[Spirit FM] mikereidis:
I'm at the end of another long, long 13+ hour working day, so no mega-post this morning. EDIT, LOL it did get at least kilo-post once I started but no 2 dozen URLs yet. :)

Reader's digest version:

My take on CNet article "We're not paying enough for apps":

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?p=23568502&highlight=pricing

At least one Play reviewer ticked off at the reduction in features of the new Free app laughed at that one. IMO it's easy to laugh and criticize. Creating good apps and making even a meagre living at it is much harder.

Anytime someone criticizes my pricing I restate my "make me an offer" position. None of those people ever took me up on it. Funny that. I think they just like to complain and want it free.

And probably pirate it IMO. And they feel justified because I'm a "greedy dev" ripping them off somehow. Seriously, I think some Play reviewers thought I was working for Google or AT&T or something and they got angry at me for not making their Atrix or US GS2 work, when those phones are impossible for FM.

Spirit is a niche app. Customers are mostly custom ROM users. Stock device users use their free manufacturer app for the most part.

You see quite a few companies and devs competing for streaming music apps. Do you see any other commercial Android FM app ? AFAICT, mine is the only one. Even on other platforms, Windows Phone, iPhone, Blackberry. Any commercial apps ? If there are I don't think they're doing particularly well.

Some guy (in Asia ?) was trying to do an FM app for Windows Mobile a few years back. He, and his code disappeared.

I'm determined to keep Spirit alive. The only way to do that is for me to make a live-able income. IMO that benefits my customers, and free users, in the long run.

Some people seem to think free or cheap apps are a human right. And at my expense ? That's ridiculous of course.

My pricing experiments indicate my income is higher at $10 for Unlocked than at $1, $2, $3, $4, $5, $6, $8. I've never gone higher than $10 because I feel it's a pyschological point at which too many people will think I'm a "greedy dev".

There will always be people who think I'm a "greedy dev", just like no matter what some people will always say the UI sucks. I live in the capital city area of Canada and the costs of living are "1st world".

A number of people seem to have this idea that there is a "fair price" for an app. If it's not free, they think it should be $1 or $2. Just because. Just because that sounds right to them.

As stated in my Google Play app description (or one of my intros ? I forget right now and it's late.):

Spirit isn't a throwaway game app that you play for a few days. Customers (around 2000 now I think) tend to be people who listen to radio for many hours a week, some for many hours a day.

One penny a day adds up to over $10 over 3 years. How much do data plans for streaming cost ? Or a single hardware FM radio or earphones or a Starbucks coffee or Big Mac meal by comparison ? The app runs on many phones and on many ROMs. Own 6 phones ? One license covers them all. Own 6 phones over 10 years ? Same thing. Switching ROMs ? Spirit is still likely to work for you.

If/as I keep Spirit going, support for new phones will be added as popularity dictates.

I've also been "pleasantly" surprised to find that Spirit is not alone among useful apps from other independent devs that are in the area of $10. Not every app is in the $1-$5 range.

I've done a TON of reverse engineering to get Spirit where it is over more than a year and more than 4000 hours of work. All the phone manufacturer API documents are secret (Samsung, HTC, Motorola, etc.). Also secret are the docs for the major FM chip companies: Broadcom and TI. And add many audio chips to the secret list.

Frankly, I think any "normal dev" would be "crazy" to try and do what I'm doing. LOL.

Google said 2 years ago they wouldn't do FM due to lack of developer resources. And I'm one person with no huge corporation behind me.

So,... I think I deserve the "minimum livable income" I've been making the last month. And I hope I can raise my income to at least near what I can make working for industry. For the soul sucking corporations that try to rip off you, I and everybody in every way they can, every day.

Then I'll be able to pay people to do my oil changes for me again. And get a few more hours of development in, without sacrificing my family life too much.

My "minimum livable income" is only livable, with a house and the 2 cars we need here and 2 children, because our debt is only about 20% of our home value and my wife has a half-time teaching job at which she makes roughly the same as I do now.

And now that I think about it, I put about 100 hours a week into this (ie 80+, 80 is the minimum), which makes my hourly wage about 20% of hers and a bit below the legal minimum sub poverty level wage here. I'm not asking anyone to cry for me; I'm happy with this work and hoping/expecting to do better. I just need to dispel any notion that I'm a "greedy dev".

If I ever get to industry levels of income, I'll be happy to consider revamping my pricing strategies. Until then, the demand and supply lines merge at a certain point on the graph to indicate maximum income.

And for now, maximum income does not mean "greedy dev" IMHO. It means a dev who want to keep his app moving forward indefinitely.

Oh, and as far as price elasticity goes I saw at least one Play comment where the person asked why I didn't lower the price if my total income was almost the same across a wide range of prices.

My reason is as stated in the CNet article. More customers = more costs/more support. I'd prefer to provide a quality product I have time to keep developing, and quality support, than to be a dev who has no time to speak to anyone.

Look at this thread. Almost half of posts are mine. And many lengthy like this. Not like some other threads where the devs hardly ever show up. Too many customers mean I have no time and I disappear from public sight and ignore too many emails.

That's good for now. :)