5 ms·

The marginal cost of your copy is zero, though. The marginal cost of your coffee is nearly the entire price. People seem to instinctively react to this in odd

The marginal cost of your copy is zero, though. The marginal cost of your coffee is nearly the entire price. People seem to instinctively react to this in odd ways.

mc32 14y ago
I think you're right. What people fail to realize is that there are on-going support costs (and in this case time to respond to general queries). I think the main peeve is the way people find $4 coffee an afterthought, but find the $2 app worthy of being disproportionately discretionary.
- inafield 14y ago
  Potentially, it isn't just support costs to respond and potentially fix bugs. Instagram stores photos. Netflix pays bandwidth and storage charges for cloud hosting. All of this costs money.
- jack-r-abbit 14y ago
  OK... I'm not saying apps should be free. A dev should be able to make money from their hard work. But you wonder why people will throw down $4 for a coffee without a second thought yet resist a $2 app. These are my reasons. The $4 coffee is a known. I will use it. It is compatible with my mouth. I will like it. If there is something wrong with it, I am likely to get a replacement. The $2 app is unknown. It might not run well on my device. It might be lacking some important (to me) feature. It might be broken. It might be total crap. Outside of the return window, I am not likely to get my money back. If broken, I have no idea when (or even if) the creator will fix it.
inafield 14y ago
What exactly are you assuming are the costs when calculating the marginal cost of that cup of coffee? The rise in the total cost of producing another cup of coffee is not that much -- not anywhere close to the total price, or else nobody would be making any money and Starbucks wouldn't be on every corner! The supplies are cheap and the cost of employment and business expenses fluctuate depending on how well the coffee shop is run. Apps will still likely have a lower marginal cost, depending on the distribution model, but I think to say that it is zero is false.

The marginal cost of your copy is zero, though. The marginal cost of your coffee is nearly the entire price. People seem to instinctively react to this in odd ways.

mc32 14y ago

I think you're right. What people fail to realize is that there are on-going support costs (and in this case time to respond to general queries). I think the main peeve is the way people find $4 coffee an afterthought, but find the $2 app worthy of being disproportionately discretionary.

inafield 14y ago
Potentially, it isn't just support costs to respond and potentially fix bugs. Instagram stores photos. Netflix pays bandwidth and storage charges for cloud hosting. All of this costs money.
jack-r-abbit 14y ago
OK... I'm not saying apps should be free. A dev should be able to make money from their hard work. But you wonder why people will throw down $4 for a coffee without a second thought yet resist a $2 app. These are my reasons. The $4 coffee is a known. I will use it. It is compatible with my mouth. I will like it. If there is something wrong with it, I am likely to get a replacement. The $2 app is unknown. It might not run well on my device. It might be lacking some important (to me) feature. It might be broken. It might be total crap. Outside of the return window, I am not likely to get my money back. If broken, I have no idea when (or even if) the creator will fix it.

inafield 14y ago

What exactly are you assuming are the costs when calculating the marginal cost of that cup of coffee? The rise in the total cost of producing another cup of coffee is not that much -- not anywhere close to the total price, or else nobody would be making any money and Starbucks wouldn't be on every corner! The supplies are cheap and the cost of employment and business expenses fluctuate depending on how well the coffee shop is run. Apps will still likely have a lower marginal cost, depending on the distribution model, but I think to say that it is zero is false.