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Why Instapaper Free is taking an extended vacation

marco.org

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Re: Why Instapaper Free is taking an extended vacation

#71

Post by xinsight »

cygwin98 wrote: post #52
xinsight wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I ported an iOS app to Android. I've sold three (!!) copies while in that same period, the iOS version has sold about 300. I dropped the price from $5 down to $2 over easter and still didn't sell a single copy during the sale. The two apps have the same content and the sales funnel is exactly the same. (The only difference is the iOS app has lots of 5-star reviews.) It seems clear to me that Android users can't or wo…

Wow, sounds like a good story that deserves its own blog post.

Thanks for the encouragement.

I was going to release a free version on Android before writing up my experiences. I thought the liberal return policy on Android would eliminate the need for "lite" apps - but the return window is only 15 minutes which seems a bit tight. Better to have an app where you can fully evaluate it and then buy when you're ready.

Re: Why Instapaper Free is taking an extended vacation

#72

Post by nerfhammer »

tomg wrote: post #62
napierzaza wrote: post #46

I like his arguments since they are logical and backed up with data. But at the same time I never would have bought the app if I didn't use "free" for several weeks and got the idea it was useful. This is after reading about Instapaper everywhere and hearing from close friends that it's almost the main reason they even have an iPhone (which was probably an overstatement on their part). Edit: Can we please stop the ti…

> But at the same time I never would have bought the app if I didn't use "free" for several weeks and got the idea it was useful. There's a middle ground between only having a Paid app and giving a way a full featured, Free, ad-supported version. For example, you can create a Trial version that stops working after a certain amount of time. If you're making a game, you can only have the first few levels in the Free ve…

The free version of instapaper was feature-limited, not just ad supported (at least at the time before I bought the full version)

Re: Why Instapaper Free is taking an extended vacation

#73

Post by lukifer »

Xuzz wrote: post #66
JonLim wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many of my friends own iPhones, and many are flabbergasted when they find out that my phone is not jailbroken nor is it filled with free apps. I happily pay for quality apps. Why? It's going to cost me anywhere from $1 to $10, and that is honestly chump change for an app that will provide much more in value. For some reason, if you give away your work for free, all of the cheapskates and losers come out and start ins…

As someone who works on software for jailbroken phones, I just want to make it clear that jailbreaking and piracy are not the same thing. Yes, jailbreaking makes piracy possible, but Cydia has multiple warnings about adding the repositories required for piracy. In fact, our best statistics show less than half of all the jailbroken devices have pirated an app. I agree with your points, but I don't want people to misun…

You seem like you might be a good person to ask: I love the idea of jailbreaking all my devices (I did so on my 1G iPhone as soon as it was possible). However, modern-day Cydia scares the bejeezus out of me. I have no easy way to discern what's reliable, let alone trustworthy, and I wish I could know what's getting installed under the hood, especially regarding background processes and changes to the underlying OS.

Can you give me some tips on how to discern quality and safety in Cydia packages, or are these things simply endemic to the jailbroken app ecosystem?

Re: Why Instapaper Free is taking an extended vacation

#74

Post by dkarl »

dkarl wrote: post #59
xinsight wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I ported an iOS app to Android. I've sold three (!!) copies while in that same period, the iOS version has sold about 300. I dropped the price from $5 down to $2 over easter and still didn't sell a single copy during the sale. The two apps have the same content and the sales funnel is exactly the same. (The only difference is the iOS app has lots of 5-star reviews.) It seems clear to me that Android users can't or wo…

To all app developers, please don't give up on Android. If your market is educated middle class folks -- i.e., if you don't sell games and fart apps -- then give us a chance to start showing up in the Android market. Most of us bought iPhones back when they were clearly superior, and we are unwilling to throw away a couple-hundred-dollar piece of electronics that works perfectly fine. The new line of Android phones l…

Okay, what bias did I run into here? Not everyone who is excited about Android is going to immediately shell out a few hundred bucks when they already have an iPhone. For me, that's enough money that I think about how to spend it, and new gadgets usually lose out to other priorities. Does that make me a bad nerd or something?

Re: Why Instapaper Free is taking an extended vacation

#75

Post by jamesbritt »

maukdaddy wrote: post #2

Excellent analysis and line of thinking. The tech community really needs to give up the idea that hard work should be given away for free. Trail periods are fine, but legitimate businesses need real cash flow, and very, very few can survive off advertising alone.

The tech community really needs to give up the idea that hard work should be given away for free.

Does "[t]he tech community" even have that belief to begin with? The techies I know, both OSS contributor and not, believe that there is value in giving away some things (e.g., open sourcing projects) but proper and expected to charge for other things.

