Popular Newton Email App for iOS and Mac Shutting Down in September

[MacRumors]

Newton, a popular email service for iOS and Mac, is shutting down on September 25, the company's founder Rohit Nadhani announced today.

Newton is a subscription-based app that costs $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year, a business model that did not end up being successful. Nadhani says that the company explored "various business models" but wasn't able to "successfully figure out profitability & growth over the long term."

According to Nadhani, the market for premium consumer mail apps is "not big enough" and faces competition from high-quality free apps from Google, Microsoft, and Apple. "We put up a hard and honest fight," wrote Nadhani. "But it was not enough to overcome the bundling and platform default advantages enjoyed by the large tech companies."

Starting today, Newton is disabling new sign-ups and will not be renewing monthly subscriptions. Customers who paid for an annual subscription will also be refunded on a pro-rata basis, with Newton to offer instructions on claiming a refund no later than September 18.

CloudMagic, Newton's parent company, will continue to operate and will be focusing on "new and innovative products."

Article Link: Popular Newton Email App for iOS and Mac Shutting Down in September

 

[Risco]

I wonder if the world's first "trillion dollar company" has secretly purchased their tech?

 

[adamjackson]

I think $100 is a fair price to charge for a year of this but they're going up against far cheaper prices from larger companies. What a shame really.

 

[PickUrPoison]

No matter how good it was, $9.99/month was just too expensive.

 

[coolfactor]

I'd like to know what defines a "premium consumer mail app"? Did Newton bring something to the table that other mail apps don't have, or were they just hoping to sucker people into spending $10 a month for a mail app?

 

[theFly]

"Popular"? Apparently not popular enough. I've seen the app but never been interested enough to pay the subscription fee as it didn't seem to add enough value for any bit of money over free competitors like Airmail or Spark or Apple Mail. I suspect, to be successful, one will have to radically rethink how you handle mail.

 

[mattyj2001]

I wonder if the world's first "trillion dollar company" has secretly purchased their tech?

What would 'email tech' be?

 

[kissmo]

I loved the app until they went on subscription and then I dropped it.
It was nice but not THAT NICE to be worth the price.

I do get there is a need to have profits so I am not commenting. But I cannot afford 100 USD/year on an email client.

 

[Dranix]

100$ each year for a mail client is insane. Why do some developers lose any common sense when they start pricing their products?

 

[mattyj2001]

I loved the app until they went on subscription and then I dropped it.
It was nice but not THAT NICE to be worth the price.

I do get there is a need to have profits so I am not commenting. But I cannot afford 100 USD/year on an email client.

I was thinking it would be a neat experiment for them to sell the app for one up-front fee outright and see what kind of traction they get. Software subscriptions are a huge turn off to a lot of people. I bet they could get a lot more revenue (maybe) if they just sold each major revision of the app for a few bucks.

 

[LeeTom]

Email clients not profitable? That's crazy... I wonder if... nah, I'm going to go ahead and start my DVD rental store...

 

[Fall Under Cerulean Kites]

Good riddance. I was an early user of their platform, back when it was called CloudMagic. It was a good concept, but the developer never expanded beyond the initial integrations. The nail in the coffin was an overnight change to a subscription-only based solution at $50 / yr. Even if the app had been worth the annual price (it was not), the way the developer went about it proved how inept they were at business. It was a “immediately pay $50 or lose all access to our app.” That made it simple for me. Delete!

 

[lexvo]

For me, $100 a year is too much for an e-mail app. With so many free/cheaper apps, what were they thinking?

 

[Jago]

100$ each year for a mail client is insane. Why do some developers lose any common sense when they start pricing their products?

Depends on how much and how you are using the client. I know people who wouldn’t bat at eye paying 1000$ a year for an email client if it offered something compelling.

 

[ignatius345]

Newton, an apparently not that popular email service

fixed this
[doublepost=1533671336][/doublepost]

Depends on how much and how you are using the client. I know people who wouldn’t bat at eye paying 1000$ a year for an email client if it offered something compelling.

Sure, but as the price goes up you get fewer and fewer people who will pay it. And as the price goes down, you potentially have more and more people who might pay it. They apparently failed to find the sweet spot for pricing -- $100/year clearly wasn't it.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I really like the ability to know when a email has been read by the recipient. Anyone else offer that?

I was a subscriber at $39 a year. Really liked the app.

 

[Aston441]

It was a great app when it was free. It was best of all of them.

I would have paid $10 one time. Once.

 

[gene731]

Email clients not profitable? That's crazy... I wonder if... nah, I'm going to go ahead and start my DVD rental store...

I have heard of a tech called VCR but haven’t checked into it. There will be VHS rental stores I have heard. That may or may not put a damper on your DVD rental business

 

[4487549]

Not sure what business model that charges $100/year for a crap email client is successful.

 

[Superhai]

I have heard of a tech called VCR but haven’t checked into it. There will be VHS rental stores I have heard. That may or may not put a damper on your DVD rental business

Oh, i have the killer idea of a LaserDisc movie sale, with brick and mortar outlets in each city and town! That will destroy both of you! Cannot fail!

 

[GIZBUG]

This announcement shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone....but sadly it does. Especially the COMPANY itself (who would think people wouldn't buy our product for $100+ / yr subscription?!?!?!)

 

[rbailerum1]

Good riddance. I was an early user of their platform, back when it was called CloudMagic. It was a good concept, but the developer never expanded beyond the initial integrations. The nail in the coffin was an overnight change to a subscription-only based solution at $50 / yr. Even if the app had been worth the annual price (it was not), the way the developer went about it proved how inept they were at business. It was a “immediately pay $50 or lose all access to our app.” That made it simple for me. Delete!

Yes, yes, yes, yes and yes. I’m still pissed about this (well, not really, but the memory of it is still there!). Had the developer simply given us a heads up, or offered it’s loyal customers a discount, or done something to show that going from free to $100 a year was a giant step for customers, I would have stayed and I would’ve paid the money. But because they just did it overnight without warning, it was just really really bad business. I left despite loving the app.

 

[joeblow7777]

I loved this app before they started charging for its best features, then I switched to Spark, which is actually better, and free.

 

[Crow KC]

100$ each year for a mail client is insane. Why do some developers lose any common sense when they start pricing their products?

Developers usually don't set the price - corporate executives, marketing folks, and salespeople (you know, all the real brains of organizations) work that out. It's a shame that the developers of this app now have to find something new to work on due to failures on the parts of those people. If I worked for CloudMagic, I'd throw in the towel and find a new job rather than continuing to work on "new and innovative" products to be mismanaged by the same people. As the old adage goes - fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me...

 

[KarimLeVallois]

I really like the ability to know when a email has been read by the recipient. Anyone else offer that?

I was a subscriber at $39 a year. Really liked the app.

Same, I’m surprised and a bit gutted to be honest! I love the read receipts and haven’t found anything as good for that.