

Just Because You Can't Hold It, Doesn't Mean It Should Be Free - philgetzen
http://blog.philgetzen.com/post/13563493399/just-because-you-cant-hold-it-doesnt-mean-it-should

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B-Con
I think that this mentality is because people don't see their device as
consisting of various different components acquired separately, they view it
as one device with functionality that is sometimes insufficient and needs to
be supplemented. Somewhere in their head they view the purchase of their
physical device as the payment to get everything they want out of it. I think
that people often view software not as providing features but as fixing bugs.
They aren't getting the ability to do X, they're fixing the fact that their
device doesn't already do X.

Second, people seem to be more comfortable paying for something that they
invested in. Driving to a store and standing in line is physical investment
and it makes sense that the person on the other side of the counter wants
something of value for the exchange. But browsing for an app takes all of a
few seconds and once you find it.

Also, I think that people view app ownership as different from physical
ownership. The app developer reserves the right to do anything he wants with
the app in the future, so the app could change or get a UI the user likes
less. The app may have extra levels of payment inside of it for more content.
The app won't transfer from their Android device to their iOS device or to
their laptop, it's locked into that one platform. The app may be obsolete on
their next device anyway. And they can't even share it with a friend if they
wanted to.

Contrast that with coffee. You know exactly what you're getting and you can do
anything you want with it at any time. They can give it to a friend if they
want to. You get this warm fuzzy feeling that, once you hold the cup, nothing
can deprive you of the full benefit of the coffee in the way you want it and
you expect to get it.

On an intellectual level, it really __is __silly that people are so resistant
to paying for apps, but I think there are a lot of subtle factors at work in
the average user dissuading them from doing so.

------
noonespecial
The marginal cost of your copy is zero, though. The marginal cost of your
coffee is nearly the entire price.

People seem to instinctively react to this in odd ways.

~~~
mc32
I think you're right. What people fail to realize is that there are on-going
support costs (and in this case time to respond to general queries).

I think the main peeve is the way people find $4 coffee an afterthought, but
find the $2 app worthy of being disproportionately discretionary.

~~~
jack-r-abbit
OK... I'm not saying apps should be free. A dev should be able to make money
from their hard work. But you wonder why people will throw down $4 for a
coffee without a second thought yet resist a $2 app. These are my reasons.

The $4 coffee is a known. I will use it. It is compatible with my mouth. I
will like it. If there is something wrong with it, I am likely to get a
replacement.

The $2 app is unknown. It might not run well on my device. It might be lacking
some important (to me) feature. It might be broken. It might be total crap.
Outside of the return window, I am not likely to get my money back. If broken,
I have no idea when (or even if) the creator will fix it.

------
jack-r-abbit
Based solely on the title, I thought for sure this post was going to be about
piracy/anti-piracy. Glad to see it was not.

