Whatbird.com

We are thinking about a free product called iBird Tiny. It would have just about 10 to 20 birds in it and would allow people to sample the product without spending any money. Its also possible we could sell it for 99 cents. Please take the poll and let me know your opinion. One thing to be aware of, Apple does not allow trial versions that time out after so many days or uses, so we can't go that route. Here are some pros and cons

Pros

1. A free version lets people try the product at no cost
   
2. Free apps are downloaded in large numbers so there would be a lot more exposure for iBird product line
   
3. Serves as an advertising method for all the other iBird products
   
4. A free product can contain links to the app store so people could buy any version of iBird
   
5. If we make it a 99 cent app we may be able to allow upgrading from within the app
   

Cons

1. If we put in a too few birds we may hurt the value of the paid products because the search feature will not be showing its best
2. People may get a poor impression with only 10 to 20 birds
3. If we make it a free product we may not be able to let people upgrade from within the app, they will need to go to the app store to make a purchase
4. If we charge for iBird Tiny it wont be easy to decide how many birds to put in it and what features to enable or disable
   

 

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Mitch Waite

I voted "fair" because I think it is a good idea to let people have a trial for an application as expensive as iBird. I would be very hesitant to pay that much money for something I couldn't see and use.  I would have voted "great" except for the issue of the search not working very well without a broad sampling of birds.

To deal with the search problem, perhaps it could be set up so that the search arguments that aren't applicable to the birds in the tiny database would be grayed out -- visible but not selectable. (E.g. only a couple of states would be selectable in the 'location' field.) That way the user would get an idea of the full capability, but wouldn't be frustrated by their searches not turning up any matches. The birds would have to be carefully selected to make the limited searches meaningful.

If you do it, I think it should definitely be free, and it should be clear that it is only a sample/trial. After all, it is really just a marketing tool. The consumer shouldn't have to pay for something that isn't useful. I have downloaded a number of free (Lite) applications, and most of them have a link to buy the full version from iTunes. I don't think there is any advantage or need to charge 99 cents -- you will just get fewer customers.

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Julianne Bockius

It's always good to give things away for free. My experience with video games for example. My de facto standard was to give away 3-5 levels of the game, in fact, sometimes I have away 50% of the levels. This tactic is sound for a number of reasons: 1st - customers that want your product will buy it PERIOD. 2nd - people on the fence will be pushed over. 3rd -- people that aren't going to buy it -- you loose nothing, BUT you plant a seed so in the future it might be harvested.

 I wouldn't charge anything, make it free. I would probably do either 50-100 birds, give them some meat OR do a 15 day trial with 90% of the functionality then it locks out.

Andre'

 

Good idea. 100 birds at least. If 99 cents, maybe 150. Or full version of Backyard with expiration in 15 days. Or get fancy. Search expires in 15 days. Whole app in 30??

iBird Tiny is a Great Idea!

I suggest that this be kept strictly as a free demo program, to show the user interface and features off.  I would go with 25 birds - a bit more than the 10-20 suggested, but enough to give the user a really good feel for how this works.  You could, for  example, have 2-3 birds in each of about 10 categories.

So long this is explained clearly in the store ad, and again in the startup splash screen, I don't see why anyone could be disappointed or upset by this.

 As someone else pointed out, iBird Pro at nearly $30 is one of the more expensive apps, and being able to give it a test drive I think would encourage some on the fence to give iBird Tiny a test drive, to help make that final decision.

I don't really see the point of charging $0.99 for it, from what I've seen on reviews for other apps I would bet that would incur some idiotic negative feedback - from some who would probably never spend more than a few dollars on any app, then be "disappointed" that it had such a limited set of birds.  You already have a good range of apps at many reasonable price points.  

By the way, I considered getting iBird Plus/Pro several times over the course of a few months, because I had been disappointed by some paid apps in the past due to poor user experiences - if you had iBird Tiny for me to try out that first day I saw iBird in the app store, I would have ended up buying the "real" iBird on the same day!

-Dennis 

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Dennis W.
Austin, Texas

Additional comments:

from KS:
 
I would suggest a FREE version with at least two birds selected to come up in each search feature.  There are 13 search options. This way you don't have to modify the software.

from CN

Instead of trying again, I'll just let you know I think Tiny is a great idea. It will let people see all the great features -- the photos, the calls, the links to similar species. Reasonable people who were undecided about buying will be able to make an intelligent judgment. I think it will be clear that this is a free sample, not a complete for-sale product. Pick the right sexy species. I think the "Tiny" name is bad, though. How about iBird Lite, or iBird Sampler?
 

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Mitch Waite

Some of you have recommended a trial version that would time out after so many days of use. Unfortunately Apple will not allow that kind of trialware in an app, and that is why you don't see anything like that in the app store. So its either free or 99 cents. So far the consensus seems to be that iBird Tiny or iBird Lite should be free.

