6 ms·

Most relevant sentence: "After the 14-day trial, the always-on feature will cost $3.99 per month, added to your AT&T bill."

by ekanes 17y ago

jcromartie 17y ago
AT&T is living proof that the "free market" has failed. I know we don't have a free market, but we are led to believe that we do by pro-business establishment conservatives.
axod 17y ago
Seems like these sorts of things will never work in a paid subscription model. The only way I can see them working is ad supported - show you vouchers for the shops/restaurants as you pass them etc etc. Maybe it's just me, but would anyone here pay $3.99 per month for this?
- thorax 17y ago
  I can easily see parents requiring their teenagers to use this software and pay $3.99 a month. They already pay hundreds of dollars a year for things like this: http://www.flexispy.com/spyphone-flexispy-apple-iphone.htm http://www.flexispy.com/spyphone-flexispy-apple-iphone.htm
  - axod 17y ago
    Maybe I'm an odd parent but I'd never stoop so low. Maybe a few would, but it still seems like an extremely small market. And surely AT&T could just provide a simple "track this phone" service themselves and cut out loopt altogether for this particular use case.
    - nixme 17y ago
      They already do: https://familymap.wireless.att.com/finder-att-family/welcome.htm https://familymap.wireless.att.com/finder-att-family/welcome... $9.99/month for two family members. $14.99/month for up to five.
  - mikeryan 17y ago
    I see this the other way. There's no way in hell I'd want my kids "friends" (who knows who they friend on loopt) seeing where my kid is at. All that being said, I wonder if Loopt could offer a "for parents" app that just allows parents to see where their kids are (w/o all the other app functionality). I'd bet a ton of parents would pay for that.
    - jmatt 17y ago
      I believe that is what he was getting at. So parents can see where their kid's phone is. We all know that teenagers are plenty creative when it comes to sneaking around. 1) drop cell phone at friends house and enable call forwarding. 2) do whatever you want.
- sama 17y ago
  stay tuned!
  - unalone 17y ago
    Piffle, sama, your vote doesn't count. :-P
- breck 17y ago
  > Maybe it's just me, but would anyone here pay $3.99 per month for this? Probably not, but I think the other 90% of the world might. My cell phone bill is high because I pay $15 extra for tethering. My little sister's cell phone bill is high because she buys ringtones. As much as I think that's a waste, way more people buy the latter than the former.
- stse 17y ago
  Now? Probably not. If most of my friends were using it? Definitely.
mrshoe 17y ago
AT&T disgusts me. How much money has the iPhone dropped in their lap? And all they do with that money is drag down the entire user experience with horrible, overpriced service which cripples the device severely. They have had time, however, to try to squeeze as much money from this venture as possible while they still have exclusivity. I've now received two emails from AT&T about their navigation app. They charge $9.99 per month for it. How many other iPhone app developers can send out an email to every single iPhone owner at will? Zero. The rest of us have to charge 99 cents (one time) if we want to get noticed on the App Store. And now that they've cashed in on Apple's brilliance and innovation, they're going to do the same with Loopt. They are the perfect example of a company willing to do whatever it takes to increase profits, but not willing to do much of anything to help their customers.
- mikeryan 17y ago
  It seems to me that this would be Loopt's business model? I can understand bashing AT&T I hate their service, but I think Loopt charges for their service on most providers. Oh and the $9.99 per month thing made me choke too. Especially when TomTom has a $99 app.
  - Zev 17y ago
    AT&T isn't the only company with a $/month GPS app on the App Store. Not that its clear if map updates will be free or in-app purchases with TomTom.
  - spydez 17y ago
    Roadee is $2. It uses OpenStreetMap instead of the proprietary map databases, but hey, I'll take 90% as good for 2% of the price any day.
- steveklabnik 17y ago
  > And all they do with that money is drag down the entire user experience with horrible, overpriced service which cripples the device severely. How do you think us Verizon customers feel? At least you get phones with WiFi...
smokinn 17y ago
And while they'll probably get a lot of customers to sign on to this service, these people won't be happy when they see Google Latitude running for free on their friend's Android phone. You can run Latitude on the iPhone but the whole no-background-apps thing renders it nearly useless.

