Stop Using The Cup of Coffee vs. $0.99 Cent App Analogy

Is it just me, or is it kind of odd that he titles and begins the post with a plea to "Stop Using the Cup of Coffee vs $0.99 Cent App Analogy" but then proceeds to totally use Starbucks as an shining example for how to run your app business (and at the end he even says "Just do what Starbucks does") ? By the end he's promulgating that people should adhere to the analogy by taking lessons from Starbucks.

Maybe I'm being pedantic but this seems like a contradiction.

No, I don't think I will stop using it. It is a good analogy because it addresses the unnecessary tradition of cheapness related to getting anything online even though many of those online things do provide more (and longer lasting) value than a cup of coffee. It's still an analogy, it has obvious limitations, but it's not a bad one.

  Fact: Starbucks Coffee is a Trustable Experience

Coffee isn't specific to Starbucks, and though I admit given the choice between reasonable alternatives I'll choose Starbucks by default, that still doesn't mean the experience of sitting in any coffee house is even remotely consistent. Location matters, clientele matters, it matters if the staff has a bad day or not. And in reality, no coffee house experience is 0.99 cent - it's 5 bucks or more in practice.

  Fact: Your $1 App is a Total Gamble

It is a gamble but not as much so as, say, trying out a new coffee flavor, a new kind of pastry, a new pizza delivery service, or a million other new things you don't know anything about until you give them a spin. With apps, at least there are screenshots, feature lists, and reasonably reliable testimonials. With anything new, there is a risk. If I stick with the old stuff, I might miss out on something great. If I take a risk and explore, it might not be as good. It's a gamble.

  Fact: Starbucks Has No Free Alternative

Nothing is really free. Everything costs resources to make. The price you're paying in the app store is just one aspect or this. But sure, the closest physical world analogy would be bargain-hunting, which some people spend considerable amounts of energy on. In the software world, there is also the danger of confusing "free" apps with open source apps, that would be another thing entirely.

  Fact: Free Apps Are Often A Great Alternative

Not every app idea is worthwhile. In fact, I posit that most of them are not. For stuff that is really obvious or trivial, free is of course the best alternative. "Free" is not a bad thing per se. It's just that some things do cost money to make and a lot of times, app developers need to make a living as well. In these cases, "free" simply doesn't work in the long term. However, I would argue that app developers are not primarily competing with "free" rubbish apps, their struggle is to get the customer to engage at all as opposed to doing nothing.

  Fact: The Starbucks Craftsmanship Is On Full Display

Granted, not all app stores do a good job of making stuff discoverable - but in my opinion, they do have sufficient UI provisions for showcasing the detailed workings of apps. I would argue that apps are in fact on full display. If customers are wise enough to make good judgement calls is another matter entirely, but the same dilemma applies to food products actually.

  Fact: App Craftsmanship Is Hidden Away

Customers don't care how complicated your app is, the same way they don't care how much craftsmanship goes into making good coffee. Both processes are not generally known (or even of interest) to the average customer.

Screenshots and reviews are very, very limited channels of information.

Reviews can be gamed, even when they're not, the ratings provided are typically highly inflated or simply binary (people give very high, or very low ratings, few in the middle). While descriptions can be useful, in practice most are not ("works great", "does everything I wanted" -- doesn't tell me "... for what" or "... and that was ..."). Negative reviews are often more useful (they're generally specific as to faults), but even then, as apps change over time, it's not clear what reviews relate to the current state of your app (Starbucks generally doesn't radically change its coffee composition from week to week).

Screenshots show a static view of an app but not its flow, responsiveness, accuracy, stability, privacy policy, and a whole slew of other issues.

The best way for me to judge software is to use it. Often for a prolonged period of time.

Does anyone think that 'Starbucks' or 'Pay me $1' are great signals for Craftsmanship?

I know plenty of office environments with free coffee. There is your alternative, but it isn't relevant. People buy experiences. You go to Starbucks because you like the experience. The terminology. The chatty baristas. The drive-thru you can complain about with your sympathetic co-workers. They could probably charge twice what they do and keep a big fraction of their customers.

Totally agree, but 24 hours is time enough to finish a game...