37signals Are Idiots...

530 words and this article reaches no conclusions at all. What is the point here? "37signals are idiots. Or maybe not. But they're hypocrites because sometimes they change their plans. Or, well, they might be hypocrites or they might just be intelligent and roll with the punches. I dunno. I bet they make a lot of money."

Is this some literary form I'm unfamiliar with, where you make a bunch of aggressive statements and then handwave them?

tl;dr version: Draft is too expensive and has too few features. But wait, Draft may sell well anyway, maybe they aren't idiotic after all.

Rich, successful idiots.

They claim to have wanted a tool that did this and nothing more.

I'm guessing they realized if they did a little more work they could put it up for sale and gain another (mostly) passive income stream. Yes, it will do better than it would have otherwise due to their established audience. They're smart enough to leverage this to their benefit. Nobody is forced to buy it or even read about it beyond seeing a headline flying by.

It seems consistent with the same strategy they applied successfully in the past to profit from Basecamp and Rails: both were leftovers or spinoffs of what was originally their core business, consulting.

(shrug)

Did someone removed this from the main page?... so very strange... I guess it may have been flagged by several users. :\

Rule of thumb in pricing: if someone complains that your prices are too high, they are not your target market.

I think some people see the words "iPad", "new" and "app" together and expect something novel.

If it is useful to some Campfire users then it is a success for them.

As for the price, I think it's fine. I think most app prices are too low, especially considering you're getting free upgrades.

No, the people who buy their app are "idiots". Either way 37signals makes money from glorified simplicity, which is both a marketing trick and a good idea.

1. Please allow comments on your blog other than having to login with Facebook or Google

2. Please handle multi-lines in comments properly

Maybe you disagree with 37Signals, but do you have to flat out insult them?

Do you have any sort of belief in karma or maybe just belief in not being completely, flat out, blatantly rude?

Did you stop to think maybe their customers want this or asked for it?