In this message, I will address the business reasons why the one-time fee does not work in the tiny market.
When one's customer base is a maximum of only one out of every one thousand customers, you are working with very small numbers. In the normal one-time fee for continuous expenditure services, the company figures out its ongoing support costs. In the examples brought up in the message I am replying to, these costs include further development, streaming, and other related costs. In this case, the business knows what these costs will be, and knows how many customers it needs to bring on per month. As for the sports broadcasting apps, their model is an annual fee model. The subscriber pays each year for a season pass to listen to all games. Next year, the subscriber must purchase a new app, or must pay a new yearly fee (depending on the sports app). Other apps sell advertising and make money based on the types of customers they have. Advertising companies pay good money to target their ads to specific market segments. Apps that target large market segments receive decent amounts of money per month from new purchasers of their apps. In many cases, initial development and set-up costs may have been high, but continuing and support costs are significantly lower, so they can easily afford a low, one-time fee whilst providing continuing service. That said, many apps are switching to in-app time-based purchasing models, or selling new apps and stop supporting / updating the older version after one to two years, because they are finding the continuing support to be too much of a drain on their available resources. David Chittenden, MSc, MRCAA Email: [email protected] Mobile: +64 21 2288 288 Sent from my iPhone > On 11 Nov 2013, at 7:03, Christopher Chaltain <[email protected]> wrote: > > There are plenty of business models where paying a one time fee goes towards > supporting an ongoing service. I paid a one time fee for DVD Audio Extractor > and now I get updates and support for life. You can purchase TiVo for life > with a one time fee. I paid a one time fee for my iPhone and now I get > updates to IOS for no charge. I don't use this MLB app, but I'm not sure > there aren't ongoing costs, such as support, upgrades, licensing fees and so > on. > > I suspect that it's a combination of the high cost of image recognition > combined with the relatively low volume of sales such an app targeted at the > blind would generate. > >> On 11/10/2013 11:14 AM, Steve wrote: >> I wish someone would put a stop to this insanity. This is a free market, >> you folks have a choice. Pay the price, or don't use a very useful app. >> Only a few people seem to understand that the developer has to pay the >> people that recognize the images on a per-image basis. Therefore, paying a >> one=-time fee for the app has nothing to do with a reasonable pricing model >> in this case. It is not the same as paying for a season's access on MLB >> where there are no ongoing costs once you pay for the app. >> >> Also, I take issue with another comment about other developers taking the >> blind into consideration in their image recognition program. As far as I >> can tell, that particular program requires the assistance of a sighted >> person to set up a database, so this is in no way at all comparable to what >> Tap Tap See is doing. >> >> Of course, your other option is VizWiz, but it is all dependent on the type >> of quality response you get and how long you are willing to wait before >> getting a response from volunteers. >> >> As economist Milton Friedman famously said "There ain't no such thing as a >> free lunch". >> >> Personally, I don't use Tap Tap See that often, so I am going to be paying >> for 100 pictures because it is responsive and generally accurate. I do hope >> they can add either some checkboxes or a textbox to help us tailor the >> response we get from the Terks. >> >> Steve >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: Peter Logan >> To: Vi Phone >> Sent: Sunday, November 10, 2013 8:35 AM >> Subject: Tap Tap See >> >> It saddens me that the developers have decided to move to what I consider to >> be price gouging, just my opinion. It also amazes me that this community >> doesn’t seem to mind this time. However, wen the Seeing Eye GPS came out >> with their model many on this list were outraged. >> >> Am I in no way asking for something to be free, however if you are a heavy >> user of the product and go with the monthly subscription, you will be paying >> $120/year, as far as I know that would be the highest price of any blindness >> specific app. I would have rather they just go with a $4.99 or even $6.99 >> price for the app and call it good. My most used app, MLB At Bat only cost >> $19.99/year and I use that multiple times every day. I would have rather >> seen a yearly subscription in that range. >> >> Hopefully they will reconsider the pricing model in the future. It is an >> awesome product, however I believe it could be priced better. >> >> Thanks for listening. >> >> >> Peter >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VIPhone" >> Google Group. >> >> Post a new message to VIPhone by emailing [email protected]. >> >> Search and view the VIPhone archives by visiting >> http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/. >> >> Reach the VIPhone owner and moderators by emailing >> [email protected]. >> >> Unsubscribe and leave VIPhone by emailing >> [email protected]. >> >> More VIPhone group options can be found by visiting >> http://groups.google.com/group/viphone?hl=en. >> --- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "VIPhone" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VIPhone" >> Google Group. >> >> Post a new message to VIPhone by emailing [email protected]. >> >> Search and view the VIPhone archives by visiting >> http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/. >> >> Reach the VIPhone owner and moderators by emailing >> [email protected]. >> >> Unsubscribe and leave VIPhone by emailing >> [email protected]. >> >> More VIPhone group options can be found by visiting >> http://groups.google.com/group/viphone?hl=en. >> --- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "VIPhone" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > -- > Christopher (CJ) > chaltain at Gmail > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VIPhone" Google > Group. > > Post a new message to VIPhone by emailing [email protected]. > > Search and view the VIPhone archives by visiting > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/. > > Reach the VIPhone owner and moderators by emailing > [email protected]. > > Unsubscribe and leave VIPhone by emailing > [email protected]. > > More VIPhone group options can be found by visiting > http://groups.google.com/group/viphone?hl=en. > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "VIPhone" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VIPhone" Google Group. Post a new message to VIPhone by emailing [email protected]. Search and view the VIPhone archives by visiting http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/. Reach the VIPhone owner and moderators by emailing [email protected]. Unsubscribe and leave VIPhone by emailing [email protected]. More VIPhone group options can be found by visiting http://groups.google.com/group/viphone?hl=en. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "VIPhone" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
