Suspended Thoughts

Software bundles like the MacUpdate one or the MacHeist one (I’ll be focusing on the MacUpdate one for this post, for no real reason) often cause a controversy. On one side are the consumers. They are getting amazing deals. The one I linked to costs less than a quarter of the price if you would buy all of the apps individually. On the other side, there are some developers that say it devalues the software.

First, let’s look at the consumer side. I can see an amazing deal here. For one app,Leap (which I hear is amazing, but I never have actually used it myself), the price from Ironic Software is $60. For $5 more, you can get it, and nine more apps. I know most people would look at this deal and think it is unbeatable. And that is hard to argue against.

Now, for the other side of the argument. Some developers say it devalues software, and is not a good idea to get in to. Just think about this. You decide not to buy the MacUpdate bundle. Now you want Leap. It seems like a bad idea to buy it now that it costs $60 instead of $6.50, doesn’t it? You might never buy software on the expensive (not hundreds of dollars, though) side because you just don’t see software being worth more than $10.

I can kind of see iLife being like this. When you are getting five apps for $79 (and free with every Mac), it seems like a great deal. iPhoto, iMovie, and GarageBand seem to be the main components for me (although I use Aperture instead of iPhoto, and don’t really care for the new iMovie). I don’t run my blog off of iWeb (obviously). And iDVD is good for what it is used for, but what it is used for is relatively limited. But just think about this: you are basically getting all of these apps, which are fairly high-end for what they do, for not even $20. Apple really doesn’t sell them separately, and they are made by the same company, but it seems kind of like a bundle. If you do the math, if iLife sold separately like individual apps in a bundle do, an individual app in iLife would be sold for over $30. Would you really buy, say, three of the five apps after the (fictional) promo was over for $90, when you knew that just a week ago you could have gotten two more apps for $10 less?

Well, I guess I’d better have a conclusion, telling you where I stand. I definitely don’t think it is bad for a consumer to buy a bundle. But if you are a developer just getting in to the market, I’m not sure it would be such a good idea to participate in a bundle. It could get your app into the hands of consumers and maybe make you some money from paid upgrades, but there is no question in my mind it would devalue your product, and most likely, products to come.