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Paying so much for phones but refusing to pay for apps?

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  • 25-07-2020 8:42am
    #1
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 17,378 ✭✭✭✭


    I don't really get why so many people are staunchly against paying a few dollars for apps. A friend's phone easily cost a grand and I just asked him if it's worth the $5 for an app I know he uses and he was like "na fuk that would never pay for an app".

    What?

    He buys iPhones every couple of years. What's five dollars to get rid of ads and get extra features.. It's bizarre and so many people are so adamant that they'd never pay for an app.

    $1000 for a phone with ads in your favourite app versus $1005 for a phone with no ads in your favourite app.


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    #2
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 7,712 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    Totally agree. The same people will wonder soon why there are no good apps when developers have stopped bothering too.


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    #3
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 13,712 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    Just trying to think of the last time someone else used my phone. I don't think anyone else ever has.

    I've never given a second thought to someone else's subscriptions, I can't imagine anyone cares about my Spotify plan. I'm a bit puzzled here.


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    #4
    CalamariFritti
    Registered Users Posts: 5,461 ✭✭✭CalamariFritti


    Well you might care if you were an app developer.


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    #5
    Ultima Thule
    Closed Accounts Posts: 66 ✭✭Ultima Thule


    He doesnt want your app. Get over it.


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    #6
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 17,378 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »
    Just trying to think of the last time someone else used my phone. I don't think anyone else ever has.

    I've never given a second thought to someone else's subscriptions, I can't imagine anyone cares about my Spotify plan. I'm a bit puzzled here.

    I asked for his opinion on an app. I didn't ask to use his phone.


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    #7
    Dtp1979
    Registered Users Posts: 12,745 ✭✭✭✭Dtp1979


    Someone that spends 1k on a phone needs their head check first


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    #8
    Atlantic Dawn
    Registered Users Posts: 81,645 ✭✭✭✭Atlantic Dawn
    M


    Dtp1979 wrote: »
    Someone that spends 1k on a phone needs their head check first

    Especially for an EyePhone.


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    #9
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 7,712 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    Dtp1979 wrote: »
    Someone that spends 1k on a phone needs their head check first

    People spend even more than that on a holiday with nothing to show for it after they land back home.


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    #10
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 17,378 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    Losing $1k in deprecation on a car? That's fine. Paying $1k for a phone? Needs their head checked.

    I wouldn't personally spend $1k on a phone but I also wouldn't question someone because they're willing to lose more on a car than me.


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    #11
    mick087
    Registered Users Posts: 1,122 ✭✭✭mick087


    This is human nature
    Id be the same spend a fortune on a phone and wouldnt spend a cent on an app.

    Friends buy bikes worh 1000s and buy the chepest of cheap locks.


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    #12
    heroics
    Registered Users Posts: 1,878 ✭✭✭heroics


    There are a number of reasons I’d imagine.

    I pay for some apps and don’t for others.

    If the ads don’t bother me or the benefit of paying is minimal then I don’t bother. It’s a thin line between the benefit of paying vs the benefit of the whole app.

    However if an app overloads with adds. Hides too much behind a paywall and there are other apps that will do the same then I just swap to the other app or realise I don’t need the app in the first place :)

    Then there are the apps that want an account to go for the premium as opposed to no account for the free one.

    There is also if the app is a monthly subscription or once off payment.

    Probably loads of other reasons as well.


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    #13
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 13,712 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    [Deleted User] wrote: »
    I asked for his opinion on an app. I didn't ask to use his phone.
    Yes, that's kinda my point. I'm surprised it would even give someone a second thought.

    But having given it a second thought, maybe the reason he can afford a 1k phone is because he doesn't spend money frivolously.

    If you were walking out of the phone shop after buying a 1k phone, and you saw a fiver on the ground, would you pick it up? Yes, because a fiver is still a fiver. There's never a good reason to be wasteful of money.


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    #14
    daheff
    Registered Users Posts: 5,847 ✭✭✭daheff


    I don't pay for apps....I haven't seen any that I would seem worthy of paying for.

    Most apps make more money off the free version than the paid versions from advertising anyways, so developers are happy either way.


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    #15
    Montage of Feck
    Registered Users Posts: 3,541 ✭✭✭Montage of Feck


    ReginaldSmythV wrote: »
    People spend even more than that on a holiday with nothing to show for it after they land back home.

    What about fridge magnets?

    🙈🙉🙊



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    #16
    Irishphotodesk
    Registered Users Posts: 1,896 ✭✭✭Irishphotodesk


    Dtp1979 wrote: »
    Someone that spends 1k on a phone needs their head check first

    Phones are like cars nowadays... People purchase the ones they can afford with the specs that they like.

    Yes some people spend €1k on a phone, but most of the time these people have a rolling contract (my rolling contract allows me all calls, texts and data for €10 a month).
    Some people spend money on the phone to keep their monthly payments low, others prefer the latest gadget that marketing companies are peddling.

    I don't like being tied to contracts - so I purchase my phone's outright, can't afford the top of the line phones so at the moment I have a 3yr old Motorola.


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    #17
    Dtp1979
    Registered Users Posts: 12,745 ✭✭✭✭Dtp1979


    Out of curiosity, what can a 1k iPhone 10 or whatever it’s called do, that a much cheaper iphone7 can’t? Genuine question


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    #18
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 7,712 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    Dtp1979 wrote: »
    Out of curiosity, what can a 1k iPhone 10 or whatever it’s called do, that a much cheaper iphone7 can’t? Genuine question

    Bigger screen to body ratio, better battery life, far superior camera, better screen, faster and more powerful processor, faster and more stable connectivity, better materials, longer life of iOS updates.