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Mitch Waite

I was having lunch today with a really sharp PR and marketing guru who made a suggestion - make most of the illustrations in gray scale instead of color. Still have color so people can see how nice the quality is, but make the bulk without color. It makes the entire product more of a demo then, not super useful, but you can certainly grok the potential.

He also suggested remove all the sounds. That didnt sit well with me because if you dont hear any calls where is the intrigue? I see iBird Lite as opening the door for latent birders, people who dont know how much they enjoy the topic unitl they see it in a format like iBird.

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Mitch Waite

I think it should have ALL the features, all in color and full sound, or you give the idea that the final programs don't have these and create the wrong impression.  Everyone understands limited species selection.  Maybe make it the OPPOSITE of "Backyard," and instead of having the 125 most common birds, the 125 least common, so they see how it works, but it really is not that practical.  I like "lite" better than "tiny" (nothing "tiny" about the app and its great features), but I like "intro" even better because it plants the idea that this is an introduction to get the idea and that, ultimately, you will be moving on to another product.  And again, once they try it, they won't be able to get back to iTunes fast enough to order it!  Every time I show this off, the reactions are stunning.

Doug in Escondido:

I think it should have ALL the features, all in color and full sound, or you give the idea that the final programs don't have these and create the wrong impression.  Everyone understands limited species selection.  Maybe make it the OPPOSITE of "Backyard," and instead of having the 125 most common birds, the 125 least common, so they see how it works, but it really is not that practical.  I like "lite" better than "tiny" (nothing "tiny" about the app and its great features), but I like "intro" even better because it plants the idea that this is an introduction to get the idea and that, ultimately, you will be moving on to another product.  And again, once they try it, they won't be able to get back to iTunes fast enough to order it!  Every time I show this off, the reactions are stunning.

Your right, black and white could lead to the impression that is the standard. I hear you about limiting the species. 125 of the least common makes some sense but the criteria for least common is vague to me. Another idea is to focus on just a few birds from each family.

 What I see is that no matter how you cut it back, a Lite version is going to create questions for owners of paid apps. When I see a Lite app I think "well maybe I dont need to buy the full app now" and in many cases that is true, like for example Solitaire programs. The name iBird Intro makes sense to me, but someone might think its a real introduction to birding and feel there is no reason to buy another product.

I sound like a typical paranoid business man worried about upsetting the status quo. Maybe we just need to do something and see what happens. If it hurts or helps sales we would know it pretty quickly.

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Mitch Waite

I think using more common birds might be better in terms of grabbing people's interest.  Someone might recognize a bird they saw recently and have it pique their interest in the app.  The problem would be to provide enough birds to give a good taste of what the app is like without giving enough birds to make them think they don't need to by the full product.  Seems to me like the biggest audience would be people that are most likely going to buy the Backyard app, as I would presume that more serious birders would be highly likely to just buy the app in the first place.

And I know very little about product development, but what would be wrong with simply calling it iBird Demo? 

Obnates:

I think using more common birds might be better in terms of grabbing people's interest.  Someone might recognize a bird they saw recently and have it pique their interest in the app.  The problem would be to provide enough birds to give a good taste of what the app is like without giving enough birds to make them think they don't need to by the full product.  Seems to me like the biggest audience would be people that are most likely going to buy the Backyard app, as I would presume that more serious birders would be highly likely to just buy the app in the first place. And I know very little about product development, but what would be wrong with simply calling it iBird Demo?

Hmmmm iBird Demo. Now why didn't I think of that? It tells the story nice and clear, compared to things like Lite and Tiny which can be interpreted different ways. I know that Apple doesn't like demos but on the other hand if the app is really a scaled down but real version maybe they would not object. Only way to know is to submit it and see if they kick it back.

Is there a consensus forming:

• There needs to be some minimum number of birds and full functionality to appreciate the quality and functionality of the app.
• The app has to be free so anyone will try it.
• The number of birds needs to be low enough to not hurt the 151 species backyard version.
• The number of birds could be as low as 25 by using a collection of both popular familiar birds AND rare and unusual birds.
• The search has to work pretty well.
• Birdipedia and Flickr need to be included.
  
• We have to include SOME bird calls or you lose some of the real excitement of the app.

Anyone disagree with any of this?

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Mitch Waite

Your app will be rejected by Apple if you use the word "Demo". It is for this reason some developers are using the word "Lite" instead.

 

What about iBird Trial if Demo is no good?

The reason I'm hesitant about "Lite" is that, for many products that I use, Lite is a stripped-down but still fully functional version.  For example, the popular music player WinAmp.  There's several different versions, but Lite allows me to listen to music like the paid version but doesn't allow for iPod support, for example.  That's not really going to be the case with iBird "Tiny" -- it really is a demo version. 

Another thought would be iBird Evaluation Version or something similar. 

FrenchBird:

Your app will be rejected by Apple if you use the word "Demo". It is for this reason some developers are using the word "Lite" instead.

That is correct, I was just told in the apple dev forum Demo is not permitted in a name. I asked them if it was ok to use "Lite" or "Intro" 

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Mitch Waite