[sedansesame]

Personally, I think the pricing issue is related to the web app issue from the parent comment.

Even as a free iOS app, there is the $99/year Apple Developer fee, on top of any server costs.

Meanwhile, a web app can be used by anyone on any device, and if designed properly, can be hosted for free on a number of platforms.

If the goal is to make money from casual users, an indie iOS app is the move.

... But that would not fly for what I presume to be a very large fraction of the HN audience that lives and breathes code. What could have been an interesting and tweakable open source project built in a weekend, sold as a closed untweakable app at a $20/year subscription, only for iPhones? That would certainly be quite a bold sell.