First, thanks for a great product: really appreciate all the great updates.
My issue is I can’t clearly see the pricing. I’m quite experienced using your software and the App Store and I find it almost impossible to get clear pricing. I’m in the UK and want to know the price for the subscription and for the one-off purchase. I would also like to know the discount prices you advertised before Christmas (I started a trial before Christmas so I believe I can still qualify) for both the subscription and one-off models.
Finally, I wanted to ask what happens if I choose to buy the one-off. If I buy Infuse Pro 5 what happens in a couple of years when you no longer sell it? Is it still available in the App Store? What happens if I format my devices: how would I retrieve the software? As I notice Infuse 4 is no longer in the App Store.
Pricing will vary by country, but you can check your current subscription price on your device through Settings > App Store > Apple ID > Subscriptions. Your subscription will cover all future updates, even major ones like v6, v7, etc…
If you opt for the standalone version, you’ll receive all 5.x updates free of charge, and you’ll always have access to the latest version of Infuse Pro 5 to re-download on new devices, even if it’s no longer for sale on the App Store. This is done by browsing for the app through the ‘Purchases’ section in the App Store. Pricing for the standalone Infuse Pro app can be found here.
I appeal to offer all Infuse 4 Pro users (or at least those who bought it a year before 5) a free upgrade to Version 5.
The reasoning behind this is as follows:
Infusion 4 Pro users bought the app for the “full” price trusting that
a) support will continue for at least 2 years
b) an update will be free at least for the next version
In the absence of this “faith” nobody would buy an app from the store (or a developer can just issue a new version at will and ask for a higher price few months later!).
I am not even sure that a developer “can” drop the support to an app after less than 2 years of issuing it; but this is rather a legal (contract) matter which is of less value than the image of a company.
the difference between the previous versions 4 and the new 5 is not that big to justify a new version in my opinion.
Firecore would restore the trust of its loyal customers, i.e. at least keep the current installation basis
Firecore has in fact a Pro version 5, so it cannot use the change of payment scheme to subscription as an argument
The price of 4 Pro is approximately twice the annual subscription of version 5.
after 2 years, the Pro users can decide which payment scheme they would adopt; although, I personally think that two payment schemes are confusing if not a game on when a new version 6 is coming!
In summary, I strongly think that a free upgrade for the Pro users benefits both the customers and Firecore!
@James, in fact the users DO NOT get free upgrades, since they pay for it either in advance (Pro) or through the annual subscription; e.g. if a new version 6 comes after two years, which is even longer than the period between 4 and 5), the new version 6 would cost the Pro users approx. another 13$ (to a total of 26$) and the subscribers around 18-21$.
EVEBRAVE, I don’t want to get this thread too off topic, but the challenge with what you’re asking is it doesn’t take into account the fact that different people start using Infuse at different times. For example, we released Infuse 1 in Spring 2013, and our first paid upgrade was in Fall 2016. Someone who purchased Infuse 1 on release day received free updates for 3.5 years, however someone who purchased it in Spring 2015 got updates for 1.5 years. Guaranteeing updates for X amount of time simply doesn’t work since there’s always someone who just bought it yesterday.
Compare that with the new subscription option where you have a crystal clear picture of exactly what you’re getting. You’re paying X per year, and looking at Infuse’s past release history (Infuse Release Notes | Firecore) can reasonably expect to receive regular updates with features and improvements.
James, I think we are right on topic.
May be I wasn’t clear enough, so let me repeat. 4.0 (iOS) released 2016-02-12, 5.0 (iOS) released 2016-11-21, that is around less 10 months after which you drop support for this version!!!
The Pro users who paid the full price of approx. 10$ are left in the rain! This is simply unacceptable, and the customers have the right to feel deceived and weak away; less than 10 months of support?! I honestly don’t know how Firecore and Apple feel about that; is their an agreement for how long Firecore is committed for supporting a version? Just asking!
We are not talking about X-Period (let alone endless) os support; we are talking about mere 10 months!
As for earlier buyers, who got support for longer than that, you can treat them differently but, honestly, less than 2 years of support?
Further, think that the new pricing scheme is far from crystal clear since, again, the Pro users don’t know when they will be asked again to pay for a new version. Subscribers pay annually (and accumulatively) for the upgrades. I thought the example I made in my previous post make this clear.
My impression is that Firecore cannot talk itself out of this; really; unless you don’t care about your customer.
That’s exactly one of the cases I’ve pointed out. Someone who purchased Infuse 3 years ago has gotten updates for 3 years, but someone who bought it 10 months ago got 10 months of updates. The actual version numbers are a bit irrelevant since everything before v5 has been a free update. The only way to make this more fair is to offer a subscription option, which is what we’ve done.
Infuse is under constant development, and we needed to come up with a sustainable model that allows us to continue improving upon it for years to come.
If the features in 5.0 or 5.1 don’t appeal to you, then perhaps the changes coming in a future 5.x update will be enough to push you over the edge when they’re available.
Well, again, I am making the case explicitly for Version 4 Pro users; you so to say, name version 4.3.6 to 5.0 after 10 months and ask for a new payment; do we agree here at least?
To put it in a more explicit form, few questions:
Why don’t you either support version 4 further or give those a free upgrade to version 5 (especially that you have this pricing scheme)?
What does the agreement with apple state regarding the support period of a single version before you ask for more?
Would kindly answer these two, rather, simple question?
Thanks in advance
P.S. I still have two weeks in the trial month of version 5, so you better impress me before that
Infuse 4 was updated for iOS 10, and will continue to work great for the foreseeable future. It can be re-downloaded from the Purchases tab in the App Store at anytime. We did this very intentionally as we didn’t want to force anyone to upgrade to v5. We felt the people who saw value in v5 would update, and others who didn’t would continue to use v4. Maintaining multiple versions of Infuse wasn’t feasible, and having both v4 and v5 available in the store for the short time that we did was causing a fair amount of confusion.
Apple doesn’t dictate anything with regard to how long an app has to be supported, or if it even needs to be maintained at all. It’s up to each developer to determine their own business model. In our case, we have been rather generous with updates by delivering many new features and improvements free of charge for 3.5 years (including an entirely new Apple TV app in 2015). FWIW, there are tens of thousands of apps (paid or otherwise) in the App Store that have seen very few, if any, updates. These apps remain for as long as the developer continues to pay their annual developer fee.
@james makes total sense on this and isn’t unreasonable. All this has been discussed and debated thoroughly in other threads, starting immediately after the pro 5 announcement email was sent out (it was intense). Customers who bought pro 4 recently did get hurt, some were within refund period, others not. People who bought Pro 4 or 3 in years past got far more value for their money than more recent buyers. Like James said that’s how the subscription model is better, it guarantees users the length of support they pay for, they know what to expect. It’s unsustainable to keep giving existing users years and years of free upgrades like they’ve done in the past. Yes it sucks newer customers got a shorter life on pro 4, but that’s why they ended up doing the 30% discount on subscription and gave recent pro 4 buyers 1 year subscription free. So they did end up doing the right thing. That said, I wish they’d done some upgrade discount on the standalone app. I wanted it for reliable family sharing and I’ll continue to keep my eye out for it
As I said; not convinced! Beside infuse 4 Pro, I bought MrMc, Squire, PlayeXtreme (also the free Plex, DS Video) but never had to pay again after less than 10 months (in my case less than 5 months!!!)
I’m a recent Pro user and didn’t get the one year free subscription!
