UPDATE: Download Gokivo's Turn By Turn App For Only 99 Cents, Spend An Extra $10 To Use It
by Ian
June 17, 2009
UPDATE: Steve Andler from Gokivo responds in the comments. UPDATE 2: Gokivo updated the language in the App Store description so it's clearly subscription-based. Though they received 3 ugly "Bait and Switch" reviews first. We were wondering who would get the honor of first rip-off using Apple's new In App Purchases. Wonder no longer, that honor goes Gokivo + Yahoo! Local Search.
The app is the first true turn by turn application to make it into the App Store and comes in at that wonderful impulse buy price of only 99 cents. Unfortunately, there's absolutely no warning or mention in the app's description that it is entirely subscription based. You have to pay $9.99 to get a monthly pass for the app. Networks In Motion, the company which released Gokivo, can't offer the app for free because Apple won't allow free apps to later charge for something. It's a classic web sales tactic - lure you to a Web site with the offer of something free, like a free login account. Then, once you get there, you find out the real service is actually much more. In real life it's called the bait and switch. But Apple, smartly, didn't want this rip-off scheme to be used in the App Store. So they refused to allow free apps to charge you anything. A free app is always free. Maybe the people at NIM didn't find out about this till the last second and that would explain why they switched from free to 99 cents without changing the app's description. In any case, there's absolutely no excuse. The app's description needs to clearly state, in the first sentence, "SUBSCRIPTION REQUIRED." NIM could have easily offered the app for $9.99 and given users 1 month of free turn-by-turn directions. Heck, they could sell it for 99 cents with a month of free turn-by-turn directions as long as they let you know up front that it is subscription based. They didn't go that route though. Instead they went the way of the rip-off. I'm waiting for Tom Tom.