[Interest] Indie Mobil Program terminated?

[Pau Garcia i Quiles]

On Thu, Jul 2, 2015 at 6:31 AM, Turunen Tuukka <
tuukka.turunen at theqtcompany.com> wrote:


> We have decided to discontinue that product. Those who have it, can
> continue just as before. New subscriptions are no longer sold.
>
> There was unfortunately too little interest towards this product.
>
> We have a new Qt for Application Development product that contains all
> leading desktop and mobile platforms under commercial license, silver
> support, as well as all value-add tooling and functionality.
>
>
The venerable (and competitor) LiveCode also faced the very same situation
recently and also gave up on the 25 USD/month indy license:

http://livecode.com/products/livecode-platform/pricing/livecode-indy-pricing-announcement/


Here is how they solved unsustainability issue:


   - Announcement: They announced the price change 4 weeks in advance.

   - New price: The new price is 49 USD/month or 499 USD/year. It was
   (still is) 25 USD/month or 299 USD/year. That's an 80% increase.

   - Non-customers: can still buy at the old price (25 USD/month, 299
   USD/year), or benefit from an offer (499 USD/two years) until the new price
   is in effect.

   - Current customers: can still buy at the old price (25 USD/month, 299
   USD/year), or benefit from an offer (499 USD/two years) until the new price
   is in effect.

   - Supported platforms: same 6 as with the old price: iOS, Android,
   Windows, Linux, Mac, Server (HTML5)

   - Alternative licenses: plenty, including a community license (GPLv3)

   - iOS App Store with open source license: clear statement by
   RunRevolution (LiveCode developers): GPLv3 in App Store is not possible.


Here is how Digia solved the unsustainability issue:


   - Announcement: no announcement

   - New price: the new price is 350 USD/month. It was 25 USD/month. That's
   a 1400% increase.

   - Non-customers: must buy at the new (expensive) price

   - Current customers: keep the old price and license features

   - Supported platforms: widens range: from iOS and Android only to iOS,
   Android, Windows, Linux and Mac

   - Alternative licenses: open source (unclear status as to iOS App Store)
   and enterprise (even more expensive).

   - iOS App Store with open source license: no clear statement. Only
   ambiguous fear-inducing statements by Digia.


IMHO, terminating the Indie Mobile and Professional licenses will damage
Qt's future both in mobile and desktop. Xamarin is a strong contender, as
are PhoneGap and Unity. Other players, such as FireMonkey (Delphi/C++) and
LiveCode are not to be ignored either. If I were to start a new app or
application for iOS + Android, or Windows + Mac, I would seriously consider
other options before Qt :-(


-- 
Pau Garcia i Quiles
http://www.elpauer.org
(Due to my workload, I may need 10 days to answer)
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