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Pragmatic app pricing

marco.org

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Re: Pragmatic app pricing

#11

Post by falicon »

untothebreach wrote: post #10
falicon wrote: post #2

Gotta respect Marco for all the success he's had with Tumblr, InstaPaper, (briefly) Peace, and of course Overcast so far...but I kinda feel like he is worried about the wrong thing/people here. Who cares if other devs. or companies don't like his business model? Does that affect his users or potential customers in any real way? I don't think so. Also - the patron model is super interesting and I'm excited to see peop…

Just one persons experience, obviously, but I have paid for podcasts before. Free podcasts are by far the majority of what I have listened to, but I pay to get the full episodes of "The NoSleep podcast", and have donated to other podcasts when they have the option there and I have liked them enough.

Cool - but do you feel like you are paying for the content or are you paying for the experience/environment that you listen to the podcast within?

My point was just that when people do pay, in their mind I think they are paying for the podcast itself...and don't really care all that much about the middle men (same basic thing with music really -- there are, of course, exceptions)

Re: Pragmatic app pricing

#12

Post by Albright »

boulos wrote: post #7

Marco says "I’m not doing anything that other developers can’t do" a few times in this post, and sadly I think it's disingenuous. I believe Marco got at least a couple million dollars from the ~$1B sale of Tumblr (dilution, not clear how much he started with, etc.). That's actually a lot of padding, and means that he can get by for a year or so to try out this free + patronage model. Someone that needs an income, doe…

Indeed, thinking of Marco Arment as an "indie dev" is sort of like thinking of Minecraft as an "indie game." Regardless of roots, at some point, they both crossed a money line. That being said, assuming he is somewhat financially prudent, Arment probably has enough money to just drop into mutual funds and live off the interest, so I guess it says something about his passion as a developer that he's still coding and trying to make an honest buck off of it.

I think the patronage model is interesting, and I'm curious how he or other developers will make it work within the confines of the App Store.

Re: Pragmatic app pricing

#13

Post by Moshe_Silnorin »

Albright wrote: post #12
boulos wrote: post #7

Marco says "I’m not doing anything that other developers can’t do" a few times in this post, and sadly I think it's disingenuous. I believe Marco got at least a couple million dollars from the ~$1B sale of Tumblr (dilution, not clear how much he started with, etc.). That's actually a lot of padding, and means that he can get by for a year or so to try out this free + patronage model. Someone that needs an income, doe…

Indeed, thinking of Marco Arment as an "indie dev" is sort of like thinking of Minecraft as an "indie game." Regardless of roots, at some point, they both crossed a money line. That being said, assuming he is somewhat financially prudent, Arment probably has enough money to just drop into mutual funds and live off the interest, so I guess it says something about his passion as a developer that he's still coding and t…

So once you're successful you're not an independent dev, even if you have no staff? And once a band is popular it's no longer good?

Re: Pragmatic app pricing

#14

Post by Albright »

Moshe_Silnorin wrote: post #13
Albright wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed, thinking of Marco Arment as an "indie dev" is sort of like thinking of Minecraft as an "indie game." Regardless of roots, at some point, they both crossed a money line. That being said, assuming he is somewhat financially prudent, Arment probably has enough money to just drop into mutual funds and live off the interest, so I guess it says something about his passion as a developer that he's still coding and t…

So once you're successful you're not an independent dev, even if you have no staff? And once a band is popular it's no longer good?

Once you achieve a certain degree of success, you no longer have the same challenges, concerns, or mindset of the typical "indie dev," yes.

This is a guy whose tech podcast I stopped listening to partly because he and some other dweeb wouldn't shut up about their brand new BMWs.

Re: Pragmatic app pricing

#15

Post by jowiar »

Moshe_Silnorin wrote: post #13
Albright wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed, thinking of Marco Arment as an "indie dev" is sort of like thinking of Minecraft as an "indie game." Regardless of roots, at some point, they both crossed a money line. That being said, assuming he is somewhat financially prudent, Arment probably has enough money to just drop into mutual funds and live off the interest, so I guess it says something about his passion as a developer that he's still coding and t…

So once you're successful you're not an independent dev, even if you have no staff? And once a band is popular it's no longer good?

I think the term we're working with here is "having a runway" -- An independent dev with a pile of money in the bank is in a very different situation from one who needs short-term profitability.

Re: Pragmatic app pricing

#16

Post by swanson »

> But imagine you’ve been working on Castro 2 for the last year, betting the company on a big launch and a sustainable income.

Sounds like the Castro 2 dev(s) made a bad bet if their success hinges on the available of a free alternative :(

Re: Pragmatic app pricing

#17

Post by x0x0 »

dave1619 wrote: post #6

Looks like we've got some interesting thoughts from Marco. Seems like he regrets keeping Instapaper a paid app and not making it free to go after marketshare and take on Pocket. He seems to conclude he "lost" against Pocket, and now doesn't want to make the same mistake with Overcast. I personally don't think the patronage model will go very far. I think he's doing more to make the full app free and gain marketshare,…

But let's assume we're not in a bubble, so raising funds isn't an end in and of itself. Where does the money come from to give investors a return when the entire app is free?

Re: Pragmatic app pricing

#18

Post by seiji »

Moshe_Silnorin wrote: post #13
Albright wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed, thinking of Marco Arment as an "indie dev" is sort of like thinking of Minecraft as an "indie game." Regardless of roots, at some point, they both crossed a money line. That being said, assuming he is somewhat financially prudent, Arment probably has enough money to just drop into mutual funds and live off the interest, so I guess it says something about his passion as a developer that he's still coding and t…

So once you're successful you're not an independent dev, even if you have no staff? And once a band is popular it's no longer good?

"independent" in these contents tends to mean "works alone" which also implies "has limited resources, both personal and monetary."

If you work alone and you have a few million dollars of fun money to burn, that changes people's perception of you. Now you're not doing it because you have to. Where's the struggle? Now you're just entertaining yourself.

It's like saying Bill Gates is an "independent charity volunteer." Doesn't quite get the point across.

Re: Pragmatic app pricing

#19

Post by seiji »

x0x0 wrote: post #17
dave1619 wrote: post #6

Looks like we've got some interesting thoughts from Marco. Seems like he regrets keeping Instapaper a paid app and not making it free to go after marketshare and take on Pocket. He seems to conclude he "lost" against Pocket, and now doesn't want to make the same mistake with Overcast. I personally don't think the patronage model will go very far. I think he's doing more to make the full app free and gain marketshare,…

But let's assume we're not in a bubble, so raising funds isn't an end in and of itself. Where does the money come from to give investors a return when the entire app is free?

How did whatsapp's investors get a return? Sure, they had some income, but not enough to "pay back" investors. But, lo and behold, sugar daddy comes along and drops some of that high fructose acquisition syrup on their heads.

The best business model is still: make rich people afraid of you so they'll do anything to shut you up or control you.

Re: Pragmatic app pricing

#20

Post by Touche »

x0x0 wrote: post #17
dave1619 wrote: post #6

Looks like we've got some interesting thoughts from Marco. Seems like he regrets keeping Instapaper a paid app and not making it free to go after marketshare and take on Pocket. He seems to conclude he "lost" against Pocket, and now doesn't want to make the same mistake with Overcast. I personally don't think the patronage model will go very far. I think he's doing more to make the full app free and gain marketshare,…

But let's assume we're not in a bubble, so raising funds isn't an end in and of itself. Where does the money come from to give investors a return when the entire app is free?

Ads of course.
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