How to price your iPhone app out of existence • Hacker News Board

Re: How to price your iPhone app out of existence

#41

Post by potatolicious » Tue, Nov 18, 2008, 2:16 AM UTC

DenisM wrote: post #8

What the appstore needs is not higher prices, it needs fewer developers: if there are 20 apps doing X then each only makes enough money to get by, but if there were 2 apps doing X they both could invest into making new features. What we need is a serious recession with a healthy round of bakrupcies and mergers.

I disagree. Having fewer developers does nobody any good - you would have to introduce artificial barriers to the App Store, which is unfair to small businesses. Customers also lose the ability to have competing apps.

What we need is a better visibility system. Similar to HN, Digg, etc, where the best apps find a way to "float to the top", but never permanently (i.e. an extremely popular app won't sit on the Top 50 list forever). We also need better integration with this system from the web side of things - so app authors can generate exposure for their app not only on the App Store, but also by themselves through their own marketing.

Re: How to price your iPhone app out of existence

#42

Post by cpr » Tue, Nov 18, 2008, 8:33 PM UTC

potatolicious wrote: post #40

cpr wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you all think of our graphing calculator app, Grafly ( http://grafly.com )? Is it worth $9.99? We think it is, in that there's nothing like it on any other platform at any price. Like all the "please rate my web site" posts, I'm interested in what HN denizens think. Thanks.

I'm sorry to say, but I don't perceive it to be useful at all. I'm probably in your target demographic - college student in engineering, and I have to tell you that anyone who's going to be doing any sort of work with graphing calculators would prefer to buy one than use their iPhone. Here's why: - Physical buttons: when you're chewing through problems you absolutely MUST have physical buttons with tactile feedback.…

Thanks for that feedback!

The physical buttons argument is a good one.

I don't think the battery life issue is a real one--when you're not actively calculating a new graph, the app is doing very little. I suppose we should actually benchmark using it for 3-4 hours at a time. Can't argue about legal calculators.

Though saying "friendly [physical] UI" seems like an oxymoron to me--physical graphing calculators have some of the worst graphics I've ever seen.

Re: How to price your iPhone app out of existence

#43

Post by cpr » Tue, Nov 18, 2008, 8:34 PM UTC

markessien wrote: post #30

cpr wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you all think of our graphing calculator app, Grafly ( http://grafly.com )? Is it worth $9.99? We think it is, in that there's nothing like it on any other platform at any price. Like all the "please rate my web site" posts, I'm interested in what HN denizens think. Thanks.

It looks cool, but only for a particular small market. Have you figured out how to reach the relevant market yet?

Not yet; that's what we're working on. The initial response was strong, but, like most apps, sunk quickly into the morass as the AppStore became overwhelmed with lots of silly little apps.

Re: How to price your iPhone app out of existence

#44

Post by LPTS » Tue, Nov 18, 2008, 10:21 PM UTC

markessien wrote: post #39

LPTS wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if you want to read people with this change in their language, you'll learn to adapt. When I watch british humor, I don't always get it, but I don't expect them to change to be more like me.

There is a correct way to spell, and there is a wrong way. You, my dear sir, are doing it wrong. Don't expect the world to come round to your way of spelling anytime soon.

Ye pine fore days long gone. I dost hope thou ist right and spellings shant e're change, Marcus.

Noone can think of a word that evolved in our lifetime already?