From a business perspective this makes complete sense and yes I agree the pay once model is not sustainable to a dev-house. I feel like a large problem with the subscription model is that companies go on about all the ways it will benefit the consumer although the opposite is true.
Less incentive to make feature updates and lure in more users and the app in general stays stagnant. Essentially making a problem your user’s problem because the payment method you chose originally no longer suits your business model, which is bad as it impacts the trust of current users. And let’s face it, this app targets a pretty niche audience. Which brings me to point 2. The subscription works for companies like Adobe as they are targeting the professional market who will pay anything (within reason) for industry standard software. Ulysses is not industry standard, Markdown is.The monthly price of your software will ultimately come down in future should you wish long-term viability. A barrier of entry for something like Photoshop + Lightroom @ $10 pm makes sense as the software was priced at several hundred dollars previously. You’re charging $5 (on a $70 product which users would definitely rather buy upfront if given the option) however paying $5 more gets you Set App which includes your software anyways.
Everyone wants to go subscription based (it’s the new hot topic) but how many people, for example, will pay monthly for a chat app when there are so many free alternatives? Not trolling just a little criticism to better understand your former users.
