[gte910h]

Generally speaking, you're not going to see people who buy paid apps ever seeing your app if you go completely free.

It's two completely different audiences.

I've seen lots of people report "ignore paid, go free with in-app adds, especially ads you sell yourself or get through a non-commodity partner".

With what you're helping them find, I am surprised you can't get commissions from sales or the like instead to pay for your operation.

Additionally, it doesn't come anywhere near doubling the QA time to just add a second version, especially if you make the fully paid version use the code branches that a person who buys the free version and completely upgrades gets. The rest of the stuff definitely does double.

Also: 99/1.99 are horrible price points to fight at, especially 99 cents. For games, perhaps, but not for real apps. While your demand curve is as different as anyone else's, you may want to try a higher price point then occasionally drop it for promotions.