Apple wasted little time approving Wolfram Alpha’s new iPhone app, which we hinted at last week. Just a few days after they submitted it to the store, Apple sailed it right through the approval process with such speed that it even surprised the Wolfram Alpha team, which had hoped to get some feedback from testers before the approval. I was one of those people, so rather than send them feedback, I’ll write it here.
There are two key points about Wolfram Alpha’s iPhone app: 1) It is pretty cool, and very nicely done. 2) They’re insane for trying to sell it for $50.
I’m going to mainly focus on second point here, because if you’ve used Wolfram Alpha, you don’t really need much explanation about this app, which is a slick interface for the service. And while I get Wolfram Alpha’s logic behind selling the app for $50, I think it’s faulty logic. Here’s what they’re telling us:
A note on price — it is listed at $49.99, which is basically less than 1/2 the price of a graphing calculator with inferior functionality in comparison, which is how the company came to that number. Or, as we’ve been saying, the price of 12 lattes from Starbucks…
Both of those points are true, but the App Store has created a different economic reality than say, walking into an Office Max and buying a graphing calculator. It’s no secret that most apps that sell well tend to be cheaper — as in, free or $0.99. Apple has recently tried to de-emphasize this by adding a “Top Grossing” section to the App Store. That’s fine, but with the exception of the $90 Navigon GPS turn-by-turn app, all of the top grossing apps are under $10. And most are under $3.
The reality is that you can probably count the number of iPhone apps over $10 that sell really well on your hands. Of those, the number over $20, you can probably count on one hand. And of those, if you remove the GPS turn-by-turn apps and maybe a few apps meant for doctors, you’re probably down to a couple fingers.
And I’m sorry, but Wolfram Alpha does not yet have the clout of Navigon, nor is it in the hot turn-by-turn GPS space that would warrant such a high price. “We do plan to offer regular discounts and sales,” the team tells us. But if they really want this app to sell, they’re going to have to knock off like 90% of its price. Actually, to be honest, even at $10, I’m not sure how many people would buy this app.
And that’s too bad for the team. As I said, the app is a solid one, but this is the reality of the App Store. Games that sell on systems like the Nintendo DS for $30, are $3 on the iPhone. Hell, there are even some games that sell on the bigger consoles for $60 that are less than $10 on the iPhone. They’re not quite as good graphics-wise, but I would argue that they’re every bit as fun. And don’t think for a second that studios like EA wouldn’t sell them for $30 if they could, but they realize that they can’t.
Wolfram Alpha may have to figure that reality out the hard way. It’s fine that it can replace your $100 graphing calculator, but it’s also limited because it requires WiFi or a 3G connection to do so. And the iPhone already comes with a calculator, which can turn into a more advanced one, and both of those are free. And there are dozens of graphing calculator apps in the App Store that sell for a whopping $0.99.
Okay, you might say, but Wolfram Alpha does offer a lot of interesting data far beyond graphing calculators. That’s also true, like giving you a detailed read out of how many calories are in a Big Mac, fries, and a Coke. But if you’re using this on your iPhone or iPod touch, you already have access to Google, and more to the point, the mobile web version of Wolfram Alpha, which is free.
Clearly, the service had some insight into how controversial the price will be. They go on to note:
The core WolframAlpha site will always be free. This is one of several “premium” experiences that the company will offer in addition. The app is targeted at the most serious users, and is priced as such. Likewise, we feel that the app’s egonomics and speed make it well worth the investment.
I can only assume they mean “ergonomics” there, but we’ll forgive them for that Freudian slip.
The app absolutely does offer a nice experience, one that yes, is better than the free website. But $50 better? No. $10 better? Maybe. $5 better? We’re getting closer. Again, right or wrong, this is just the reality of the App Store economy.
As we’ve noted previously, the iPhone app is the first example of Wolfram Alpha’s new APIs that they hope will extend their most valuable asset: Their data. But if you’re trying to get more people to use access your data, charging $50 is not a great play. A better one may be to get people hooked on your data, then charge down the road when they realize how valuable it is — if they ever do, which is still far from certain with Wolfram Alpha.
It’s also interesting to note that despite talk of a deal with Bing, the defautl web search in the Wolfram Alpha app is Google. Both Bing and Yahoo are options, but you have to change it in the settings.
You can find the Wolfram Alpha app here in the App Store.
i had the same question. if i can access the service through the web browser, why would i pay for the app even though it provides a better interface!
you wouldn’t
I will steal it!
