From the Skritter team via iOS app testing mail:

Finalized our pricing: $9.99 for 1 month, plus an app launch sale offering
$39.99 for 6 months, $69.99 for 12 months, or $119.99 for 24 months.

Sounds good! To make it clear, this includes everything, so the iOS app is for free itself but you'll need an active account to add words and lists etc, just as on the website.

Hope I'm not talking ahead of the team but the pricing was a hot issue for some.

sweet!

How long will the app launch sale last?
Will it be there always ?

cool, I was planning on just doing an on-and-off subscription over the next couple of years, but I would definitely purchase a 24-month subscription for $120

This would be nice ...if it is not just a test mail.
Can the Skritter team confirm this please?
If true, will existing users have to cancel their account to benefit from the app launch offer? And will non-iOS users be left out in the cold?

I think it will be for anyone who wants it.

For those who already have a subscription that's valid for a while, I think they can also benefit from the sale/promotion by extending their subscription for a time period that corresponds with one of the payment options.

OK, so the Swedish translations are fixed, the video is published, the prices agreed upon...

I think we're ready for launch! ;o)

We've figured out the prices, but we're still working on the details of how it will work outside the app, but will update here when it's all set.

Because we're not allowed to do autorenewing subscriptions in the App Store, we're doing the prepay thing again, with lower prices for now for an app launch sale. It’s a sale that we’re trying for the app launch with the in-app purchasing only, but if anyone really wants to do the prepay, then once the app is launched and the sale goes into effect, then they can just go into the app and switch over to prepay once their account expires, or if they can't access the app, they can email us and we can set up a manual PayPal arrangement. But wait until the app is launched.

We are not sure how long the app launch sale will last--will have to see how it goes. It's not going to turn off right away after the first day or anything.

just to confirm, if we prepay on app store for 24 months we will have an online account as well if we want to review stuff on our computer?

thus, we should cancel our online account and THEN do the prepay thing?

Your Skritter account works on the app and on the site, yeah.

@daveberlin It seems unlikely you'd need to cancel (and lose your word data!) - why not just pay and then credit those 24 months on top of what you've paid for already.

If you cancel your Skritter subscription, nothing happens to any of your data--you can still keep reviewing, you just can't add new words until you resubscribe. The only way you lose data is if you nuke it yourself with the Delete All function in My Words. And in the case of purchasing through the app, in order to get to the purchase screen, you would have to wait until expiration happened.

Thanks for clarifying nick.

Just out of curiousity, will apple take a cut when payment is done this way for the app?

Also, if we refer people and they sign up through the app store, will the referral credit still go through? I like referring people and I have quite a few Apple fanboy friends. I'll refer them either way, since I love Skritter and think it's so useful but it's nice if the additional free time still comes through for both of us :)

Apple gets 30% when any subscription purchase is made through in-app purchasing, yes. So if you're going to pay us, it helps us to do it through the site or by PayPal. But it's not a big deal. The additional convenience that comes from people just being able to click "Okay" to charge it through iTunes, as opposed to filling out yet another credit card form on our site, will be good for users. If it lowers the barrier to subscribing, then perhaps it will even out.

We haven't built the referral system into the app, Nicki. Maybe that's something we can get in there later. Not very many people use it, so we put it off until later so we could ship earlier. If you refer any friends that sign up through the app, we can manually do the extra referral time--just email us.

okay, so when app comes out and my online subscription is still active I can just pay on top through the app?

To pay through the app, you'd have to wait until the online subscription expired. To get a longer term subscription from the launch sale before your subscription expired, you could PayPal the money to scott@skritter.com with your username in the details, and he would credit your account that way.

Thanks for letting me know!

That's quite a shocker that Apple takes 30% of absolutely every purchase. They probably can't differentiate between between app fees and subscriptions to companies for every single app but to take a chunk out of so much money when it is a payment for not just the iOS app but everything the company has to offer outside iOS, pfff....

