Fungi app

[Steve Bullman]

On 5/10/2018 at 17:35, Roddy said:

Hi has the ArbtalkTree Fungi app been discontinued? I can't seem to find it on the Android/google play store. Cheers

well would you believe it, they pulled it due to GDPR and the fact it doesn't have a flipping privacy policy.  What a joke

[Steve Bullman]

On 5/12/2018 at 01:16, Gary Prentice said:

I don't understand Apps, or the rewards to the app makers, but this one is a keeper.

so basically it goes like this.  If you have a viral app you make money, if you don't, and your market is niche its a loss leader from day 1

[Gary Prentice]

1 minute ago, Steve Bullman said:

so basically it goes like this.  If you have a viral app you make money, if you don't, and your market is niche its a loss leader from day 1

I'm thick, but not that thick! 

Should have elaborated my comment I suppose. On the odd occasion that I end up at an app store the number of apps that do the same thing amazes me ( and the fact that they're for pennies) 

 

I've the NHBC foundation depth calculator and the BGS one, they're like £3.99 each. How many people want to know how deep the foundations want to be because of the surrounding trees? And why are they so stupidly cheap? If you buy a specialist, niche market, book it's expensive and justifiably so. 

 

Is the app market place restricted as to what you are allowed to charge? I don't quite get that some institutions charge £25 to download a journal paper yet something like the Fungi app is 2.99 or 3.99 or whatever it is. 

 

It would be interesting to poll the previous users of the app, to see how much they would be prepared to pay to own a new version. As a decent resource, in a niche market, I'd expect and be happy to pay above the normal rate of the 'viral' market apps (most of which I download, look at, realise they don't supply what I need and then delete)

 

[Steve Bullman]

You can charge what you want for an app.  I did put the price up once and sales dropped off the chart 

[Gary Prentice]

Maybe that is how the market is. Everyone expects them to be a few quid and the mindset isn't to pay more. I'll download something and bin it, cos it's only cheap. I can only speak from buying books, I'll give a fair amount of thought before spending £100 + on one that I think is going to be useful and will be referred to a lot. But if I see it in the flesh, on a trade stand, I know what I'm getting and give it a lot less thought.

 

Apps just seem to be 'pile em high and sell them cheap', which may discourage niche apps. It's a shame. 

[Steve Bullman]

perhaps i'll have another try at £4.99 but invest a bit in advertising this time.  I did none last time other than arbtalk

 

 

[Steve Bullman]

incidentally, out of that £4.99 apple will take a cut of around £2!!  I get about £1.81 from every £2.99 app I sell...keeping in mind the initial development cost me just shy of £10k, you can do the maths 

[nepia]

I think most of this conversation has been around the Apple version; are you proposing to charge for the Android one?  £3.99, £4.99, £7.99.... for a database that takes up no space, can be held up to the specimen in the field and allows a positive ID to the client there and then the cost is pennies and incredibly good value (as well as tax deductible of course if a few quid really mean that much to someone).

 

[Mark J]

I would happily pay a tenner for the fungi app.  It's really useful.  I miss it.

[Mark Bolam]

Can I have my money back?