While people may not agree on what exactly should be free I've met no one who flatly claims hard work should be given away for free.

Re: Why Instapaper Free is taking an extended vacation

#76

Post by JonLim »

Xuzz wrote: post #66
JonLim wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many of my friends own iPhones, and many are flabbergasted when they find out that my phone is not jailbroken nor is it filled with free apps. I happily pay for quality apps. Why? It's going to cost me anywhere from $1 to $10, and that is honestly chump change for an app that will provide much more in value. For some reason, if you give away your work for free, all of the cheapskates and losers come out and start ins…

As someone who works on software for jailbroken phones, I just want to make it clear that jailbreaking and piracy are not the same thing. Yes, jailbreaking makes piracy possible, but Cydia has multiple warnings about adding the repositories required for piracy. In fact, our best statistics show less than half of all the jailbroken devices have pirated an app. I agree with your points, but I don't want people to misun…

You are 100% correct, and I agree, they aren't the same thing.

But you try telling that to someone who isn't so technically inclined. To the average joe, jailbreaking probably equates to pirating, just because it enables you to do so. Just like "torrenting" isn't the same thing as "pirating," one will often find that the mainstream association of torrenting is that of piracy.

However, it makes me feel slightly better than the majority who are jailbreaking their phones aren't sailing the seven seas and looting and pillaging all of the apps that they can find.

Re: Why Instapaper Free is taking an extended vacation

#77

Post by jammur »

jrockway wrote: post #20

How does he know nobody will buy the Android app? I barely use any free apps other than the ones that come with Cyanogen Mod. Titanium Backup? Paid. ROM Manager? Paid. Treking? Paid. Android IRC? Paid. X-Plane? Paid. Android users have no problems paying for apps. Non-Android developers are afraid of the unknown.

The market data suggest that you're mistaken. In 2010, the App Store took in almost 20 times the revenue that the Android Market took in. $1.7 billion for the App Store, compared to $102 million for Android Market. Considering where Android market share stands relative to iOS, this means that iOS users are absolutely more willing to spend money on apps. That's obviously not the case for every Android user, but the relative aggregate difference is what matters when deciding what platforms to develop for.

Re: Why Instapaper Free is taking an extended vacation

#78

Post by hrktb »

I have a lot of respect for all the hard work, especialy since I am hooked to Instapaper like services, and getting rid of the free version might be a good move I think. Now, he seems to have such a policy of ignoring his competition in his talks.

I would guess one reason he doesn't hear complaints about the loss of the free version is because ReadItLater and others have a free app to catch these users. He talks a lot about the cheapstakes that wouldn't upgrade, but the free version couldn't get me to register when I tried it. When it worked afterwards, it was so stripped down it wasn't funny.

In contrast the decision to buy the ReaditLater (same priced at the time) pro version was natural, and I kept the free version on devices I didn't care to sync.

At least, he is totally right, after using the Instapaper free version, I am bitching a lot.

Re: Why Instapaper Free is taking an extended vacation

#79

Post by bstrand »

jrockway wrote: post #20

How does he know nobody will buy the Android app? I barely use any free apps other than the ones that come with Cyanogen Mod. Titanium Backup? Paid. ROM Manager? Paid. Treking? Paid. Android IRC? Paid. X-Plane? Paid. Android users have no problems paying for apps. Non-Android developers are afraid of the unknown.

Marco has a well established anti-Android bias, both Android the platform and Android users. He's been dismissive of it since the beginning, so this post-facto justification that Android users won't pay for apps is a bit hollow.

ReadItLater Pro for Android is clearly analogous. It was released at a $1 launch sale price (80% off, they say) on March 9; 11 days later it crossed 10,000 downloads from the Market. That seems like a substantial demand and willingness to pay for it on behalf of Android users. http://www.appbrain.com/app/read-it-later-pro/com.ideashower...

Re: Why Instapaper Free is taking an extended vacation

#80

Post by joegester »

tomg wrote: post #62
napierzaza wrote: post #46

I like his arguments since they are logical and backed up with data. But at the same time I never would have bought the app if I didn't use "free" for several weeks and got the idea it was useful. This is after reading about Instapaper everywhere and hearing from close friends that it's almost the main reason they even have an iPhone (which was probably an overstatement on their part). Edit: Can we please stop the ti…

> But at the same time I never would have bought the app if I didn't use "free" for several weeks and got the idea it was useful. There's a middle ground between only having a Paid app and giving a way a full featured, Free, ad-supported version. For example, you can create a Trial version that stops working after a certain amount of time. If you're making a game, you can only have the first few levels in the Free ve…

The time-limited demo idea is forbidden by Apple's TOS.
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