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I waited long time for that app. For approx. 10$ i would have bought it right away without even thinking about the money. But 20$ is much money for some people. I can’t afford to spend 20$ on a twitter client. So unforunately, you’ve lost me as a customer.
Even if i think it’s sad to do so, because i really enjoy using the desktop client, i’ll have to search for an alternative and revoce the access for the beta client.

Thank you for the really awesome beta exprerience anyways.

Sorry, but to make customers pay because Twitter is screwing you is not acceptable. You have lost me as a customer as well. Back to one of the free Twitter clients.

Good lord, the number of people that spent $1500-2000 on a Mac, $200-1000 on an iPhone (which, if carrier locked, means they’ve been locked in to a multi-thousand $ contract) who balk at a one-time $20 purchase for a piece of software they’ll likely use for years.

Tapbots – thanks for making this available. You have my $20 (plus my iPhone and iPad $ as well ;) )

Cheers!

Dave

$20 is too much, really too much

I’ve accessed Twitter on my Mac like Four times since I’ve signed up for the service. But, since its you fellas, I’m going to buy this thing for 20 bucks just so that I may support you. Being in the situation that you are in, $20 is just about the right amount of money for this.

Great product from a great team at a great price. It’s all good!

Unfortunately, Twitter never actually promised not to be evil. Tweetbot (across all platforms) is immeasurably better than what they’ve done with the official client (which once upon a time, as Tweetie, was pretty damn good too). I’ll probably grit my teeth and pay up, just to have the desktop sync with my iOS clients.

Damn you, Twitter.

Well, you could just communicate with Twitter to get more tokens, it is not that problem. They know about tweetbot as a popular client, not only since they canceled twitter for mac, and i bet it would be no problem to get more tokens. I think it is inacceptable to make your customers pay for this. There are enough other twitter clients who also have to deal with this issue, and who do not cost more than 5$.

It sucks that Twitter is screwing you over. But really that’s not your customers’ problem. I’ve been in software development for a few decades and understand the financial realities of the business, but I suspect that the odds of you recovering your costs this way are low. The odds of you alienating your soon-to-be-former customers, on the other hand, are high. On the whole it probably wasn’t the best way to handle your predicament.

Best of luck!

Unexpected, especially for the price.
I though I’ll just spend money around $5-$15 but it’ wasn’t.

Btw, thanks for awesome beta version.

Uh-oh. Just read the comment about 10.8 v. 10.7 – is 10.7 going to be supported going forward? My Pro is just old enough that I’m off the 10.8 support list.

purchased, didn’t even blink. as dumb and silly as some people feel Twitter (as a service) is, i find an exceedingly great amount of good in it, far more than i find on Facebook. many of my best friends live great distances away from me, and Twitter is the best way to keep up and stay in touch. my experience with Twitter is only enhanced and furthered by using Tweetbot, and i know the folks here at Tapbots, despite the long odds Twitter (the company) gives them, have been busting their asses to make something fantastic.

so, enjoy returning to your free Mac desktop clients as they ride off into the sunset of viability and are no longer of any great use. $20 is a luxury to spend, but it’s a small one for something i will use day in, day out, which is more than i can say for other pieces of software i’ve purchased in the past for more money.

You guys make quality software, and deliver the best user experiences. I have Tweetbot on my iPhone, iPad, and iMac (even Netbot), and your apps are worth every dollar.

Just remember, most people like me aren’t going to stop to bother leaving a comment. Your commenters are going to be the disappointed folks, but don’t let that discourage you. You target audience appreciates what you do.

You realize Twitterrific is only about $5?

“Good lord, the number of people that spent $1500-2000 on a Mac, $200-1000 on an iPhone (which, if carrier locked, means theyâ��ve been locked in to a multi-thousand $ contract) who balk at a one-time $20 purchase for a piece of software theyâ��ll likely use for years.”

Almost nothing makes me more angry than comments like these. I save hard to buy my Mac and iPhone, i don’t have endless amount, quite the contrary since buying Apple products, the situation is the same with many other people. $1500 dollars on precisely engineered hardware and a great OS with a string of retail stores for support and great customer service, is much easier to spend on a great twitter client which I’ve already paid for on my iPhone and iPad, and the rest of twitter clients are free or a few dollars.

I love tweetbot, and I know tapbots won’t care, but I can’t afford to buy $20 for something that performs one function, which I can already get on my phone, and the same basic data from other clients and even twitter.com.

There will be 100,000 people (or whatever ridiculous amount of tokens the idiots at twitter now give out to 3rd party clients) rich enough to buy it. $20 from me or from someone else it doesn’t matter, $20 is $20. And that’s not wrong of tapbots (they need to make money else we wouldn’t have these great apps), it’s just a little annoying.

Additionally why couldn’t you just use the access key/tokens from tweetbot for iPhone which you have many more of?

Guys, $20 dollars is equivalent to a weeks worth of coffee, 1-2 lunches, a large box of pens or three packs of beer- all of these things don’t even last.

