[timsally]

Thank God this costs $5 dollars. I might have even gone as high as $10. To all those that think 5 bucks is too much: for you to actually get any value out of this app you have to use it over a non-significant portion of your life. We're talking on the timescale of years; I find it hilarious that 1 dollar is fine but 5 whole dollars is outrageous.

[Dramatize]

You and I might be able to justify the price, but 99% of the people I know will not.

That means this is not a product I would be able to get most of my social group to use.

[igorgue]

You mean people who travel around the world can't spend 5 bucks on an iPhone app, makes sense :-)

[andrewflnr]

What he means is that most people, including those in his social circle, are irrational about paying for apps, and so won't use it.

[olefoo]

Are they being irrational?

Most apps are opened once, twice at most. A small percentage of apps downloaded are used at all after the first day on the user's device. A very few make it into daily use; and most of those are on the device the day it's purchased.

This is because most apps are not compelling experiences.

If you factor in the risk that this app, like most of the ones they have seen so far; will not be in their life for more than 10 minutes... I would say they are being rational in their pricing bias.

There are two ways around this. You can communicate your value ahead of time to your potential customers, which Fog Of World does fairly well. Or you can build a business model that has usage based pricing through in-app purchases, so that people who are regular users are paying their way.

[corporalagumbo]

Just curious, are there any sites which show most-used apps?

[andrewflnr]

All good points. I was mostly responding to the GGP's snark.

[zachalexander]

It makes perfect sense.

Probably my most well-traveled friend is far from well-off. She just prioritizes travel over many other things in her life, like $5 mobile apps that don't solve any specific problem.

[njl]

I suspect this would be better as a membership with an annual fee and a free app.

[angryasian]

I think apprehension comes from never realizing $5 worth of value. Myself and others have come to spend money on many apps only to be dissapointed. Theres more times that I will use a free app and pay for the premium version after realizing the value. $1 is a simple impulse buy, $5 not as much.

[mcantelon]

So it's just an app that keeps track of where you've been?

[olliwang]

Yep. And know the percentage of area you have explored around the world, around a continent, and around a country.