Panic, the famed developer behind apps like Coda and Transit, today announced that it is discontinuing its Status Board app for iPad. The app was released in early 2013 and was intended to help people easily view a variety of relevant data in a beautiful interface.
The developer says that sales weren't enough to sustain further development, outlining three reasons for low sales. While Panic was hoping to find a sweet spot in between the pro and consumer markets, it found that the market for Status Board was almost entirely pros. Those pro users expected better integration with a wide variety of data sources but Panic wasn't able to provide that with the limited resources the app generated. And finally, Panic says they were on the "wrong side of the overall 'want a status board' budget" as companies bought $3,000 displays to show off its $10 app.
The app will continue to work for those who have it installed with two caveats. Dropbox support will stop in June 2017 and the app's weather service will end in late 2017. Panic is also urging customers who purchased Status Board in the past 30 days to contact them. While Apple does not provide a way for the company to do refunds directly, it will do what it can to help.
Finally, Panic notes that it's not feasible for them to open source Status Board because it shares frameworks and code shared by its other apps.
Top Rated Comments
I have found it strange that Apple users are so damn cheap when it comes to buying software when they happily give Apple SO MUCH MONEY for overpriced hardware. I guess they spent all their money on the hardware and have none left for software. But this is pretty much true of all smart phones. It also seems like there's this stigma against intellectual property in general. It's not tangible in the same way a phone sitting in your hand is so it's not worth anything (i.e. people will spend as it says here $3000 for a piece of hardware and then don't want to spend a dime on software for it).
The problem is Apple has not only "not cultivated" a PRO market, they've actively DESTROYED their existing Pro markets on the Mac!!! They had a large Pro market for Final Cut Pro, Logic and other uses and stopped supporting the Mac Pro and then ultimately replaced it with a trash can with no internal expansion and yet despite their claims of their "flagship" being the future, they haven't updated THAT "Pro" model in over 3 years now!!! (and haven't lowered the price either, making it a fracking JOKE). They took Final Cut Pro and rewrote it and released it before it was ready and destroyed that market as well (or transformed it into a sub-pro market, which is what they seem to think is their real market; wannabes galore). They ditched Aperture altogether and tell people that piece of GARBAGE software called 'Photos" is good enough. They pushed all the Mac software into DOWNGRADES for the sake of the iOS iPad market parity and the problem is that no one really gives a flying crap about iPads anymore (gimmick that just didn't pan out; it's not comfortable/ergonomic to use an iPad all day long for starters and hence the reason tablets will NEVER "replace" desktops.
This is where Microsoft "gets it" and makes tablets that can turn into desktops for longer and more ergonomic use. Apple refuses to admit a hybrid is a good idea and they will pay for it in the long run as history repeats itself and Apple becomes less and less relevant over time. They're already dropping down down down to less than 20% of the market. What happens when they hit less than 10%? 5%? Apple should look their own company history from the 1990s and think long and hard about the long term future of the word "propriety"). How can Apple seriously expect the iPad Pro to sell to a true "Pro" market when they refuse to support such markets and actively destroy existing ones? Their sheer GREED, arrogance and controlling nature in regards to the "App Store" (where they can just can your product at any time for any reason) was the first nail in their coffin. You can't just tell people what they can and cannot do on your platform while other platforms are more open and expect everything to just keep falling your way in the long run. If it weren't for Steam, I wouldn't even be buying any games for the Mac anymore (Mac App Store is a joke).
I suspect the truth here is that there is no 'sweet spot' in the App Store for semi professional software. It clearly needed to be more expensive because of its niche appeal, but the store reviewers have their own thoughts on the $10 price...
"severely limited given the £6.99 price"
"early adopter tax in full force"
"frankly is a joke and feels like a rip-off"
"seems like a gouge to be honest"
And these are just from the first page. Any higher and the Legion of Cheapskates would have gone into meltdown.
The problem is Apple and it's inability or refusal to cultivate a proper professional marketplace for iOS. On macOS you can buy from the MAS or the open market, and the difference between the two is vast. On iOS we only have the official store and we can only image what an open market would provide for users with deeper pockets and specialist needs.
Hope this isn't a foreboding sign. They're one of the best Mac developers.
PS: Article says "Transit" not "Transmit" and links to an unrelated app.