Probably you guys feel it's not a wise business decision but If you emphasize in the app payment section that Apple will take 30% of your payment unlike when you pay via the website, that quite a few people prefer to pay on the website. At least I prefer to get all the money into the hands of a small trustworthy company (run by middle-class people?:)) rather than Apple.

Maybe you can give us two buttons saying 'pay through iTunes (Apple gets 30%)' and 'pay through our website (link website to Safari browser)'.

Since last Spring, Apple does not allow links in their apps that lead to a webpage that would allow people to pay outside of the app system. Both Netflix and Amazon had to modify their apps so they wouldn't run afoul of this rule.

It is slightly more of a hassle, but I'll be buying the 2 year subscription, and I'll be using Paypal for it so they get all of my money.

I wonder what is worse for you, Nick...
Not putting any subscription option into the app or putting it, but losing 30% of the payments (especially now with the discount).

One idea: Since Apple doesn't allow you to link directly to the website for payment purposes... what happens if you try to make a little workaround? Give app-users one free week of trial, without any payment necesarry, without any registration, and after one week, you just put up a message saying "Thanks for having tried our product. We hope you like it and would be happy to discuss the further use with you".

And then eventually people willing to continue, would find a way to make the payments via website...

Probably I am just thinking evil, or Apple is cleverer than I think, but gaining (or losing) 30% of the payments seems worth it ;o)

Especially if you receive thousands of USD in the first days or weeks because of the 2-year-subscription with discount.
I will definetely take the reduced 2 year pricing, but don't wanna give 30% of it to Apple :-)

Thanks for the suggestions, but we're not trying to work around giving Apple 30%--we view it as a fair price for them offering the convenience of letting new users purchase through the App Store, since that is much more convenient for new users. That existing users would switch over to paying that way was a bit of a concern, but we figured that anyone on the forum who knows they want two years of Skritter deserves a discount, anyway.

@Skritter

What's the preferred method to obtain that bundle price? My impression in the app was that I would have to unsubscribe before being able to get the bundle - done. But now I still have an active account until 22 June and have no other subscription options - will the deal still be ongoing then?

Alternatively I can pay via the Skritter website/Paypal (to avoid the 30% Apple fee) if you have instructions on that.

If you don't want to wait for the expiration to trigger the resubscribe menu, you can send $119.99 to scott@skritter.com via PayPal and include your username in the message and Scott will get you hooked up by and by.

How long will this offer last?

Not sure yet; probably at least a month. If we do change it and you miss it, you can always PayPal us and we'll do it manually.

Thanks! Will do. I am also going to be on honeymoon and some other travelling for July and August. Wont be skittering then. But I definitely want to buy a 2 year packet.

Congrats to you all at Skritter!

Nick,

If I'm subscribed to the Japanese service and send the $119.99 can I still take advantage of this offer or is this only for the Chinese learners?

I'm a student and so being able to pay in advance for a discount now would really help me whilst I have money available.

Thanks in advance for your help,

Effi.

Sure, why not? Send it on over.

Thanks Nick, sent it across.

Love the service on my PC and can't wait to be able to use the Japanese app when it's released. I hope an Android app will be released in future too as I will be moving away from my iphone when I leave Japan.

Again, thanks for your help today!

Hey, I signed up for Skritter iOS but can't seem to change my payment option to a yearly plan. Is this sale still going on?

Yes, but the current version of the app doesn't offer it to you until you're expired. The next version will allow you to access it earlier, when Apple approves it.

Hi Nick, my account will expire soon (17 September) and would like to extend for another year. Can I still send USD 69,99 through PayPal to Scott@skritter.com for a 1 year renewal?

I have a coupon code good for a 2 month subscription to Skritter FREE. Then I would like to purchase the 24 month app launch subscription for $119.99 via PayPal. Can you advise me on this?

Hi Sue,

Use the coupon code to sign up for a Skritter account, then send the $119.99 via PayPal to scott@skritter.com with your new username in the PayPal message, and you'll get the 24 months added to your existing time for 26 months total.

We're cutting the launch sales soon, but if you miss it, just email us.