I’m offended by your pricing structure. On your extremely expensive iPhone app page it says that iPhone app sales help support development of all versions … why should only iPhone users be responsible for the full cost of development of all versions, while every other platform gets to use it for free? If every platform was priced at a more reasonable £5-£10, even £15, that would share the responsibility more evenly and be fair to everyone to choose which platform they would prefer to use.
Yes, that’s very true in general. But not so easy afaik as there are a few things to consider:
One of the most important reasons:
The anki mobile android app is NOT official. It’s a third party app, so that’s not possible. Except when the devs of AnkiDroid just do it and donate the money. But that’s something they have to decide ultimativly.
Another one is open source vs closed source. As you might know there are parts of Anki that are open source such as the desktop client and parts that are not such as Anki Web or the iOS App. I believe that open source + making money is totally possible. But I do understand the concerns of the anki author. Especially now, after anki desktop has been free for so many years, it wouldn’t be easy to charge money for it. Obviously you can make it closed source now, but then people would probably fork the existing anki desktop client.
There is the option though to charge something for Anki Web, which makes a lot of sense. It’s actually something the anki author considers for the future, if the iOS App doesn’t bring in enough money.
But another consideration here is the usage of Anki. If everything would cost money, Anki wouldn’t be so popular for sure. Part of the sucess is that Anki Desktop is open-source and free!
And lastly, your pricing model wouldn’t help a lot perhaps. Anki iOS is no replacement for Anki Desktop. So in most cases you would probably want and need Anki Desktop and Web anyway. So in the end you would spend the same money (if they price stays the same). You would only save money if:
- Android costs money as well (which is not possible as said above)
- The price gets lower as some more people pay for Anki Desktop & Web. Not sure that would happen. I guess the current 30€ is not very much considering how much Apple gets from this and costs for servers etc. , so it would seem reasonable if the author would leave the current price.
Edit: BTW. the current pricing strcuture is not very fair for sure. But in general I think the price is reasonable for all what you get. I just wish the author would get from everyone these 30€, so he just has more money. But I guess you point is that you actually want to pay less by charging everyone (which would not be something I support).
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Anki desktop and ankiweb are 100% free, I think we all should be grateful to Damien and collaborators for providing such a wonderful program and service for free.
You can agree or disagree with his decision of getting some money for his work with ankimobile, but I think the guy deserves some respect.
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Lifetime 25 dollars is not that much, divide that with let’s say five years’ of daily use and then it’s a very cheap product. And it’s good to support the developer.
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I used AnkiWeb for a while, before I realized I wanted to buy AnkiMobile. And if you notice that AnkiWeb is not enough for your use-case, the 25€ will feel well worth it. As for the iOS - Android disparity… So what? Good for the Android users, I don’t mind. I rather feel sad for them that they can’t support the creator 
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I’m likely going to purchase the app anyway, but the price point, combined with the fact that it’s free on every other platform has certainly given me pause before making that decision. The latest time I spent even close to this amount for a mobile app was Affinity Designer which is a pro-level vector graphics package.
I do understand the reasons given, and I don’t at all begrudge the developers earning a living for their work, but that still doesn’t change the basic fact that currently iOS users are the only ones expected to provide that funding for everybody else!
The latest time I spent even close to this amount for a mobile app was Affinity Designer which is a pro-level vector graphics package.
Anki is a pro-level flashcard app.
I do understand the reasons given, (…)
Really?
but that still doesn’t change the basic fact that currently iOS users are the only ones expected to provide that funding for everybody else!
For my part, I am happy to provide that funding.
Yes, good it’s available!
I always use ANKI in my computer, I never use IPAD or Smartphone. Nonetheless, a few months ago I decided to buy ANKI for IPAD because I think the service is amazing and they deserve some kind of payment.
I can put this another way. I am just a user, I can accept what they offer me (a lot actually) or I can try another available options. Besides, 25 dollars is a pretty low price.
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