I don't think it is app pricing that is the issue. I think it is far simpler. With a phone, you are spending a lot of money, but you are getting an actual physical thing.
With software, you are spending money on bits. Spending even small amounts of money and getting nothing physical in return just feels very odd after decades of consumerist stuff acquisition and a few hundred thousand years of hunting and gathering.
A case to counter your argument: Magic: the gathering online. Many people are paying hundreds of dollars per year for what's essentially bits and a purely digital experience. That experience is just worth that much to them though.
The moral here would be: make something as good, market it accordingly, and see the money rolling in.
With software, you are spending money on bits. Spending even small amounts of money and getting nothing physical in return just feels very odd after decades of consumerist stuff acquisition and a few hundred thousand years of hunting and gathering.