From the comments, by Jason Fried, "We might add yellow to version 2.0 in 2012." Kind of sums up a big part of their design philosophy right there.
also considered arrogance by some
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The backstory behind 37Signal's "Draft" iPad app
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Re: The backstory behind 37Signal's "Draft" iPad app
#12Earlier quoted context omitted.
also considered arrogance by some
and having a little fun in the comments section by others.
actually I know you were having a laugh - even commented with the rest of the guys here how I found your answer funny. Fact is, however (and I'm sure you know this), quite a bunch of people take that as arrogance.
Personally, I don't care - I agree with your policy on doing less (if your vision is in fact to do less with a product). The fact that some consider it arrogance (as I was alluding to) doesn't mean I do.
(your downvote on my comment was not necessary, but this explanation of my comment might have been. Apologies for the misunderstanding, if there was one)
Re: The backstory behind 37Signal's "Draft" iPad app
#13Irony(?): it's priced high relative to "professional" pure-play drawing apps like SketchPad and Brushes, but by omitting needless features like color and brush controls and adding the one feature of collaborative diagramming, it's probably going to be more valuable to me than either of those other apps, which I mostly use to goof around with my daughter.
Finding a high priced product more valuable is not ironic :)
I'm pretty sure I'm not finding the concept valuable because of the price point.
Re: The backstory behind 37Signal's "Draft" iPad app
#14I love the idea of deliberately making it imprecise to serve the specific task (to sketch; and ignore details early on.) http://37signals.com/svn/archives2/getting_real_ignore_detai... And their pricing strategy (from the comments): encouraging other people to add Campfire integration to their own apps – even free ones
they're selling the sizzle, not the steak
Re: The backstory behind 37Signal's "Draft" iPad app
#15Irony(?): it's priced high relative to "professional" pure-play drawing apps like SketchPad and Brushes, but by omitting needless features like color and brush controls and adding the one feature of collaborative diagramming, it's probably going to be more valuable to me than either of those other apps, which I mostly use to goof around with my daughter.
I think it's debatable whether colors and brush controls in a sketching app are "needless" even though they may be needless for 37signals very narrow internal use case.
Re: The backstory behind 37Signal's "Draft" iPad app
#16From the comments:
"I don’t think $9.99 is too expensive. What you’re paying for is the Campfire integration and the judicious removal of features."
Sad but true. This is how they earn money at 37s.
Re: The backstory behind 37Signal's "Draft" iPad app
#17Re: The backstory behind 37Signal's "Draft" iPad app
#18The app and its price tag seem to embody the true spirit of Apple hardware.
To provide extremely well-engineered devices that look and feel fantastic? Apple hardware is pretty awesome. 1st gen issues aside, that is.
Re: The backstory behind 37Signal's "Draft" iPad app
#19I think the price also reflects though that they don't actually need to sell this to anyone, it's already paid for itself in improving internal process. The people it's mainly aimed at using campfire, I'd imagine would pay for it whether it was 99 cents or $10 if it is useful in improving business process.