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I recently swiched phones from my old droid 2 to an iPhone 5. I was going to install anki on my iPhone when I noticed that the anki app for ios cost $25 more than on android. I was wondering what makes the iPhone version $25 more awesome then the android version.
I could be completely off base with this and I apologize if I am but it was bothering me since it seemed like quite a price jump between platforms.
Haven’t used either but I’d guess iOS is the more popular platform so they can make money by charging iOS users. $25 is steep though.
The guy who made anki, makes no money from his desktop version – only from donations. He made the entire program, including things like sync etc.
In order to make money from this, he decided to make an app for appstore(also made by him). He decided on what he thinks is a fair price.
The android version was not made by him, and he let someone else make the app for android. Since it was not his work, he isn’t charging anything for it.
To be honest, it is barely anything to pay for such an awesome program. Considering how much I use it, I should probably donate him something for his awesome work. After all he isn’t out to rip people, only to make a living.
I completely agree with Kekoa. There are some AMAZING apps that cost much much less than ANKI. ANKI is has not had any updates to the iphone version for a long time either. To say iphone users have to subsidize all the free versions is sooooo unfair. It seems vain of Mr. Elmes to think that all the other app makers who charge 1000% less for their apps do less work.
From the anki site.
For the last four and a half years, I have invested thousands of hours on making a robust, powerful cross platform desktop application freely available. What started as a hobby has grown into a full time job. Some kind people have donated to the project, but sadly donations are not enough to live on. So I created this app to raise money for the Anki project, while also making something people wanted.
Taken alone, AnkiMobile is expensive for an app. However, AnkiMobile is not a standalone app, but part of an ecosystem, and the $17.50 Apple gives me on each sale goes towards the development of that whole ecosystem. For the price, you get not only the app, but a powerful desktop application, a free online synchronization service, and mobile clients for various platforms. The desktop application is open source, which is essential for ensuring you won’t get locked out in the future. If I’m ever run over by a bus, somebody else could take over development, and the content of your cards and your learning history is in an open format which makes it easy to move into a different learning system if you choose.
The reason the iPhone app hasn’t seen any updates recently is because it is being completely rebuilt to work with Anki 2. I know I fully intend to buy the app once the new version is released, since I am already using Anki 2. Until then, I’m reviewing on Ankiweb.
If it makes it easier to swallow, you can think of it more as a donation to the cause, one that Anki is certainly worthy of.
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This reply was modified 11 years, 6 months ago by
Erik.
When you guys put it that way, $25 does seem like money worth spending. If Anki 2 can fulfil my needs such as syncing decks across all platforms then I won’t mind donating to the cause.
Exactly. Developing an application is a huge amount of work, especially when you make it work across at least three platforms (Windows, Linux, Mac) plus iOS (made by him) and Android.
Just think of all the time Anki has saved you and $25 is a bargain. I’d say if it saved you just five hours it would be worth it (and we know it is a lot more than that).
I do not regret spending money on Anki Mobile at all. I believe that I would not have progressed if I wasn’t able to use Anki on the go
Seems strange to me that anyone would readily pay $120 for a vastly incomplete online textbook, but whine about $25 for a tool they will probably be relying on every day, for many years to come.
It was a valid question. The unofficial android app was free, and suddenly after making the jump to iOS, the app was $25. It would pique my curiosity too if I didn’t already know about it.
While I agree that TextFugu is incomplete and the wait for new lessons is frustrating, it has given me and many others a great foundation to start learning Japanese. Many other self learners are put off by traditional textbooks. TextFugu’s approach is easy to understand, motivating and doesn’t throw you in at the deep end too quickly. In that aspect it’s worth every cent of the $120.
I think some of the helpful answers provided in this thread have answered the original posters question.
mtb812, however, was not asking any question. He/she was complaining that it’s “sooooo unfair”. He says that it’s vain to charge for Anki on iOS because some other people make apps for free. That strikes me as a strange opinion for a Premium Subscriber of another resource, especially one that is both more expensive and also incomplete. Just seems like an odd sense of value to me and so I commented as such.
It has little to do with whether or not TextFugu is actually worth its price and I apologise for any criticism of the site that came across in my post.
Elenkis. You’re great. It’s good to know that there’s people here who can see through all the fluff and BS on TF and don’t worship the ground Koichi walks on.
You’re my hero of the day.
Anonymous結婚しろお前ら
Nah. I’m too much of a drifter for marriage. Looks like I’ll be hitting the rails once more….
チンチン電車止まります -
This reply was modified 11 years, 6 months ago by
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