Garmin Connect allows paid-for apps using Garmin PAY

Garmin’s press release from today confirms information I shared with regular readers five months ago (1, 2, 3). Developers can now charge you for ‘premium apps‘ or, as will probably end up being the case…’lots of apps‘! This also includes apps developed by Garmin.

dcrainmaker wrote a nice article yesterday explaining how Garmin’s new GoPro Control app requires a $5.99 payment using modified Garmin PAY. Payment processing is already well underway in the app.

Check out the image above from Garmin’s press release. You will see Deezer, Spotify and Komoot listed in addition to the GoPro app that dcrainmaker was writing about. I’m guessing that Garmin will soon require those companies to collect your payments in Connect IQ rather than in their ecosystem. Apple has gone through similar issues with its app store, though court rulings may eventually require Apple (and hence Garmin) to let these companies take some payments from within their ecosystems.

App charging doesn’t end there. I did some rudimentary browsing of the Connect IQ store yesterday afternoon and easily found at least 4 watch faces that also require payment.

Indeed Garmin’s press release also cites payments required for these new Faces

• Disney Watch Faces
• Porsche Watch Faces
•  TaylorMade Watch Face
•  Space-Themed Watch Faces

But Garmin PAY doesn’t support my bank – Fear Not

These new payments for apps and Faces require Garmin PAY. One longstanding criticism of Garmin PAY was that it lacks support for many popular banks.

The workaround for this is to load a CURVE card onto Garmin PAY. Then link your regular bank to CURVE. CURVE acts like financial glue between the two and doesn’t require you to open a new account that holds a balance.

More: curve.Com

Developer Perspective

Developers need to be approved by Garmin and pay an annual $100 fee, but the program will only work on CIQ System 7 apps in US, DE, UK, Mexico, CA, EU, Australia and NZ. In addition to that, Garmin takes a 15% cut on the pre-tax price.

Garmin CIQ System 7 works on more recent Garmin devices.

Pricing is controlled by Garmin within tiers. Garmin automatically adjusts the price of each tier across all countries. Although Garmin PAY is used, other payment mechanisms are accepted.

Developers can issue promo codes and customers get a 48 hour no quibble guarantee.

Take Out

Superficially this is a good way for 3rd party developers to get paid for their excellent work. I have no issues with that.

It will also allow Garmin to take a 15% cut of subscriptions from the likes of Spotify. I have no issues with that.

It will allow Garmin to charge you for supposedly-premium apps. That’s OK in principle, but if you’ve paid top-dollar for a top-end Garmin watch, you don’t expect to pay more for even more functionality. At least I don’t. There are probably some exceptions I’d be OK with…I’ve not yet convinced myself that the recent GoPro control app justifies a payment.

Several years ago I remember dcrainmaker mooting the idea of lower-cost Garmin watches where you subsequently only pay for the apps/features you want to add. I guess Garmin is now in a position to do that but I suspect that’s not how it will pan out. Garmin will still want to charge top-end prices for its watches and hence must include premium features as a differentiator to otherwise identical lower-range models.

Finally, is there a mechanism that will allow you to transfer app ownership from one device to another eg you buy an app for a Fenix but you might have to pay for it for your Edge?Some existing app developers who take payments away from Connect IQ won’t even let you transfer the app from one device to an official warranty replacement. Edit: See comments – purchases seem to be on a user account basis and not on a per-device basis.