@Jay-andro I've had the same dilemma. The problem with this strategy is that I don't think there's a reasonable way to notify those who currently have your free app NOT to upgrade. When I've upgraded in the past I remember seeing a list of my installed apps and next to one of them I would see something like "upgrade now".
It occurred to me that I could "update" my free app and remove some vital features while allowing the look and feel of the app to remain. It could also point to the new paid-for app. While this works fine for NEW users it screws over those who got your app free, fair-and- square. If we did this, not only would it be super lame on our part, but I imagine that these folks would rate us down and ruin the reputation that we wanted to preserve in the first place. So... for now I just said screw it, pulled my free app and released my paid-for app. I guess those 2000 downloads and 4+ star rating mean nothing now. On Feb 20, 1:28 pm, Jay-andro <[email protected]> wrote: > Yes, the problem though is that the free app is very feature rich and > was always intended to convert to paid. I just didnt realize that > Google wont allow me to flip the price from free to paid when the paid > market launches. I had always intended for the free users to keep the > full free product if they want no upgrades, and new users and upgrade > users would pay the fee. > > I think the ambiguities of the distribution agreement and Google's > silence on these topics are causing much unnecessary FUD for > developers.... > > On Feb 20, 4:16 pm, lbcoder <[email protected]> wrote: > > > My thoughts would be that you leave the free version in the market > > indefinitely and add your trial/paid app under a different name (in > > order to take away the direct upgrade path). For example, you'll have > > "lite", "trial", and "paid", where theoretically, the trial and paid > > versions will be more feature rich than the free version. You can add > > an update to the free version with information pointing users to the > > paid version for more features. > > > On Feb 20, 3:35 pm, Jay-andro <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > I have a free app that I want to monetize now that the Market supports > > > paid apps. Is the following an ok strategy: > > > > 1. Launch new version of Free app that has additional features but is > > > a time-limited trial > > > 2. Launch the same app as a time-unlimited Paid app > > > 3. When the trial expires, the trial app points the user to the Paid > > > app on the Market for purchase > > > > In particular I'm wondering if there is anything wrong with Step 1 > > > above. I would announce loud & clear in the description that if you > > > are an existing user and want to keep the free app forever with no > > > upgrades, DONT UPGRADE because you then have to lose it or pay after > > > the trial period. Of course users doing a blanket upgrade using the > > > new RC33 feature will not see that message. > > > > Any thoughts? > > > Jay --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Discuss" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-discuss?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
