BeatMaker 3 dropped to free!

knewspeak

@InfoCheck said:

@knewspeak said:

@InfoCheck said:

@MonzoPro said:

@mschenkel.it said:

@MonzoPro said:

@KlaatuNinja said:
How about thinking like this, all the people who get it for free now will start using it, post on forums, and YouTube.

This will mean more coverage and more publicity and so potentialy more sales after the free period ends???

Who’s going to pay £40 for an app that was free the week before?

Answer = no-one.

Someone who missed the deal but still needs the package because of its features rather than because its cheap.

They won’t though will they. They’ll wait until it’s free again, or buy something else.

Do you work for their marketing department?

Perhaps one strategy Intua is using with their give away is to provide more people with access to their app in the hopes that other people will be so interested by using it that they’ll tell the people they know who will be so impressed by what their friends are doing with it that they decide to spend their money to buy BM3?

Such a strategy presumes people will find their product valuable enough that they’d want to purchase it rather than to wait around for the next give away as well as being able to reach more people than when they originally released BM3.

Timing their give away during NAMM is a way to maximize the exposure for their app via their give away promotion.

I’m sure there’s no shortage of frugal people willing to wait for cheaper options but I don’t think Intua believes they can rely upon these individuals to sustain their company.

Is the niche within a niche market that big? To make this work? Or is it Flappy Bird to BM3 in one fell swoop.

I think they’re hoping to introduce BM3 to musicians who haven’t used iOS to create music before. BM3 requires an investment of time to learn whereas Flappy Bird does not. If Intua feels their current marketing efforts will not produce any more sales, they have less to lose and more to gain with their give away promo provided they don’t alienate too many current customers in the process.

If you mean attracting desktop users, I'd say that is more down to Apple, after all these years some people still loathe iOS as a viable music creation format, I don't think a single app will change their mindset.

greengrocer

Thanks, just downloaded it for free

That said, I think it is a total stupid move from Intua. It devaluates the trust of early adaptors and the serious muscians that bought into iOS and Beatmaker as something that has proper value. It undermines also the trust in de iOS ecosystem where the same expensive app can become free the next day. I would even go as far as saying that this whole gesture shows the bankruptcy of the whole app economy. It just comes down that a dev can and will do with his/ her app to get exposure. Sad!

JeffChasteen

@zpxlng said:
If you bought Beatmaker 3 already and now you want it for free, just delete it and download it again. It'll be free this time.

An elegant solution

Bartlinux

I have BM3 now from the First day, i Love this App.
And now its for free, and im happy with this, because i have so much fun with this App, and im happy that more People now can use it.

ExAsperis99

@Bartlinux said:
I have BM3 now from the First day, i Love this App.
And now its for free, and im happy with this, because i have so much fun with this App, and im happy that more People now can use it.

I’ll have what he’s having.

supadom

@InfoCheck said:

@supadom said:
If Intua have done it for research's sake this thread is a goldmine.

Maybe a psychology thesis on human behaviour?

Keep going peeps.

I'm a subject as well I guess.

Who’s bringing the popcorn?

The shrink

brice

@MonzoPro said:

@mschenkel.it said:

@MonzoPro said:

@mschenkel.it said:

@MonzoPro said:

@KlaatuNinja said:
How about thinking like this, all the people who get it for free now will start using it, post on forums, and YouTube.

This will mean more coverage and more publicity and so potentialy more sales after the free period ends???

Who’s going to pay £40 for an app that was free the week before?

Answer = no-one.

Someone who missed the deal but still needs the package because of its features rather than because its cheap.

They won’t though will they. They’ll wait until it’s free again, or buy something else.

Do you work for their marketing department?

So the logic is:
I need BM3 features today
Last week it was free
So I buy something else at the same price, which won’t fulfill my needs because BM3 isn’t free right now

You sold me

If you need BM3 features you’ll no doubt either already have it (let’s face it, it’s hardly been kept a secret), or you’ll have been on the fence and jumped on it today.

If you miss the free offer, you’ll kick yourself and wait for the next sale or freebie since a precedent has been established. Only the very desperate will now fork out £40.

Not everyone has bottomless pockets like yourself, some of us shop around. Or wait for a deal.

Just out of interest, what did you pay for it?

I just don’t see how or why a precedent has been established. It’s sounds to me like it’s just an off-the-cuff, what the hell it’s NAMM let’s do something generous and hopefully spread the word sort of move. And it’s extremely generous on their part. I’ve done work for free for a variety of reasons, but that sure as hell doesn’t etch a precedent upon my services. If they were doing this repeatedly over time then I would not be saying this.

