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Charge more for app subscriptions

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Re: Charge more for app subscriptions

#121

Post by ywei3410 »

Valkhyr wrote: post #26
valuearb wrote: post #23

The higher revenues for onetime purchase show the weakness of subscriptions vs the old upgrade model, and I wish Apple would understand it. Subscriptions carry the fear of paying for something you won’t be using, or being nickel and dimed for years on end. Upgrades are a much simpler purchase decision. Am I using the app? Is it offering a good value? Does the upgrade provide new features I want or need at a reasonabl…

This. With very few exceptions (content subscriptions (e.g. Netflix) and services that have a server-side component core to its functionality (e.g. Dropbox)), I avoid subscriptions like the plague. With applications, I don't choose between more or less expensive subscription, but I'll chose your competitor who sells upfront.

What are your feelings on applications which have a server-side component which isn't necessary to it's functioning? For example JetBrains products with their plugin store or Unity with the asset store?

Re: Charge more for app subscriptions

#122

Post by ValueNull »

ywei3410 wrote: post #121
Valkhyr wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. With very few exceptions (content subscriptions (e.g. Netflix) and services that have a server-side component core to its functionality (e.g. Dropbox)), I avoid subscriptions like the plague. With applications, I don't choose between more or less expensive subscription, but I'll chose your competitor who sells upfront.

What are your feelings on applications which have a server-side component which isn't necessary to it's functioning? For example JetBrains products with their plugin store or Unity with the asset store?

Note that JetBrains products come with a perpetual fallback license, so you can forever use the version of the software available at the time you bought it, just without any updates. https://sales.jetbrains.com/hc/en-gb/articles/207240845-What...

Re: Charge more for app subscriptions

#124

Post by Yizahi »

sudhirj wrote: post #77
PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #9

This analysis is very US/Euro-centric. Bumping the price from US$20 to US$100 might indeed allow you to focus more on your most dedicated customers . It also bumps the price way above anything that billions of people around the world can pay for such a thing. At Ardour, we have 3 subscription price levels: Regular: US$10/month Low Cost: US$4/month Developing World: US$1/month We leave it to users to decide which cate…

I wrote a tool to calculate product or service prices for different parts of the world based on the Big Mac Index (the price of a local mcdonalds lunch burger). That method makes more sense to me because all your customers have a similar point of reference. McD is thought of as a premium product in some very poor areas, but on the whole they aim for mass market affordability, which makes it a fair comparison. https:/…

BigMac index looks like nice idea but it is wildly off eventually. It's price converted to the common currency will vary by tens of percents, while actual purchasing ability by country will vary by hundreds of percents or more. This index unfortunately fails at it's main and sole purpose.

In fact the majority of times BigMac index is mentioned in media is in the reverse calculation - assuming that BigMac price is more or less "fair" per country journalists calculate how actual salaries or prices in the country stray away from this indicator, to show severity of economic problems.

Re: Charge more for app subscriptions

#125

Post by sudhirj »

L_226 wrote: post #108
sudhirj wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wrote a tool to calculate product or service prices for different parts of the world based on the Big Mac Index (the price of a local mcdonalds lunch burger). That method makes more sense to me because all your customers have a similar point of reference. McD is thought of as a premium product in some very poor areas, but on the whole they aim for mass market affordability, which makes it a fair comparison. https:/…

Nice! have you thought about making this available as an API? :)

Probably will, but I’m struggling to see why folks would want an API for data that doesn’t change much at all. I could publish all the numbers as a JSON, not sure if anything else is necessary.

Re: Charge more for app subscriptions

#126

Post by sudhirj »

Yizahi wrote: post #124
sudhirj wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wrote a tool to calculate product or service prices for different parts of the world based on the Big Mac Index (the price of a local mcdonalds lunch burger). That method makes more sense to me because all your customers have a similar point of reference. McD is thought of as a premium product in some very poor areas, but on the whole they aim for mass market affordability, which makes it a fair comparison. https:/…

BigMac index looks like nice idea but it is wildly off eventually. It's price converted to the common currency will vary by tens of percents, while actual purchasing ability by country will vary by hundreds of percents or more. This index unfortunately fails at it's main and sole purpose. In fact the majority of times BigMac index is mentioned in media is in the reverse calculation - assuming that BigMac price is mor…

So pretty much all measures or indexes are inaccurate in that light. The reason I like it is that it takes a product that’s priced proportionally to local labour and commodities, is globally recognisable and serves as an easy frame of reference.

