Reprinted from TidBITS by permission; reuse governed by Creative Commons
license BY-NC-ND 3.0. TidBITS has offered years of thoughtful commentary
on Apple and Internet topics. For free email subscriptions and access to the
entire TidBITS archive, visit http://www.tidbits.com/


   Ulysses Writing App Moves to Subscription Pricing

   Adam C. Engst

   The popular Mac and iOS writing app [1]Ulysses has moved from a
   standalone pricing model where the Mac version cost $44.99 and the iOS
   version was $24.99 to a [2]subscription model where all versions will
   be free to subscribers for $4.99 per month or $39.99 per year. Students
   can subscribe for $11.99 per six months.

   People who subscribe to the $9.99-per-month [3]Setapp service will
   continue to get Ulysses on the Mac, and that subscription will also
   unlock the iOS version. Standalone pricing is no longer available,
   although existing users are eligible for a lifetime discount and recent
   purchasers qualify for free-user periods to make up for the previous
   purchase price.

   Marcus Fehn and Max Seelemann, co-founders of the company behind
   Ulysses, have both penned explanations of the move: Fehn via [4]a
   just-the-facts blog post and Sellemann in [5]a far-more-detailed
   article on Medium.

   Although Seelemann's article is particularly insightful, there's little
   new in their decision. Both are clearly aware of the possible backlash
   that has accompanied similar moves by other companies (see [6]our
   series on subscription pricing). They simply see no other way that they
   can afford to continue developing Ulysses on multiple platforms. With
   apps sold in Apple's App Stores, the only way developers can generate
   revenue is by targeting potential new users, rather than serving
   existing users. And even paid updates (which are possible only through
   contortions with Apple's inane App Store policies) force major-feature
   update cycles and still result in spiky revenue.

   Amusingly, much of their deliberation was foreshadowed by [7]a smart
   blog post from last year by developer and Ulysses user Christian
   Tietze. He also floated the idea of a subscription service like Setapp.

   There's no question that Ulysses is a good app. It tied BBEdit for the
   top ranking in our recent survey of Markdown-capable editors (see
   '[8]Your Favorite Mac Markdown Editors,' 26 July 2017). And Julio
   Ojeda-Zapata gave it a positive review last year in '[9]Writing App
   Ulysses Blends Power and Simplicity' (13 August 2016).

   The problem comes in matching the needs of developers with the eventual
   costs to users. A subscription service may be necessary for developers
   to maintain a continuous development pace, and users may have no
   problem justifying a handful of subscriptions to essential apps. But if
   too many apps move to a subscription model, it seems likely that the
   total cost ' and the logistics of managing dozens of separate
   subscriptions ' will overwhelm many users. We need a curious economics
   graduate student to research that tipping point.

References

   1. https://ulyssesapp.com/
   2. https://ulyssesapp.com/pricing/
   3. https://setapp.com/
   4. https://ulyssesapp.com/blog/2017/08/ulysses-switches-to-subscription/
   5. https://medium.com/building-ulysses/why-were-switching-ulysses-to-subscription-47f80b07a9cd
   6. http://tidbits.com/series/1298
   7. https://christiantietze.de/posts/2016/07/app-pricing-subscription/
   8. http://tidbits.com/article/17365
   9. http://tidbits.com/article/16683

.