[gopi]

Hiring a business consultant to figure this out seems like an expensive guess. Looking at the public top grossing productivity list on the App Store, OmniFocus is #10, and Things ($19 cost) is #18. So, their half price competitor grosses less money than they do.

[GeoffAirey]

I think that yes, it is expensive, but you get what you pay for and OF for Mac and iphone have saved me the $60 (£36 in the UK) many times over.

[whpalmer4]

There's no question that Omni's products involve an upfront outlay of more monetary units than many of the competing products. In return, you get a product which, if you take full advantage of the feature set, may well be a bargain in terms of value received. You also get excellent support by email, phone, and forum at no additional cost.

Could Omni rake in more revenue by selling more copies at a lower price? Probably. They could probably get more revenue selling crummy Windows software, too. As a privately held company, they are under no obligation to follow the course that delivers the maximum revenue. They've chosen to do what they enjoy, and deliver the best service to their customers that they can. Doubling the number of customers for 10% more revenue isn't really going to make anyone happy. If the current revenue/customer ratio is satisfactory, and the company is growing at a sustainable rate, why change?

Indeed, I think they are trying for a specific clientele, as you posit. The price tag is likely to dissuade casual users (and casual buyers!) and tend to select for those users who are going to be intensive, involved users. Frankly, if you're not an intensive user, there's probably something you can get for under $5 that will be all you need. That's not to say that all OmniFocus users have hundreds of projects and thousands of actions in their databases, because most probably don't. But if you think you might need a tool that could handle that, from what I've seen of the other competitors' products, OmniFocus is probably the right choice. If you have that kind of a workload, a tool that helps you manage it is going to be $40 well spent, and you'll be glad you spent it supporting a substantial company that will be there when you need support.

[dosjon]

Originally Posted by zoom

If $40 is a lot you probably don't need Omnifocus for the iPad.

My thoughts exactly. $40 is perfect. Sometimes, price is a feature. It guarentees the folks who make your app can continue to do so.

[wilsonng]

If you make your life easier by paying $40.00 for OmniFocus for iPad, isn't it worth it? I made a heck of a lot more than $40.00 to more than make up for the cost of the app.

Read this blog posting from James Thompson, the developer for PCalc (Mac version and iOs version) and DragThing for Mac. It's called "Universal Cheapness".

http://www.dragthing.com/blog/2010/0...sal-cheapness/

It perfectly describes people who complains about prices.

I also saw a FaceBook posting on my wall recently. My friend posted a link to an interesting app that was on the iTunes store.

Her comment? "Wished it was free." The price? 99¢....... I just stared at her comment and thought "WTF? She thinks 99¢ is way too expensive?"

If one were to get an iPad, they had to fork out a considerable sum for it. At least $400 to $600? So buying a $40 app shouldn't be something to spill milk over. Yes, I know that we will always hear about "OmniFocus is just too expensive." Then I guess you wouldn't really need OmniFocus if you thought it was too expensive.

There are always other cheaper apps that may or may not do the job for you.....

I am glad that I bought it....... Maybe one way to address the hesitation for potential buyers would be to create an OmniFocus lite with a maximum of X projects and X tasks...... Or a feature subset with repeat date functions or some other useful function deactivated.

If you'd like that, e-mail the Support Ninjas and vote for an OmniFocus lite iOS app.

Apple has crippled the iTunes app store because there is no real way to create a trial demo app short of creating a lite version......

[endoftheQ]

I have to confess that I'm disappointed that Omni continues to market OmniFocus as a 'To Do' App rather than as a GTD program. It is this, I feel, that contributes to the polarisation as to whether OF is value for money.

The latest screenshots for the iPhone show a shopping list for carrot cake, ▢ buy eggs, etc. and for the iPad, holiday planning, ▢ thingy for Maldives.

I don't believe that OF is the best product for these kind of scenarios. Sure, if you already have it you can shoehorn this kind of stuff in, but as an OF user since its launch, I've long since discovered that shopping, travel etc. are better devolved into other Apps, such as HoneyDo, TravelTracker, etc.

As a mid-range GTD program, OF is good value for money, but at $200+ for the suite and books, alongside a steep learning curve, encouraging people to buy it to plan a carrot cake is IMHO attempting to sell a very expensive sledgehammer to crack some rather small nuts.

[GeoffAirey]

Originally Posted by endoftheQ

As a mid-range GTD program, OF is good value for money, but at $200+ for the suite and books, alongside a steep learning curve, encouraging people to buy it to plan a carrot cake is IMHO attempting to sell a very expensive sledgehammer to crack some rather small nuts.

Which is why any sensible person would do some research, read reviews and maybe decide that if they want a simple app, then they probably don't need to spend £24, but a £3 - £5 app may be more appropriate.

I may spend a few quid on a whim, I certainly wouldn't plump down £24 to manage a simple list.

and I use OF to plan holidays along with Evernote. it's the only way to be sure I've got everything done.

[Amory]

Originally Posted by zoom

To those who feel victimized by OG here's a primer on capitalism. They have every right to charge anything they want. It's a market place. If you don't want to pay or can't pay, go somewhere else and buy another product that works within your budget.

People can charge what they like, but that does not make it good policy or good business.

It is misleading to characterize, as OG does, the three platforms as independent. Synching between Macs, iPads, and iPhone is built in to most modern applications. What you the consumer buy is a function (organizing one's life by projects and tasks, in OF's case). $140 is a high price for this.

In my case, I own the Mac version and the iPhone version. I'd love to be able to adopt the "set anywhere, ready everywhere" method that is current and helpful in other Mac ecosystem apps. It is disappointing the OG does not adopt this model for its already premium priced products.

[whpalmer4]

Originally Posted by Amory

People can charge what they like, but that does not make it good policy or good business.

