A recent tweet by, developer of Instapaper, Marco Arment mentioned that he had been getting hit up for promo codes for his latest and most significant update of his application, Instapaper. The messages claimed that they "loved his application" and he was in turn questioning why they wouldn't just buy his application if they loved it so much. Valid argument.

I've had this discussion with a lot of people the last couple years regarding paying for applications and I've realized that I run up against a couple of common push backs to paying for applications. I've had mixed results in explaining the value in paying for the applications we use and love.

One is that of the younger person that inevitibly grew up in the Napster/Pirate Bay era of pirated music and software. They got crafty using what was a fairly new tool when they became interested (the Internet and World Wide Web) in locating what they wanted and downloading without repurcussion or thought of impact for free. This builds up an expectation that can be really harmful to artists and developers. That "why pay when I can get it for free?" mentality kicks in without the thought of what impact those decisions have on developers and artists.

The other is the flat out cheap person. The mentality seems similar, but the bottom line is that they just don't want to spend any money if they don't absolutely have to. In the beginning they get pissed at any additional cost past the device they just purchased on the recommendation from their tech savvy nephew. I've run into this one mostly with people of older generations.

Apple has done a great deal to "right the ship" so to speak. Platforms have been provided that make the process of selling and purchasing insanely easy for both sides of the transaction. Of course there are still a wide variety of methods for pirating, but at least now a simple, makes sense process is in place.

Apple has simplified the transaction so much that I've found it is easier to get people to see my side of the argument, which is that paying for the applications you use is incredbily beneficial to everyone. In the Appstore world applications are priced very competitively (in some cases I would argue too cheap) so the price of applications becomes less of a hurdle. It's easier to prove that a $0.99 app is worth the purchase to my 70 year old uncle than a $30 piece of software.

There will always be free applications and I have no gripe about those and I actually use a couple regularly. There are different strategies developers employ and reasons for offering applications for free and that is fine and an entirely different discussion all together. What I find interesting is when a developer decides to change their pricing model and start to say charge $0.99 for an app that was previously free and the user community (or at least some of it) is up in arms about it. I don’t have apps on my iPhone that I don’t use and if I use an application and it benefits me I just can’t see complaining about throwing a dollar at a developer who worked hard to create a useful tool.

I have absolutely no problem paying for an application if it in fact useful for me. If it isn’t then I don’t need it and won’t download it simply because it’s free. I have had some luck in swaying people to my side of the fence. New users will push back at first, but eventually see the validity in what I’m saying and how simple and affordable the Appstores.

Paying $4.99 for an application as amazing and useful as Instapaper is just a no-brainer. It’s a carefully designed and built application that serves a fantastic purpose for many people. Not only that, Marco is an independent developer (like many, many iOS developers) who puts a lot of care and time into making his application the best it can be. He cares and you can feel it. Paying for his work only encourages his continued efforts and judging by what he’s already done, the application will most definitely become even better. Marco gets compensated and his users continue to get a great product. It’s a win-win.

If the app is useful to you, cut back on one triple-caramel-mocha-latte (or whatever) this month and pay for it.