Hey guys. So this thing's almost ready for apple submission. The app won't be universal, so a separate iphone app will be released at a separate price. But I keep teetering back and forth on my optimal price point. My two options that I'm toying with are: $1.99 $2.99 Option 1 was my original plan, but honestly there's quite alot the app can do and $1.99 seems pretty cheap. On the other hand, the smaller screen size and slower cpu does reduce the value, and pricing an iphone app at 2.99 is pretty steep to capture the casual app-buyer market. What do you all think?
1st of all, I was a big proponent of the 1st one (iPad version) and though I have never seen it in person, it sounded very solid and worthwhile - and the general feedback was good. I think you should start by looking at that feedback (and the general performance) when considering how to price the iPhone release. This is standing alone in a market, for one thing, so you can price up a little higher in that regard. I expect it's going to lose some functionality/ease of use compared to the iPad version (for the obvious reasons) so perhaps not "worth as much" if it is seen as a Junior edition.. Overall, golden rule is that you will likely get the bulk of your sales at launch. Price highest at that point, and then knock a buck or two down (depending on where you were) after the initial surge passes. You'll never chart if it's higher-priced with an app like this (and by that I would suspect anything more than $2, sadly) but if you get visibility and word of mouth going it might be sort of steady. Like I said, and I am sure you already realize, you can only go on how the performance/reception to the iPad version went, for starters. I'll definitely pick it up, at any rate
you're probably right. I'm leaning towards $2.99 for launch. maybe charting isn't everything for this. do you think it's worth another press release? I'm leaning towards no. I'd rather save my PR's for really worthwhile mentions. thanks for the advice. I got plans for a $0.99 novelty app based off of some of the cooler of the apps features/code to try to go for charting in the entertainment category. but that's for another day.
I'd say a Press release is a must - it simply gets your app in front of more eyeballs than you ever could do on your own, in general. I don't think you are ever "using up a PR opportunity" (unless you get to the point where you are issuing them for incremental version upgrades of a single software.. maybe that's a little extreme, but you know what I am saying) Again, in the case of an app like this where it stands alone in it's field, it's definitely got that "unique" angle going for that and you absolutely should exploit that if you are concerned with getting downloads. If you're not too familiar with press releases, do a little homework (there are countless examples of good and bad ones available at the drop of a finger) and make sure it's really concise and to the point, with enough juicy information that the press should care. Absolutely make sure to send it to prmac.com or someone like that, and spam it out on your own to sites which would consider it newsworthy if they actually gave it the once-over (ars technica, wired, kotaku, gizmodo, etc) as well as the usual iPhone-centric sites. All you need is one semi-visible news source to give you some hig-level attention before the others catch on and spread the news for you - of course, that is the hardest part right there.. and here's my joke about IAP for this app - modifiers! "the Bend costs .99.. so does the Taper..."
Why don't you make it Universal and keep the price point up? I paid $3.99 for the iPad version and felt no remorse about that price point. I would have bought it for my iPhone at that price as long as I knew I could take it to my iPad. But once you go with two different versions, I'm less likely to purchase either version. Reasons: 1. I'm now confused over which one I'll find more valuable. I have my iPhone with me always, but the iPad version sounds more useful. I could use the iPhone version on my iPad, but that would suck. I'll probably end up getting whichever one goes on sale. 2. $3.99 isn't too much. $2.99 isn't too much. Depending on the features, not even $9.99 is too much. $6.98 split into two not-so-easy payments is too much. If I get your program at all, I'm only getting one. 3. Hey, this program supports both the iPad and iPhone. What a pleasant surprise! Splitting programs into versions kind of works for games. But for utility programs, you're more likely to drive customers away.
I have no idea, conceptually how this one would work universally - since I am assuming they both work significantly differently (I'd hope so, given the type of app it is). Therefore I wouldn't trounce it for not being universal.. of course, my stance is always going to be anti-universal, given that I am a developer and I abhor the notion even so, for such a unique app - given that it is 3D modeling, and no other app out there competes with this, <$10 to pay for both combined still sounds fairly cheap to me, given the perceived quality off the app and it's abilities
Worth the risk of losing sales. this isn't anyones fault but apples. Universal is a disaster IMO. Just a few reasons: can't tell if users are downloading from iphone or ipad and negative reviews from one can negatively affect the other. Because of the stark differences in how the app behaves with less screen space, it really wouldn't be fair to the iphone-only users of the app to expect them to pay $8 to use it. splitting it up is a far better alternative in my opinion. I've done universal apps before and they just totally aren't worth it from the developer standpoint. As a matter of fact, I'm so strongly against it that if apple rejects my iphone version and forces me to go universal, I just won't release the iphone one at all.
I think $2.99 for launch and then after, based on how sales are doing, you can run a second promotion or press release and announce a limited time sale or something to that effect. Hopefully this can get you two big spikes in a steady stream of sales. Good luck!!
$2.99 for sure. This is not something everyone will pick up anyway, but for those who's interested $2.99 sounds like stellar value. Production software is normally priced higher, yes, even in the App Store. Also I belive this is the kind of software that will seem more valuable to potential customers if priced slightly higher. "A 3D studio" for $0.99 sounds crap and might actually deter people from buying...
I think 2.99-4.99 would be reasonable. It's a niche product and won't sell as much as a game would. Knowing how impressed I was with the iPad version, I would be willing to pay 5$ for it to be on my phone too. Side note: One thing that I would think that neat for the future would be the inclusion of a few tutorials. A few basic instructions to build a simple model with your interface would be nice for new comers. I'm thinking simple like the few tutorials in the Maya Help section.
I understand your points and don't think they're as problematic as you might think. 1) In relation to not being able to track individual iPhone/iPad sales, I understand this is a problem for some but you can track this information (plus in much more detail) via free analytics software. Check out Flurry as a great solution. 2) True, Negative reviews from one version will reflect on both versions, but I would say you should be trying to have both versions working as well as each other. Also, you could simply say any positive reviews will reflect on both versions as well — which would turn out far more beneficial if you receive more positive reviews on the whole. 3) It's also true that you should be able to charge less for the iPhone version if you feel it offers less, but why can't you give the expensive $8 iPad customers a universal app that will work on both devices, and offer a cheaper $3 iPhone-only version?
$2.99 You can change the price anytime by logging into itunes connect. So if you see sales aren't happening the way you hope for- lower the price. Anyway, research has been done and there really isn't that much of a difference between $1.99 and $2.99 in consumer eyes.