I’m curious. Would you feel any differently if they dropped the price to $5.00 for these three days. What about $10.00?

jcdream

Waiting for NS2.> @greengrocer said:

Thanks, just downloaded it for free

That said, I think it is a total stupid move from Intua. It devaluates the trust of early adaptors and the serious muscians that bought into iOS and Beatmaker as something that has proper value. It undermines also the trust in de iOS ecosystem where the same expensive app can become free the next day. I would even go as far as saying that this whole gesture shows the bankruptcy of the whole app economy. It just comes down that a dev can and will do with his/ her app to get exposure. Sad!

Agree.

[Deleted User]

@MonzoPro said:

@InfoCheck said:

I’m sure there’s no shortage of frugal people willing to wait for cheaper options but I don’t think Intua believes they can rely upon these individuals to sustain their company.

By ‘frugal people’, you mean people with sense, or not much money that won’t pay £40 for something, when it might be free at some point again?

The ‘frugal people’ didn’t realise they COULD wait for it to go free, until today.

Now they know.

There’s nothing wrong with frugal people, I just believe Intua is focused on somehow trying to find more people willing to support what they’re trying to do by gaining more exposure via their free app promo.

If the value of the app isn’t of sufficient value or if a large enough proportion of their customers are frugal people who are sufficiently patient to wait for free promos then the strategy could back fire on them. Even non-frugal people may object to the strategy sufficiently strongly to wait for free app promos in the future.

It may turn out that Intua is feeling sufficiently desperate or have misjudged their market by taking this free promo risk. It may even benefit them in the short run, but the next time they release an app, a larger proportion of people may be unwilling to bite on the initial release and wait for the free promo indefinitely.

Ultimately, if they don’t find enough customers to support their efforts, they’ll get out of the iOS music app business unless its a gateway to some of their other products.

It’s tough business being a farmer or a music creation app developer.

knewspeak

@Bartlinux said:
I have BM3 now from the First day, i Love this App.
And now its for free, and im happy with this, because i have so much fun with this App, and im happy that more People now can use it.

As someone once hummed 'All you need is love, and Beatmaker Free'.

ecamburn

@echoopera said:

@knewspeak said:

@echoopera said:

@Iostress said:

@echoopera said:
The insufferable human condition can be like a den of vipers seething at the mouth at the proclamation of good fortune of others...less we forget to value and respect one another.

Just concerned about it backfiring. Like if everyone that was vaguely interested in buying it or planning to buy it..or people that would have bought it in near future after hearing of updates.. If they're ALL grabbing it for free this weekend. And then everyone else decides to forever be waiting until it's free again. Then intua go bust or resort to subscription...

I don't mind that other people are getting it free. Doesn't affect me. Only concern is there being a future for the app and the pricing model.

No point stressing about it for now though. Like I mentioned before, I'll occasionally be jamming on BM3 with all my nieces and nephews from now on when I visit them. Good times

That’s a fair point. But i don’t think it will. The app is of high quality and anyone who missed the Free Namm Days offer and sees it in the future will probably be interested in it because of the future praise it will receive from more users sharing their love for the app.

This is just a calculated and strategic marketing move and i respect @mathieugarcia of Intua for having the guts to do this.

4 days of going hungry to feed potential artists out there who are on the cusp of potential greatness. I know we’ll hear many stories in the near future of how this offer unlocked someone to create the next great indie album, or gave them the tools to truly soar as a musician.

When we give of ourselves for others great things manifest in the world.

Who's going hungry? Who's choice?

Hungry = Intuas loss of potential cash which could have been generated over the 4 days if it wasn't free.

I have absolutely no idea what the real number is here, but I'm guessing it's less than 10. ;-) I'm guessing that after the initial release of apps like this that ongoing sales slow to a trickle. From what other devs have written (like @Sebastian ) the ios market is much smaller than one might think.

On the other hand, what if 300 folks download the app for free in the next couple of days, and what if half of them buy a sample pack @ $5. That's $250 vs $750. No idea if these numbers are close to realistic, but it's not beyond imagination that giving away a product for free might actually yield more revenue.

[Deleted User]

@brice said:

@MonzoPro said:

@mschenkel.it said:

@MonzoPro said:

@mschenkel.it said:

@MonzoPro said:

@KlaatuNinja said:
How about thinking like this, all the people who get it for free now will start using it, post on forums, and YouTube.

This will mean more coverage and more publicity and so potentialy more sales after the free period ends???

