Everyone is entitled to an opinion, right? Even really bad opinions count for something, right? If anything, a horribly misguided opinion or malformed perspective can tell us much about the person giving us their opinion.
I use Tweetie on my Mac and my iPhone (arguably the best of the many Mac Twitter clients). The Mac version costs $19.95 (or, free, if you don’t mind advertising). The iPhone version of Tweetie is $2.99. Here’s the twist. The newest version, Tweetie 2.0 for iPhone will also cost $2.99. There’s no free for current Tweetie users. No upgrade fee. Just $2.99 for the newest version. Outrageous, right? Not.
Patrick of Just Another iPhone Blog:
I just can’t find a way to think of this as anything less than spitting in the face of existing Tweetie users… Offering no upgrade discount is just a slap for those who have helped make Tweetie a success… What do we call Tweetie once Tweetie 2 comes out? Tweetie 1? Tweetie Old, Abandoned Version? Tweetie For Suckers Version?
Whoa. I didn’t realize that PMS was cross gender.
I’m not sure I can get past the horribly bad taste in my mouth on this ‘no upgrade’ issue. It’s foul and I think if the decision sticks I’m more likely to delete ‘Old Useless Tweetie’ and not look at 2 at all.
Assuming that Patrick meant what he wrote, and his perspective isn’t just typical blog flame bait, here’s a major problem with this kind of thinking. Other than being boorishly insensitive, ludicrously cheap, and obviously ignorant. The price differential—going from Tweetie 1.x to Tweetie 2 at $2.99—isn’t worth an extra liner pad in my panties. Again:
I just can’t find a way to think of this as anything less than spitting in the face of existing Tweetie users.
Maybe, just maybe, Tweetie’s developers need to make a buck to stay in business. After all, if Tweetie for the Mac is $19.95, and Tweetie for the iPhone is $2.99, the differential means they need a lot more customers to make the same revenue, and it’s revenue that must cover ongoing costs to make a profit.
$2.99 isn’t worth the effort required to avoid soiling your panties on those special days of the month, Patrick.
What is? How about Bento, the popular FileMaker-like database app for Mac and iPhone? The first version was $49 and arrived less than two years ago. Bento 2 came last year. Bento 3 came out yesterday.
How much is that Bento doggie in the window? $49. Upgrade? Get a $20 instant rebate if you upgrade to Bento 3 through the FileMaker Online Store. Or, $29 for what? New features or bug fixes?
Bento 3 is surprisingly similar to Bento 2 but costs the same, or $29 more for the upgrade. I like Bento. I don’t like a $29 annual tax for the privilege of using a few more features (10 new templates, shared libraries, iPhoto integration—anything else?).
I’m more inclined to get upset at an annual $29 fee for use than I am $2.99.