Re:The official Basecamp iPhone app
by jasonfried on Tuesday February 12, 2013 @11:18AM
(#5207698)
I'd love to take credit for a brilliant strategy, but this isn't one of them. The story is very simple. We released an iPhone app for the all new version of Basecamp. Nothing more, nothing less.
But do you see it an issue (i.e. costs) supporting two different systems? Why doesn't it support the old system? Surely that had to come up in conversation.
People in the tech world easily assume that upgrade = better. But that is only true if you feel underserved by the existing software you are running. Many customers out there in other fields don't have that feeling of being perpetually underserved that is common in places like Hacker News.
I actually think this is a ploy to get their users to convert. 37signals has a strong "we let our users outgrow us" stance, so what I read between the lines is that 37signals sees no hassle continuing to support the old system (it's massively profitable). Dually it gives a better justification for an up-sell to get people on to the new system.
I think this strategy is brilliant.