Why Kraft charges 99 cents for its iPhone app

While most marketers and media firms introducing branded iPhone applications have chosen to offer their [1]apps for free, one notable exception remains food and beverage giant Kraft, which sells its iFood Assistant recipe app for 99 cents via Apple's App Store. "We look at iFood Assistant as a natural evolution from product to service," Kraft Foods director of innovation Ed Kaczmarek tells AdAge. "We look at it as providing the consumer with a service that's of value, and we feel the 99 cent price, which is the same as a song, is a minimal cost, but it also signifies the content is more premium."

According to Kaczmarek, Kraft is also looking to exploit in-app commerce, a function that free iPhone applications don't support. "I think in-app commerce has a lot of promise," he said. "Kraft is in the process of developing new services that we'll eventually offer to consumers, and we look at iFood Assistant as a platform where we can not only introduce those new services but have consumers purchase them."

For more on iFood Assistant:

-read this AdAge article [2]