$50 a year is a lot to a student, or a parent with kids, or someone without a job, or a family with inky one source of income, or if you are one of the billions of people that survive on $1-2 a day.

That's why in places like india, Africa a $500 phone is still seen as laughable. Even ignoring developing countries and emerging economies, charging 50 bucks is going to be a stretch and seems a bit crazy if you want to appeal to people outside of the silicon communities....

But then again I thought twitter was a silly fad