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'MLB.com At Bat 2010' Hits the App Store

JSmoove05 said:
How do they raise the price 9.99 was already expensive and no really big in improvements. on the fence on this one. Every year MLB raises the price this is ridculous. I also wanna add this is not exactly live there is a delay on it not sure how many secs but a delay for sure. Last year I would compare the score on cbssports website with the feed on my phone and was alot slower.
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I'm one of those who has drawn a hesitant breath at the $5 increase in price, however I have to say that $10 was not expensive for what you got. $15 really isn't too bad either considering what you get. I think our enthusiasm is primarily dampened by a) the price increase over last year (regardless of feature add) and b) how low the equilibrium of the iphone app market is.

There's delay on everything. Ever watch TV and had the radio on at the same time (so you don't have to listen to the TV announcers)? they're not in sync. In the world of broadcast it's close enough to real time, particularly if it's your primary source.
 
With a 3GS for the full year and better reception at work, SIGN ME UP. Baseball isn't my favorite sport, but the Braves announcers are always good and it's great to listen to at work. It also makes me feel like I'm getting my money's worth on the $30 data plan.

For those complaining about the price hike: really? You get audio from Whatever 162x15 is games. Pay attention to other things that cost about $15 -- one month of WoW, one month of satellite radio, a single movie ticket -- and it's a very good deal.
 
mikejd1 said:
Sportacluar for other team updates and the FREE WEEI app (for live audio redsox games) = :cool:

FU MLB, $14.99 my ass
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Red Sox games will be blacked out on the WEEI app as the app runs off of the web audio. Which if you listen on the computer is blacked out and they run the Fox Sports instead. Its an MLB exclusive.

Its been like that for a few years now, if you head to WEEI you'll see that NBA and MLB games are not played online due to league restrictions. Sorry to burst your bubble, otherwise I wouldn't have bought the mlb app last year as I could have listened on FlyCast before the WEEI app came out.

I'm contemplating purchasing it, as I already have the gameday audio through Red Sox Nation, I think what MLB needs to do is give a discount or freebie to those who already subscribe online.
 
The blackout restrictions for video are what bother me... it's like a catch-22 type situation: I would buy this app so that I could watch Jays games on my phone, I can't watch Jays game on my phone so I don't buy the app - the MLB execs then see that they still make more money from selling the TV rights to networks and blacking out other outlets so they don't bother to change it up BUT if they somehow were able to remove the blackout restrictions they WOULD see an increase in sales because I would think more people would be buying it without the blackout restrictions.

Now, I have bought this app two years in a row and likely will buy it anyways.. so I suppose that's just an example for the sake of argument.
 
JSmoove05 said:
How do they raise the price 9.99 was already expensive and no really big in improvements. on the fence on this one. Every year MLB raises the price this is ridculous. I also wanna add this is not exactly live there is a delay on it not sure how many secs but a delay for sure. Last year I would compare the score on cbssports website with the feed on my phone and was alot slower.
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Easily solved... pay attention to one thing? I mean, that's a bit nit-picky... do you need to know immediately? If it's a few seconds behind, is it that big of a deal? ESPN's ScoreCenter is minutes behind in reporting updated scores, especially with sending out Push notifications.

And by "every year" you mean... two? It was $9.99 and they added a lot of improvements over the year such as live audio and games, easily justifying the $14.99 as a steal if you compare this to MLB.tv service or Gameday Audio alone.

There's probably still going to be a Lite version as there was last year, and their Mobile site is pretty good on its own.
 
JonHimself said:
The blackout restrictions for video are what bother me... it's like a catch-22 type situation: I would buy this app so that I could watch Jays games on my phone, I can't watch Jays game on my phone so I don't buy the app - the MLB execs then see that they still make more money from selling the TV rights to networks and blacking out other outlets so they don't bother to change it up BUT if they somehow were able to remove the blackout restrictions they WOULD see an increase in sales because I would think more people would be buying it without the blackout restrictions.

Now, I have bought this app two years in a row and likely will buy it anyways.. so I suppose that's just an example for the sake of argument.
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I remember them saying something about attempting to change the blackout restrictions for mobile viewing in their next round of network negotiations (citation needed of course, looking...), kinda like how during the end of last season customers in NYC wouldn't get blacked out if they were Cablevision customers... maybe they could do that so people who live in Houston (for example, no teams here in Austin and my favorite team is in St. Louis :D) that are Time Warner/AT&T U-verse customers would get to see the Astros games without being blacked out.
 
15 bucks is worth it for this app, one of the best apps out there. And they may drop the price to 10 bucks after a month or 2 if you really wanna wait.
 
