Lite iPhone apps now upgradable to full versions via in-app purchases

One of our biggest complaints with the relatively streamlined iTunes App Store was the user's inability to upgrade "Lite" applications to their full, paid counterparts through the demo apps themselves. This led to the App Store being cluttered with two versions of nearly every game app, which sent us into fits of obsessive-compulsive rage. Fortunately, Apple has switched its position on in-app purchases, allowing developers to include the option to purchase and unlock the full version of an app (or even DLC) through the lite version's main menu, folding free and paid apps into one neat, orderly download.

Of course, with this new model, we're likely to see a lot more app developers attempt to nickel-and-dime iPhone owners with insubstantial DLC. Still, the changes should bring a much-needed simplification to the device's download service. Now, if someone could just find a way to fold Fart Machine, Fart Gun, Fart Helicopter, Fart Piano, Fart Bomb, Fart Generator, Fart Machine 2, and Fart Thesaurus into a single, unspeakably crude executable, the App Store would be pretty much perfect.