GigaOM: “App rentals could be on the way for iOS devices”


Darrell Etherington, writing for GigaOM:

Apple could be on the verge of unveiling a new content delivery strategy for apps, according to some code uncovered in the latest iTunes beta.

Honestly, I’d be shocked to see this anytime soon. With the iPhone just today hitting the streets in its fifth incarnation and the App Store well into it’s fourth year of availability, the number of people still clamoring for app rentals has, in my experience, become little more than a small-but-still-sorta-vocal minority.

There are two main factors that would make the introduction of app rentals difficult unattractive to Apple: the infrastructure involved (in terms of finances) and the potential drop in revenue from app sales. With the app store as successful as it’s become, this seems like a non-starter for me.

(I’m aware this article was published before the 4S announcement, but it’s still worth talking about, I think.)