Something has be come startling clear recently when it comes to software. The old models are lying shattered on the ground and we need to educate users on the new models to stem anger for paid for upgrades from small developers.
Let’s have a little bit of background. For as long as there has been software that people have purchased, it has been accepted as a product. Software as a commodity has been so standard, that no one has ever batted an eyelash, as the vast majority of people making the software made huge amounts of money. Microsoft got to where it is today by selling licences to it’s operating system and to it’s key product, Office.
Apple have always made their money with the combined sale of hardware and software. So when the first iPhone launched alongside the iPod touch, with iPhone OS 1 everyone knew the model. When iPhone OS 2 landed and was a free update to iPhone users, but a paid for upgrade on the iPod Touch, the vast majority of people accepted this. iPhone OS 2 brought with it the App Store and was a place to buy software for your devices.
The App Store made buying software so easy, it became habit instantly. There was a strange thing though. Free apps were fine, but when you were asked to pay, for many users, it was a cause to halt an evaluate the purchase. I vividly remember sitting with a friend after dinner over a drink discussing a new App and trying to decide if it was worth the £1.49 ($2.40).
After 20 minutes of back and forth, looking at reviews, screen shots and alternatives, I stopped our conversation. As I put my iPhone down, took a sip of my drink and said “Dave. We’ve just spent 20 plus minutes discussing the merits of purchasing a piece of software for £1.49, when both of us have in the past signed off purchases for software for thousands of Pounds!”. We chuckled and both proceeded to buy the app.
This was the first real sign to me of the software world changing. Fast forward 4 years and last week there was some outcry that TweetBot 3 was going to require users to pay for this new version to fully support iOS 7.
The words ‘should have just been an upgrade’ have rattled along under the screen break in the reviews section of this fantastic application. This comment comes from the type of people that have no idea what level of work goes in to creating a genuinely useful and functional thing. Let alone, rebuilding it for a completely new visual platform.
It doesn’t help the cause when in the same week, Apple go and make their Operating System a free upgrade for all users (with supported hardware), make their productivity suit free to all and their lifestyle software free as well. Come forward a week and we learn that doing so is going to eat in to Apple’s profits to the tone of $900 Million. Apple are more than able to absorb this cost and in doing so, they make their products, services and software a stickier ecosystem.
So where does this leave us? As users, it’s a bit confusing. Now that software upgrades will be free from the big companies, why wont the software I use on their devices be freely upgraded too? The answer is, because large companies can absorb this cost and independent developers can not.
There are two main types of apps. Independent and supported.
Independent apps tend to come from small teams and Start-ups and provide a service or do something that drives engagement. These apps survive as longs as the company does and they make money some how (sales, advertising, etc…). Apps like Reeder and TweetBot.
The second is the supported app. These tend to be from larger companies, tied to a pre-existing service and business model. Such as Facebook, Twitter. They need there apps to have more people use their services and thus drive revenue from other sources.
If you want the apps you like and love, you need to pay for them and support them. Most of the time, they are made by people like you and are designed to make some part of your life easier. Some developers just want more and more users, so that they can then become financially valuable and be sold, see example: Instagram.
