4 ms·

I wonder whether earlier pricing ($49) was chosen to only have serious users before opening up the app to everyone. Perhaps an effective method to recruit beta

• travisjeffery 17y ago
  I highly doubt that. I think Wolfram and the folks at WRI were just off their rockers when they made that price hoping that they could get some sales at that price and then depending on the reception go from there. That or Wolfram was kidding himself into believing that people considered a WolframAlpha app was that much of a value to them rather than using the site in Safari. Since everyone balked they just reacted.
• ABrandt 17y ago
  My guess is that they were trying to skim off as much revenue from the potential customer pool as possible. If you charge $49 and only get 100 takers, you still make more than if you had 1000 paying $1.99. I know there's different thresholds to consider, but this is a fairly common pricing strategy. Remember Apple's original $599 iPhone?
  • bmalicoat 17y ago
    Wolfram, like Apple with the iPhone, are offering a rebate for those unhappy about the price change.