[pmdf]

I think this thread has been an interesting discussion, because it raises a lot of issues about perceived value, and it has the benefit of a clearly informed group of people getting involved. The level of discussion on this forum is far more evolved than most other forums I'm involved in!

The only issue raised that has riled me so far - not on these forums so much, but elsewhere - is one or two people commenting that "if you can't afford" OF for iPad then you don't need it. Affordability is a straw-man, as many would technically be able to "afford" paying a four or five figure sum for something if they had to pay out such an amount, but we don't base our purchasing decisions solely on affordability, we base them on our perceived value of the product.

As a developer myself, I'm a fan of the "per-user" rather than "per-machine" model. If I buy or sell a piece of software aimed at the desktop market, I like the user to be able to install it on all their systems without having to pay per machine. But that's becoming an old world model... OmniFocus for Mac is an entirely different piece of software than OmniFocus for iPhone, which is again different to OmniFocus for iPad. Each iteration has had their own entirely separate development costs, so we can't expect them to be priced on a per-user basis. To be fair, some software companies are eating up the costs and releasing universal versions of their software which don't require the end-user to splash out more cash... but would you happy if OF for iPad was merely a port of the iPhone app? I doubt it, and so there are development costs involved in creating a new application.

The biggest issue is that OG's prices are, not twice or three times as much as their competitors on the app store, but often ten times as high. That's always going to raise debate, and quite right too... But that's an issue for the entire industry, and the fact that I (and most of you guys too probably!) have paid the price means that we believe it a price worth paying. I tried Pocket Informant for £3.99 and concluded it was a waste of space. I've now spent £23.99 on OF, and for anyone using it in a professional capacity, that will pay itself back in no time, but price still has to be justified. I can absolutely understand people raising price as an issue, especially those not already familiar with the desktop and iPhone version of the product who won't want to risk such an investment just to give it a try. Despite that, I still think OF is the best value on the market.

I think the one thing OG could have done to mitigate any frustration is introducing an introductory price that would let those of us who have already bought in (financially and metaphorically) to the desktop and iPhone product get a little discount. That would have made me feel all warm and cuddly toward OG. But, they have no obligation to do so, and I bought the product regardless, and it's a great product. But the price point was always going to cause debate... and so it should, because OG are leading the pack in testing whether iPad owners are prepared to stump up proper money for proper apps.