I'll gladly pay the $14.99. Being able to listen to all of the A's games wherever I am is fantastic. And I have fond memories of At Bat 2009 as I used it to listen to A's games in the hospital when my son was born :) This app has come along way from 2008 when it was just live game updates.

The blackout thing is pretty dumb but not unexpected. One day sports will be completely Pay Per View. Slowly we're heading that way.
 
If you have a problem with paying $15 for this app, here's an idea - dont buy it!

For me, $15 to listen to every MLB game and watch 2 live games every day is a huge bargain. Remember what you're paying for.

If you listen to every game of your favorite team, and NOTHING MORE, you're paying 9 cents per game. I'm pretty sure if you live out of market and someone offered you that deal, you'd take it.

Like someone else said, think about what else costs $15. I thought it was a great deal at $10 and I still think it's worth an extra $5. Audio, video, highlights, stats, condensed games, etc.

We live in a world where everyone wants everything for free and has a false sense of entitlement, that's the issue here.
 
You guys complaining don't have a clue. This app is well worth $15. I always thought $10 was too cheap, especially after they added 2 live video games a day.

I'd rebuy it today, but I'm waiting to see the final iPad version -- hoping maybe it will be backwards compatible w/ the iPhone.

It was $5 the first year -- but that was just for a half a season. It was $10 last year, but video only started up mid-season. It's $15 this year but you get a full season of 2 complete videos games a day plus every game in audio + what ever new features they say they'll add in as the season progresses.

The only way $15 is too expensive is if you are not really into baseball. I only wish the NFL offered a similar app.
 
wow, $30 for slingbox and $15 for mlb = $45 for all the Yankees and Mets I could handle. I just hope that both apps take advantage of the video out API.

Last year I was happy to pay an increase since it had audio but this year I am mad since there is no real update. I guess mlb will just keep raising the price until we stop purchasing, so they can see what market decides the price is.
 
I agree this app is worth every penny. However, a question. What's the purchase process? Is the 2010 version a completely new app that I buy (and delete last years version)? Or do I upgrade from inside the existing app somehow? Sorry not in front of iPhone at the moment...
 
anthonymoody said:
I agree this app is worth every penny. However, a question. What's the purchase process? Is the 2010 version a completely new app that I buy (and delete last years version)? Or do I upgrade from inside the existing app somehow? Sorry not in front of iPhone at the moment...
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completely new. buy the app from app store on your phone or in iTunes, say goodbye to your old friend At Bat 2009.
 
bagelche said:
completely new. buy the app from app store on your phone or in iTunes, say goodbye to your old friend At Bat 2009.
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You won't be able to watch or listen to any new games with At Bat 2009 BUT you can still access the video archives of the 2009 season with it so, if you have any interest in that, don't remove it from the phone just because you got 2010. They're not the same app and both can reside on the phone.
 
I'll stick with my slingbox/Tivo combo for watching Red Sox games remotely. No blackout restrictions, and I can start watching any time I want!
 
I would have to try it before paying $14.99.
If the feed was good then I would pay it.
 
kmstrs said:
I'm still mad at them from last year where I felt they used deceptive advertising. They are doing it this year again... They loudly shout that you can view live video feeds, choose home or away broadcasts, etc. but they don't bother to tell you that you can't watch the games *YOU* want to watch - you are instead stuck with only two live games shown on video that *THEY* choose each day.

Of course, if you buy their > $100 package, you can watch the games that you want to watch.
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See I didn't see this as deceptive, actually it was very clearly outlined on the app page. If you missed it then it's because you didn't read. Now I did buy the additional package to get all games, however, I believe I'll likely go the in-app purchase route this season. I'm undecided.
 
The two lives games that are shown... is it possible to watch a full replay of them later on (not condensed)?

I'm asking because I'm in the UK and will not watch many games live, but I'd be interested if I could watch the game the next morning in full.

Thanks!
 
I didn't buy this last year but, you can only get two live video games each night?

I have the DirecTV MLB Extra Innings, but for times that I am not at home at night to watch the Mets, I could spend $15 to get updates like this.

I'm debating because really, Sportacular does the job for me.
 
jglavin said:
I thought they reduced the price or made it free toward the end of the season. I guess not, which is quite a ripoff. I think they need to make it VERY clear (more so than it is) in the description that the app becomes useless when the next season starts.

That said, I will definitely be buying the app again. Live audio of my favorite team (which doesn't play near where I live) is a godsend in the car.
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Wasn't free updates for life part of the iPhone strategy that Apple announced when the App Store debuted? I thought that for any paid app you would get updates to it forever. Isn't this part of the agreement that developers sign?
 
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