Tweetbot for Mac took these THREE guys nearly a year of work to make and they’re providing free updates for life. You don’t think that’s worth $20?

@Zack – a reasoned argument of whether or not you believe $20 to be worth the amount of use you get out of the app is fine. But anyone expressing disgust, anger, or any other negative energy towards Tapbots obviously feel that they are somehow owed something by Tapbots, and how dare Tapbots insult me so.

The worst thing the App Store did was to devalue software. I write it for a living, I know the time and energy that goes in to building a good piece of software, and asking to be paid for that work is not evil.

Don’t buy it if you don’t want to. But don’t expect Tapbots to give any mind to anyone complaining for the sake of being loud.

While I would have preferred the cost to be in the $9.99-$14.99 range, I completely understand the position Twitter has put independent developers in with the user caps. I’ve already spend near $20 on Tapbots’ Twitter and ADN clients for iPhone and iPad, and as has been said, $20 isn’t that much money these days for something I will use literally everyday, all day.

And, I really feel we need to allow independent developers to make a living without selling out to Facebook, Google, Apple, or Microsoft. The Mac and iOS ecosystems would suck a lot more without developers like Tapbots making software. And they can’t do that unless we the users pay them enough to make a living.

Best of luck! I hope Tweetbot for Mac is a hit!

I will buy it because I dislike what Twitter is doing. But not many people will do it.

But you have to understand a proprietary and centralized internet will ALWAYS destroy free market and enterprises.

Your move toward App.net is a good start, but even App.net is centralized.

You (and others developers) have to again makes beautiful apps for great services as IRC, distributed messaging system, RSS, jabber and so on.

And maybe, it’s a business opportunity against “big guys” to build servers for distributed services and then build exciting software everyone will want to buy.

-
in the end, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon and others with the same situation will NEVER be your friends. They have no interest (quite the contrary) to build a Free Market for you.

I know is not your fault, but $20 is too much for a Twitter client. I already revoked my tokens so you got them back.

If the problem was tokens and users limit, the smart thing to do was to charge per account. Tweetbot for Mac should be free and charge $10 per account via in app purchase. That was the good way to go, because if I buy it and register 500 accounts, it won’t work for you either.

It’s the choice you have to make as a dev but I would have hit buy already for 10 bucks. For 20 bucks I will wait, see what else there is and likely forget about this. I am guessing there are more people like me and if they all bought instead of thinking hard you would make more money.

Who knows I am just one dude with an opinion and you know what they say about opinions…

Give me a shout when it’s 10 bucks.

Finally, a sensibly priced app. Purchased.

A year in development. Amount of users and therefore sales limited by Twitter API restrictions. Chance to recoup overheads and development costs limited due to previously mentioned restrictions. I think $20 is a more than acceptable price to ask for what is essentially the most functional, feature heavy and aesthetically pleasing Twitter app available for OS X….

…. But oh yeah, We aren’t taking into account the sense of self entitlement that users think they have. The misplaced perception that Mac and iOS apps should be free or sold for pennies. None of you go to work for free so don’t ask us developers to either.

To all those commentators here: DO YOU KNOW WHAT SOFTWAREDEVELOPMENT MEANS? You really consider 20$ to much for a good piece of Software??? Go make you’re own Client and we talk again. It’s unbelievable what you guys are writing here! Please go far far away and never become a valued customer to someone who runs a business to feed his family. In my mind I have a lot of other words for people like you…

@tapbots

Congrats to another beautiful piece of software!

Good job guys. Ignore the miserable people. Well done for publishing Tweetbot for Mac rather than canning it. I bought it. Its the cost of a few beers in central london and I’ve been using it every day through beta. Hope you make back some of your investment in time and money and lost opportunity costs of doing something else.

Some questions:

What happens if you buy the app, but it won’t work because all the tokens have been used?
If you’ve used the alpha/beta, does this app use the same token (so the app is guaranteed to work for you)?

Thanks.

David: my tokens for the alpha/beta carried over to the final version from what I can tell. I looked at the apps I have authorized for my accounts, and there’s only one instance of Tweetbot for Mac.

Tried every twitter apps available, but i have to say Tweetbot is the best among them and I think $20 is still acceptable for a good designed software… if it’s going to be limited why not…

A decent price for a great (no wait, the best!) Twitter client there is for the Mac. It will be an app I use every day, so $20 is really a fair price. I think the App store has started with a price dumping trend that I personally don’t like, as it’s discouraging for new developers.

Anyway, talking about Twitter limits: I’m sure you could discuss with Twitter, and have the cap raised when the time comes. Sure, they will want money for it (after all, I assume they have caps for 3rd party clients because they don’t get ad revenue like that), but with the $20 you charge, I’m sure you would be able to pay for it.

I like Twitter, I love Tweetbot, but $20 for it is $10 too much. I’m very glad with the iPhone and iPad version though but will keep using those. I hope Twitter realizes their error and gets rid of that limited token business.

