Salutations,
Speaking from a business point of view (I have my own programming
company.) the developer can set whatever price he wants. Or thinks that his
wares are worth.
And as you pointed out, it is only "-useful- to a small fraction of a
percentage of the Newton community". Exactly. That is why it is not $10.
You need to think about this from a business's point of view. If less
people will buy it, then it needs to have a higher price. The developer has
to make back their money. The developer has has spent money developing the
product. And the developer will spend money supporting the product. If
every Newton user will use it then the price can be lower than if only 10%
of the Newton community can use it.
And there is a flip side to that. If the developer lowers the price, more
people will buy it. But that only works to a point. Many manufacturers
will keep a price higher than normal to 'keep out' some buyers.
Example, say he sells 100 copies at $50. He has made $5000 and he has to
support 100 users. Say he drops the price to $10 and sells 500 copies. He
still has made $5000 but now he has to support 500 users. Which is the
better scenario for the developer?
And as for giving back to the community, no one here is under ANY
commitment to give back anything. People who develop software for free are
generous. And telling people to give away their is wrong. The may do it
and some may not. It is completely up to them. But no one here is entitled
to anything.
And finally, saying that someone is gouging you because you think the price
is too high is just rude. Especially saying it in a public forum. I
suspect you would get a much better response if you sent a private letter
stating your concerns politely.
As always, the best way to voice your opinion is with your wallet.
Cheers,
David
on 7/28/02 2:10 PM, Joshua Johnston at flagg_at_midmaine.com wrote:
>
> Unfortunately, it looks like Paul is going for the die-hard
> pay-any-price type, instead of really contributing to the Newton
> community. I'm sorry, but $50 for a product that'll only be truly
> -useful- to a small fraction of a percentage of the Newton community is
> price gouging, particularly when it could be a lot more useful to a lot
> more people, simply by lowering the price significantly. At $10 like
> Hiroshi's wireless driver, the ATA driver could become ubiquitous. A
> real contribution to the community.
>
> As was earlier mentioned, the price parity point between linear flash
> and ATA flash is the 128M storage point. How many Newton users have the
> desire to keep over 32M of storage, let alone 64 or 128+? At $10 or
> even $25, I'd consider getting the driver as a way to support the
> community even if I didn't need it. At $50, that's just gouging.
>
> Hiroshi's wireless driver, much more useful, costs 1/5 as much money and
> can be used by a lot more Newton owners than the ATA driver. That, in
> my opinion, is an example of someone trying to help the community.
>
> This isn't.
>
> If you think 50 EUR is a fair price, then you either have a lot of
> expendable money, you're one of the few that -somehow- manages to have a
> lot of storage requirements, or you're so blinded by fanaticism that you
> fail to see how this kind of thing really isn't very practical.
>
> I suspect a lot more money could be made with this at $10-25 instead of
> 50, as well as being a larger contribution to the community at large.
>
> How many people here -need- more than 32M? 64M? Is it worth a hundred
> bucks to get 128M in a single card instead of four?
>
> I suspect, fanatics who don't mind being gouged aside, the practical use
> numbers are miniscule.
>
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