MIDI Kinetics has announced that, based on user feedback here and at other sites, they are dropping the subscription model for Lemur.
Originally introduced as a hardware touchscreen controller by JazzMutant, Lemur was reborn as an iPad app in 2011. After a few years of being unavailable, MIDI Kinetics has brought Lemur back.
Lemur lets you build custom touchscreen MIDI controllers, using a deep collection of pre-built ‘widgets’, custom-designed widgets and imported images. Lemur can control up to 8 MIDI ports, for up to 128 channels of high speed MIDI control.
Here’s the text of their announcement:
“Dear friends,
We’ve heard your feedback—thank you for your emails and messages. The overwhelming concern was about the subscription model itself, rather than the price. In response, Lemur will now be available as a one-time purchase for $99, which is currently the lowest sustainable price for the app.
For those who already subscribed:
– Yearly subscribers can crossgrade for free.
– Monthly subscribers can crossgrade for the difference between a yearly and monthly subscription.
This change is in progress but still requires Apple’s approval, as they may have specific rules regarding crossgrades.
No action is needed on your part. Once approved and available on the App Store, you’ll see the upgrade option when you update the app. If further action is required, we will post updates here and notify you in the app.
Additionally, we are exploring more uniform pricing across the US, Canada, the EU, and other select markets based on regional analytics.”
It looks like the pricing is still to take effect in the App Store.
via Phil
It will be interesting to see how many of ‘would never pay for a sub’ people are interested enough to pay $99 for the app. I truly wish them luck, but I’m skeptical there’s a path to success.
I like it: realistic pricing to sustain development, and high confidence in the quality of their product. I also hope it works.
Thanks so much I will pay the one time fee to bring the app back as well as many others will I just. Can’t afford a subscription right now
well written introduction text. Some people today think that Liine Lemur was the original.
The first prototype was made by Uri Geller
They are asking you to pay 100 for what is basically the same app as before. With a few tweaks. They will almost certainly abandon it just like liine did.
Hope I’m wrong.
great choice for them to not only change it but to be transparent and listen to feedback. people do want to support and purchase things without being tethered to a sub. way to go.
$99 once is certainly less unpalatable than $99/year. But people who have already paid for an app that they expected would be available indefinitely will still feel cheated.
“But people who have already paid for an app that they expected would be available indefinitely will still feel cheated.” Haters will be haters. If someone expects software to be maintained forever without incurring new costs, then they’ve already missed the plot.
Agreed Andrew. When V2 comes out next year and people are asked to pay $99 again, they will scream bloody murder… devs are expected to keep v1 up to date forever, which is beyond sustainable.
many years have passed, and support for an app costs money. A website costs money. Support on the forum costs time. Many people are not aware of the costs, because everything is for free.
In 2012 I paid $50 for Lemur. Years later the price was reduced to $25. I didn’t feel cheated, because I had access to a very good software for years. With a very vital community at the forum. A thriving community is very important.
People misunderstand software and how to sell it. I am a developer and will not make subscriptions for anything I do – it’s makes it look like all I care about is money. And the argument of future development and features is mute.
When I buy software I’m paying for something already written and working. I expect to have bugs fixed over a cycle period, lets say 3 years. If new features get added, great, but those didn’t exist when I purchased the software so I buy it based on my needs today, not what may come in the future.
This causes development to be more thought out and tested, not rushed out and having users pay for features that may come out in the future and promises that are never kept.
Subscriptions are an injection of cash that get spent upfront and then the company goes under because they spent all their money and no one is subscribing anymore.
Subscriptions try to sell you on FUTURE work and WE HAVE GREAT THINGS PLANNED model, which people may or may not want.
If you build a great product and sell it at a reasonable price, people will buy it.
very well said.
Software was written and published, and sold for a price. Earlier, hardware with firmware, like a digital effect device, was sold as it is. The device simply works. It does not need updates.
On the other hand, modern software can improve and add new features. This has to be compensated with new license fees.
I’ll give it a year
setting the stage for “Lemur 2” which will only cost $199
and then “Lemur 3” for 299….
etc
I owned the old Lemur app, and while it was fine enough I got far more use out of TouchOSC v1 as that covered most of my actual use cases. It was rare that I needed a “bouncy ball” and more likely I just needed an interface. Now that TouchOSC has scripting too, and is about $15 I really cant see where Lemur think they will find a market?
this is true. TouchOSC is a great app. After the absence of Lemur I learned to use TouchOSC more often, and for simple tasks it provided all I need. However, if I wanted to expand this simple TouchOSC template, it has become a difficult task. For those who know LUA scripting language, it may be easy. For me it was difficult.