David said:

> Sorry, but to make customers pay because Twitter is screwing you is not acceptable.

Simon said:

> I think it is inacceptable to make your customers pay for this.

Brad said:

> It sucks that Twitter is screwing you over. But really that�s not your customers� problem.

It sounds like each of you thinks that Tapbots owes you something. You argue that Tapbots should take a loss on this app because customers should not have to pay enough for them to earn a living.

I am going to go use your argument at the gas station. �It is not my problem that civil unrest/natural disaster/political strife has raised the cost of oil. You should sell my fuel to me at a loss!� I�ll let you know how it goes.

Travis Dodson said:

> $20 for a twitter client? � That is nothing but ripping people off.

No one is obligated to buy Tweetbot. If one feels it�s worth $20, they can buy it.
If you don�t, then walk away. But no one is locked into anything; there is no
rip off here.

I really like Tweetbot. And I bet they can make their money back at the price
they�ve set.

“The same price as my operating system.”

This, says everything.

+1

Here you have my $20 TwitterTax.

Please please then be fair and add app.net support,
to do your part in letting Twitter know that they have
done something wrong.

Michael,
Germany

$20 is way toooo much!!!! I would spend $10 for it.

I’ve already spent around $20 bucks on Tweetbot for iPhone, iPad and Netbot for iPhone and iPad.

I don’t think I want to spend another 20 bucks for the Mac version.

Will Tweetbot for Mac support Growl?

I’m asking this as I like to see every single tweet that comes in as a Growl notification and currently I’m unable to do this with Tweetbot for Mac.

Hopefully you guys can come up with a way to do this soon. I’m a huge fan, paid $20, and would love to see such a feature.

�The same price as my operating system.�

If only tapbots could subsidise their software business by sales of hardware�

Jezus people! Do you get how spoiled you are?
An app which costs 20$ is cheap as hell if you use it on a regular basis.
Ask yourself how far you get with 20$ in a grocery store … and how long you last with the things you bought.
Beer is gone the next week and you have to spend 20$ again … this purchase is a one time 20$.

Just bought it … couldn’t be happier!

@Jonathan, If you can seriously with a straight face proclaim that $20 is going threaten your financial security, I’d happily agree with you. I went to college, was poor and I could confidently afford $20 for a piece of software I use everyday.

Tapbots doesn’t owe you cheap software no more than Apple owes you a cheaper iPhone. Stop using your own personal circumstances as a means of getting free/cheap software.

Bought your app the moment I saw the announcement

OK, deep breath, $20. OK, so I buy it on the MAS. But you run out of tokens and can no longer sell it on MAS - how do I get updates?

Or, I do a clean install and need a token but they’re all gone, how to I get the app working then?

$20 might be hard to swallow but do’able. But I can’t see how long-term support and viability works…

Anyone that paid to see Transformers in the theater cannot complain about the price of Tweetbot.

SCREW YOU GUYS. I’M GOING TO GO WRITE MY OWN TWITTER CLIENT USING THE XCODES. IT WILL DEFINITELY TAKE LESS THAN $20 OF MY TIME TO WRITE SOMETHING BETTER THAN TWEETBOT. YOU LOST A CUSTOMER.

As a full-time software developer for iOS, hats off to you guys. I don’t even foresee using this THAT much, and I would have easily paid double. Anyone comparing this to “the price of their OS” or “I can’t afford it” has never made anything. Until you’ve made something, until you’ve poured a year of your life into something, until you know how hard Tweetbot is to make, you have absolutely no idea as to what you’re talking about.

The great thing is, no one is forcing you to buy this and be a customer. Key word there is customer. Customers pay money for a product. If you get something for free, you’re the product being sold to advertisers/marketers.

Don’t be a product, be a customer. It’s the new “it’s better to be a pirate than join the navy.”

$20 is not enough…I would spend at least $500 on this app.

Thanks for making it. Glad I’m able to support you guys, great work!

Goodbye Tweetbot for Mac. Will miss you! #GoodByeKiss

Sorry folks, it ain�t gonna happen for $20. In the new economy where the standard is free, mobile apps are $1, I would have paid maybe $5.

Come on, the free Twitter apps out there today aren�t that bad. Yours is $20 better? From the screen shots, it doesn�t appear to be.

Actually it is better. When I’m on mac, Tweetbot is where it’s at. Use Tweetbot on any platform for 6 months and then try to go back to anything else.

Ignore the assholes. Congratulations on launch.

Pricing aside, where is a changelog from 0.8 beta? I want to see that the beta problems were fixed before I spend $20 on a Twitter client.

Previous problems:
� Lists and searches in their own columns would not auto update.
� DMs update upside down, contrary to the rest of the timeline.
â�¢ Enter does not send a tweet. (Who is setting this trend that Ctrl-Enter or Cmd-Enter sends a tweet? We don’t need multiline tweets!)
â�¢ Syncing wouldn’t work.
� Could not send DMs from the DM window/column.
� Columns were not horizontally scrollable.
� Could not swipe left or right between columns with the touchpad.

