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Re: iPhone app cost

Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2010 11:50 am
by Philmatic
Glad to know I'm not alone... I'm still peeved from this morning but I've had some time to think about it and I have some suggestions.

Use Apples SDK to your advantage, make the Ooma app free and disable the VoIP functionality. Offer the user an "in-app upgrade" of $10 to enable the VoIP functionality, that's where your SIP codec licencing fees come from. That way normal users can use it to do everything but make calls, and the people who want the VoIP functionality can pay for it if they choose to. One app, one code base, both free and revenue generating models. Win win for everyone.

STOP CHARGING ME PER MINUTE FEES, this is something I will never cave on.

At the very least, if you're "blessing" me with 250 free minutes a month, don't make me deposit $10... after I finish the 250 minutes, don't terminate my call and show me a message that says "Hey, we noticied you are out of calling credits, would you like to buy some more" and offer it to me IN THE APP.

Fix the no incoming calls issue, that's rediculous.

I would like a free option that let's me initiate a call from the Ooma app, but have it call the person through my phone and use my Ooma # as the caller id number. That way it uses my AT&T minutes, doesn't cost you anything and the person recieving the clal thinks I'm using my Ooma number. Google knows how to do this, and it does it WELL and for free. Learn from them.

Re: iPhone app cost

Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2010 11:54 am
by lbmofo
Philmatic wrote:Use Apples SDK to your advantage, make the Ooma app free and disable the VoIP functionality. Offer the user an "in-app upgrade" of $10 to enable the VoIP functionality, that's where your SIP codec licencing fees come from. That way normal users can use it to do everything but make calls, and the people who want the VoIP functionality can pay for it if they choose to.
Other than SIP, there isn't anything else in the app.

Re: iPhone app cost

Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2010 11:55 am
by Jarras
ooma-fan wrote:Charging on both application AND usage is a huge mistake from business perspective. it's trying to make money from existing OOMA users group, instead of attracting more users to the OOMA community.
I agree 100%. In terms of function, the OOMA app is comparable to the Skype app. Skype is free, OOMA is $10, so Skype wins big. On a per minute basis, OOMA gives 250 free domestic minutes while Skype charges for every domestic minute, so OOMA wins. But most of my domestic calls are made when I'm in the US and my cellular plan covers all of that, so no need to use OOMA or Skype - which makes the 250 free minutes moot. I guess the free minutes would be good if I'm overseas and using them to call back to the States. But if that's the whole target market for this app, it's probably pretty small.

If the app were free, allowed easy management of my account (just like other iPhone apps that replace difficult navigation through Safari), and allowed mobile access to the same calling plan I get through OOMA at home, it would be a great added feature to bring more users into the OOMA community.

Re: iPhone app cost

Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2010 12:00 pm
by frenchcamp49er
Philmatic wrote:Glad to know I'm not alone... I'm still peeved from this morning but I've had some time to think about it and I have some suggestions.

Use Apples SDK to your advantage, make the Ooma app free and disable the VoIP functionality. Offer the user an "in-app upgrade" of $10 to enable the VoIP functionality, that's where your SIP codec licencing fees come from. That way normal users can use it to do everything but make calls, and the people who want the VoIP functionality can pay for it if they choose to. One app, one code base, both free and revenue generating models. Win win for everyone.

STOP CHARGING ME PER MINUTE FEES, this is something I will never cave on.

At the very least, if you're "blessing" me with 250 free minutes a month, don't make me deposit $10... after I finish the 250 minutes, don't terminate my call and show me a message that says "Hey, we noticied you are out of calling credits, would you like to buy some more" and offer it to me IN THE APP.

Fix the no incoming calls issue, that's rediculous.

I would like a free option that let's me initiate a call from the Ooma app, but have it call the person through my phone and use my Ooma # as the caller id number. That way it uses my AT&T minutes, doesn't cost you anything and the person recieving the clal thinks I'm using my Ooma number. Google knows how to do this, and it does it WELL and for free. Learn from them.

I like your idea, I paid $20 for this app, it works, but damn.

Re: iPhone app cost

Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2010 12:08 pm
by lbmofo
Jarras wrote:I guess the free minutes would be good if I'm overseas and using them to call back to the States. But if that's the whole target market for this app, it's probably pretty small.
Also attractive in that your ooma international prepaid account becomes mobile.

Q: I subscribe to the International Bundle - how does that work with Ooma Mobile?

A: With our International Bundle, you get 500 minutes of calling to 70 countries every month. With Ooma Mobile, you can now access that same bucket of international calling minutes away from home. As a limited time promotion, you can use the 250 minutes of free domestic calling that you get with Ooma Premier and use them to call those same 70 countries. So you get 750 total minutes every month to call overseas or call domestically using Ooma Mobile - split your usage however you want.

Re: iPhone app cost

Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2010 12:14 pm
by Bobby B
Totally agree - having Premier should've been enough to get folks started using the Mobile client. We currently have this limitation in our billing system: SIP and International calls require a prepaid account and the only way to create a prepaid account is to purchase prepaid calling credit.

We were hoping to workaround the above limitation by automatically creating the prepaid account with a small starting balance when the Ooma Mobile was enabled. Unfortunately, we weren't able to implement this in time for App store launch - though hopefully we'll have this sometime in the near future.
bryanlyle wrote:I minded having to pony up $10 into my prepaid account in order to use the app. Being a premier customer should have been enough to get going.

Re: iPhone app cost

Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2010 12:24 pm
by scooch
I also agree that charging for the app and requiring a $10 prepaid balance is unfair to premier customers. It's unfortunate to hear that some folks realized it would annoy the customers, but decided to launch anyway. It doesn't have any value over skype at this point to me, I put $10 over a year ago to use during international travel when I needed to call back to the states and I'm still working that off.

For the time being, I will not purchase the app or recommend to anyone. Maybe if the $10 cost was waved on the Appstore side or the prepaid deposit side I would consider it. Its also unfortunate to learn that it was launched without the ability to have incoming calls.

Re: iPhone app cost

Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2010 12:31 pm
by dsinternet
I hope you get the pre paid accounts working soon. Looks like a delay of the app would have been better then the negative reviews on the app store.
I personal love it. I think of it as a $20 app with $10 in future phone credits.
I hope people realize what a nice product this is before reading the reviews and giving up on it.

Re: iPhone app cost

Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2010 7:23 pm
by Big Boy Laroux
dsinternet wrote:I hope you get the pre paid accounts working soon. Looks like a delay of the app would have been better then the negative reviews on the app store.
I agree. The app has already been delayed so much that i was in doubt it would ever get released. What's a little more time to work it out before the release? Better to get it right the first time.

Re: iPhone app cost

Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2010 11:05 pm
by Emily
Charging per minute domestically is reasonable, though it does mean I won't use the domestic minutes (since I have more AT&T minutes than I ever use). But I'm delighted that this App is now out, since it'll allow me to make international calls from my cell phone at Ooma international rates. AT&T international packages are exorbitant and impractical for me... this Ooma App means I'll be able to call my friends overseas much more often.