Today/yesterday a new version of the note taking app Vesper came out. What’s more important is that Q Branch, the developers, also raised the price of it quite a bit. Here’s Gruber’s post on it:

Put another way, we’re going to charge something sane or die trying. We tried following the iOS App Store trend by pricing Vesper at just $2.99 for months. It didn’t work. Prices like that are not sane, and not sustainable, at least for well-crafted productivity apps. So Q Branch is drawing a line in the sand, and we hope other iOS developers will follow.

I think this is a good move that more people should follow. If you make something that you think are a premium product, and you have users that agree, you should be able to charge a premium price. It is ridiculous that anything that costs more than a buck or two in the app store(s) are considered expensive, no matter how good the software is question is.

Software developers have been trying to outprice each other in a race to the bottom and the only way out is probably if a few brave indie developers chose to do what Q Branch does; teach users that you get what you pay for and that an ”expensive app” (that still costs less than a cup of coffee and a donut) can be worth its price.

Here’s Dave Wiskus’ comment after the first day with the higher price:

Yesterday we moved to sane/sustainable pricing for @vesperapp. First day sales were so-so.

But first day revenue was *fantastic*.