21–30 of 91 posts
Interesting. I've never heard anyone having this misconception. Everyday people seem to know that app developers are completely different from Apple or other mobile phone manufacturers.
On Android a common method is free / prime. A free version has basic features while a paid prime apk acts as an unlocker for advanced features. Haven't heard of removing a free app and replacing with a paid. That doesn't make sense or work for anyone. That free app is an essential promotion. The only downside/difficulty is all the user support. Free users can be pretty rough.
The other case has started to really annoy me - it's where developers are starting to remove their version 1 application, and replace it with a version 2 which you have to purchase. The only problem with that, is if you were perfectly happy with version 1, you can no longer migrate it to your next Laptop/iPhone - because it's been removed from the market. Somewhat defeats the value of keeping your content in the "Cloud" - you are back to square one where you have to have local copies of everything because you never know when the developer is going to yank your functional version.
I think most of us would pay for instagram and twitter now. I would have to think twice about it above 20$/month. I don't think they could get to where they are with a paid app model.
I tried out a few ways to solve this problem. Better app landing pages. Better app videos. Nothing works, apps are an experience. Also their utility skyrockets in certain situations.
Twitter is essential when something major is happening, like an earthquake in your area. Instagram is essential when you want to e-brag. Yelp is essential when you have a group of people deciding where to eat.
The barrier to pre-installing the app needs to be incredibly low, and the ease of use for a noob needs to be low.
The only business models I want to work on any more have some mass-market component that is absolutely free, and a niche companion product that makes money off of the exhaust fumes of the mass-market component. The last two businesses I started are Stack Overflow, which is free, where the careers business on the side makes money on the small fraction of Stack Overflow users who are looking to get better jobs, and Tre…
What are your thoughts on say something like a video course? i.e giving it away for free and doing an upsell on consulting or stick to charging for the course?
The only challenge with that is you have to be really skilled/gifted to get traction in a very noisy environment.
The other challenge with something like "consulting" - is that you don't get a lot of opportunity to scale - you are limited by the number of hours a day you can work (as opposed to conferences, where you are limited to the size of the venues you can book/fill)
One thing I think he overlooked was the benefit of cross-promotion through a proven track record. Had he held on to his old apps, he would have been able to leverage them to promote his new app. Now he has to start from scratch, using only his blog to promote it.
The only business models I want to work on any more have some mass-market component that is absolutely free, and a niche companion product that makes money off of the exhaust fumes of the mass-market component. The last two businesses I started are Stack Overflow, which is free, where the careers business on the side makes money on the small fraction of Stack Overflow users who are looking to get better jobs, and Tre…
I have nothing against paying for apps, but after having been totally burned a bunch of times, I refuse to pay for an app I can't even try out first. Lots of people say "just look at the reviews", but they usually don't tell you what you want to know -- it's not a substitute at all.
I never understood why in-app purchases have been branded as "evil" in the first place. As long as Apple doesn't offer developers a way to do trials, it's the closest way a customer can get a taste of an app's features, esthetics before deciding whether to pay or not for an app. EX : I wouldn't have paid 10$ for flighttrack pro without the in app purchase option. I would go as far as theorize that the main reason why…
It's not In-App purchases, per se that are evil - I've spent around a hundred dollars on new levels (great use of In-App purchase - you reward the developer for creating new content), new tools, new capabilities in the last few years (much less than the the close to a thousand dollars in "up-front" app purchases I've made) - and I think I've gotten real value each time. What's truly evil, is the cognitive manipulatio…
The only business models I want to work on any more have some mass-market component that is absolutely free, and a niche companion product that makes money off of the exhaust fumes of the mass-market component. The last two businesses I started are Stack Overflow, which is free, where the careers business on the side makes money on the small fraction of Stack Overflow users who are looking to get better jobs, and Tre…
Demonstratively, you are right, as you have shown with Stack Overflow and Trello. But, I think it will take a while for developer mindset to adapt to this new idea. While in reality it may be more difficult to execute on the "old-fashioned" model, in concept it seems much easier to approach. I build something, and then people pay me for it, simple. The new model of I build something, give it away for free, and then c…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not just discovery. The land grab is over and established apps are well entrenched. There was a huge first-wave advantage for mobile apps. We just barely caught the end of it ourselves, so we're doing ok.
You're right, absolutely. For newcomers, it's an uphill battle to market even if there's no competition in the space.
If marco gets good traction with his design team (Pacific Helm again?), I'm sure he's going to blow away the "quality" podcast-player market. Only problem is, the market for people who are looking for quality podcast players is probably in the tenths (or even hundredths) of a percent of the iOS users.
But, if he makes Overcast free....
I'm very interested in seeing how he manages to In-App charge for a free podcast player.