Simon wrote:

Stats on prices are too simplistic.

... said the guy who started this by saying, " Apps are more expensive now than ever before" lol :)

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, prices for computer software and accessories were 64.37% lower in 2019 versus 2000.

In the USA, from December 1997 to August 2015, the Consumer Price Index for personal computers and peripheral equipment declined 96 percent. For computer software specifically the decline was 63%.

I've provided information about pricing, and others have pointed out how they believes prices have dropped as well. If you have any tangible data to support your belief I'd be happy to see it, but suddenly introducing "intrusive ads" as a "cost" doesn't help buttress any argument, IMO.

satis wrote:

Simon wrote:

>Stats on prices are too simplistic.

... said the guy who started this by saying, " Apps are more expensive
now than ever before" lol :)

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, prices for computer
software and accessories were 64.37% lower in 2019 versus 2000.

In the USA, from December 1997 to August 2015, the Consumer Price Index
for personal computers and peripheral equipment declined 96 percent. For
computer software specifically the decline was 63%.

I've provided information about pricing, and others have pointed out how
they believes prices have dropped as well. If you have any tangible data
to support your belief I'd be happy to see it, but suddenly introducing
"intrusive ads" as a "cost" doesn't help buttress any argument, IMO.

This is why general stats are a waste of time. You cannot generalise on computer prices. Release dates, time of year, clearances, country you live in, all affect that costing, as do platform and usage requirements. So does if you're in education or a non-profit. (You cannot replace this with a simple CPI figure, even if politicians like to). These things affect individuals and the amount they pay. For example, I'm in the UK and pay more for apple products than you would in the US and I also pay more for App Store software/subscriptions etc. Recently, my 2013 macair died and replacing it was going to be considerably more than what I paid in 2013 (about £200-£500 depending). The iphone since it's inception has steadily increased in price (according to Statistica) as have smartphones in general. I do understand that if you're in the linux/windows camp it is much cheaper to buy hardware, but I've been in the macos camp for 12 years and am unlikely to change (although I'm increasingly temped with their price hikes). General stats also don't account for differences in platform costs. For the last two years I've been using a Galaxy Note8 and the Play store prices for apps were considerably cheaper than the iOS equivalents often more than by half. My android expenditure was half my iPhone expenditure for the same time period. Ipad apps are more expensive the iphone apps and the list goes on.

All this goes to show that my outgoings are more now than they have been and will continue to rise.

Simon wrote:

satis wrote:

>
>Simon wrote:
>
>>Stats on prices are too simplistic.
>
>... said the guy who started this by saying, " Apps are more expensive
>now than ever before" lol :)
>
>According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, prices for computer
>software and accessories were 64.37% lower in 2019 versus 2000.
>
>In the USA, from December 1997 to August 2015, the Consumer Price Index
>for personal computers and peripheral equipment declined 96 percent.
For
>computer software specifically the decline was 63%.
>
>I've provided information about pricing, and others have pointed out
how
>they believes prices have dropped as well. If you have any tangible
data
>to support your belief I'd be happy to see it, but suddenly introducing
>"intrusive ads" as a "cost" doesn't help buttress any argument, IMO.
>
>

This is why general stats are a waste of time. You cannot generalise on
computer prices.

So far I've just seen you make an unsupported claim, then ignore any evidence supplied (including other differing opinions in the thread) by saying one cannot generalise. Especially odd since you started this part of the thread by generalizing. Nevertheless, if you have any evidence to support your claim that "apps are more expensive than ever before" I personally would love to see it. But so far you have only repeated your claim and waved away data that disagrees with your belief.

satis wrote:

So far I've just seen you make an unsupported claim, then ignore any
evidence supplied (including other differing opinions in the thread) by
saying one cannot generalise. Especially odd since you started this part
of the thread by generalizing. Nevertheless, if you have any evidence to
support your claim that "apps are more expensive than ever before" I
personally would love to see it. But so far you have only repeated your
claim and waved away data that disagrees with your belief.

Perhaps you need to re-read my previous post. Personal experience is far more reliable than a generalised CPI. If you do a little research on the internet you will find that my experience is not alone. My only correction is that I'm referring to Apple products. In this I'm in good company as even the Washington Post agrees with me (https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2018/12/06/your-apple-products-are-getting-more-expensive-heres-how-they-get-away-with-it/?tid=ss_mail&utm_term=.eae69d0e48cf

Simon wrote:

Perhaps you need to re-read my previous post. Personal experience is far
more reliable than a generalised CPI. If you do a little research on the
internet you will find that my experience is not alone. My only
correction is that I'm referring to Apple products. In this I'm in good
company as even the Washington Post agrees with me
(https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2018/12/06/your-apple-products-are-getting-more-expensive-heres-how-they-get-away-with-it/?tid=ss_mail&utm_term=.eae69d0e48cf

SImon. You wrote in the first post in this thread:

I’ve noticed recently (by that I mean the last few years!), that those devs
that don’t go for subscription models to sell their software are increasingly
opting for upgrade pricing only being available for a short period of time
after which point you end up paying full price. I find this irksome and not
supportive of loyal customers. The last one that came through like that
made me drop the app entirely.

Several members here, me included, asked you what applications you were referring to. We're still waiting for an answer.

Simon wrote:

Personal experience is far more reliable than a generalised CPI.

The plural of anecdote is not data.

I'm really struggling with this. The WashPo article is about Apple hardware. Apple software has got a lot cheaper:

- Mac OS is now free (was £129)
- Pages, Numbers, Keynote now free (were about £129 each at the outset)
- Final Cut Pro is £299 - was £999 before it became FCPX

and so on.

If you want to argue that Apple applications costs have to include the hardware, you might have a case, but that's moving the goalposts, since your OP referred to applications.

As to the point on personal experience, mine, as my posts indicate, is that apps are much cheaper than they used to be. If personal experience is the important data point, then we have Schrodinger's app costs - they are both higher and lower than they used to be *at the same time*. Maybe one of our more academic contributors can write this up as a paper.

Seriously - I really don't think you've sustained your argument.

Simon wrote:

Perhaps you need to re-read my previous post. Personal experience is far
more reliable than a generalised CPI. If you do a little research on the
internet you will find that my experience is not alone. My only
correction is that I'm referring to Apple products. In this I'm in good
company as even the Washington Post agrees with me
(https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2018/12/06/your-apple-products-are-getting-more-expensive-heres-how-they-get-away-with-it/?tid=ss_mail&utm_term=.eae69d0e48cf