Technomaly

Apple has just unveiled a new section of the App Store called -Try Before You Buy,” which let users test drive a limited selection of apps before purchasing them. For now, the offer is only available on the section which contains the so-called “lite” or ad-supported versions of apps whose full versions are in the pay-to-play section of the store. So unfortunately, this trial period doesn’t apply to all the paid apps in the store yet, but soon it will. Even the trial period, which is now 24 hours, will soon be doubled to 48-hours.

You’ll still have to download and pay for the full versions of these apps if you want to test or try the real thing; most of the free or lite apps are pared-down versions with less extensive feature sets. Apple is launching this new section to compete with Android’s popular 24-hour return policy by reminding iOS users that many applications offer free or low cost versions that let you try an application before you buy it at full price. Most of these free applications were developed to recompense for Apple’s lack of a return policy and are submitted by developers to the AppStore in conjunction with a paid version.

As for now, the section holds 98 apps, including “lite” games such as Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown, Metal Gear Solid Touch and Labyrinth() 2 and free adaptations of apps such as Moodagent and AccuTerra. Well a great step to curb the number of pirate app downloads via services like Installous on jailbroken handsets, good one Apple!