Smile Adjusts TextExpander Pricing

Greg Scown from Smile:

We will apply a lifetime discount of 50% off the Life Hacker pricing to customers of any past version of TextExpander. That amounts to just US $20 per year. In our initial rollout, we offered the discount for the first year only, and that was a mistake. We value our long-term customers, and it’s important for us to demonstrate that in our actions. Thanks for bearing with us as we sorted this out.

(To those who’ve already purchased an annual upgrade plan, we’ll apply two months of credit to make up the difference. Please give us a few days for this to be reflected in your account.)

Some people just don’t like subscription pricing, so no adjustment on the price will make everyone happy. But $20 per year feels much more in line with TextExpander’s scope. Kudos to Smile for addressing this — I’m sure it’s been a rough week for them.

We will continue to sell and support TextExpander 5 for OS X and TextExpander 3 + Custom Keyboard for iOS for those who need it. Some of you can only use Dropbox and/or iCloud at work. Some of you cannot or will not purchase subscription software. You’ve told us that it’s important to serve you in this way, and so we shall.

This seems untenable in the long run. How long are they going to keep developing TextExpander 5 in parallel with 6? It’s hard enough to keep one version of an app up to date, let alone two. And TextExpander 5 won’t be generating any revenue. Plus, these sorts of system-wide utility apps often need significant work when major new versions of MacOS ship.

★ Tuesday, 12 April 2016