I agree, I also bought/gained knowledge of "Threes" after first playing 2048...
To add to the differences in game play you listed, I find myself managing the pairing of RED and BLUE tiles in "Threes" more of an objective than matching the numbers because if you don't the game quickly ends.
Having the ability to listen to music from one source is important to many and Rdio has no "Local File" support. This is necessary for artists/albums Rdio doesn't have in it's library and it's a reason myself and many others won't ever make the jump from Spotify.
You're "investing a ton of money" into getting a high quality image, only to then turn around and slap a watermark on it, which more than likely has now downgraded the quality of the image.
To fully deter your competitors from using it, you have to place the watermark in the center of the image/over the product so that they can't easily crop it out.
Now from the potential customers perspective they want to look at those quality images you took and visualize having that product, however now they have to look past/around your watermark which kind of puts a downer in their customer experience.
TLDR: So you've spent tons of money on photos to slap a watermark on top of them and hinder customer experience?
As a person who has purchased things, I couldn't care less if there were a (mostly transparent) watermark on the picture of the thing, and I appreciate high quality photographs.
Supported this company with the first version of 1Password. Then paid again for a family version of v3 last year, as well as the paid version for the iPhone which has been somewhat of a let down... now they want more money. All so I can store/use passwords.
I've spent less money on other apps that I actually spend more time using daily. Guess I'll start searching for some alternatives before they start dropping support for v3.
Not sure why you're quoting this. I read this when I visited the page... I just find it ridiculous that if I pay the $24.99 to upgrade, I will have put close to $100 into an app that basically stores passwords for me conveniently.
They can do what they want with their pricing, but I agree. I just don't see the value at the current price points, especially the $18 iOS app. I'd be more inclined to upgrade at around $20 and $10. At $18 and $7 I'd already have pulled the trigger.
It's available as an early beta and pretty promising. Competition is always good and Apple will pushing AgileBits further when they release Mavericks with the iCloud Keychain.
$8.99 is too high for this to be worth while for most readers, IMO. I'm a pretty regular reader and I'm lucky to get through 1 and half books a month. Most books I buy are under this price (around $5)... I can sample from Amazon before I buy, so I don't see the benefit here unless you're a power reader and most people are not.
1.5 books a month is probably higher than the national average, but you'd be surprised how voracious a lot of readers are. I probably read 2 books a week, and I'm by no means a power reader by the standards of those who really are. I know quite a few people who regularly plow through 5 a week. Especially fiction readers and readers of "snackable" nonfiction (Jon Krakauer, Malcolm Gladwell, Michael Lewis, etc.).
Power readers are probably a small niche, but they're also a profitable niche. Younger readers (13-16), especially female, tend to consume YA novels like we consume HN posts. Vast fortunes have been made catering to that segment.
I read only non-fiction and sometimes I have to read through 20-40% of the book to decide whether I want to finish it. I think many people do same with fiction(especially fan-fiction). So there's niche for these people too. Many of these people are also bad at finishing books and such services will unfortunately encourage this behavior!
For $9.95 a month, I'd rather support my local library/bookstore. Unlike movies, where I could watch 5-6 on a really lazy Saturday, books take quite a bit more time. I'm a pretty regular reader and I'm lucky if I get through 2 books a month.
I read about the average (outlier) person, so for $9.95 I'd rather own the one or two books I can read that month, which would cost close (give or take) to the same amount as they're offering.
I read on my commute to/from work. Not sure about the # of books I finish a month, but I can say that I may be willing to "experiment" more with books I wouldn't have otherwise. No downside to read the first 3 chapters and then switch to another book, if you don't like it. I think, therefore, that it might be a nice DISCOVERY tool.
good point. The only issue with Amazon that I found was that the first sample chapter might be 5 pages long, so you don't really get a flavor of the book. I might be wrong though (maybe they now do it by total length rather than chapters)
my thoughts exactly. they're supposedly targeting the casual reader, but how many casual readers read more than 1 book a month? at one book a month the pricing model makes no sense. it's really at 4 books a month where it starts to look cheap, but 1 book a week is a very steep hill for most people.
reading is an active activity unlike tv or music which are inherently passive. IMO that makes a big difference in how much we can consume the medium.
I would say this is for those that can get through 4-5+ books a month (like me and others I know). Not for everyone, but I know many that would find this better than having an actual monthly book budget. Libraries also have similar programs for ebooks (or at least mine does).
Yup I discovered from a friend that my library has a similar ebook checkout program. I wonder how the terms and selections compare, since libraries seem to be doing an inept job at advertising this feature which could potentially just kill this startup
Friend of mine said recently "What about Netflix for books? Why doesn't it exist?"
I first pointed out libraries and then made exactly your point about consumption. People burn through TV show episodes or movies more than they do books. And on top of that, I'd say a broader set of the population watch TV/movies than read books, which makes for a smaller market.
I am currently part-way through 6-8 books. I haven't managed to finish one in about 12 months!
I think people not finishing their books it probably one of the stronger use cases of this though. You wouldn't have to buy 8 books only to not finish them, you could just read them on Oyster.
Though admittedly that doesn't cover the library counter point.
To add to the differences in game play you listed, I find myself managing the pairing of RED and BLUE tiles in "Threes" more of an objective than matching the numbers because if you don't the game quickly ends.