Most relevant sentence: "After the 14-day trial, the always-on feature will cost $3.99 per month, added to your AT&T bill."

by ekanes 17y ago

Most relevant sentence: "After the 14-day trial, the always-on feature will cost $3.99 per month, added to your AT&T bill."

jcromartie 17y ago

AT&T is living proof that the "free market" has failed. I know we don't have a free market, but we are led to believe that we do by pro-business establishment conservatives.

axod 17y ago

Seems like these sorts of things will never work in a paid subscription model. The only way I can see them working is ad supported - show you vouchers for the shops/restaurants as you pass them etc etc. Maybe it's just me, but would anyone here pay $3.99 per month for this?

thorax 17y ago
I can easily see parents requiring their teenagers to use this software and pay $3.99 a month. They already pay hundreds of dollars a year for things like this: http://www.flexispy.com/spyphone-flexispy-apple-iphone.htm http://www.flexispy.com/spyphone-flexispy-apple-iphone.htm
- axod 17y ago
  Maybe I'm an odd parent but I'd never stoop so low. Maybe a few would, but it still seems like an extremely small market. And surely AT&T could just provide a simple "track this phone" service themselves and cut out loopt altogether for this particular use case.
  - nixme 17y ago
    They already do: https://familymap.wireless.att.com/finder-att-family/welcome.htm https://familymap.wireless.att.com/finder-att-family/welcome... $9.99/month for two family members. $14.99/month for up to five.
- mikeryan 17y ago
  I see this the other way. There's no way in hell I'd want my kids "friends" (who knows who they friend on loopt) seeing where my kid is at. All that being said, I wonder if Loopt could offer a "for parents" app that just allows parents to see where their kids are (w/o all the other app functionality). I'd bet a ton of parents would pay for that.
  - jmatt 17y ago
    I believe that is what he was getting at. So parents can see where their kid's phone is. We all know that teenagers are plenty creative when it comes to sneaking around. 1) drop cell phone at friends house and enable call forwarding. 2) do whatever you want.
sama 17y ago
stay tuned!
- unalone 17y ago
  Piffle, sama, your vote doesn't count. :-P
breck 17y ago
> Maybe it's just me, but would anyone here pay $3.99 per month for this? Probably not, but I think the other 90% of the world might. My cell phone bill is high because I pay $15 extra for tethering. My little sister's cell phone bill is high because she buys ringtones. As much as I think that's a waste, way more people buy the latter than the former.
stse 17y ago
Now? Probably not. If most of my friends were using it? Definitely.

mrshoe 17y ago

AT&T disgusts me. How much money has the iPhone dropped in their lap? And all they do with that money is drag down the entire user experience with horrible, overpriced service which cripples the device severely. They have had time, however, to try to squeeze as much money from this venture as possible while they still have exclusivity. I've now received two emails from AT&T about their navigation app. They charge $9.99 per month for it. How many other iPhone app developers can send out an email to every single iPhone owner at will? Zero. The rest of us have to charge 99 cents (one time) if we want to get noticed on the App Store. And now that they've cashed in on Apple's brilliance and innovation, they're going to do the same with Loopt. They are the perfect example of a company willing to do whatever it takes to increase profits, but not willing to do much of anything to help their customers.

mikeryan 17y ago
It seems to me that this would be Loopt's business model? I can understand bashing AT&T I hate their service, but I think Loopt charges for their service on most providers. Oh and the $9.99 per month thing made me choke too. Especially when TomTom has a $99 app.
- Zev 17y ago
  AT&T isn't the only company with a $/month GPS app on the App Store. Not that its clear if map updates will be free or in-app purchases with TomTom.
- spydez 17y ago
  Roadee is $2. It uses OpenStreetMap instead of the proprietary map databases, but hey, I'll take 90% as good for 2% of the price any day.
steveklabnik 17y ago
> And all they do with that money is drag down the entire user experience with horrible, overpriced service which cripples the device severely. How do you think us Verizon customers feel? At least you get phones with WiFi...

smokinn 17y ago

And while they'll probably get a lot of customers to sign on to this service, these people won't be happy when they see Google Latitude running for free on their friend's Android phone. You can run Latitude on the iPhone but the whole no-background-apps thing renders it nearly useless.