In a nutshell this means that the developers will get an indication of how popular the app seems to be as well as gives them another type of marketing possibility. Pre-orders were first introduces in beta form a year ago. Apple's trial was done with the help of Nintendo whose Super Mario Run was being released.
It was the first app on the App Store that you could pre-order before it became officially available, but now any developer can take advantage of the same hype generating marketing plot.
You can also find a new subcategory within App Store's Games category that promotes some of the games currently in pre-order.
When buying a product that hasn't been released yet, there's clearly always a possibility that you might not end up liking it. It is possible, though, that you'll get a better deal of the app when you pre-order it, so it's definitely a double edged sword.
You can find more about App Store pre-ordering from Apple's official website.
Written by: Matti Robinson @ 12 Dec 2017 11:33