Why are other Twitter apps so cheap? Are ALL the other developers planning to drop support once their tokens run out?

Thanks.

Hi Guys! I was waiting for Tweetbot for Mac for quite a long time. I think that its iOS counterparts are the best in their league. However, I’m quite disappointed by the price tag.

Don’t get me wrong, I bought it. I’am a software developer too, so I know how much work you had to put into it. But still, it’s too much. Especially in Poland, where I live. Especially if you compare it to other Twitter clients, or software in MAS in general. Especially, if you consider that the future of the software is not safe (because of Twitter limitations).

I really hope the software is going to be supported for a long time. All the best!

I cant say I have fully read the Twitter rules on tokens, but you are saying Twitter is putting a hard limit on how many copies of a piece of software you can sell? Sounds like you need to get out of the Twitter client business. Everyone else that makes twitter clients appears to be able to sell them for a lot less than $20.

I have no issue with paying $20 for an app, especially one which is so gorgeous and well made as this. You can really see the effort you guys have made!

However, I will not be purchasing, the reason for this is two-fold.

First of all, Twitter could decide to revoke all third-party apps at some point, and whilst any company could decide to do this at any point, Twitter has demonstrated it’s perfectly willing to alienate 3rd party developers.

Secondly, and more importantly, once you hit the sales limit, whilst I’m sure you have the best intentions, updating the app becomes a chore. You’re not going to bring any further revenue, so any effort you put in after that point, from a purely profitable point of view is a waste. I’m sure you’ll keep up the effort for a while, and do everything you can, but it’s just not sustainable, in my view. Personally, I prefer to invest in apps which can grow over time, not be limited by something out of the control of the developers.

I wish you the best of luck. $20 is a perfect price point, if Twitter weren’t such assholes.

PS: I hope you’ll replicate this app for App.net and create Netbot for Mac!

Bought the app! Best twitterapp around for just $20!
Unlike Adobe Photoshop Extended $1778, feels not so justifed.

Assuming Tapbots has only 100,000 tokens and has a minimum amount of revenue they must exceed to justify the labor they’ve put into the product – the question becomes an exercise in economics. Can they sell their 100,000 tokens @ $20 each which results in $2 million of revenue? If they need to sell the 100,000 tokens @ $10 each, will the $1 million provide a reasonable rate of return for their efforts? I would bet they will be able to sell their 100,000 tokens and that pricing it at something lower will not provide a reasonable return (after all, this is not a charity). I’m sure Tapbots expects a high proportion of their beta testers to drop out at the $20 price, but having a limited supply has made it logical to price the app as a premium product.

Great work, Tweetbot for Mac is really nice. I have the beta and love it.

Although I do understand that you are having a lot of trouble with Twitter are their stupid tokens policy, I still don’t think $20 is justifiable for a Twitter client, no matter how good it is.

You see as you explained yourself, after you tokens get users up, you won’t be able to allow any new users to the platform, so what if one day I had to change my Twitter account details/etc… would I have to get new tokens use the app again and if so I’m going to take a guess that I would not work.

It’s a shame because I really do LOVE the software you guys make, it is top quality and really enjoyable to use, but still $20 is a bit too much for a Twitter client.

Thanks for all you work on the alpha and beta though. And I will still use Tweetbot on my iPhone and iPad.

Seriously, you spend more $$ than that on a night out without blinking, and the only thing you get in return is a bad headache. Given the circumstances, I don’t see how Tapbots could’ve done it any other way.

Even if Twitter would f**k us all over tomorrow and shut down access for all 3rd party developers, I still see a value in supporting people that are making my time in front of a screen easier and more fun. Tapbots and their apps does just that, so it’s really a no-brainer for me.

waaa waaa waaaa
Since everyone else was doing it, I thought I would too

App purchased
I like supporting fellow developers!

People stop your crying and go build something better on your own

Frack it, I bought. It’s a lot of money for a twitter app, but Mac users of all people should understand that paying some money for top quality tools can be worth it. Tweetbot is the only twitter client I’ve ever enjoyed using, it’s a labour of love and deserves fair compensation.

not acceptable. abusadore! 20 dollares por esta aplicacion,! adios tweetbot! decepcionable

i’m in for $20. congrats and thanks.

The mobile app ecosystem has turned software prices upside down. $20 for a good piece of code that you use every day, all day, more or less? You shouldn’t blink an eye.

$20 back in the ’80s would, if you were lucky, get you some POS on a floppy in a baggie. Reward excellence, I say.

Purchased! :)

I’d have paid $25.

Now, seriously: Sina Weibot.

Hi, I just bought the application. I can not connect.
I get this message:

Wait a minute!
The request token for this page is invalid. You may already have been used, or has expired for being too old. Please return to the site or application that sent you here and try again, probably just a mistake.

If they can add notification support for ALL incoming tweets on a timeline, I might bite. Currently only echofon seems to allow for this, and by March that will be dead. Was hoping to jump to tweebot, but without that specific function I’m looking for, I can’t justify blowing $20 on this yet.