Who’s going to pay £40 for an app that was free the week before?

Answer = no-one.

Someone who missed the deal but still needs the package because of its features rather than because its cheap.

They won’t though will they. They’ll wait until it’s free again, or buy something else.

Do you work for their marketing department?

So the logic is:
I need BM3 features today
Last week it was free
So I buy something else at the same price, which won’t fulfill my needs because BM3 isn’t free right now

You sold me

If you need BM3 features you’ll no doubt either already have it (let’s face it, it’s hardly been kept a secret), or you’ll have been on the fence and jumped on it today.

If you miss the free offer, you’ll kick yourself and wait for the next sale or freebie since a precedent has been established. Only the very desperate will now fork out £40.

Not everyone has bottomless pockets like yourself, some of us shop around. Or wait for a deal.

Just out of interest, what did you pay for it?

I just don’t see how or why a precedent has been established. It’s sounds to me like it’s just an off-the-cuff, what the hell it’s NAMM let’s do something generous and hopefully spread the word sort of move. And it’s extremely generous on their part. I’ve done work for free for a variety of reasons, but that sure as hell doesn’t etch a precedent upon my services. If they were doing this repeatedly over time then I would not be saying this.

I’m curious. Would you feel any differently if they dropped the price to $5.00 for these three days. What about $10.00?

I’d say a 50% sale, back to the intro price would have been the sensible thing to do.

As fo your free work - your fee history isn’t displayed on the internet for the World to see.

It’s free, it’s a precedent, it’s logged, and anyone looking at an app tracker will know it’s been valued at £0.

RUST( i )K

I am guessing a new suite or features IAP for BM3

It is the only thing I can imagine for this action.

The app is a stellar app, this was so unnecessary.

UNLESS Matt just got Camel'd.......................and no one knows yet.

Bartlinux

This, gets something for free, someone where I've spent money, whining shows too as it is to our society.

Bartlinux

just say thank you intua, enough sometimes

[Deleted User]

@InfoCheck said:

@MonzoPro said:

@InfoCheck said:

I’m sure there’s no shortage of frugal people willing to wait for cheaper options but I don’t think Intua believes they can rely upon these individuals to sustain their company.

By ‘frugal people’, you mean people with sense, or not much money that won’t pay £40 for something, when it might be free at some point again?

The ‘frugal people’ didn’t realise they COULD wait for it to go free, until today.

Now they know.

There’s nothing wrong with frugal people, I just believe Intua is focused on somehow trying to find more people willing to support what they’re trying to do by gaining more exposure via their free app promo.

If the value of the app isn’t of sufficient value or if a large enough proportion of their customers are frugal people who are sufficiently patient to wait for free promos then the strategy could back fire on them. Even non-frugal people may object to the strategy sufficiently strongly to wait for free app promos in the future.

It may turn out that Intua is feeling sufficiently desperate or have misjudged their market by taking this free promo risk. It may even benefit them in the short run, but the next time they release an app, a larger proportion of people may be unwilling to bite on the initial release and wait for the free promo indefinitely.

Ultimately, if they don’t find enough customers to support their efforts, they’ll get out of the iOS music app business unless its a gateway to some of their other products.

It’s tough business being a farmer or a music creation app developer.

You should try web design these days.

Look, I seem to be at odds with everyone on this thread. Nothing anyone says will change my opinion that this is a stupid move, so I’ll bow out.

Before I go I’ll point out though my opinion is based on nearly 40 years of working in marketing, and some of my ideas netted a famous tech company many millions in extra sales. I’m not as stupid as I look.

AudioGus

@MonzoPro said:

@InfoCheck said:

@MonzoPro said:

@InfoCheck said:

I’m sure there’s no shortage of frugal people willing to wait for cheaper options but I don’t think Intua believes they can rely upon these individuals to sustain their company.

By ‘frugal people’, you mean people with sense, or not much money that won’t pay £40 for something, when it might be free at some point again?

The ‘frugal people’ didn’t realise they COULD wait for it to go free, until today.

Now they know.

There’s nothing wrong with frugal people, I just believe Intua is focused on somehow trying to find more people willing to support what they’re trying to do by gaining more exposure via their free app promo.

If the value of the app isn’t of sufficient value or if a large enough proportion of their customers are frugal people who are sufficiently patient to wait for free promos then the strategy could back fire on them. Even non-frugal people may object to the strategy sufficiently strongly to wait for free app promos in the future.