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    #19
    One eyed Jack
    Registered Users Posts: 23,695 ✭✭✭✭One eyed Jack


    Dtp1979 wrote: »
    Out of curiosity, what can a 1k iPhone 10 or whatever it’s called do, that a much cheaper iphone7 can’t? Genuine question


    Everything much faster :pac:

    Seriously though, I have an iPhone 7 Plus and I considered getting an iPhone 11 when they came out, but the phone I have is suitable for what I need to do already. The iPhone 11 does a whole lot more and does it faster, but not enough to convince me that I actually need it.

    Same thing with apps and advertising in apps OP - the advertising doesn’t bother me enough to want to pay for an app. Do I need the Premium version of a fart app with 100 extra sound offs? No, not really, as childish and all as my sense of humour is :D

    That’s why I don’t mind paying €23 a month for YouTube Premium or other subscription based apps and services. I don’t feel any particular moral obligation to pay for an app when I don’t need to, completely separate from the cost of the phone or any other features the phone has or hasn’t. If I do ever decide to pay €1000 for a phone, I’m paying that for the phone because I think it’s worth it. It would still take some convincing to pay €5 for an app when I don’t feel I need to.


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    #20
    kirving
    Registered Users Posts: 5,921 ✭✭✭kirving


    Atlantic Dawn wrote: »
    Especially for an EyePhone.

    I'm not an iPhone user, but Apple release updates for 4-5 years after a phone's release date.

    Samsung on the other hand only give two updates to their phones which cost a similar price new, which is completely acceptable And has me reconsidering buying one again.


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    #21
    L-M
    Registered Users Posts: 23,694 ✭✭✭✭L-M


    I’d pay for an App if I wanted it.

    What really annoys me is having gone from Android to IPhone you seem to have to pay for a lot of free apps.


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    #22
    CalamariFritti
    Registered Users Posts: 5,461 ✭✭✭CalamariFritti


    Ultima Thule wrote: »
    He doesnt want your app. Get over it.

    But he does he’s got it just doesn’t want to pay for it.


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    #23
    theteal
    Registered Users Posts: 7,593 ✭✭✭theteal


    Google give me enough money for quick surveys that paying for an app doesn't really involve paying for the app. Picked up a few books and albums too at no cost to me.


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    #24
    CalamariFritti
    Registered Users Posts: 5,461 ✭✭✭CalamariFritti


    It’s the same in in all sorts of areas. People buying 50 60 grand cars and when they need new tyres or a service they will skimp over 50 quid as if they had no hot meal in weeks.


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    #25
    petes
    Registered Users Posts: 8,382 ✭✭✭petes


    ReginaldSmythV wrote: »
    People spend even more than that on a holiday with nothing to show for it after they land back home.

    So they remember nothing from their holiday?


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    #26
    CalamariFritti
    Registered Users Posts: 5,461 ✭✭✭CalamariFritti


    petes wrote: »
    So they remember nothing from their holiday?

    Not if the holiday was any good no. :eek:


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    #27
    daheff
    Registered Users Posts: 5,847 ✭✭✭daheff


    theteal wrote: »
    Google give me enough money for quick surveys that paying for an app doesn't really involve paying for the app. Picked up a few books and albums too at no cost to me.

    Except for your time. Time is money


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    #28
    banie01
    Registered Users Posts: 16,568 ✭✭✭✭banie01


    I'm happy to pay for apps, that app needs to do something I need in a manner that is better, more efficient or with a better UI than any of the multitude of free apps available?

    Paying for apps isn't a consumer issue IMO.
    For every single example of a Killer App, there are very quickly a slew of free-ware or ad-ware versions available that will offer a very similar experience.
    Albeit with ads or intrusions.

    The market is geared hugely towards alternative means of monetisation. Which leaves Devs in an unenviable position.
    It means that per unit revenue is minuscule and profit really does rely on mass adoption.

    Apart from productivity apps, which I tend to try before I buy.
    The last gaming app I think I paid for was GTA:Vice City which is a long time ago and I'm sure there are many who are similar.

    The cohort of customers buying apps or at least being targeted as customers has a really strange demographic overlap.
    There is a group of people who grew up with Limewire and TPB/torrents/rapidshare who will always look for a pirated or freeware option.

    And weirdly, a younger group who aren't part of that "pirate" culture but who do know that by an even cursory search that a modified .apk will likely be available that gets them the killer app at only the risk of their data.


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    #29
    Tig98
    Registered Users Posts: 363 ✭✭Tig98


    He's able to afford the new iPhones because he doesn't "waste" any other money on small things like apps.

    At least that's what a friend of mine does, tbh I think it's very mean. The only reason he doesn't buy basic subscriptions or handy things here or there is because you can't show them off to make people envious


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    #30
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 7,712 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    petes wrote: »
    So they remember nothing from their holiday?

    Memories :D


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    #31
    Sonics2k
    Registered Users Posts: 8,239 ✭✭✭Sonics2k


    I suppose it depends on the App.

    I paid for Apollo and Spotify and that's about it.

    I've a friend who threw about €1,500 into building a PC which blew his wife's mind, but she'd happily spend €1,000 on a new phone.


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