Really necessary to charge 99 euros?

Winston
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Joined: Wed Aug 12, 2015 7:58 pm

Really necessary to charge 99 euros?

Post by Winston »

I find it curious, why is it necessary to charge the same price for this software as the actual EyeX hardware itself? Sure you have no competition, but to me seems like a major, major price gouge. Its like me asking you to pay 200 euros for graphics card driver. Where the graphics card itself already cost you 200 euros. Have a feeling many people are going to be in need of software like this in the coming years (people with Carpal Tunnel, RSI, etc) and at 99 euros for a driver, your gonna find alotta very angry people that are already struggling to put food on the table in this economy of austerity and hardships.

I do want to say, thank you for developing this software. I suffer from RSI, its extremely painful and can barely do my job, housework or use my computer. Its absolutely crippling, and Im still in my twenties. What was even more crippling was buying my EyeX hardware several months ago, only to find out I needed to fork out another 99 euros in order to make the useless hardware actually usable. So thats an investment Ive still yet to see a return on. And the RSI has only gotten worse since then. Lovely.

So yea, Im curious as to why your charging so much for this software. Is it simply cause you can?
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Xcessity
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Re: Really necessary to charge 99 euros?

Post by Xcessity »

Hi Winston,

thank you for sharing your thoughts. I have had the price discussion many many times. From my experience there is no way to convince you that it is actually a good deal. No matter if you charge 1 EUR or 1000 EUR there will be always a price tag that is too high for someone. That is just a matter of perceived value and monthly income.

Let me just give you a bunch of thoughts from my point of view:
  • To start things straight: I don't charge money because I can, I charge money because I have to. I am well aware that you are in a tough situation. That is kind of the nature of all users that need my solutions. I would love to give you all my apps for free. It just feels great as a developer to see as many people as possible using the stuff you created. Here is the thing though, I cannot devote my time developing these tools without any income.
  • I know that you feel like these communication tools should be donated to you, as they are so essential. So do I, but you cannot request this donation from an individual with basically no means. There are charities, non-profits, social security organizations that (should) take care of that. I decided to create a sustainable business model to ensure the long term development and support of these tools and not fundraising.
  • The EyeX is a developer kit, as you said for yourself, does not do much out of the box. So basically I provide software for it that it will do something. The price total of hardware + software is ~200 EUR. That is the same price as the consumer version of the EyeX, called "Steelseries Sentry". This consumer version, which in my opinion does not add very valuable features, is the same price as IRIS+EyeX. So basically you are looking at an assistive solution that has the same price as a consumer product.
So these are just the most important thoughts. I could go on an on, but as I said, I don't think that it will change your feeling about IRIS being to expensive.

Best,
Markus
Zathras
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Location: NY

Re: Really necessary to charge 99 euros?

Post by Zathras »

Actually If you look at some of the other assistive tech companies prices out there, he's actually pretty reasonable. I know of a couple other companies that would easily charge 3x as much for something like Iris.
Winston
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Re: Really necessary to charge 99 euros?

Post by Winston »

Thank you for breaking down your reasoning, honestly appreciate it. Lemme just clarify my view as I think you may have misunderstood my gripe. I never expected this software for free. I myself am a part time developer so the idea of developing something just to give it away for free doesn't make sense. My problem is the 99 euro price point. The steel series guys are just as guilty here if not more so as their junk ware is almost entirely useless.

So don't compare yourself to them, your actually creating something extremely useful, enough so that I'm on your forums ranting away! I just don't see where both you guys get this 99 euro figure from. 39.99 to 59.99 would make much, much more sense. Is it possible you could split your product into a basic package for 39.99 and a pro package for 99? Not everyone wants to game with it/needs all those features.

And zathras, your totally correct. Anyone else developing this software would likely try to charge thousands for it. And that's the problem. This highlights the predatory gouging nature of the medical/disability assistance market. And because we always accept it with a smile, things never change. As cartman once said 'you know what it (naive enthusiasm) gets you? A d*** in your mouth, that's what'.

/rant.
MikkoK
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Re: Really necessary to charge 99 euros?

Post by MikkoK »

I'm afraid that asking 99 for IRIS means that there will be no sales volume. And when there is no sales, there is eventially no more development. And then the people who paid 99e will be really pissed off. And I don't wanna be pissed off :)

Markus is doing a great job and I really respect all the work and support, but I'm struggling to pay 99 euros for the reasons above. And 14-days of trial period is troublesome, I installed the IRIS and tested it few hours. Then I got really busy at work and I really didn't have enough time to test it. And now my options are to pay 99 euros for a software that i tested so little or just whine at the Xcessity forum about the price :D
Harro
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Re: Really necessary to charge 99 euros?

Post by Harro »

Big change Markus will give you another two weeks if you need to test it our more :)
He did for me atleast.

And yes 99 Euro can be allot of money, but you have to take in to consideration the target audience that use/need software like this is pretty small.
To me it was worth every penny.

The kinectic mouse price is atm out of my reach though. But ones again compared to similar software/hardware it's still pretty cheap (and allot beter !)

Anyways just ask Markus if you can get another two weeks for testing :)
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Xcessity
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Re: Really necessary to charge 99 euros?

Post by Xcessity »

Hi,

@MikkoK: So demo time is really something that can be extended upon request. The 14 days are a pretty common time period for software trial times. Again don't hesitate to contact me for an Extension.
Your theory about sales volume is generally correct, but we are talking about eye tracking software here and not mobile apps. There is no volume due to the fact that there are not so much eye tracking units out there. This might change as Tobii is going to push the eyetracking into the gamers market. We will see how that works.
Don't worry though about long term support. I'll keep it updated to a point where it will be in working state for the long run. Currently we are already set for Win10 and keep going.
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Xcessity
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Re: Really necessary to charge 99 euros?

Post by Xcessity »

Hey,

to finally put an end to this discussion, I have lowered the price to 39 EUR (~ 49 USD). The price is now lower than an PC or console game. That should be affordable for anyone willing to use IRIS for gaming.

Best,
Markus
Ikonos
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Re: Really necessary to charge 99 euros?

Post by Ikonos »

Marcus, I really commend you for doing this. I know many people who want to use this software are disabled and on a fixed income. I know you work very hard to maintain and update all the software that you make. I have already purchased the software and I was more than willing to pay that, hell I would've paid more, but I know those that are on a fixed income will really appreciate this especially since finding things that make our lives easier and more accessible can be difficult to come by and when found tend to be extremely expensive. So I would just like to extend my gratitude and I hope to be a returning customer for a long time.
MikkoK
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Re: Really necessary to charge 99 euros?

Post by MikkoK »

I purchased the IRIS immediately, thanks Markus! Great product and I really appreciate all the hard work you are doing.
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