All of the discussion about how $20 is too much, or $20 is as much as you paid for the operating system update from Apple are amazing to me. Have people really lost sight of how much effort, care and passion goes into building great software. Twitter screwed the community with their policy change regarding 3rd party apps. It’s just not possible for a developer to “make it up in volume”. If you want a quality desktop twitter client, this is it! Just buy it and skip the movie this weekend or keep driving next time you pass buy a Starbucks or Jamba Juice.

Hey guys.

Don’t worry about everyone who’s complaining about $20 being too much. You guys write HIGH QUALITY software.

I willingly and gladly gave you my $20 dollars. It’s not fair the position you’ve been put in.

I hope at this price point and with the limit of apps you can actually sell, you reach a value that makes it worth it to build the app.

It looks like a great app, I�m in. Coders gotta eat, right?

Fascinating how the critics are always the first out of the gate. Why is that?

Just spent my $20 on Tweetbot for Mac, and happily happily using it nowâ��great work, guys. For those that choose not to buyâ�¦ well, that’s certainly your prerogative, but you’re missing out.

If I reinstall my Mac, will I lose my token? I’m planning to reinstall my Mac first and I have the beta. Do I get a lock on the token if I buy it?

I’m the happy owner of Tweetbot on both iPad and iPhone. And 20 USD is a fair price. Quality cost money.

Glad to pay it. This’ll be the thing I use most and I’ve already spent at least $20 on other Twitter clients that don’t work as well.
Thanks, Tapbots.

I kept trying the alpha/beta and kept going back to Tweetdeck 0.38 because of massive function gaps (columns!). I have a hard time paying $20 for something that I never felt was usable in its beta form – and the only reviews on the app store come from people for which paying $20 was obviously not a problem – you have to have bought already to comment.

$10.

Some kind of working try’n'buy even at that price.

Thanks for the chance to use the beta, guys. Amazing piece of software I brought without any hesitation!

I mostly use Tweetbot on the iPad and iPhone, so I can’t justify $19.99 for the Mac version. But I enjoyed using the alpha/beta and would’ve purchased it at $4.99. Having said that, can’t you release more basic version at lower price with a separate token limit?

Excellent work guys! As an independent developer myself I’m always keen to support developers that make awesome apps I use every day. Extra credit should go to the tapbots guys for having the guts to set a high price point, reflecting the constraints they’re under from Twitter and the actual costs of development.

I hate the price but I’m afraid that this is the present and future for twitter clients.

For those that say that twitter would probably give Tweetbot more tokens, you are crazy. Twitter has demonstrated that they either buy you or squeeze you out when it comes to clients. There is no reason to think that they would open up more tokens to Tweetbot, in fact there is every reason to think that you’d better get a token now before Twitter takes more away.

For those that say that $20 is insane and that “X” is only $5, these other clients are going to run into the same problems. They are going to have to charge more if they want to really make a business out of this or get out of it altogether (I think that Twitter would prefer this option).

The only reason for all of this that I can see is that Twitter has revenue generating plans and sees these clients as a threat to those. I would hope that Twitter might be able to come up with rules to say that if a client shows promoted tweets and other paid content just as they do on their own clients, that perhaps the tokens could be opened back up.

Released my 3 tokens back into the wild. Was a happy alpha and beta tester and will continue to enjoy it on iOS. Good luck!

I used the beta of Tapbots and liked it a lot. I’ve bought the version 1.0 for AUS $20.99 (why it’s more that the US I have no idea as our dollar is currently valued higher than yours)….my primary reason for spending the $$$ was to get sync working to my iPhone through iCloud…this appears not to be working for me but as there are no instructions posted for the Mac version yet I don’t know if what I am doing is right or wrong or what I should expect.

I was expecting there to be some help files up for the Mac version…pretty average considering the price of the app.

I for one, welcome our new TapBot $20-taking overlords. Keep up the good work!

If the purpose for charging $20 is because tokens are a valuable asset, why not use IAP to charge for tokens? Otherwise, someone with many accounts gets much more “value” than a single account user.

The current pricing is not a supply and demand structure. It is charging a higher rate for a premium product.

That said, as a single twitter account user, I will not be purchasing tweetbot for mac. I will keep using it on iOS though.

Very sorry that so many people are dumping on you. I provide customer and technical support services for two app developers, and I have come to realize just how expensive it is maintaining and updating iOS apps. I am frequently shocked and appalled at the number of people who expect and DEMAND quality apps to be provide free of charge or at low cost; many of these same people also scream bloody murder if a dev doesn’t release an update the day after a major iOS upgrade. The sense of entitlement among users is unbelievable.

I am HAPPY to pay for your Mac app, and have also happily paid for both iPhone and iPad apps as well. I manage my own twitter stream and two developer streams with your app, and it’s worth every penny I’ve paid.

