App Store star ratings: iPhone app ratings and price

Homebuy recently became a free app with in-app purchase.  Prior to the change, the app had reached as high as 4 stars.  It recently dropped to 3.5.  It's great at what it does, and offers at least as much functionality as other mortgage calculators on the App Store.  In fact, if you browse the App Store you'll see that it's one of the better-rated home loan calculators.  The problem is that it exists in a very crowded space and most users don't look beyond the Top 100 list.

This post is a note in time.  I fully expect Homebuy will now see a much wider distribution as a free app.  But that comes at a cost: app ratings get worse the lower an app is priced

The free version still calculates your loan, still compares the current calculation with the previous one, and still lets you view an amortization table.

As a sidenote, if you previously purchased Homebuy, you don't need the new update.  If you do install it, your previous purchase should be detected.  If it's not, contact me.