Hi,
I'm the developer of a few apps.
Recently I released a new app and this has produced a lot of complains so I'd like to discuss that on a public forum to hear what other people (users and developers) think about.
About a month ago I released an app, named ABGroups to manage the groups of contacts (a feature that the built-in contacts app was missing).
Since the app had a lot of success and users were happy I added a few functions to help users replace the built-in contacts app.
Then I realized that it was best to rewrite a part of it to better support the new intended usage so I've done that, I renamed to ABGroups app to ABContacts Lite, and released the new ABContacts app as a new application with many new features in it.
This has produced a lot of bad reviews from existing users that complains about the fact the the new features should be available to them as a free upgrade.
Now, my point is that I think that Apple should add the "upgrade price" feature to the app store. I mean that what other software app gives you unlimited major releases for free ? When you buy Tiger are you getting Leopard for free ? When you buy office 2004 are you getting 2008 for free ?
Consider also that since the users are finite, i.e. they don't always increase in time, why a developer should add major features knowing that only a very small percentage of users will pay for them (and the percentage will always be smaller as time passes) ?
Finally, to thanks existing users for their support I set a lower price for start. ABContacts will be $2.99. Now it's $1.99 and ABGroups was $0.99.
I really don't understand why users are not understanding this.
I think that, in part, it can be because a lot of hobbyist developers have released apps to the app store. But my software (not iphone apps, at least not yet) is paying my house and makes my children go to school, so it's unacceptable for me to develop for free or mainly for free.
I'd like to hear others comment on this.
Thank you !
I'm the developer of a few apps.
Recently I released a new app and this has produced a lot of complains so I'd like to discuss that on a public forum to hear what other people (users and developers) think about.
About a month ago I released an app, named ABGroups to manage the groups of contacts (a feature that the built-in contacts app was missing).
Since the app had a lot of success and users were happy I added a few functions to help users replace the built-in contacts app.
Then I realized that it was best to rewrite a part of it to better support the new intended usage so I've done that, I renamed to ABGroups app to ABContacts Lite, and released the new ABContacts app as a new application with many new features in it.
This has produced a lot of bad reviews from existing users that complains about the fact the the new features should be available to them as a free upgrade.
Now, my point is that I think that Apple should add the "upgrade price" feature to the app store. I mean that what other software app gives you unlimited major releases for free ? When you buy Tiger are you getting Leopard for free ? When you buy office 2004 are you getting 2008 for free ?
Consider also that since the users are finite, i.e. they don't always increase in time, why a developer should add major features knowing that only a very small percentage of users will pay for them (and the percentage will always be smaller as time passes) ?
Finally, to thanks existing users for their support I set a lower price for start. ABContacts will be $2.99. Now it's $1.99 and ABGroups was $0.99.
I really don't understand why users are not understanding this.
I think that, in part, it can be because a lot of hobbyist developers have released apps to the app store. But my software (not iphone apps, at least not yet) is paying my house and makes my children go to school, so it's unacceptable for me to develop for free or mainly for free.
I'd like to hear others comment on this.
Thank you !