长更好地掌握孩子的游戏消费行为，苹果在多方压力下做出了这项政策调整。

苹果发方人Trudy Miller告诉《华盛顿邮报》，在iOS 4.3系统中，用户购买App Store的应用程序需要输入密码，在购买应用内置付费功能时需要重新输入密码。

尽管这种做法可能会对开发商的短期营收造成影响，但不少开发商认为从长期来看，这项措施对他们来说其实非常有利。游戏邦获悉，这些开发商普遍认为，比起因苹果政策变化而导致的收益减少，手机游戏失信于家长对他们的危害更甚。

Flurry市场营销副总裁Peter Farago表示，“这对苹果和iPhone用户来说都是一件关乎信誉的大事，苹果的做法是正确的。我相信如果这种偶然而得的收益只会激怒用户，就没有哪家公司会只想做这种一次性的生意。”

游戏邦发现在《华盛顿邮报》的报道引起热议之前，就已经有些开发商在采取防患于未然的措施。《蓝精灵村庄》开发商CapCom Mobile此前已在游戏系统中对用户公布明确的付费声明，但同时也像其他开发商一样，在过去几个月中将游戏虚拟货币的消费上限提高到将近100美元。W3i网站旗下的子公司Recharge Studios工作室，则让误消费行为的退款流程更加透明化，并承诺将下调游戏零售价。

在苹果持续设立行业标准的同时，开发商们也希望Android和WP7等平台也能实行同样的做法。《Gun Bros.》和《Deer Hunter》开发商Glu Mobile首席执行官Niccolo DeMasi表示，“我们希望在不久的未来，Android也能采取同样的保护措施，以便所有的用户都能更好地体验新一代免费模式游戏。”（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，转载请注明来源：游戏邦）

Developers Say Apple’s New In-App Purchases Rules Probably Won’t Hurt Them Too Much

One of the big changes hidden within this week’s update of Apple’s iOS 4.3 were new restrictions around in-app purchases.

They’re aimed at preventing children from unwittingly racking up hundreds of dollars in charges while using games that monetize with virtual currency. A story by Cecilia Kang in The Washington Post last month sparked the controversy when she reported that children playing Pocket Gems’ Tap Zoo and Capcom Mobile’s Smurfs Village were buying the games’ virtual currencies in near $100 increments without knowing it was real money.

Apple’s changes mean that when a user opens an app and wants to make to make an in-app purchase, they’ll need to re-enter their password. When they do, it will trigger a 15-minute window for additional in-app purchases, according to what Apple told GigaOm. This isn’t quite as extreme as requiring a password every single time a user wants to make a purchase, but it at least means that parents will be able to control which apps their children are making purchases with.

“With iOS 4.3, in addition to a password being required to purchase an app on the App Store, a reentry of your password is now required when making an in-app purchase,” Apple spokesperson Trudy Miller told The Washington Post. Apple did not return requests for comment.

While this might lead to a minor loss of revenue in the short-term, the feedback we’ve heard from developers suggests that this is a good move in the long-run. The revenue loss from having parents not trust their children with mobile apps is worse than a password permission change.

“This is an important trust issue between Apple and their iPhone consumers and Apple has done the right thing,” said Peter Farago, Flurry’s vice president of marketing. “I believe that no company selling virtual goods is in favor of allowing accidental purchases to continue if it ultimately aggravates consumers.”

A few developers have tried to change pro-actively or do damage control. Before The Washington Post story blew up the issue, Smurfs’ Village maker Capcom Mobile had already put more explicit warnings in its Smurfberry store. But like many other developers over the last several months, it also raised the highest price bracket for its in-game virtual currency to near $100. Another developer Recharge Studios, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of pay-per-install network W3i, made its refund process for inadvertent purchases more transparent and pledged to lower its price points.

As Apple continues to set industry standards, developers expect that other platforms like Android and Windows Phone 7 will likely adopt similar practices.

“We anticipate that over the medium term, Android will also provide similar protections to ensure all demographics can enjoy the latest generation of freemium games,” said Niccolo DeMasi, the chief executive of Glu Mobile, the publicly-traded maker of popular apps like Gun Bros and Deer Hunter.（source:insidemobileapps）