I would like to complain about the selling price of the SkySafary 7Pro beeing the same to SkySafary 6Pro users as it is to new users. It is not treated as a upgrade but as a new app. I am also a user of Starry Night 8Pro. Is it fair to always be needed to buy a new software for each version? Thanks for your attention. Best regards.
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Jgordon00 Exactly. And I'm not even sure if prior versions of SkySafari are being updated. It's not clear to me. Any prior users that purchased earlier version of SkySafari should absolutely get some kind of discount. I wrote to the support email but have not received any replies yet.
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Chris When a new version is released, it ALWAYS is on sale for 50% off, to help current users get the upgrade for a cheaper price. Pretty much any software title for anything works in this fashion. Either a subscription-based model or this model. Older versions stop receiving updates after a couple of years, coinciding with the new version release.
I'm not sure everyone realizes it, but this is a small company making astronomy software and we're very lucky to have them. These developers can't continue to upgrade the software without there being revenue. Presumably, anyone needing a Pro version of SS also probably has hundreds if not thousands of dollars in equipment, so $20-$40 every couple years is nothing compared to the value SS brings.
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Jgordon00 That is quite a presumption. I don't have hundreds or thousands of dollars of equipment. I have a phone and someone told me this is one of the better apps for night sky viewing. That's it. A couple years ago I bought SS6 Pro. Forced upgrades for ongoing use of an app is not best practice for any company -- consider Apple and Microsoft as examples where older devices or older operating systems and other software continue to be supported far past the release of a new version being released.
SkySafari 6 Pro users (and users of older versions as well) should have an ongoing discount available to them if they want to upgrade, not limited to a certain period of time. Or - version 6 and prior should continue to receive ongoing updates to ensure continued functioning of the app and its database. I get if new features are only included in the new version but this should not mean older versions stop getting updates for the night sky.
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Keiron Smith SkySafari 7 Pro is already on sale, right now, for almost 50% off.
SkySafariAstronomy.com
Every 2-3 months we run a promotions selling the latest version of SkySafari at steep discounts.
So, nobody ever has to pay full price for the app. Just wait for the sale - like right now.
Like Chris said, we are a very small company developing software for a tiny niche market, and if we don't release new paid upgrades every couple of years then our company will have to stop developing SkySafari. Basic economics.
We also offer SkySafari Plus for $19.99 (also often on sale) and SkySafari Basic for $4.99 (also often on sale) so if the cost of Pro, even when it is on sale is too much, then we still have the more economical options available.
SkySafari Plus has the same telescope control, the same features as Pro - just not the same database. A great app for a great price!
So, sale is ON, the comet is INCOMING!
Thanks, Chris, for providing clarity with regards to our business model.
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Steenkh My understanding is that Simulation Curriculum would gladly have offered a cheaper price for upgrades if Apple had this mechanism, but that is not possible within the App Store framework, and so the company is doing the second best: offering the upgraded product at half price.
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