Monday, September 15, 2008

True MMS or not to True MMS ...

Let me first say we are thrilled to see the overwhelming excitement around Flutter. And I'm not just talking about the press coverage (I'll do a full post with links tomorrow). I'm talking about your feedback and I can say this:

Listen, we hear you loud and clear about true MMS! There are a few reasons we didn’t do it this time around: first, true MMS takes longer to provision through the dozens of carriers in the US and around the world we’d want to support; second, we wanted to include the location information in a clickable link, which is harder to do in true MMS; and third is cost, of course.

What we are hearing is that you all want true MMS. We are working on making that happen. While we want to continue to give Flutter away free, we can’t “lose our shirt.” So, we’d like to ask: Would you prefer to pay for Flutter with true MMS based on the number of messages you send (like 100 messages for $5 type thing), or would you prefer a flat fee (say $9.99 for unlimited messages for one year)?

Let us know. We can easily offer this in version 1.1. We just need your help.

22 comments:

Anthony said...

I think you could download the "true mms app" when it is created and you would have to pay a certain amount for "credits" ie. $5 for 25 MMS messages good for "x" amount of days, $10 for 100 messages for "x" amount of days,
$20 for unlimited MMS for "x" amount of days. Messages would not 'rollover'.

Mike said...

You should offer a flat fee for true MMS. 9.99 a year would be totally reasonable! There's such a huge demand for mms on iPhone that you guys would be raking in huge profits this way.

Unknown said...

I Want to pay 9,99 USD for a year for MMS..

Anonymous said...

I for one think that you should do several different plans like the cell phone carriers do. Make sure to include a pay ad you go and an unlimited. The costs for the "bucket" of MMS will need to be very reasonable as remember we still have our monthly iPhone costs. This leads me to need further answers. 1. Flutter still be a free app including any and all future updates? 2. Would the plan take out of my ATT messages or would it be independent of that? 3. Could there be a free with Ads Flutter and a non-Ad pay for Flutter that with both you choose the plan? The biggest consideration I think is to keep in mind the cost we pay currently for out monthly plans, irregardless of the carrier.

Brian said...

The annual fee is great so I don't have to think about the costt all of the time. $9.99 is great! I'd even pay $20/year, but I don't know if you would get that out of the kids. But they had the dough for the phone to begin with so who knows? If you really pulled this off so it was real and seamless MMS like on any other phone (INCLUDING RECEIVING MMS IN REAL TIME LIKE SMS), you would easily have the most popular app on the iPhone.

SluggoBear said...

Definitely interested in the true MMS thing.

I kinda like paying for the app through iTunes... maybe you could have a "lite" version that does what ya do today, and a full version that costs, say, $9.99?

If that doesn't work, I don't mind paying $5 for a bucket of MMS's, or a yearly subscription.

I wouldn't want to pay more than, say, $20 a year.

Richard Johansson said...

If you guys could use different plans for us that would be great. I for one would love to be able to pay in a "as I go" kind of way.

That is, just send a few MMS's at a low cost. Mostly to show of the feature for those of my friends that STILL bum the iPhone for the lack of true MMS. :) And also to send/receive pics of my son when im on the road. My wife doesn't own a web-capable phone yet. (Perhaps I just need to get her an iPhone for christmas...)

$2 for 10 messages sounds reasonable? Or $5 for 20?

Anonymous said...

Hello Flutter!
I like the idea of true MMS! Best way as I see it is to charge it when buying an app in Appstore (so no paying for additional account - thats a hassle)
9.99 sounds fine

mac.n.tux said...

USD10 for a year of unlimited MMS is not that bad.

Unknown said...

Hi, I would sign right now for a flat fee (say $9.99 for unlimited messages for one year), if I'm able to send true MMS with Flutter.
Vedran

Unknown said...

Hi, I would sign right now for a flat fee (say $9.99 for unlimited messages for one year), if I'm able to send true MMS with Flutter.
Vedran

amandasue352 said...

I vote for flat year rate! Maybe you can do a tiered thing where people can pay for what they know they'll use. I use tons so I know I want unlimited that way I don't have to worry about how many I have left.

I can't wait for receiving mms capabilities and that's for making this program.

adin said...

flat fee, if you can make the business model work; the last thing I need is another phone/message related limit to worry about & track.

Unknown said...

I vote for flat rate not greater than 9.99$ or free adware with adds hidden inside the app or attached to MMS messages.

Anonymous said...

axe the monthly sub fee. 9.99 flat fee sounds delightful =P

Anonymous said...

I'd pay $20-$30 for unlimited true MMS/year. Are you guys also going to make provisions for receiving MMS messages? I'd also be willing to pay for that feature! Hook it up! Championship!

Omar McFarlane said...

I'm all for true MMS and will gladly pay a flat fee for unlimited messaging. The lack of MMS is of such severe shortsightedness by Apple. Even if we could at least receive them, that would okay, but AT&T bungles that with their crappy Flash-based viewmymessage site.

Pave the way, Flutter, and we will come.

mortfe said...

Need MMS $9.99 sounds great. But the ability to receive as well is a must, even at $19.99.

Unknown said...

I won't Pay more than 9.99$ flat rate from App store for full MMS App. Send and recive and unlimited. Otherwise there is Swirly MMS for 8$ for iPhone OS 2.x distributet via Cydia.

It would be REALY great if Flutter with full MMS support was free addware with limited number MMS wich could be send. People don't use it THAT much eather.
For those who need more than, for example 10 or 20 per month, there should be PRO version with unlimited number of MMS. That way you can still get a profit from iTunes Store, adds and have realy good software for iPhone. Even with only adds you could get good profits because EVERY single person out there who has iPhone WILL download and use this kind of app. Be first there and get BIG profits. Every company would pay a LOT for adds in application wich will be used ba ALL iPhone users. In the end Flutter was meant to be free app so why not go that way?

Coolio86 said...

Yes. I am willing to pay 9.99 a year for Unlimited REAL MMS, being able to send and receive. I would definitely do this as long as I can pay using the money in my iTunes account. As long as I can send as long as I'm connected to my Cellular network, or over WiFi, I'm willing to pay $10 a year. And if you charge 9.99 a year for MMS, I am sure you will make MUCH profit since there are only minor modifications needed to make Flutter an all out MMS app.

pwrbkdude said...

I would pay $10 a year for unlimited! I'm paying huge already for my SMS so I don't want another fee for buckets of anything! I want to be able to RECEIVE true MMS more than anything!

Unknown said...

If it really is sending and receiving TRUE MMS, then $10 a year would be great. Please don't go the credit route..