The 2014 Panic Report

Re:The 2014 Panic Report by WhitneyLand on Tuesday January 06, 2015 @09:04AM (#8844341)

It fails massively regardless of the value proposition of the app. People recoil at the price as it instinctively feels unreasonable due to the established norms of pricing.

Pre-iPhone, a $20 shareware app was considered pretty cheap. Now less than 10 years later the highest quality apps from name brand companies can't command it.

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Re:The 2014 Panic Report by otis_inf on Tuesday January 06, 2015 @10:13AM (#8844643)

Absolutely. And it's actually rather odd. People are tend to spent more money on a coffee they buy at starbucks than they're willing to pay for an app they use e.g. every week. Maybe it's because a lot of users have absolutely no idea how much work it takes to write an app. All they know are the Angry Bird and Minecraft success stories thinking that app makers must shit golden bricks every time they build their code.

It's not only a trend among average consumers though, it's also sadly a trend among us developers: not a lot of developers are willing to spend even a single dollar on software they have to use every day. "Do you have a free version?" "Why do I have to give away the application I spend years full time on writing? Do you work for free?"

I don't think this will end well. If we less and less value software on its true worth, it will become less and less attractive (or even possible) to write the software we need in a society which more and more relies on software. Watch this great presentation by Erik Meijer [1] where he addresses this problem (and others ;))

[1] http://vimeo.com/110554082

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Re:The 2014 Panic Report by ethbro on Tuesday January 06, 2015 @01:06PM (#8845929)

> Maybe it's because a lot of users have absolutely no idea how much work it takes to write an app.

I think part of it is the trust proposition too. Why do people pay {BIG NAME DEVELOPMENT COMPANY} {>$1} for an app in the desktop world? Support and upgrades.

What are the two things that the app store has more or less excised from customer expectations w/ regards to a purchased app? Support and upgrades.

Best of breed (aka Panic) aside, obviously. But you have to admit there are a lot more fly-by-night app developers than on desktop.

Edit: It'd be interesting to see how "each feature costs $1" IAP would play out. (Odd parallels to the arguments cable companies are having re: a la carte pricing)

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Re:The 2014 Panic Report by jes5199 on Tuesday January 06, 2015 @11:18AM (#8845063)

If I felt like it was possible to get refunds from the App Store when I bought something that promised more than it delivered, I would be more likely to spend money there. As it is, way too often I've lost $1 or $2 to an app that I immediately uninstalled. It makes me very hesitant to pull the trigger on a bigger purchase.

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