So the bundle sales continue! I actually ended up caving on the MU Promo bundle once they added Voila, but I’m still hoping they add another bonus… Anyway, TheMacBundles.com just launched this weekend, and it looks like they’ll be offering new bundles regularly.
There’s a pretty interesting conversation going on in the MacHeist forums about the tone of TheMacBundles’ mission statement. A lot of people have picked up on the undertones attacking the bundles with more hype (ie., MacHeist and MUPromo), implying that developers who contribute to those bundles don’t get a fair cut of money. The argument seemed to me pretty cut and dry — $1 per license seems low, but move 88,000 licenses in two weeks and you have a whole year’s salary! — but it’s kind of taken an interesting turn. Are these massively hyped bundles affecting consumer spending habits on a large scale?
I don’t really know anything about what goes on behind the scenes during bundle sales, but arguing that people should be paying more for apps they probably don’t need on principles alone, just cause it’s the right thing to do — especially in this economy — will pretty much get you nowhere. I’m pretty much in agreement with the poster who said that if a customer wants to wait until an app shows up in a bundle, then they probably don’t need it in the first place. That being said, I highly doubt the same types of people would even consider paying anything for apps that essentially enhance what the machine should do out of the box, like printing utilities, dock enhancers, full-featured spell checkers, etc. So I’m not sure I buy that bundles actually steer hoards of people away from buying truly useful individual apps that they have an immediate need for.
Anyway, it’s a fast-moving thread, but a very interesting read, and clues you into the developer’s perspective.
