Originally Posted by
BThumme
Well, do you have a definition of what lifetime even really means? The life of an app might only be 5 years tops. I don't expect it to mean 50 years (although that would be nice). I'm not a developer, but I feel like I'd want to get as much money as fast I could from someone. There could be lots of new apps that come out in the next year or two. If I'm on a year to year subscription, I'm going to be evaluating very closely any and all alternatives as they come up. It seems like "locking" in someone for 3+years worth of a subscription fee might not be a bad idea.
Are you planning on eventually selling the app or getting bought out? If so, as I mentioned above, I'd be trying to get as much as I can as fast as I can, which is where my incentive would be to push for a longer term option. I don't know if that makes any sense at all or not, but that's what I would do. I think 3 years worth is the break even point for a lot of people/apps on this. Anything over that, I don't have confidence the app will stick around. Anything less then that, there's no incentive to buy that.
I'm just armchairing it over here.
See, this is where I'm a little different, actually very different - I want to build this into a small business that I keep for a long long long time. I have no intentions of selling or getting bought. I have all the intentions of working on the product for years and years and years. There is SO much that can be done.
You're thinking is right: getting cashflow up front is VERY helpful for building the business faster and better. This particular business, with it's insanely high and recurring operating costs is rrrrreally dicey to sell an unlimited lifetime plan.
In general, "we" (app makers) aim for 3-5x annual price for lifetime prices. I think you are spot on with 3 years being the general expected lifetime by a user. Given my costs and my plans, how many of you would buy Flighty lifetime for $199?