[danbucholtz]

These numbers are actually quite rosy in my opinion. When I built PaperBox (www.gopaperbox.com), our chief competitor was getting about 50K downloads per day - this compared to maybe 50 a day for us back then. We knew we had a better offering - but we also knew that charging right off the bat would shoot us in the foot. Instead, we've opted to go the free route to build our user base & brand, and figure out the business model later on.

I cannot imagine an app charging and being successful right off the bat unless they have a platform for advertisement (something like Vesper and Daringfireball.com) or it's made by a very prominent figure/company. The reality is there are 10 apps for every idea in the app store (in 2014) and the best app likely won't win market share if they charge from the start.

[thrownaway2424]

What about Paper? Not only did they charge from the start, they charged a rather high price, and entered a market full of existing competitors, some free.

[otisfunkmeyer]

Unless you are talking about a different Paper, Paper was a free app with an in-app purchase of tools (different brushes) available.

I know this because I downloaded it because it was free and then bought the tools. I wouldn't have tried it if they wanted the (I think) $4.99 up-front.

[danbucholtz]

Good example definitely. I wonder what kind of money they're making. I also wonder if they would be able to do the same thing in 2014 that they did a few years back when they launched. I perceive the landscape as far more competitive, but I could be wrong.

[CodeCube]

Sometimes ... just sometimes, a fantastic product, and good lifestyle-type marketing (at least, from the videos on their site) can make all the difference. Paper is just leaps and bounds better than any other similar app ;)