I nodded my head when Marco Arment (Tumblr) posited there were two App Stores, but Steven Frank (Panic) has identified their origins:
The iPhone/iPod Touch, being available for both Mac and Windows, has a single source of software in the app store. That Mac AND Windows thing is key. The app store is not just a software market for Mac users. This is why it blows the minds of indie Mac developers like myself. It’s because it follows the rules of the general software market, not just the Mac software microcosm that we Mac indies enjoy.
Specifically, you have a large group of people who will download and suffer any old shit by the bucketload as long as it is free or extremely cheap. And you have 10% of people who are actually particular about software quality and are willing to pay for it.
In other words, you have the Windows market, and the Mac market, but within the app store itself. And you’d better be damn sure which one you’re targeting, and set pricing and development schedule accordingly.
I am firmly in the Mac, not Windows, camp, and that is why FatWatch is $9.99. Yes, the iPhone provides a bigger market to sell software to, but customers who care about quality will always be a minority. And that’s fine with me. To paraphrase Douglas Adams, they may only be 10% of the market, but they are clearly the top 10%.
Now I’m thinking I should raise the price of MetroCost.
Tags: FatWatch, itunes app store, MetroCost
Apple partisans are kinda loony sometimes.
There are two app stores, as described, but it’s not mac vs. windows, it’s PC vs. web. A lot of the crazy bad stuff is coming from the web world. What were stupid little web sites with an ad stuck in the corner are now stupid little 99c apps.
As someone who’s used Eatwatch on the palm since 2000, I’m interested in Fatwatch, just not at ten bucks. I only paid five bucks for Civilization Revolution, and less than that for Solebon solitare which I’ve used for over 350 hours so far.
As long as my free eatwatch keeps running, I’ll keep using that until such a time as either Fatwatch goes on sale, the price is reduced, or a competitor comes in with a cheaper port.
I’m certainly all for your freedom to charge what you want for your software, but as a potential customer I think you should know that you’ve overpriced it for at least one person. (Of course, it could be that 90% of your potential customers think that price is great, in which case I’m back to waiting for a competitor)