For products and services that have near zero marginal costs. Saying something is worth 2 cups of coffee, for instance, is useful but our coffee prices might differ by an order of magnitude. But McD is always a middle class lunch wherever they run.

The other alternative I can think of is Coca Cola. That would also be an interesting index.

Re: Charge more for app subscriptions

#127

Post by semireg »

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #83
semireg wrote: post #78

I’m an indie dev that wrote a useful Electron app for designing and printing labels (both rolls and sheets), data import, rendering batches of images, etc. My competition is either free (DYMO/Brother) or $500 commercial software for expensive printers. So how do I price? For a year I had my price at $47.99 one-time and did OK. A month ago I segmented my licenses/users into Personal (same price of $47.99) and Business…

>Everyone is still buying the one-time licenses. I'm not surprised, everybody can multiply $15 by 12 and see that doesn't add up.

Can you help me understand how you, as a user, would prefer to see it add up?

Re: Charge more for app subscriptions

#128

Post by dkersten »

rainsil wrote: post #120
dkersten wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some time ago I wanted to do something in photoshop and the old ”a few times a year” task. So I looked for alternatives and found Affinity Photo. Now I doubt that I will ever pay for photoshop.

Isn't the monthly subscription model even better for tasks you only do a few times a year, since you can subscribe when you want to use it and deactivate when you're done?

No, because I would have to pay for a full month to just use it once (Photoshop, IIRC, is $20/m so it would only take 5 uses to be up to the $100 I would have paid).

Re: Charge more for app subscriptions

#129

Post by Cthulhu_ »

Valkhyr wrote: post #42

The way to fix app "subscriptions" is not to charge more (or less) but to fix the customer-hostile structure of app "subscriptions". The big issue with app "subscriptions" is that they don't actually work like subscriptions. Before the digital age, "subscription" used to mean (and for physical products it still means) that you get regular delivery of something as long as you pay. If you stop paying, you no longer get…

There's a lot of apps like that (you pay a recurring license fee), but there's also a lot of apps that sell a subscription for their online / cloud segment, e.g. note taking apps so that your data is synchronised across devices. That seems more fair than the periodical license fee. Usually those apps work just fine without the subscription as well.

I also have a "smart" thermostat in the house, it was a one-time purchase, but they offer a subscription for bonus features like detecting when you're outside and turning down the thermostat then.

That said, I'm not actually very comfortable using it anymore, all of my home temperature and humidity data is being sent to their servers and sold on (I'm sure) as statistical data. I get remote control (from my phone) and (actually interesting) temperature / historical charts. Only per day though, I would like to see weekly/monthly/annual data.

Re: Charge more for app subscriptions

#130

Post by bayindirh »

rootlocus wrote: post #116
PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #9

This analysis is very US/Euro-centric. Bumping the price from US$20 to US$100 might indeed allow you to focus more on your most dedicated customers . It also bumps the price way above anything that billions of people around the world can pay for such a thing. At Ardour, we have 3 subscription price levels: Regular: US$10/month Low Cost: US$4/month Developing World: US$1/month We leave it to users to decide which cate…

The article is written by the CEO of Astropad which is a tool that allows you to turn an IPad into a secondary, touch display for Macs. The users of Astropad must own both a Mac and an IPad, so people in developing countries are most likely not the target demographic.

I have both a Mac and iPad and, I'm in a developing country. Paying $100/year for a utility like this a bit too much.

Exchange rates aside, I'm coming from register once, pay to upgrade world. When deciding not pay means losing access to the app, not to the latest version only; It's very hard for me to fork the cash.

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