I think this is all good and interesting data, and I respect the makers
of Tap Tap See for being so open, but this is way more information than
I have when I buy a main stream product. Usually I compare prices and
decide whether to buy a particular product based on whether I think it's
worth it to me or not and whether I think I'm getting the best deal I
can. I have no idea how much it costs Apple to manufacture an iPhone,
although given how wealthy Apple is, I assume they get a pretty good
markup on their products. I don't research their manufacturing costs or
accuse them of price gouging. I think manufacturers of blindness related
products have a right to set a price for their product or service, and
can even stand to make a profit without engaging in price gouging. I
also think blind customers can choose to pass on a product or a service
without being free loaders.
I realize the blindness community is a bit different though. The market
is much smaller. There are fewer products to choose from and many of the
products are developed with grants, so this kind of openness and
discussion is good, but let's not forget that we're having this
discussion in a capitalist economy.
On 11/10/2013 03:44 PM, David Chittenden wrote:
There are two differences between this app and the Seeing Eye app.
First, this app has more substantial ongoing costs per image. The
developer needs to pay someone every time an image is identified. If
they are using the source I learned of a couple years ago, their cost
is somewhere between 1.5 and 3.5 cents per image. However, no matter
what the source, they are paying, have paid this entire time, and
donated their services as a charity to the blind users. They expected
certain usage, and were caught out by the very high demand for which
their budget did not count on.
The Seeing Eye app's development, on the other hand, was funded by the
Seeing Eye. The company pays an annual subscription to access the
internet map database which they use. Most of their POI sources are
free. Therefore, they are earning a high premium for their service,
which does not provide much more than the standard GPS navigation app.
Their audio description algorithm is a one-time, fairly high
developmental cost, but is most likely not as significant of an
ongoing cost.
Second, and illustrated by the above, TapTapSee generated good will
amongst the community by providing their service for free, at obvious
ongoing cost to them, without making this fact well-known. I only
learned how much it was costing them at the beginning of last year
because I found their KickStarter campaign where they published the
fact, to the funding development community, as part of the reason they
were seeking funding support for development costs for what was going
to be a free app.
The developer of The Seeing Eye App, on the other hand, used to charge
$1500 for its specialised GPS navigation apps and programs, with
annual update fees that cost a couple hundred dollars. When they put
out their LookAround app, they charged three times what other apps of
its type do, and provided significantly less information in many
areas, but they capitalised on the fact that they develop specialised
GPS apps to help the blind. As I recall, this was in their App Store
description. After much fan-fair touting the fact that The Seeing Eye
was significantly funding their development costs, they put The Seeing
Eye app out for a higher cost than any of the apps which place maps
locally on the iPhone, for an app that requires using internet-based
maps. Considering that these maps are provided free or very low cost
by other companies, The Seeing Eye developer is banking on their name
in the specialised field to charge as much as they can get away with
(perception of gouging the market).
I personally do not believe the Seeing Eye is gouging the market that
much, though I do believe their prices are significantly more than
necessary for them to remain viable. However, I do not perceive their
add-on algorithms as significant enough of a difference above the
standard accessible GPS navigation app. I know this is partially do to
the sour taste left in my mouth from the LookAround experience.
David Chittenden, MSc, MRCAA
Email: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
Mobile: +64 21 2288 288
Sent from my iPhone
On 11 Nov 2013, at 2:35, "Peter Logan" <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
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
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