Paul Miller, we hate you… not really. We’ve been putting off this post until this evening so we could give it the full attention it deserves. During our evening rounds, we spotted this post over at Engadget. Thanks, Paul. We want to be a little more blunt with our writing but at least we know that we’re not alone.

One thing that we’ve noticed since the introduction of the iPad App Store: app prices are ridiculous. We’re not saying that developers don’t deserve to be paid for their efforts, but the trends that are dominating the App Store need… to… stop… now. There are a few different ways that we’re getting screwed, so here goes.

Most everyone was expecting apps to go “universal” so they could run on your iPad or your iPhone/iPod touch. Our worst criticism of the iPad App Store is that most developers decided to avoid that model completely. There are a few who decided to go universal with their apps — one being Oceanhouse Media, the developer responsible for the Dr. Seuss books and one whom we’ve written about in the past — and to all of you who have gone universal… we THANK you.

Other developers, including the ones who build the games in the graphic to the right, have decided that we have to pay for the same content twice. Take a look at the graphic — click it to make it larger — and you’ll notice that developers are choosing to double their app prices for the iPad. Most developers are going more than double… we’ve seen some apps that started at $0.99 and are now selling for $9.99 on the iPad. That’s outright ridiculous.

Let’s look at Fieldrunners… we paid more than the current $2.99 iPhone pricing for the app to begin with and have purchased all of the expansions for more playability but yet, we still have to pay another $7.99 for the exact same application. Granted, the iPad app has prettier graphics, but there’s no difference in the gameplay: no more spaces, no more towers… nothing. They do have a new map listed as coming soon, but they’ll probably charge us to play it when it’s released. Awesome.

If we were to upgrade all four of those applications, we’d spend $50 between the iPhone and iPad versions… and that doesn’t include the in-app purchases. Let’s make it $60+. Four apps > 10% of the device cost. Not okay. We’re unfairly attacking Fieldrunners here. Most developers suck just as bad as Subatomic Studios. PopCap, we really expected better from you… in fact, we expected better from all the developers. We definitely expected better from Apple.

As Paul points out in his post on Engadget, developers are not solely responsible for this BS. Apple still hasn’t given us a way to properly demo an app that we’d like to purchase. Sure, developers can do a free version and make their money in-game, but that business model gets annoying. We, just like everyone else, would like to see a demo of the full apps we’ll be purchasing (please make it mandatory for all paid apps). If we can’t see what it’s going to do, we’re definitely not going to spend $9.99 to find out. $0.99 was a reasonable waste if we don’t like the app… but $9.99 is going to keep us from buying a lot of apps.

We’re not sure what to think about “Things.” It looks like a complete waste of money. $9.99 for the iPhone app, $19.99 for the iPad and $49.99 for the desktop version. $70 bucks is a lot of money to stay organized with one app. Cough.

What can we learn from this? Doubling your app price is stupid. Charging your loyal customers twice for the same thing is stupid. Thinking we’ll support your ridiculous prices is stupid. Get the hint?

We like most of the developers out there, but you’re going to get bad reviews and fewer sales if you leave your prices where they are now. The iPad isn’t a “premium” device. It’s supposed to be mobile computing for the masses. Suck it up, lower your prices, write good software and let us buy it from you.