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Software / Internet — Comments Off on Mobile App Pricing
21
Aug 09

Mobile App Pricing

I read an article today about Microsoft supporting a premium app model for its own version of the iPhone app store. Basically, they want to avoid a race to the bottom where there is so much competition for users that app developers price their products at very low prices to capture sales. The problem, which is not a problem at all for consumers, is that this encourages everyone else to lower their prices as well. Since you do not want to be the only $10 app when everyone else is $1.

Trying to just introduce something anti-competitive like arbitrary price controls will not work, for a few reasons.

For one, the cost of distribution is zero. The cost for entering the application market is effectively zero. You can market your application at any price you wish. So, if you cannot demonstrate effective value for your price, that is your responsibility. No consumer owes you a certain price, especially with relation to digital goods for which there is no necessary ongoing cost following development.

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Business / General / Technology — 2 Comments
06
Dec 06

Blackberry 8800: Duh… make two different models

The Blackberry is the best smartphone currently available. Period. If you’ve ever used a Treo, Motorola Q, and a Blackberry, you know this. There’s no point in even debating it. That being said, there are a few things that have been missing from the Blackberry that everyone else has, like a built-in camera, for example. There’s a reason for this, however. Since Blackberry is the dominant platform among big business and government they’ve been reluctant to include anything that could compromise security or even create this perception…like a built-in camera or removable storage.

One of the biggest selling points for the Blackberry is that it’s an integrated hardware-software solution. In other words, Research in Motion develops both the hardware and the software, rather than just making the device you could run Windows Mobile on a la the Motorola Q. This makes the Blackberry very stable and usable. Another cool thing about the Blackberry from the standpoint of large organizations is that they can be remotely wiped (like if you lost it) and each functional piece of the device can be locked down by the admin. In some organizations, you might disable web browsing or copy/pasting, for example. Even though each piece can be locked down, Blackberry couldn’t just release an enterprise-level version that came ONLY with a camera as they did with the prosumer-targeted Pearl. This could potentially alienate large, security-conscious customers who want mobile email, but don’t want anyone taking photos and leaking stuff they shouldn’t. So, with the Blackberry 8800 slated for Spring 2007 release they came up with the perfect solution: make two models of the same device. One with a camera, one without. Genius!

This makes me very glad since I want both a camera and the full-qwerty keyboard available on the 8800. And as someone who owns a few shares of RIMM, I also don’t want them to drive off large government contracts.

As an aside, I have to say that RIMM’s management has really been doing a great job. They’re crushing the competition and releasing great products.