Hacker News Reader

Comment by ot | Hacker News Reader

From the page [emphasis mine]

> Why does news:yc cost $4.99? Isn't that too much for something already available online? Yes, it probably is. This is my first app in the App Store. I've never done this kind of pricing before, and I probably got it wrong. However, I do want to make sure anyone who wants to use news:yc can: feel free to build it from source or pirate it if you don't want to pay.

Love this. I really wish this candor was the rule, not the exception. I'm buying the app right away.

View on HN

Actually, I think there'd be less bitching about the price if he removed the paragraph.

Many things that are sold can be had for free if you're willing to put in the effort, but it's a poor salesman who starts his pitch by saying "You really don't need to pay me".

I actually added that after most of the price discussion (which now seems to have been voted to the bottom of the thread). I would really like to be able to say "pay as much as you want", but unfortunately the App Store doesn't support that. Overall, my goal is not to make a ton of money here. I just want to make as much as people want to give me, with other ways to get it if I don't.

(Again, though, I'm new to this: I'll definitely take your advice for the future, if I do another "open source but paid" app.)

I wonder: would Apple allow you to submit a few different copies of the app, with different prices?

No. Not unless they had different feature sets.

They did at least once. I used to use an App called Zuginfo which was splitted into a normal free and a "Donation" version which was advertised to further development. (This app by an Indie was later killed by Deutsche Bahn.)

> I just want to make as much as people want to give me

The usual way to do this is to release the app for free and put a (PayPal) donate button on your page...

Maybe you could do this with in-app purchases. Make the app free and include different items that people can buy for different prices. I'm not sure what that items should be, but I'm sure you can figure out something.

Lol... Oh well, in that case, I guess I'll fall back on the trusted Reddit meme:

Haters will be hatin'.

Very true although I think in spirit with the general tune around HN it might make sense to say "Yes but pay $4.99 if you want me to sustain development" which I think is reasonable (and something I need to do more of).

Reply on news.ycombinator.com