Best of luck as you go forward. I’m sure there are plenty of discerning users who will be more than willing to pay for quality

I can certainly understand the debate on whether the price is fair or too high. But what I disagree with is the notion that Twitter limiting tokens is not the customers problem. In the company I work for, or any company really, if the cost of production goes up, so does the retail price. The more limited the availability, the higher the cost. More government regulations and taxes, higher gas prices, wage increases, the cost of all these things are all passed on to the consumer! Perhaps they shouldn’t have brought it up, but increasing the price due to limited availability is reasonable. And it’s just doing what businesses do, finding that equilibrium between supply and demand.

I’m not going to comment about the price tag, but, guys, have you read this article? http://techcrunch.com/2012/10/14/why-you-shouldnt-build-a-business-on-an-api-call/ I was pretty shocked to find this today after reading the TechCrunch’s article a few days ago.

The revenue maximizing price is always one at which a good deal of people refuse to buy. I’m proud of you guys for actually running a business.

My guess is that most that won’t pay $20 wouldn’t pay $10 or $6 either.

And the point being missed is that most important thing in software that you use every day is that the publisher actively support it. And twitter is evolving.

And man do I hate the official twitter clients.

In fact, as you get closer to running out of tokens you should increase the price. You guys are an awesome software shop and you shouldn’t hesitate to ask for real money for your work. Moreover this isn’t food… no one “needs” Tweetbot. No one will starve or die if they can’t afford it.

And one of the many good things about the app store is that you can change prices easily.

====

P.S There was an earlier comment on the OS’s price. The OS is not $20. OSX starts at $599. $20 is the upgrade price. The comparable update price for Tweetbot is FREE.

If you complain about $20 being too expensive you are pathetic and I feel sad for you.

More… (can’t resist.) Every day every one of us declines to buy stuff largely because it’s not worth the money. This is how it’s supposed to be. Let the limited slots go to the people who REALLY want it.

Why does everyone feel it necessary to state their non-purchase intent?

We’re not used to electronically distributed software as a scarce resource, but in this case it is. LIKE VIRTUALLY EVERYTHING ELSE WE CAN BUY. Thank you for pricing it (hopefully) high enough that it doesn’t sell out in a day. And for collecting enough money to make it supportable (once again, hopefully!)

Is it not possible at all for 3rd party Twitter client devs to strike some kind of bargain with Twitter to acquire more tokens? Or is 100,000 the absolute final amount provided? There has got to be some alternative, some other route they can take without having to settle with charging consumers so much. Twitter really sucks for their token and API limitations.

That said, I love Tweetbot. It’s the best Twitter client on the market, hands down. I’ve purchased both the iPhone version AND the iPad version and I don’t even own an iPad, just to support Tapbots, but at the end, $20 for a Twitter client will never be justifiable.

Oh heck. I love Tweetbot, and use it constantly on my iPhone and iPad, but WTF is up with Twitter? Limited tokens? Nobody could ever figure out how they were going to monetize this, but it appears their answer has been to screw all the developers who made them successful.

I’ll probably bite the bullet because all the other desktop clients are too busy and obtrusiveâ��I don’t want TweetDeck covering my whole friggin desktop. I just need some time to figure out how to slip it past my wife. :-P

I’m more than happy to pay $20 for an app, especially when it’s made by a small company who cares about craftsmanship.

Thanks – and keep up the great work Tapbots!

People saying “You just lost a customer” aren’t understanding Twitter’s user cap.

As long as Tweetbot for Mac hits its user cap, they didn’t lose a customer.

Tapbots theoretically needs to increase the price as much as it can while still having enough demand to hit the user cap. I bet they’ll hit the user cap with $20. I bet they could have done it with $30 too. If they hit the user cap and you’re someone who found it too expensive, they didn’t lose your custom, and there’s no reason for them to care.

$20 – really?

$20 dollars for a friggin twitter client. Good luck with that!

Sorry twitter is screwing you guys, BUT, Twitter needs to figure out how to make money off the service and you guys need to drop the price of this thing by about $15.

Just because twitter hasn’t been able to monetize their service they shouldn’t penalize you guys and thus, us the customer as well.

Absolutely disgusted by the comments here. Wasn’t planning to buy it immediately, but have done so precisely because of all the small mindedness I see here.

I think $20 is worth it given the amount of time you’ve put into it, the reliability, the limited ability to make money from it, and me not needing to have another browser open or deal with Twitter’s web page.

For the people purchasing it, don’t forget to rate / review it so that potential customers understand whether it value for them.

For the people that want to complain (compared to just quietly not buy it) about the $20 price tag: Do you understand how much software development costs, and the fact these people need money to live, plus further money to support it.

Guys and gals of Tapbots, thanks for not buckling and just canning the software when Twitter announced it’s frankly retarded new rules. Tweetbot for Mac is AWESOME and I genuinely was worried about the potential of using Twitter without it.

Don’t listen to the whiners and trolls on here, just listen to those people who are fans of quality software and realise that you have to put food on your tables!

Please continue to make brilliant software for both iOS and OS X and I’ll continue to buy it and recommend it to all my friends.

