Brett Terpstra gives some semi-serious / semi-lighthearted suggestions for pricing your app in the App Store.
App pricing (and reviews and ratings) are important for those looking to buy your app who’ve never heard of it before. But I for one rarely buy an app I haven’t heard of. When I buy an app it is usually because someone told me about it.
The times I do buy an app that was previously unknown to me, it’s because I’m on a mission for a particular type of app. And when that’s the case, I usually gravitate to the apps that seem to be the right balance of 5-star reviews and slightly more expensive than the rest of their peers. But really what I look for in an app I’ve never bought is the design: does it look like an app that I’ll enjoy using, or does it look like I’ll shudder every time I open it?
But I can’t remember the last time I just perused the app store and bought something on a whim, regardless of if it was a utility app or a game.