The 99-cent question

The 661411 iPhone appIt's been about 6 weeks since the launch of the 661411 iPhone app, a downloadable version of 661411.com, Kern County's most popular mobile website.

The app is produced by Verve Wireless, the same company that created the award-winning Associated Press mobile app. Verve also provides the news, entertainment, weather and sports alerts we send out through the 21321 text-message short code.

Since launch, more than 600 mobile-phone users have paid 99 cents to download the app from the iTunes store. I'm pretty happy with those numbers, and can't wait for the pending launch of our 661411 Blackberry app, to be followed by apps for Android and WindowsLive, among others.

Unlike most other media outlets with mobile apps (CNN being the most prominent exception), we opted to charge for our app, even if it was a nominal 99 cents.

So, I was surprised to read a one-star review in the iTunes store for the 661411 app that read, in part: The 661411 app features some content available only to our mobile customers

"I can't believe I just paid a buck for an application that has advertisements in it. I want my dollar back. Shame on TBC [The Bakersfield Californian] for being completely out of touch."

Completely out of touch? Really?

Here's who's completely out of touch: Clueless people who think that a dollar should buy them their own personal nirvana.

Here's what 99 cents does for us in providing the 661411 app: It helps to offset Apple's cut and the monthly fees for an app that costs more than 99 cents to produce. And here's what that advertising does: It's relevant content that pays for the exclusive local news and information that makes the app worthwhile in the first place.

So, here's an alternative for the critics who think we're "out of touch": If every app user pays us $1 per month, we're good to go without ads. But if a few of you decide you don'The most-recent classifieds section features just-posted deals before they're posted on BakersfieldBuyAndSell.comt want to pay a monthly fee, sorry. It's all or nothing, because the economics fall apart real fast without advertising to subsidize the ongoing costs.

Here's another way to look at it: If you're not willing to pay 99 cents for an app with ads, then I'm guessing you're also taking a stand against going to the movies, major concerts or sporting events -- all of whose prices are subsidized by advertising.

If you don't want to pay the 99 cents for the app because we have the gall to include advertising, no problem. There are other free apps available, including several other Bakersfield news apps. I happen to think ours is better and worth a premium, as small as it is. 

Comments

[Troy Dixon]

I think a dollar is too low. Its good you're charging something but did you think about charging more?

[Logan Molen]

Yep, I thought about $1.99 and $2.99 but figured we'd start at 99 cents and see what happened. We're rolling out more apps for Blackberry, Android, Windows Mobile and others, and I'll likely experiment with different prices for each.

We're also prepping to launch an upgrade to our existing iPhone app that adds some cool features. When we roll out those changes we'll give the update to existing customers for free but consider increasing the price for new downloads.