With me I do create software that I myself use as my health is not the best
and with that in mind I figure I know the health care market as I am an
'end-user' of my own software.
That is the one area I am having troubles with is how to price my software
to be fare to all those that have limited incomes but need a really good
software program to aid in there daily medical health needs.
I myself need money as I am falling deeper and deeper in debt and I see no
way out, as my Disability income is very limited and my medications are
eating me alive in costs. But then I think if I am having troubles... so
are many others so how do I make money when I know many out there are in the
same boat as I am in.
The only thing I can think of is offer a package deal with added goodies to
make the purchase of the software mean something. Offer a download version
that is fully functional but limited in the amount of users it can handle,
then offer an Unlimited user version for purchase. This way they can try
out the software for a single person, but if they need it for them and there
spouse, then they can purchase the unlimited version plus added bonus as
printed manual and CD.
But, then comes the cost of producing the package and then once again making
the profits very little as the cost of creating a package now increases the
costs over the free download version.
That's life...
Jonathon
----- Original Message -----
From: "Phil M" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "REALbasic NUG" <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, February 16, 2006 12:56 PM
Subject: Re: [OT] Pricing your killer app
On Feb 16, 2006, at 8:35 AM, Mel Patrick wrote:
I haven't found any relationship between the price and crap program/
terrible support categories. I have purchased $80 programs that turn out
to be crap but have great support, $300 programs that are great but
riddled with bugs/support issues and $7 programs that are just fantastic
in both aspects. And everything in between.
What I have noticed is that if the author tends to actually "use" the
software being sold, rather than just writing it to fill a void and make
an income, the software tends to be of better quality with less bugs.
The author seems far more receptive to fixing any problems reported not
only because they use it as well, but because they are using it, they
normally find the problems first.
Regardless of price, I try the software if I can, determine if it will
do the job I need and then see if there is alternative programs that
offer more or less of what I need. If the software is the only game in
town, then I can either afford it or I can't. If there are a number of
products that do similar things, then price is going to come into play
somewhere along the line.
I price my apps to what I think they are worth and what I think the
market could handle.
While I should take the time to develop into account, I feel that it does
not necessarily reflect the value of the software. For example, I was
talking to a software engineer that I used to work with and he said that
he wrote a small plugin that only took him a month to develop... however
that plugin was so popular and such a novel idea at the time that it
allowed him to cover his house payments for several years before the
concept was integrated into the main program. I am not sure about the
exact figures, but he was approximately making $1000+ per hour for his
development time on that project.
Why? He had a great idea and implemented it. Other ideas are not as
successful and might net only approximately $10 or even $1 per hour.
Right now I am pricing my apps at $15 per license because that is what I
think they are worth. They have not (yet) made up my development costs,
but I consider much of the development time to be educational. I
consider my apps "successful" because a) I like them, b) the customers
like them, c) the experience allows me to make better applications, d) I
improve my development-to-market cycle, e) each app expands my common
code allowing quicker development, and f) each app provides a marketing
support and structure which means that I get "free" advertising when an
existing/potential customer becomes interested in another product.
That said, I am working toward developing a couple products which I
believe to be in the $30 range (we will see)... at the same time I am
looking to developing kids educational software (logic games) which I
believe will be in the $5 range.
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