Nik's Blog

Geekery, witty insights, software (of dubious quality) and more!

gadget

iPhone Users Aren't Cheapskates

I keep hearing developers complain that "iPhone users are cheapskates who won't pay for a quality application."


Most iPhone users have spent over $200 and around $100/month for a telephone. Why can't you sell a high tech piece of software to someone with a $1,500/year gadget habit?

My guess: They're too distracted by all the cheap/free gadgets they can get. If what they want is the gadget, and not productivity, that may be very hard to break through.

At the same time, there are app users like me who are more than willing to shell out for a quality piece of software. I use Jaadu VNC almost every day, and was happy to pay $25 for trouble free VNC, even though there were cheap remote control and free VNC clients available. Likewise, I paid plenty for OmniFocus on the iPhone, and for the desktop as well. I get more than $100 worth of productivity from it.

In both cases, I had a recommendation from a trusted source. OmniFocus was built by one of my favorite software houses, and was recommended by many people I'd met while exploring Kinkless GTD. Jaadu was recommended by my geek-buddy, Aaron.

Again, it's marketing outside of the app store. What does it take for your app to get that precious recommendation?
Subscribe to RSS - gadget

@inik

inik: I love Dropbox because it's indispensible on an iPhone. Was the top of the list of things I recommended to my bro. http://t.co/AnMAp1K4 >
inik: RT @alexismadrigal: Yup, @Salon cut the number of stories they post, increased their quality, and got a 40% traffic boost. http://t.co/X ... >
inik: RT @mikememoli: "The NFL: We're working on that whole brain injury thing." >
inik: I am a sucker for dog ads. Add Ponda Baba and it's like bliss. >
inik: Live stream only available to Verizon customers. Wonder how much that cost them. Anyone know? #superbowl >

Google+

I love Seth's quote at the top. I think that's my new motto.. ; )

Powered by Plu.sr
>
Griping about OS X Lion? Here's two nifty tools that replace a variety of poorly supported third party tools: Command-line and Automator access to video and audio conversion. Super easy to use, and very flexible and supports any format that Quicktime can encode/decode. (So Perian is a must-install if you want to handle DivX/3viX, etc.)

Yes, ffmpeg, Handbrake and...
>
Fix Google Reader's horrible new interface with this user script! Now it fits nicely on my MacBook's small screen. >
Happy 11/11/11 11:11:11! >
What makes this ad awesome is not the true-to-life irony, because the idea is hardly innovative, but rather the excellent execution. Reminds me a bit of that excellent Nutri-Grain spec commercial. Quick delivery, good actors, hit all the high notes. Love it. >