Global in-app purchases for iPhone

3 pointsby rcmorin16년 전1 comments

Hello everyone.

I'm a product manager who works for a small internet company that is developing an iPhone application for a social network. We monetize by offering limited and premium memberships to users (premium members get additional features not available to limited members). For billing on the web, we use a 3rd-party payment gateway that is nearing retirement, and will be replaced by an in-house solution.

The business wants a global launch for our iPhone app using iTunes + in-app purchasing as a payment gateway. The problem with going global using this payment method is that for our web service membership level, available features, and subscription costs are defined by country. For example, in the US premium/limited memberships are available at 5 pricing tiers; in France premium/limited memberships are available at 5 different pricing tiers from the US; and in Chile the service is available for free and all features are available to users.

Is it possible then to have the server-side, based on the user's country of registration, control the level of access, features, and payment options for users on the iPhone? I'd also note that since iTunes Connect does not allow variable pricing by currency and country, each "region" would need 5 in app purchase options.

I argued for a US-only launch for iPhone using iTunes in app purchase until an in-house payment gateway is available. But you know...

1 comments

jdg16년 전

Yes, it is possible. Use a mixture of various in app purchases and only display the appropriate ones to the end user based on their locale.

Note, it's not possible (afaik) to determine their country based on any hard data from iTunes, as you are not privy to any account information or sales receipts (for the initial download) from that user. That means you will have to rely on the user to choose their country.