Perhaps you could explain why it is not good policy or good business? The Omni Group appears to be a growing concern selling quality products to customers around the world. They are confident enough in their offerings to offer a no-questions-asked money-back guarantee, including absorbing Apple's 30% cut for App Store purchases. Their expressed goal is to make the best software they can, not to make the most possible money. If that isn't doing it right, what is?

It is misleading to characterize, as OG does, the three platforms as independent. Synching between Macs, iPads, and iPhone is built in to most modern applications. What you the consumer buy is a function (organizing one's life by projects and tasks, in OF's case). $140 is a high price for this.

How is it misleading? They are independent! Did OmniOutliner for Mac have to change when OmniOutliner for iPad came out? No. OmniGraffle when OmniGraffle for iPad shipped? No. OmniFocus when OmniFocus for iPad? No. Can you use any of those apps without buying any of the others? Yes, and many people do. Do you have to buy all of them? No, only the ones you want (and you can run the iPhone version on the iPad). Is it true that the Mac version of all of those apps is the most powerful? Yes, and it is also true that it runs on more powerful hardware and has been under development for years before 3rd party development for iOS, so this should be no real surprise!

As for the price of the package of all 3 apps, it's peanuts compared to what you would pay to go to a GTD seminar. It comes with excellent, essentially unlimited free support by email and phone, whereas you could spend almost the entire purchase price with just 3 calls to Apple's support if not under warranty ($29 for iOS/AppleTV, $49 for Mac/consumer apps). No attempt is made to tie each purchase to a specific computer, like Adobe is fond of doing, and upgrade pricing is very reasonable (and allows you to skip versions at no penalty, again unlike many other high-priced vendors). As for the wisdom of charging for each additional component, each one is a separate development with a hefty investment of effort by people both inside and out of Omni. 1Password is a good example of another successful company offering its products on multiple platforms to work together; to use your characterization, their function is password management, and the price you pay depends on how many platforms you need. Or should I feel that they owe me a free copy of their Windows app because I own the Mac, iPad and iPhone apps?

Let's look at some of Omni's competition in the productivity space:

Things: $50 Mac, $20 iPad, $10 iPhone, no bundling, not as powerful
The Hit List: $50 Mac, $10 iPhone, iPad app in development, sync by subscription charge
DevonThink: $50 (or more) Mac, $15 iPad/iPhone, universal app, but terrible reviews
Yojimbo: $39 Mac, $10 iPad, crippled mobile product, only local sync
Evernote: free apps, subscription charge, data has to go through their server

If your beef is that they don't offer a discounted bundle, you've got Apple to blame for that. If you buy software directly from Omni, you get a sliding scale discount that goes up with the number of apps you buy. There's no practical way at the moment to do that through Apple's stores.

Finally, it doesn't take much for an organizer to save you $140. Missing bill payments, failing to meet a client obligation, inefficient trip planning are all examples of activities where sub-optimal execution could lead to substantially higher costs. Anyone who bills for their time will recoup the cost rapidly if it makes them use their time more efficiently.

In my case, I own the Mac version and the iPhone version. I'd love to be able to adopt the "set anywhere, ready everywhere" method that is current and helpful in other Mac ecosystem apps. It is disappointing the OG does not adopt this model for its already premium priced products.

Example? Perhaps I just don't understand your terminology.

[Christian]

I do mot quite understand the issue. As it has already been said, OmniGroup is a company. And as most other companies it has to survive on the free market on which we all buy our products at the price we are willing to pay. Only case where that does not apply is with monopolist companies. Now I like OmniGroup a lot for the way they operate and I like most of their products but they are far from monopolists in the field of "simple to do/list making apps" (see whpalmer's list of competition above). If you need a simple app that helps you to manage simple lists and feel that spending what they ask for OmniFocus is not worth it for your needs, do not buy OmniFocus. It is really as simple as that: buy what you need at the price you can and want to afford. If you can not afford a certain price you will have to buy something that you can afford instead, even if that's not the beste product out on the market.

Compare it to cars if you like. If you only need transportation from A to a close B on a daily basis, any old Toyota will do. If you have the money and feel it's worth it for you personally, sure, buy a brand new BMW. Is the BMW the better car? Yes, likely. Does it offer more features? Yes. More comfort of use? Yes. Better support by the vendor? Most likely. Does it cost more? Yes, of course, because it is the better product, more desirable for most peope and hence comes with a higher price tag on the free market (simplified). Don't got the budget? Got the budget but think your money is better invested elsewhere and you actually only need a cheap Toyota for your way? Buy the cheap alternative. There is really not much more to say about it.

From my experience OmniGroup presents itself in a quality way as a producer and vendor. The fact that they are transparent about their work and that they do not act like Microsoft or Adobe should not mislead anybody in the way that that's for granted. Neither do I think that the fact that this is the IT branch should mislead in the way that anybody s entitled to anything but the product and service advertised in exchange for the payment mutually agreed upon before you hit the "buy" button. Anything else - and in this case I see a lot of "else", personally - is extra service and I'm glad I get it. If you are arguing that you want the software but can not afford it then I am actually truly sorry for you (honestly) because it's a really good software. But, that's the market. And those people need to pay bills too and want to have something left at the end of the month for their good job. If, however, you are arguing that you want the software and could theoretically affording but do not want to because you feel it's too expensive then you have already executed your powers as the customer, by not buying the product. If enough people feel like you, Omni will change their policy or vanish from the market (since no money would come in). If you are part of a minority then Omni will continue to sell good products at a price seen reasonably by them and the consumers. In the former case, as said, sorry. In the later case, you took a decision you are likely happy with, otherwise you wouldn't stand by it. Either way, that's how it is...