As a paying user since before the launch back in August 2012, it really warms my heart to follow, contribute, and socialize with all the nice people in there.
The App.net team and third-party developers have really raised the platform, and continued to come up with new ideas, new features, apps, and further expansions and improvements of the API, which binds the platform together from app to app.
App.net is really a platform, which third-party developers really are capable of building upon, similar to how Twitter was meant to be in the beginning. Sadly Twitter didn’t have a stable financial ground, the way that App.net have had since the launch. Because of these financial problems of Twitter, they have recently begun to close down their API, which means fewer third-party apps built upon the platform, no innovation, fewer clients to choose from, etc.
App.net does not only have a stable economical ground, which for sure is the most important part of a company, it does also reward the third-party developers, who are programming all those apps upon the platform. That way, the Premium payers’ money will not “just” go to the App.net team for further development of the platform itself. No, it will also go to the external developers, whom the users have voted for to be rewarded for their fantastic job of improving the platform for the users, as well as for the team.
The new Freemium tier gives everyone a chance to join the platform / network, and enjoy all of the good stuff, already built, and upcoming new initiatives. The Freemium plan will of course have some limitations, but that’s just like every other Freemium + Premium services out there. Some good examples of this could be services like, Evernote, Dropbox, Google Drive, Sina Weibo, social games, etc.
All in all I’m really positive about this. It isn’t a surprising move, because it has always been the plan to let other people in, even though some might not have 36 USD (the current price) for an annual Premium subscription on App.net.
@kaspernymand : https://alpha.app.net/kaspernymand
