Be the Trivia Master with Trivia Machine

[Mike Temporale]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.smartphone.net/smartphonethoughts/software_detail.asp?id=1361' target='_blank'>http://www.smartphone.net/smartphonethoughts/software_detail.asp?id=1361</a><br /><br /></div>"Each level consists of a series of Trivia questions you must answer correctly to score points and reach the required point total on the Trivia Ladder for that level. But, you've got to do it before you run out of turns! <br />Click one of the three category windows to generate a new trivia question for the chosen category and difficulty. The window at the bottom always represents the easiest question. Point value is assigned to each question based on difficulty."<br /><br /><img src="http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/images/Temporale-20050409-TrivaMacine.jpg" alt="User submitted image" title="User submitted image"/> <br /><br />With more than 7000 questions in 9 different categories, you might never master this Trivia. ;) Plus, you can download more from the internet! Which means the trivia could be never ending. You can download a trial version, or purchase the full version for $19.95 <a href="http://www.smartphone.net/smartphonethoughts/software_detail.asp?id=1361">here.</a> [Affiliate]

[killah21]

Yet another over priced game.....when are these people gonna realize no one is gonna fork over $20 for a game on a cell phone!!! Greatest hits games for the ps2 cost $20 and they cost about 5 to 10 mill to make.....im just so tired of seeing good games that i want to buy like aces texas hold em for $15!!!! Jeez maybe if it was like $5 i would buy it....

[brutallyhonest]

Killah21 - Didn't your mother ever tell you if you don't have anything constructive to say then not to say it all? Complaining about a price and why people buy software is not going to get the Smartphone community anywhere except backwards.

I'm guessing you don't come from a developer background and really don't understand how much work goes into producing a program like this. Well, in case you weren't aware, software along with many other items out there is a volume-based business that works on economies of scale. If you only have the expectation of selling 100 copies of a program then you need to charge more to recoup costs and believe me these developers are not trying to retire on their apps.

If we translate it into an Enterprise scenario, let's say a company contracted out to have this program built at $200 an hour and let's say that 2000 hours was built into the project with requirements gathering, analysis, development, testing, support etc. Involving developers, business analysts, project managers, customer testing, and customer training...etc you could expect the consulting company to send a bill for $400,000.

Now to recoup that costs in the retail world require 20,000 purchases. That seems like an awful lot of software to sell to a small niche community. This doesn't even figure into other shared services we didn't mention like creating a website, bandwidth, servers, marketing resources, and then selling it through a retail outlet like Smartphone.net which collects 30% of the selling price. The headaches are just beginning but I'm not going to continue for the sake of trying to remain terse.

The point is, if a developer is that passionate and has that clear of a vision to develop a program and then deliver it free or at very little cost then think of it as their community service for the year. At this point in time in Smartphone history, a little money to developers only promotes even more software development and an enhanced mobile experience.

Lastly, a developer can always target the "must-have" individuals while dropping the price later and engaging the general public. This is simply marketing 101 and maximizes revenue.

[Mike Temporale]

brutallyhonest, I think your numbers are a little out of whack. I'm sure this application didn't require 2000 hours. Regardless of that, Killah21 is simply showing their distaste for the high prices of many applications and games. He shouldn't need to be a developer to place a "value" on application. His comment helps to let the developers know that they are loosing some customers because of the high prices, and maybe they should look at less feature rich or scaled down versions of their applications to help attract more customers.