Re: New subscription plan, leaves room for improvement. (imho)....
Chad - Thank you for your comments about Alpha Five being a great product.
I do believe your analysis of the plan is flawed however
we are promising people v11 and all the add-ons, webinars, feature packs etc for 12 months after v11 ships.
After that people will evaluate if they see value in renewing and one of the key factors in that determination will be - did they get value in being on the plan (we are confident they will feel that way) also they will take into account v12 and it shipping in the next renewal period.
Bottom Line: We are looking to create value for customers with the Plan and are responding to customers requests for such a plan. Doing anything other that, would be short term thinking on our part and does not make good business sense.
As a side note, I can say since the plan was announced just a few days ago, sign ups have been very brisk. I also want to remind you, that this plan is optional and that Alpha Five will remain available to be purchased on a sku by sku basis.
I have to take exception to the appropriateness of your Snap On Tools analogy.
Firstly - you can continue using older versions of Alpha if you want to just like you can use older mechanical tools.
If you however. you are serious about building innovative apps in a very fast paced and regularly changing market (remember the iPad did not even exist this time last year!) then it makes sense to seriously want to use the most recent versions of our software so that your apps are as competitive and attractive as they can be in your market. The Snap on Tools business is also very different in that R and D plays a much less important role in the mechanical tools business vs the software tools business and software companies need to spend money to innovate constantly and this innovation requires major On-Going investment. In turn companies can invest only if customers support the product. But being a smart person - I know you know this.
Originally posted by chadbrown
View Post
I do believe your analysis of the plan is flawed however
we are promising people v11 and all the add-ons, webinars, feature packs etc for 12 months after v11 ships.
After that people will evaluate if they see value in renewing and one of the key factors in that determination will be - did they get value in being on the plan (we are confident they will feel that way) also they will take into account v12 and it shipping in the next renewal period.
Bottom Line: We are looking to create value for customers with the Plan and are responding to customers requests for such a plan. Doing anything other that, would be short term thinking on our part and does not make good business sense.
As a side note, I can say since the plan was announced just a few days ago, sign ups have been very brisk. I also want to remind you, that this plan is optional and that Alpha Five will remain available to be purchased on a sku by sku basis.
I have to take exception to the appropriateness of your Snap On Tools analogy.
Firstly - you can continue using older versions of Alpha if you want to just like you can use older mechanical tools.
If you however. you are serious about building innovative apps in a very fast paced and regularly changing market (remember the iPad did not even exist this time last year!) then it makes sense to seriously want to use the most recent versions of our software so that your apps are as competitive and attractive as they can be in your market. The Snap on Tools business is also very different in that R and D plays a much less important role in the mechanical tools business vs the software tools business and software companies need to spend money to innovate constantly and this innovation requires major On-Going investment. In turn companies can invest only if customers support the product. But being a smart person - I know you know this.
Comment