Everyone else, go use Tweetdeck or Twitterific or the web client… you’re entirely free to do that if you wish… hell, develop your own client then you can come back and diss Tapbots by all means. Until then, get back under your bridges.

LOL @ Travis Dodson, what a loser peasant

Guys, $20 is too much. Really. Its make no sense even we’re using Tweetbot every day. Cmon, its just a twitter client not the Mountain Lion. $10 sounds good for me.

Not a hardcore twitterer, but I really love your apps and use them on a daily basis. Wouldn’t want to give away my token so I just bought it for â�¬ 15,99. Thanks guys!

@Todd

Your boss probably thinks you’re greedy, too. Oh boy, that’s so low…

Instant buy! :)
Thanks for the great app!
But yeah, Twitter is evil with those tokens.

I think Tweetbot is well worth the £14. My biggest concern is paying out and then Twitter doing something stupid, like they have been doing with increasing frequency of late, that then affects my £14 worth of Tweetbot.

Might wait a little while…

Oh the irony in some of the comments here! Tweetbot lovers are defending Tapbot’s right to make money through their software, but at the same time they’re bashing Twitter for trying to restrict 3rd party apps in order to drive traffic to their website. Huh? Twitter also have every right to maximize their profit. They have no obligation to make sure Tapbot developers can earn millions.

Stop crying. You want quality, you pay for it. End of story.

Guys, 20 really isn’t that much if you end up using it every day. If it what it costs me to use Twitter the way I want to, I’m all for it.

Also, Twitter, if you by chance read this, give developers like these guys a break. Your native apps suck, your web app is a nuisance, and while that doesn’t mean I dont want to stop using your service, I shouldn’t be forced to use it any one way after years of using Twitter, testing and trying out different clients to find the ones that I like.

Well Tapbots, you have put me in a dilemma.

Love Tweetbot for iOS and the beta for OS X, but 20 bucks for the OS X version… It’s a lot of money. The beta has been great, and all the small features there are in the app are great, and will be hard to miss. But I don’t know if they’re $20 worth. Maybe they are, maybe they aren’t. I will find out in the next week or two.

Yes, it’s kinda Twitter’s fault with the restricted tokens, and kinda an epic fail from their side. And yes, I know you have to earn money so you can pay your bills, and have fun, for all the hard work you guys have done. But as it has been pointed out earlier, OS X 10.8 cost the same. And that is an OS… Not a Twitter client, said with all of my respect.

But the thing that really makes me ‘not likely to support you’ on the OS X platform, is that you can’t install Tweetbot on Mac’s with 10.6. and lower. Most of your customers might be on 10.7+, but I can’t see that as an excuse of not making it work for 10.6, 10.5, etc. Lots of my friends are really happy for Mac OS X Snow Leopard, but they can’t use your cool client… Just because you haven’t optimized it for Snow Leopard.

It’s your choice, and I fully respect that. But I think you have lost a good amount of customers, on this one, which is sad. Because you do make killer apps.

Sigh. Sad to see all of the negative commentary about pricing. Software takes a ton of work to create, and I’m happy to encourage its development, especially when it’s as high quality as Tweetbot for Mac. I just bought both versions of Netbot, and will buy Tweetbot for Mac, and probably Netbot for Mac when it comes out. Do I want to spend this much money on client software for social networks? Probably not. But having tried dozens of different apps between all of the different platforms, Tapbots really has some of the best and I’m happy to support the development.

I’m glad to see Tapbots not join the race to the bottom, and charge what you think is a fair price for your hard work. Given that Tweetbot for Mac is #2 in paid apps on the Mac App Store, I would say there are tons of folks who agree.

Netbot, Im waiting for you. :P

I’ve purchased Tweetbot for both iPad & iPhone and when I saw the news about the release for the Mac supported app I was extremely disappointed with the price.
I will never! pay more than $10 for any kind of app.
I must say it seems like you’ve limited this app to the wealthy and rich who can spare the $20 on the side from bills and food for just an app…

I read the blog and no, it’s not even the slightest bit understandable why this app is $20
Saying that it’s a “top Quality” app just sounds vain, at the end of the day it’s still just a twitter app.
The new twitter API is just an excuse, Sure the numbers may be different to the iOS tokens however the reason why that would increase the price of an app is out of the question, I will not buy this app and never will until this price is drastically reduced.

The people who say the price is fair clearly have the spare money, sadly us middle class people get push aside yet again even by developers.

I’ll stick to the FREE twitter.com TYVM :)

Awesome job on the app. I’m loving all the refinements from the beta and the iCloud sync is working great!

I’m sorry about all the discouraging comments you’ve received about the price. I do understand it’s more than people expected. But I very much appreciate your explanation of the pricing issue you faced, and personally I want to support your ability to keep your company alive to continue developing great software. I bought it without blinking, and am thrilled with its performance. Exactly what I expected from my favorite iOS app developer.

