Re: Instapaper Founder: Apps Don't Need To Be Free - http://www.disqus.com/people...
"Timely post for me. Just went to download it as I recently came back to the iPhone. Found it odd that I could not find the free version and found no mention until this post that it was pulled. I think freemium plus paid is the smarter strategy to have the largest market coverage. The are too many potential network effect plays in the 'save it later' space that if players like Read It Later can get more users, they can take advantage of it. Another reason is that it is difficult to get new users, most all outside the echo chamber (who are still coming onto the iPhone in droves) to jump right to the $4.99 app. They will go with a free alternative. My sense is 30 days is not enough time to judge this impact. You'll also notice most who thinks this makes sense already knew the value of the app. For me, I did not use the service enough to now jump to the paid version but could if i find myself using it frequently which is often my app buying scenario. Now I will retry it with Read It..." - Lou Paglia