I’m not sure MacZOT helps Mac developers (and yes, I have seen some developers overly joyed by its results). The question today is whether MacHeist’s bundle of apps as part of its “Week of the Independent Mac Developer” is really helping.
Justin Williams doesn’t think so:
Rather than support gimmicks such as MacHeist that hurt the independent Mac software platform why not directly support shareware developers so they earn the full amount of money for all their hard work? Sometime this week purchase a license for three shareware applications that you have had on your radar for a while. Let those developers know that you want to support all of their hard work with your dollars.
Neither does Gus Mueller:
Well, that’s a big crock of s***…I’m certain the developers who are participating in the bundle know what they are getting into, and have good reasons for doing so. But for MacHeist to call it “The Week of the Independent Mac Developer” and to practically give away the software… well, that’s just a f***ing insult to me and all the other hard working developers out there.
Don’t forget to look at the comments in Gus’s post for a financial breakdown. I personally buy software as I need it, so I’m not eyeing anything per se. Except TextMate, which will be part of this bundle should a certain number of bundles be sold. I’m willing to shell out that much for licenses to the rest (though I’ll be gifting away a few of them as Xmas presents).
I won’t feel bad for buying a bundle as these developers indeed knew what they were getting themselves into. Also, 25% going to the charity of my choice is a great thing. At the same time, Justin’s idea is brilliant. If you’ve been looking at any shareware, now is the time to stop penny pinching and buy a license.
Most Mac Apps are very very cheap and developed in a friendly way. We should support these guys.
So far, MacHeist has sold over 2,500 bundles. They raised over $100,000. Assuming that 25% goes to charity and the MacHeist team keeps $5000, there's still over $7000 going to each developer. That's not a bad deal.
These guys are missing some of the basic economics of bundling. Just because an individual is willing to pay $49.99 for 8 titles, it doesn't imply they are willing to pay $6.25 for each of them.
Think about it--it is unlikely that all 8 software packages have equal appeal to each consumer. A purchaser of the bundle is likely to be interested in a subset (likely 2 or 3). The pricing makes this a value compared to if they bought those 2 or 3 independently--but since they would never buy the other 5, that shouldn't (and won't) be factored into their purchasing decision.
Still, each vendor only gets 1/8 of the revenue spent, so they do only get the $6 bucks minus the cuts for MacHeist and other players. But keep in mind that they get $6 on each sale of the bundle, not sales of their product to interested consumers. So they actually receive revenue from people not at all interested in their products.
It's the same justification for the packaging of application suites like MS Office--the bundle is priced lower than the sum of the prices of the parts, which incents people to buy the bundle because it lowers the incremental cost of the applications that are not critical to them.
In fact, it can be proven that in most cases, bundles increase revenues for all parties, not decrease them. I would expect that most of the participants in the MacHeist promotion will be very happy with the revenue flow (not to mention the increased in installed base they can claim).
I figured everyone would read Gus's entry. He was offered a flat fee with no negotiation possible. He was also told everyone was getting the same deal. A flat fee is what is not cool about this.
The MacHeist people keep all the extra that comes from extra sales and the developers get bupkiss.
@Derik: MacHeist offered that to Gus a long time ago, and it may very well have changed with the different numbers of members and apps offered, current bundle sales, etc.
Here are my thoughts on it:
The reason these guys do it is because it makes them look cool. It makes them look nice. It makes them look like they like their customers and the Mac community. Let's take DevonTechnology for example: by looking at their software, it looks like they are a very "serious" software company. But they've given out one of their apps on MAAD and now another is in the MH bundle. Now I think of them as nice guys who like the community, not old people with glasses in their office making serious software for serious people.
On the other hand, the guys who rant about this sure don't seem to be fun and nice. They seem like grumpy guys in their office, green with jealousy at the sight of MacHeist, who try to generate some publicity with negative blog posts about popular events. Every time I read one of these negative posts, I have a negative perception of that developer and his apps. On the other hand, I see Boinx, Devon, RealMac Software, TextMate, and Pangea participating in a fun, community-based event, and I think: "Wow, these guys are cool." From now on, I have a better perception of that software. Yeah, it's emotional, it doesn't make good business sense, but get real: if humans were emotion-less, we wouldn't be here. Can't you trade some sales for $5K, exposure, coolness, and a lil' love? I think you should.