I have to tell you…I never enjoyed Twitter until utilizing your apps. Intuitive, efficient and fun. Thank you for now bringing those qualities to the Mac!

I’m an African. $20 would feed my entire village for a week. No, thanks

Yep you whining broken Mac-Users. That is what you get for being cheap: no apps but the crap that the owner of the service you use is throwing at you. I spent the 15.99 Euro which makes it the fourth most expensive Mac software I ever bought but after only one hour of usage I know it was well worth it. Who ever insists that using Tweetbot is not too much more than visiting the twitter website is just a huge bullschitter and obviously didn’t even bothered to try the app in Beta – when it was free!? If you don’t get a “value” of more than 20$ per year out of using twitter you might consider not using it anyway. So I am German and 20$ would allow me and one friend to have a Stein at the Munich Oktoberfest – here is to great software – Prost!

I view this as much as a purchase as an investment. Glad to support hardworking devs with killer taste.

Keep up the great work guys, I hope people that don’t want to drop the cash return your tokens.

FYI, you might want to let people know that if the alpha or beta are lying around in the downloads folder, the authentication will try to open the old app rather than the new one. Had to go search out the alpha before I could authorize the new app. Not a big deal, but probably worth noting somewhere

I love all the complaining and arguing over whether it’s worth it or not.

It’s up to each individual. For some, twitter.com and the official app will be fine. For others, it won’t. It’s up to them if they can spare $20 for the app, depending on their own usage.

For me, I didn’t WANT to spend $20, as it’s a lot for an app these days, but I did, because I value what I get out of it, and it’s worth $20 to me. It might not be to you. I’m not going to say you’re wrong because of it.

Long before Tweetbot for Mac was even around, I spent $5 for Osfoora for Mac. What did I get? Not much features I’ve come to know and love from other Twitter clients were missing, and the app hasn’t been updated since June.

Yes, $20 is a lot, but Tweetbot is the best 3rd party app out there and if you spend a lot of time on Twitter everyday it will pay for itself. Thank you Tapbots for getting Tweetbot to the Mac. I got everything I want, and I’m sure I’ll get plenty more.

Syncing through iCloud only works one way â�� from Mac to iPhone. I tried all possible scenarios, and didn’t manage to get syncing to work from iPhone to Mac.

Really looking forward for Tapbot to fix this issue, as I understand I’m not the only one.

Compared to all the other coffee-or-beer-priced apps you find in the app store, the price sure took a second to digest before purchasing. I didn’t see this blog explaining the price before (twitter is being a bitch!), but obviously I did know Tapbots and their other products, so I decided to buy it.

After using it for an hour, do I think Tweetbot is worth the 20 bucks? Definitely.

It does what it needs to better than any other product I’ve seen and tried, it looks slick and I don’t think I’ll be able of using any other twitter tools (including twitter.com) anymore now that I’ve got this on my MBA.

Thank you for a great product. Rock on!

I bought it. I love it.

I was hesitant at first because of the price point. However, I decided the long term value was worth it even if Twitter eventually makes its API restrictions more nasty.

It’s unfortunate that so many people are angry about the pricing of Tweetbot for Mac. It should serve as a lesson in economics. If the cost of business increases the business doesn’t just eat the extra overhead. A higher cost of business is always passed on to the consumer. A business needs to be profitable. If it isn’t then people get fired and families don’t get fed. This is a prime example of how this basic rule works. It seems a hard lesson for some.

I wish Twitter was cooperating better with the Developer community. But, I’m happy to know that there are some out there, like Tapbots that continue to take the risk to strive for quality 3rd party Twitter clients.

Good job!

To those that say “Why would I pay $20?! Other Mac Twitter clients are only $5!”

… then buy one of those then and quit your complaining!

“But it’s not as good as Tweetbot!”

… then quit complaining and pony up your $20, cheapskate.

I was happy to hand over my $20 for this app as a long time fan of the iPad and iPhone equivalents. I had to come to rely on this client’s intuitive features. Twitter is something I depend on for personal and professional connections and no other Twitter client allows me to better manage/respond to/interact with or view my various twitter lists and conversations.

As many above have said, saving for a $20 investment is not a huge demand. A quality product results from hard work, long hours and direct communication with users. I’m happy to support app developers who make such efforts. Thanks for the ongoing work you do Tapbots peeps!

No way in hell can I get any kind of notification to work, and I’m a damn geek. Running all the latest software on iMac and iOS devices. Nada. Not a peep. What’s the story?

FWIW I finally got iCloud sync to work after doing a factory reset on my entire phone. I’m sure there was a better way but I tried EVERYTHING twice and finally just threw in the towel and reset my whole phone. That should tell the Tapbots team how much I appreciate their software.

Better be getting themes soon for a $20 price tag..

just installed Tweetdeck, it’s free and it’s working great with mac notification

Got my new macbook retina today, the old twitter is blurry. But come on guys 20 euro’s (i’m dutch) is definite no go for me. Way too much dude.

would also love to see every tweet – then i’d buy.