It may turn out that Intua is feeling sufficiently desperate or have misjudged their market by taking this free promo risk. It may even benefit them in the short run, but the next time they release an app, a larger proportion of people may be unwilling to bite on the initial release and wait for the free promo indefinitely.

Ultimately, if they don’t find enough customers to support their efforts, they’ll get out of the iOS music app business unless its a gateway to some of their other products.

It’s tough business being a farmer or a music creation app developer.

You should try web design these days.

Look, I seem to be at odds with everyone on this thread. Nothing anyone says will change my opinion that this is a stupid move, so I’ll bow out.

Before I go I’ll point out though my opinion is based on nearly 40 years of working in marketing, and some of my ideas netted a famous tech company many millions in extra sales. I’m not as stupid as I look.

You may be right... but I am too dumb to know.

High5denied

Free app = more hits on the appstore, more exposure, higher on the "lists"? Then, maybe potentially down the line, it could benefit the app/Intua with better sales?

AudioGus

@High5denied said:
Free app = more hits on the appstore, more exposure, higher on the "lists"? Then, maybe potentially down the line, it could benefit the app/Intua with better sales?

100% rational and logical... as will likely be the next post which takes the completely opposite stance haha.

knewspeak

@AudioGus said:

@High5denied said:
Free app = more hits on the appstore, more exposure, higher on the "lists"? Then, maybe potentially down the line, it could benefit the app/Intua with better sales?

100% rational and logical... as will likely be the next post which takes the completely opposite stance haha.

Agree, as rational as it's app pricing model. Only time will tell.

jcdream

mister_rz

Saw this thread and thought no surely not, then to my surprise it was true, would of missed this had I not come on here, so thanks op. Had some great bargains over the years on ios, release price for animoog, tracktor going free, but this is the pinnacle for me, nice one intua.

lukesleepwalker

@Bartlinux said:
I have BM3 now from the First day, i Love this App.
And now its for free, and im happy with this, because i have so much fun with this App, and im happy that more People now can use it.

I suggested to three kids I know in my town who are musicians that they grab it. There's no way they would have bought it given their financial situations. I see this as a win because now I can give them tips on how to use BM3 instead of the "lite" version of Ableton live they are making do with.

oddSTAR

@Halftone said:
wow - It feels like we're all on Oprah:

"You get a Beatmaker 3!" "You get a Beatmaker 3" "Everybody gets a Beatmaker 3!!"

By page 6 of this thread, I'm pretty sure this is more like Jerry Springer... Don't know why everyone around here has to be so damn RIGHT lately, but I dislike it.

Sonicflux

@oddSTAR said:

By page 6 of this thread, I'm pretty sure this is more like Jerry Springer... Don't know why everyone around here has to be so damn RIGHT lately, but I dislike it.

Welcome to the internet?

oddSTAR

@Sonicflux said:

@oddSTAR said:

By page 6 of this thread, I'm pretty sure this is more like Jerry Springer... Don't know why everyone around here has to be so damn RIGHT lately, but I dislike it.

Welcome to the internet?

Indeed, but there used to be a reason I hung out in this corner of it.

jwmmakerofmusic

Okay, so I spoke with @mathieugarcia . Beatmaker 3 is free for this weekend only. He’s taking a bit of a risky gamble in order to have the word spread about the app. There will not be nor ever be a subscription for BM3. PHEW! He’ll be around sometime soon to confirm this, so rest assured.

Bartlinux

Thx @jwmmakerofmusic Thats nice news

knewspeak

@lukesleepwalker said:

@Bartlinux said:
I have BM3 now from the First day, i Love this App.
And now its for free, and im happy with this, because i have so much fun with this App, and im happy that more People now can use it.

I suggested to three kids I know in my town who are musicians that they grab it. There's no way they would have bought it given their financial situations. I see this as a win because now I can give them tips on how to use BM3 instead of the "lite" version of Ableton live they are making do with.

They've got iPads and can't afford apps, strange daze indeed.

CracklePot

@knewspeak said:

@lukesleepwalker said:

@Bartlinux said:
I have BM3 now from the First day, i Love this App.
And now its for free, and im happy with this, because i have so much fun with this App, and im happy that more People now can use it.

I suggested to three kids I know in my town who are musicians that they grab it. There's no way they would have bought it given their financial situations. I see this as a win because now I can give them tips on how to use BM3 instead of the "lite" version of Ableton live they are making do with.

They've got iPads and can't afford apps, strange daze indeed.

Sometimes someone gives away their old iPad when they get a new one. Not that strange really. I was gifted an iPad2 but couldn’t afford anything but the free stuff for a while. It was awesome still.