Wolfram Alpha should find a way to let the mathematica users get it for free otherwise why should I pay for the license twice!
wolfram alfa bombed like cuil before. I bet they hired some smart mckinsey dudes who suggested make an iphone app and sell it for a shitload of doe.. to pay the mcKinsey bill and make everyone gazillionaires…
That’s typically how that goes…
Complaining about price makes you look poor, 50 bucks is couple of sandwiches lol
Not all of us are living off of mommy’s income little child.
and… “50 bucks is couple of sandwiches”
Where are you buying $25 sandwiches!?! (I think you’re being ripped off)
While simply typing Wolfa.com into the iPhone’s browser is an option, the iPhone app would be significantly faster (since the user interface [images, text, etc.] doesn’t need to be downloaded along with the data for your query). It would load much faster and only require that the data to display your answer (very minimal) is transferred over the Internet. I do agree it is way over priced, though. But it does have its use.
wolfa.com is not wolframalpha.com. It is an illegal mirror site.
hmmmmmm…. i still use it? its harmless and i love the name lol
I’m willing to bet it will become one of the top grossing apps.
maybe at first, due to initial curiosity and write-ups in big blogs like this. oh, and a $50 price tag
but my prediction is that it won’t last long.
$50… i think the “grosses-vs.-price curve” for iPhone app sales has a maximum before that point.
how do companies release apps to testers before their app store release?
Ad hoc distribution http://developer.apple.com/iPhone/program/distribute.html
Apple allows you to give out a certain number of keys (I think it’s hundred or more) during the development process to allow anyone with an iPhone to install your app through iTunes. If you sign up for the basic $99 iPhone development package this tool comes built right into the website.
i’ll buy it when its $0.99
It could be worth $100, but would not sell for even $25 in the App Store economy. Sorry. Post it for $4.99, then it’ll sell.
Not to mention when you buy a graphing calculator you’re also paying for the hardware. When you buy a game cartridge you’re also paying for the cartridge and packaging and shipping costs. Not that I think all apps should be $1, but it’s unfair to say the price of a small digital download should be anything close to a physical product.
Off topic, I agree with you, but it happens. Sony’s new version of its PSP is going the route of downloads only, no more physical media. But, the price of those digital downloads are the same as when they were sold on UMDs with lil booklets and plastic cases.
The cost to create products like games is not in the cartridge and packaging, it’s in the engineering for the software. This is an upfront cost that has to be spent even if the product ends up not selling well, so there is very significant financial risk. A number of analysis on what software costs puts it in the area of $50 US Dollars per LINE of code. Products can easily have tens or hundreds of thousands of lines of code, which means serious money to develop. Software is not unlike say drug development, a little pill can’t cost much to manufacture, and the real cost was the 10 years of research worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Both software and drugs are products that are only profitable if the quantity sold is high.
Wolfram may still be trying to recover the initial engineering cost of their core technology, which likely has 100’s of man-years of work in it by now. This is very different than an iPhone app that is basically a few graphics and a tiny bit of logic, put together in a few months or less. The iPhone is not looking like a very good platform for actual software than costs millions of dollars to develop, simply because the normal marketing prices are a buck. On a desktop system, a really serious app like say the Maya 3-D animation software, used to create a game, is like $3500 per user. Considering this software will make an expensive 3-D designer drastically more productive, $3500 is cheap.
How many fingers do you have on each hand?
Yeah, seriously. Take a look at the below:
“Of those, the number over $20, you can probably count on one hand. And of those, if you remove the GPS turn-by-turn apps and maybe a few apps meant for doctors, you’re probably down to a couple fingers.”
“GSP turn-by-turn apps” means at least two.
A few apps meant for doctors means at least another two.
5 – 2 – 2 = 1 (at best). And yet, we’re saying that you’re down to a “couple fingers.” Good thing this guy wasn’t born in another era; he’d have been labeled as Satan’s spawn and killed at birth…
Apparently it’ll now be $5. Best marketing play evar?
I just made my own free Wolfram Alpha app:
1. Navigate to http://www.wolframalpha.com in safari on my iPhone.
2. Tap the + and tap Add to Home Screen.
Of course I’ll never use it, but at least I didn’t pay $50.
Better yet, add /iphone to the end of that and get an even better experience.
http://www.wolfram.com/iphone and add it to your home screen.
They haven’t convinced me (I graduated college and don’t need a calculator that does integrals anymore) that I need to pay $50 for the improved interface of something I can get for free.
Exactly! When one can simply hit the Wolfram Alpha website through Safari from my iPhone, and use all the awesome analytical stuff for free, why would anyone in their right mind pay 50 bucks for the same functionality?
Price isn’t the only thing it miscalculates… its financial analysis is often dated and off by billions of dollars.
i.e. Citigroup
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=citigroup
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=c
Assuming that those involved in finance will probably be the only ones willing to spend $50 on an app, this is not good for them.
In b4 the app costs $.99 next week.
Seriously? $50? I mean, let me break it down: It’s an incredibly useful app and has literally a world of knowledge and information to back it up. But will this sell well to the average consumer, or the college student like myself who would want it for studying? Probably not. Let’s try $9.99 for the first month, Wolfram peeps. Then, after it’s generated completely huge buzz (which it would!), let everyone know that it’ll be soon shooting up to $25, so there’s a rush to buy it at the $9.99 price. After that, $25 a pop will cushion your pockets quite nicely.
I would have thought this app to be free, especially since the mobile version is. Every penny spent on this app is a penny wasted.
