On the other hand, Angry Birds Space and Star Wars are more expensive in the Windows Store than on the iOS App Store (though I only checked on my iPhone, not on my iPad), and a ton of the top iOS apps these days are free but make their money through in app purchases. At this point, I just assume that an app that's free on iOS is going to annoy me to death with in app purchase gameplay mechanics and nags.
It probably just means the quality of the apps are currently fairly low. Once there has been a bit more time for developers to create apps, the quality and the paid/free ratio will go up.
Very interesting point, the major differences in philosophy between OS X & iOS vs Windows & Android. Although I think Android still leans more towards the Apple side of things.
It will be interesting to see how the Windows App store evolves on both Windows 8 and Windows phone. Because that percentage of apps being free definitely won't be extremely profitable for developers. Especially if that's what users grow to expect.
In the iOS app store people spend a lot of time talking about the race to the bottom and how 99 cent apps are detrimental to people trying to make livings as independent developers. Imagine how much more difficult it could be when the race was to free.
I was thinking the same thing. The key to a vibrant app ecosystem is making profit for developers. Possibly these apps are making ad money, but yet to be seen.