You Guys Are Millionaires Right?
Let’s not even get into the long debates you get into with people about whether they should buy your $1.99 app. People will spend hours researching a $2 purchase, browsing reviews, emailing the developer, checking online forums. Then they will go to a coffee shop they’ve never been before and buy a $4 coffee.
For me, it’s not that I’m unwilling to spend $2 on an app, but that I have a kind of psychological block against paying for an app that, statistically speaking, I will probably never use. My guess is that 50% of the apps I purchase only get launched once; I immediately saw that they didn’t meet my needs in some way. Probably only 10% make it past the first month. And this is after I’ve spent some time trying to make semi-informed purchases. It would probably be a more efficient use of my time to research less and buy-and-throw-away an even higher percentage of apps.
I don’t buy coffee, but I imagine the thought process there is that you’re guaranteed a warm, caffeinated beverage. It may not be great, but it will be serviceable. With an app, it’s likely that you’ll have no use for what you just purchased.
On the Mac side, most apps have trials, and I’m quick to spend $20–50 because I can see right away that the app does what I want.
