Tweetie 2 author evil incarnate, wants to make a living
Once, there was this great app called Tweetie by Atebits. It was a Twitter client for iPhone and iPod touch, and very good, and the (Twitter-loving iPhone-using) people rejoiced.
And then there was Tweetie for Mac OS X. It was a Twitter client and very good, and the (Twitter-loving Mac OS X-using) people rejoiced.
And then there was Tweetie 2. It was a Twitter client for iPhone and iPod touch, and very good, and the (Twitter-loving iPhone-using) people GOT TERRIBLY ANGRY.
The reason behind the vitriol? The dev had the audacity to charge three bucks for his updated, rewritten Tweetie for Apple handhelds. Three dollars, for an app that you’ll likely use daily! Shocking!
But it’s not like this is without precedent. Increasingly, consumer-level software provides no upgrade cycle. On the Mac, the likes of Bento, iLife, Photoshop Elements, iWork and many others provide no discount if you bought the previous version, which is largely countered by the value of the product.
Tweetie 2 is on the App Store, which provides no upgrade model anyway, and so the dev had no other choice other than ‘work for nothing and eat baked beans every night for dinner’, which would pretty much guarantee no Tweetie 3 and no further apps. So, here are some helpful tips if you’re a Tweetie 1 owner who’s feeling hard done by:
- Carry on using Tweetie 1. Atebits didn’t include a ‘blow up iPhone if user doesn’t delete Tweetie 1 when Tweetie 2 comes out’ feature. Your app will continue to work, enabling you, ironically, to bitch about its follow-up on Twitter.
- Save up your pennies for Tweetie 2. I know times are tight and the economy’s screwed, but let’s look at something for a second: you’re sitting there with an iPhone or an iPod touch, which cost quite a lot of money. If you really want that copy of Tweetie 2, which costs all of $2.99 or £1.79, I’m fairly sure you could save up your pennies. Don’t have that Starbucks coffee for one whole day, or make your own sandwich for work. As if by magic, you’ll have saved enough cash to buy Tweetie 2!
- Stop bitching. No, really—it’s getting old, and you sound stupid.
I think the app store does need to sort out an upgrade model. However, Tweetie 2 is a significant rebuild and I think deserves to be a ew purchase.
I happily coughed up the price of a half pint of beer for a product I use every day.
Totally agree with you, £1.79/$3 is next to nothing for a feature-rich App. You have to pay to buy the new version of Adobe software and that is far, far more money so why bitch about such a small amount. Not everything in life is free and not everything in the App Store should be free.
On a side note, I bought Tweetie 2 but I won’t use it as much as Twitterrific. Why? Because of the lack of ‘themes’. A small thing granted, but I preferred the “Chat Bubbles” or “Dark” themes of Tweetie 1 and think that Tweetie 2 looks a little basic. If the Dev would add themes into an update it would be brilliant.
I never used Tweetie, but maybe I should have been, because Tweetie 2 drags TweetDeck into a dark alley and administers a good kicking. Quite possibly the best £1.79 I’ve spent on the App Store and if Tweetie 3 costs the same again I won’t hesitate to buy it.