Comments on: MacHeist and Me: An Exercise in Excessive Navel-gazing

By: Simon

Simon — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 19:49:08 +0000

“undervalues the work of Mac developers by offering their products for sale at a massively discounted price.”

I can’t see how it does. Developers can just refuse to put their app in it. No one is putting a gun to their head. Also the apps are locked until a certain value is reached. So they do get at least the value they agree with MacHeist.

“a wonderful program for which I’ve already paid the regular price”

*shrug* So you can buy MacHeist and tell them you own this software already and give it as a gift to someone else while giving to charity.

Software devalues. I have a toybox full of $20-$50 games that now sell for a fraction of that. I’m not bitter.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 13:42:09 +0000

Good article, but I wouldn’t worry, personally. I bought my bundle and am crossing my fingers that The Hit List and Espresso get unlocked.

One positive for the developers that the Delicious Monster team brought up in the MH1 fiasco is that it provides an immense amount of exposure for their products. So maybe they give an app away for a ridiculously cheap price, but if it’s a good app (and most on MH are), then they’ve got some brand recognition and a good solid base to build some brand loyalty.

For example, Boinx, featured in both MHII and the current one is practically giving away BoinxTV. But they have other apps, too. Arguably, the majority of the people out there would use Boinx’s other apps way more than BoinxTV or iStop Motion (from MHII). In essence it gives an awesome introduction to the developer, and what a great first impression!

Another thing to consider (this is more true for Kinemac, BoinxTV, SousChef products), but arguably they are still making more money than they would have if they had not participated in MH. Granted, with The Hit List, Espresso, and LittleSnapper there’s probably a bigger audience of people who would most definitely pay full price for such great products. Caveat aside, when it comes to Kinemac or BoinxTV – there’s truly no way that I would have ever considered buying them. So why not make a little money selling discount from 20,000+ sales, than you would have made selling full price for a few sales?

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 08:44:03 +0000

I think, if you sell a relatively cheap app for let’s say 30 bucks regularly, why not put that app in the MacHeist promotion? From a customer’s side, you don’t lose too much money, if you bought this before.

The point about the current MacHeist deal is, that there are apps which have been charged way more than 30 bucks regularly, like Kinemac, BoinxTV. At least the first two apps do cost 200 by 300 bucks.

So as a customer one might wonder: if they put BoinxTV in there, is it worth the 200 bucks you have to put on the table as it is the regular price? The answer is no. It’s not. It’s worth like 50 bucks or so or even less.

This point isn’t considered too much right now I think…

By: Allen Taylor

Allen Taylor — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 04:15:54 +0000

Nice writing. You are on my RSS reader now so I can read more from you down the road.

Allen Taylor

By: Austin Ziegler

Austin Ziegler — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 04:03:16 +0000

I’m not worried about me, because I’ve already bought some of the programs in this, and will probably buy the ones I use often later on. This is not because I believe the developers deserve more, but because I will be using the licences on a separate computer or I’m buying for a second person. It’s that simple, for me.

MacHeist, in the end, is an advertising deal. Unlike traditional advertising where the developer has to pay for the ad, the developers here get PAID for participating in MacHeist. It may not be much, but it’s certainly better to get a little money than have to spend it.

Of course, that little money could be blown quickly and easily with support costs, but that’s a chance that they take.