iOS Developers Getting Ability to Use Promo Codes

There is very little doubt that in-app purchases is the way that more and more developers are gaining revenue when it comes to the mobile platform. Now it appears that Apple (News - Alert) is ready to take the next step in this particular format, allowing developers to create promo codes for those purchases. Mobile gaming apps have been offering in-app purchases for quite some time, but these subtle changes could make a big difference for mobile game developers.

Previously, promo codes were only usable during the initial app downloads and weren’t available for in-app purchases. The change will make it that much easier for developers to give some leeway to early app testers, reviewers and regular customers access to the full content available in freemium applications.

Because Apple hasn’t made an official announcement about this change, insiders aren’t entirely sure just how far reaching the offer actually is. There are some who believe that the promo codes are being rolled out for specific developers first, before it becomes something that smaller developers can also take advantage of. We do know that Electronic Arts has been granted access to the promo code ability.

In Real Racing 3, EA is giving users the ability to get 10 free gold from within the application. Normally that gold has a value of $1.99 but is now free using a link the company has offered up. More importantly for EA and other developers is that people can enter the promo code in the Apple App store and if they don’t already have Real Racing 3 the game will download with the free gold included.

Other companies have managed to simply offer up free selections or cheaper collections in their stores, such as what Comixology used to be before Amazon changed it for the worse. Freemium apps didn’t have this ability until Apple finally granted them the coding five years after the app store officially launched.