App monetisation

twopointfour1980

Hi everyone

Quick question/thinking out loud - do you have a preference for how apps are monetised? i.e. limited use then pay one-time fee for full software, free but adverts during app, limited use then subscription based.

I am developing an app that I would like to make money from. Whether I will depends on if it's any good of course!

I'm a bit old school in that I used to believe that you should be able to pay for software and then keep it but I'm also aware that these days, software requires maintenance to keep updated perhaps in ways that it didn't before phones/internet etc. so there is an ongoing cost to keep it running on older and newer devices. I can see the sense in subscriptions models in this case and could see the attraction of having a business model like this with full use then being opened up. By full use, I mean that most features would be accessible in the free mode but there would be limited access which would only allow users to use a certain feature once at any one time. 

Adverts are okay I guess but this is my most least favoured as I think it interrupts use and cheapens the product although targeted brand advertising could be advantageous if it were focused and relevant.

Further complication is that multiple users would also be an option/is one of the selling points - this is where I'm thinking limited access being 1 user and then multiple users being paid for via one-time payment or subscription. 
 
The balancing act I'm having in my head is that free apps generally have a larger uptake so I think there needs to be that availability. If the consumer then likes it, then paying for the app or subscribing would unlock all the features. 

Pricing wise, I'm thinking that the app may cost somewhere around £5 pounds a month on subscription if that helps.

More of a ramble i know but any discussion welcome.
Thanks

Neil_Jones

Please bear in mind that if you charge for your app and there is a free alternative, it may be obvious what people may choose given half the chance.  Unless your app offers something the free doesn't do (if it sings, dances, does the dishes and can limbo, so much the better)...

Unless your app is the best thing since sliced bread and is seen by others to be the best thing since sliced bread that people say is worth to pay for, I'd take any monthly subscriptions as a bonus rather than a given at this time.

PHK

NO to subscriptions unless there is an ongoing backhround cost (eg server costs) We've all been bitten toomany times by developers who charge a monthly fee but don't continuously add new features. 

Yes to a free app where you can pay extra for feature packs as you the developer add new features.

forgotmyname

Susbscriptions a big NO.   If I buy something then I want to own it.  Whether you do updates that are included in that price or

charge for updates but the App must still work exactly what I paid for and not pester me for updates.

I bought an App that uses a Bluetooth Dongle and the maker said free updates. But they began to sneak in little kill switch

where the connection to Dongles not supplied by them began to randomly get worse and worse.  But using a previous version

of the App worked fine. Their positive reviews plummeted to where most now state does not work and to avoid because the

developer cannot be trusted.

Adverts, if your controling them OK. But if you pass the adverts out to a 3rd party then you never know how intrusive they

can get and what is being advertised.  Make the App free with limited functionality so people can test it and then have a paid version.

Free or Lite version and a Premium version?  That is what I liked about the App I mentioned, trial version that connected to the

dongle to show that it will work and just a small amount of data passed between them where the premium version had all

the options and features.