One of the items frequently included on iPhone owners’ wishlists is the ability to test an application and then upgrade to a full version if they like it. This is relatively common on other platforms, but iPhone owners have been relegated to using “lite” apps, if the developer even chooses to make a lite version. The problem with lite versions, though, is that if you upgrade to a full version, there generally isn’t any way to transfer any data you’ve entered into the lite version.
As of yesterday, however, the problem may have been solved. Apple informed developers that it will now allow in-app purchases for free apps. This opens the door for developers to allow in-app upgrades to full versions of their programs. Apple has allowed in-app purchases for paid apps for a while now (allowing the user to buy other services or products through the app), but had not extended this ability to free versions. For more information and a quick Q&A, check out TUAW’s article at the link below.
