To be fair, I think some people might not have this problem, but from nought to fifty is quite a steep rise.
If I find a free app that does what I need, that is very nice. However, at a pricepoint of 50$, I have to think twice. Whatever I pay (I am a student) basically goes out of my monthly living allowance, which means out of my food money.
I have around 400$ (300€ really) a month for food and everything else after rent went off, 50$ is a significant part of that. I live several days off of that amount of money.
So in order to be worth spending this much money on an app, it sort of has to be essential. At that pricepoint, for me at least, the question is not "do I feel like shelling out that money that otherwise would have been used for nothing", the question that arises is "is this worth cutting a significant chunk out of my food budget for this month?".
It's a nice thing that many here don't have a problem like this, but generally saying that we just don't pay enough seems to be...arrogant.
For people, the calculation between necessity and price is necessarily different according to what they earn, but a lower price will more likely fall into more people's "impulse buy"-range.
A piece of software might be good and do the right thing, but the question for me (and maybe for the author just as well) is: is it necessary enough to warrant spending this much.
An app is more like a capital expenditure. You pay once, and never again.
You definitely should think twice, but the $400 monthly figure seems like the wrong comparison. You likely spend most of that on monthly expenses that recur.
I have the same issue of a limited budget. But for some purchases (software, books, furniture, etc.) I consider them on the basis of "does this provide X$ of value to me?"
If the item does provide enough value, then I use money I've set aside for that purpose, and I buy it.
Setting money aside for this sort of one-off value purchase is part of my monthly budget.
(Of course, I also have to weigh a $50 app purchase against other uses for my saved money.)
edited to add: I'm not saying you should be buying $50 apps of course, that is a lot of money on your budget. I'm just saying the reference point should be long term rather than monthly.
If I find a free app that does what I need, that is very nice. However, at a pricepoint of 50$, I have to think twice. Whatever I pay (I am a student) basically goes out of my monthly living allowance, which means out of my food money.
I have around 400$ (300€ really) a month for food and everything else after rent went off, 50$ is a significant part of that. I live several days off of that amount of money.
So in order to be worth spending this much money on an app, it sort of has to be essential. At that pricepoint, for me at least, the question is not "do I feel like shelling out that money that otherwise would have been used for nothing", the question that arises is "is this worth cutting a significant chunk out of my food budget for this month?".
It's a nice thing that many here don't have a problem like this, but generally saying that we just don't pay enough seems to be...arrogant.
For people, the calculation between necessity and price is necessarily different according to what they earn, but a lower price will more likely fall into more people's "impulse buy"-range.
A piece of software might be good and do the right thing, but the question for me (and maybe for the author just as well) is: is it necessary enough to warrant spending this much.