90% of $49.99 isn’t $10. =p
Are you sure they didn’t just add an extra 9 and put the decimal in the wrong place?
MG, I saw the price for this app and my jaw dropped. I totally believe in your ‘economic reality’ point about the app store. I don’t think many will bite at that price point.
The only way I would *possibly* pay $50 for this is if it came with a TON of data and didn’t require a Wifi connection. I’m talking a gig or two of pure information, similar to the 200 meg dictionary app (I forget the company behind it – Merriam-Webster?). Then, and only then, would it be anywhere near the functionality of a pocket calculator.
(for the record, I’m an iPod Touch user, which is why this app is entirely useless to me)
maybe they can let you specify the data you process mostly and deliver a package for local storage that can be used when the net is not available. a common data package would be useless as it just won’t answer the kind of questions it is designed to handle.
If the underlying service is free to use via a web browser, then there’s no way they can get any user numbers at $50 for a new interface.
I agree with you, the price is ridiculous.
I would be willing to pay $10 for it, $15 at an absolute max, but $50!!!!
They are absolutely begging for FAILURE!!
$50 ?! Are they out of their fucking minds ?! There is *NO* way in hell that is even CLOSE to being worth $50.
Full pts. for the F bomb.
I think its a very smart strategy. Right now its $50 and sounds ludicrous – and hence a fantastic PR stunt – but its not like the app can’t drop in price.
People who need it most will buy it on day 1 like a new $600 iPhone, the name “Wolfram Alpha” becomes associated with luxury high-end computing power and they can ramp up demand later. They’re basically saying “hey we’re not Google, this shit ain’t a toy”.
Also it probably saves them a lot in server overhead for their API launch. People buying $.99 apps would probably query millions of dumb requests but the narrow market of someone paying $50 is likely to use it for more serious of purposes..
Spot on, Ron. Much easier to bring down a price than to raise it.
It’s surprising how TC commenters analysis is so often clouded by their sense of entitlement as consumers… this is a smart business decision, and brand enhancing for Wolfram Alpha
Exactly.
It’s a marketing stunt to bring people to the main site, while instilling a message that wolframalpha.com (free) is of high value.
After the attention fades, they’ll probably change the price to $0.99 or Free for the app, which will subsequently gain more PR. Anyway, it’s working… good for them.
I agree, think about it with thousands of people reading reviews like this they are getting more advertising and searches than ever(except when they launched). Many have forgotten it existed let alone understands what the site is for. Now their name is all over the web again as an App which takes more people to thier site to explore. In a few weeks they drop the price of the app, everyone buys it because it shows up in the news again, it shows up in the for sale apps listings, or because they have been keeping an eye on it. At this point Wolfram has made a lot of money and paid nothing for advertising by waiting a few weeks. Personally I think its a dumb Idea if you are in such a hurry in your life that waiting 4 more seconds for your safari to load your data from the query then you probably need to take a step back and look at your life and learn to relax a bit.
I agree with you Randomlogic they have made a hell of a PR move and most of these people acting pissed about it or are amazed by the pricing the company put on it are exactly the targets they were aming for, as they will be the first to jump on it when the price drops.
they are clearly just targeting people who are not price sensitive to buy the app.
those who are more thrifty can still use the web version and still have functionality – so they really have no grounds for complaint
they probably believe that more than 10% of the people who would pay $5 would actually pay $50
perhaps some added benefit to the brand by that pricepoint too
How much are they selling the Android and webOS versions for?
With that price tag, people who can afford to buy it are perhaps not the same target that would really use it…so, yes, I tend to agree with your doubts on this pricing strategy.
Well done Wolfram, your a well funded company and selling apps is icing on your cake. You can change the dynamics of the dictatorship pricing model on the iPhone, stick to your guns!
We need to change peoples spending habits and as an app developer im happy with your approach!
Thankyou!
dictatorship pricing model? say what? arguably the problem with the app store pricing model is that Apple didn’t “dictate” a higher minimum price, resulting in everyone racing to the bottom.
As you said, with WolframAlpha already working in my Safari browser which, well, does no worse a job, I still don’t get why would I buy a $50 app.
How “serious” a user can be with WolframAlpha features to buy it for this cost? Isn’t it information after all?
If this company doesn’t change their ways, they’ll fail… and I’m sorry to say, I wouldn’t be too disappointed in the latter.
That looks good for peopel who does care about calories. xD
I can only assume you mean “default” there, but we’ll forgive them for that Freudian slip.
Haha – I do agree on the price point though. I think $9.99 could definitely work, but $50 for a mildly more thorough experience than the free website offers is a bit mad.
You clearly don’t know what a Freudian slip is, spelling default wrong is just a typo.
Right on a good catch!
that was supposed to be deflat as in deflatulence… or the act of passing der gas which is what a fair amount of this article was.
WolframAlpha seems to have carved out a good niche for their product. It’s not designed for the $.99 app buyers. My hats off to them! They’ve got cajones.