Presumably whoever wrote an app that sells for $1 to $5 realized that the barrier to entry was low and leveraged that product into a product line. No revenue stream is going to last forever, eventually phones too will commoditize and squeeze the margins out.
As long at the developer retained more revenue than it cost to develop the product then it was a success. I don't care whether my startup is a 'company' or a 'feature' I care whether it makes money. If you can sell to another company just before your product becomes a commodity then that's even better.
Sounds like he's just jealous the IM Sense guys got a pay day for a $1 app.
Money Quote: "Surely their sales would drop to near zero since the feature is now free."
Better let the bottled water industry know they are about to be put out of business by the tap.
Another view, a few smart guys build a small patent portfolio for doing HDR and use an iphone app as a method for marketing their technology and making a few bucks. Big Co finds them and their technology and buys them for a large sum. Mission Accomplished.
As long at the developer retained more revenue than it cost to develop the product then it was a success. I don't care whether my startup is a 'company' or a 'feature' I care whether it makes money. If you can sell to another company just before your product becomes a commodity then that's even better.
Sounds like he's just jealous the IM Sense guys got a pay day for a $1 app.
Money Quote: "Surely their sales would drop to near zero since the feature is now free."
Better let the bottled water industry know they are about to be put out of business by the tap.