Ulysses, infected by a trendy virus, changes to all-Subscription model

Posted by Hugh
Aug 14, 2017 at 10:25 AM

I’m guessing - I do not know - that the McKinsey studies that have produced these results are based largely, if not entirely, on the business software market, especially SaaS (Software as a Service), where the revenues are potentially far greater, paying by subscription is more familiar for users, users’ data may customarily reside on the developer’s hardware, and any decision that the user or the developer takes can be informed and massaged by numbers of consultants and advisers. In the last few days, a somewhat similar statistic has become current: that a switch to subscription can lose the developer up to 80 per cent of his or her users, but he or she can stilll remain profitable. I suspect that is similarly based.

It seems to me that for most developers (except for the obvious “1,000-lb gorillas”) in the markets that serve users like us, switching to subscription is going to be something of a shot in the dark, with few certainties.