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Scott Forstall, who led iOS until 2012 and oversaw the creation of the App Store, once said that he installed a new app every day to see what new ideas develope

Scott Forstall, who led iOS until 2012 and oversaw the creation of the App Store, once said that he installed a new app every day to see what new ideas developers were coming up with. The mass migration of apps to the subscription model has killed this sort of exploration and discovery of new apps. As one example, I recently looked for a flight tracker and many wanted more than $30/yr for a tool that is (to me) an occasional convenience. I worry less about how much I pay to use an app than how much I'm paying when I'm not using the app. It sucks when I'm too busy to use my language learning app and yet somehow I still end up owing the app developer every month. By the time I end up canceling I might have wasted $60 or more, which certainly doesn't motivate me to install the next app that prompts me to subscribe. I don't know the solution to adequately compensate developers for their work but I hope the subscription mania goes away.

jackson1442 5y ago
I think the model needs to go back to paying for updates/support. Would be great if this was a native behavior on mobile app stores as well (you can kinda do this with Bundles on iOS but it's still kinda hacky). Haven't paid for this software in the past 365 days? Go to the community forum. You can pay 60% of the license charge for another year of updates and support.
shapefrog 5y ago
Developers used to be motivated to release the next versoin and make you buy their app all over again. The upside is now you dont have to buy a bunch of applications for $120 (a year if you always want the latest version) and you can just pay as you go. But like you I have had a few subs that ran over and now I avoid where ever possible. Adobe were the last to annoy me, previously I am sure I had paid up for a few months and then unsubscribed. Now its a 12 month commitment when you take out a subscription. Off topic; but if you want a flight tracker, and like to tinker, try feeding flightradar24 (or any of the other), while you feed them you get their full membership. A pi and a usb tv card are all you need to get started!
- GekkePrutser 5y ago
  Or better: support adsbexchange.com instead. They don't introduce the delay that flighttracker24 do and they don't hide military and business jets. They're really non profit.
des1nderlase 5y ago
> I don't know the solution to adequately compensate developers for their work but I hope the subscription mania goes away. There are ways, but nobody seems to bother to provide usage-based model. Similar to how cloud providers figured multiple usage plans. I have a feeling that many apps live off people paying but using service really low, so there is no incentive. What's stopping them to offer a different price for 1h - 5h monthly access? They could upgrade to a flat fee automatically if you start using their app every day.
- rgovostes 5y ago
  Microtransactions were a big craze at one point. I suppose if my my package tracker cost 25¢ per package, I wouldn't be too upset. My ad blocker tells me it blocks about 25,000 resources per month, maybe $0.00005 per ad?

jackson1442 5y ago

I think the model needs to go back to paying for updates/support. Would be great if this was a native behavior on mobile app stores as well (you can kinda do this with Bundles on iOS but it's still kinda hacky). Haven't paid for this software in the past 365 days? Go to the community forum. You can pay 60% of the license charge for another year of updates and support.

shapefrog 5y ago

Developers used to be motivated to release the next versoin and make you buy their app all over again. The upside is now you dont have to buy a bunch of applications for $120 (a year if you always want the latest version) and you can just pay as you go. But like you I have had a few subs that ran over and now I avoid where ever possible. Adobe were the last to annoy me, previously I am sure I had paid up for a few months and then unsubscribed. Now its a 12 month commitment when you take out a subscription. Off topic; but if you want a flight tracker, and like to tinker, try feeding flightradar24 (or any of the other), while you feed them you get their full membership. A pi and a usb tv card are all you need to get started!

GekkePrutser 5y ago
Or better: support adsbexchange.com instead. They don't introduce the delay that flighttracker24 do and they don't hide military and business jets. They're really non profit.

des1nderlase 5y ago

> I don't know the solution to adequately compensate developers for their work but I hope the subscription mania goes away. There are ways, but nobody seems to bother to provide usage-based model. Similar to how cloud providers figured multiple usage plans. I have a feeling that many apps live off people paying but using service really low, so there is no incentive. What's stopping them to offer a different price for 1h - 5h monthly access? They could upgrade to a flat fee automatically if you start using their app every day.

rgovostes 5y ago
Microtransactions were a big craze at one point. I suppose if my my package tracker cost 25¢ per package, I wouldn't be too upset. My ad blocker tells me it blocks about 25,000 resources per month, maybe $0.00005 per ad?