iFly GPS Forum

I've been busy; sorry my response is a little slow but here it is. To be clear, I am grumpy about this, not berserkly angry.

Re oldpilot and greg p I don't view the app a hobby nor do I view the app vendor as a charity. That seems to be a bit of the flavor for you guys and I have no problem with it. It's just not me.

Re Jeff Clark, the magazine subscription model is exactly what I was expecting when my subscription expired. I accidently let my subscription to The Economist magazine expire a couple of years ago and, do you know what? My last issue and the special issues were still all there by my reading chair and I could continue to use them for as long as I want. Nobody from The Economist came to collect them and they did not self-destruct.

Shane, thank you for your usual reasoned response. (Which is what I expected BTW.) I think your arguments are a bit weak, except for the "everybody does it this way" one. When I was beta testing for flightprep IIRC that app didn't commit suicide when the chart deadlines came up, but that was another era.

Re charts I know full well that you get the charts for free and that I am paying for the georeferencing and other decorations. To nitpick that I am not actually buying the charts is a distinction without a difference. Calling it a "service subscription" really doesn't reach takeoff speed either. I don't need any more service from you once I have bought the charts with your value-added applied, so you have no argument that by continuing to use them I am not paying for something that I am getting. Call the product what you like, I still do not have access to something that I paid for.

Re expensive solutions not cutting users off because the solution was expensive, this begs the question: What is the dollar point where it is "ethically wrong for a company to stop functionality" ? $10? $100? $500? I don't think you can identify a bright line.

So I think, stripped down, your argument has two defendable elements: (1) "We need to do it to keep our revenue up" and (2) "Everybody else does it too, so you really have no alternative." So be it.

I still like the app. I like the company. I will almost certainly renew when the time comes when I need current charts, but in the mean time it looks like fltplan.com will meet my needs without there even being a subscription renewal issue.

Reasonable people can have different opinions. The world of commerce is wholly based on opinion: Sellers and buyers both have opinions on what a product or service is worth...when the opinions overlap, there is the possibility of a transaction occurring.

There are also plenty of different business models. You use the analogy of your paper magazine. I might offer a different analogy: Pay $50/mo, and get access to all the video content you want from your cable company for that month. Stop paying the $50, and all that video content instantly dries up and goes away.

Businesses are not charities in the sense that their customers should pay them money out of the goodness of their hearts. But by the same token, they are "businesses" not "not-for-profit organizations", and they must structure their business practices in a way that keeps them solvent and a going concern.

Perhaps AP is alienating or at least disgruntling some customers by this business choice. However, they may also be retaining some paying customers who would otherwise take advantage of iFly's free software with expired-but-persistent charts. They can't make everybody happy, but If they're retaining more paying customers than they're driving off, then that's a smart business choice, and I find it hard to fault them for that.

But, reasonable people can disagree...

I'll weigh in with my support behind what Shane said. I think they've got the approach and business plan just right.

Buying the hardware (700/720/740) at $550 - $900 is something tangible and in your hands. You've bought a thing. It does not stop working when you don't renew your subscription, your charts just go out of date.

For the Android/iOS app we are renting a service/software program by the month/year. It's closer to the cable TV model that OldPilot describes or just like your old land line telephone service. You can own the phone (tablet) but stop paying for service and the line (software) goes dead.

I think we're getting a very good deal for the price we're being charged and Shane and Brian (about the only people at iFly we know about) do an excellent job of responding to problems and in keeping us informed.

Tony