Anybody else put off by some sales?

[chk071]

But a real company like U-he, NI or Arturia could not survive making only cheap iOS apps.

Why not? Imagine they'd sell 100 times as many apps as they sell plugins (let's imagine a price of 15 € for their imaginative iOS apps). That'd be a gain of 1000% for their business. Actually, i know a few people who got into iOS app development. Seems to be a lucrative business.

Why would they sell 100x as many iOS apps as plugins?
Most musicians use desktop and notebooks. And I doubt that 99% of musicians have not bought plugins so far because they are too expensive.

I think you underestimate what a big market the iPad or iPhone is.

[fluffy_little_something]

General purpose apps, sure. But making music is a niche.

[chk071]

Well... if you have to pay 150 € for instrument plugins, or hundreds or thousands of € for hardware, it's obvious that it will stay a niche. Take that away, and sell apps for 15 €, or distribute free apps, and that will change, if only for many who will play with the app once, and then it will catch virtual dust on the device. I don't want to know how many have Synth1 installed, or played with it, just because it's free. Of course, when you get into the more serious area, and have to pay hundreds, thousands of €, there will be a "natural" selection.

That's also a reason why i've always pleaded for more Synthmaster-esque prices, BTW. Seems like the "sweet spot" for many devs still is 150 €. Well, i won't fancy knowing better than them, but... i do think there'd be more interest with lower prices. 150 € is a lot of money.

[fluffy_little_something]

I don't think 150 is the sweet spot, but the maximum that is widely accepted by potential customers. If you go beyond that, it better be a Ferrari of plugins.

If iOS were such a lucrative platform, U-he etc. would offer such versions of their stuff.

[chk071]

Well... here's a selection (only a small selection) of popular companies developing iOS apps:

Moog
Korg
Waldorf
Native Instruments
Steinberg
Arturia
Wolfgang Palm
AKAI
Image-Line
IK Multimedia
Propellerhead

etc.

Not sure why you always name u-he. They're really not the center of the universe. As you can see, quite a few even bigger names are into apps.

[fluffy_little_something]

Any statistics on how much Korg or NI for instance earns with iOS apps vs plugins?

Personally I totally agree, but people on KVR indeed make it seem as if U-he were the center of the universe. Wouldn't make much sense to mention Lennar as an example

[chk071]

Any statistics on how much Korg or NI for instance earns with iOS apps vs plugins?

No idea, but, would be interesting indeed. At the very least, it seems to be worthwhile. Whether that is due to a potential advertising factor with the apps, or sales, who knows?

Personally I totally agree, but people on KVR indeed make it seem as if U-he were the center of the universe. Wouldn't make much sense to mention Lennar as an example

Always wondered why Lennard didn't pick up on the success with Sylenth1, and create a successor. Does that maybe also say something about the difficulties competing in the plugin business, and the reward (or lack thereof) of coding plugins?

[fluffy_little_something]

What I wonder, how much effort is it to port existing plugin code to the iOS platform. If it requires little effort, offering iOS version in addition to the plugins would be a logical step to take. But developing an app from scratch without having plugin code to adapt is another story, I suppose.

No idea, he probably has a great job and doesn't need the money a new synth would earn him. No employees = no responsibility.