FlexWallet on Sale for $4.95 - This Weekend Only...Again... ;-)

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.handango.com/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=311&platformId=2&productType=2&catalog=0&sectionId=0&productId=50259' target='_blank'>http://www.handango.com/PlatformPro...productId=50259</a><br /><br /></div>Two Peaks Software is at it again! They've dropped the price of their digital wallet bundle (both Pocket PC and desktop) from $19.99 to $4.95. You can read my thoughts on this deal <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/index.php?topic_id=8140">from last weekend.</a> If you missed it last weekend, here's your change to snap this great deal up! (affiliate)

[jet8810]

why don't they just change it to the permanent price already? :wink:

[Jason Dunn]

why don't they just change it to the permanent price already? :wink:

It's all about the laws of supply and demand - complex economic stuff. :wink:

[MPSmith]

I have e-wallet and would like to try out Flex Wallet. Can I convert my data file (*.wlt) from one to the other?

I doubt they are compatible but thought I would check anyway. I hate the thought of reentering all that data!

Mike

[kneibert]

I'm not an expert on how software companies determine their price points, but it would be interesting to see some elasticity numbers resulting from these types of pricebreaks from $20 to $5. My guess is that a heck of a lot more users wouldn't think twice about spending 5 bucks on a software title, but those same users may balk at shelling out 20 bucks if they're not convinced the value is there. If there really is elasticity, wouln't it make sense from a distribution and penetration standpoint to sell 1000 copies at $5 each instead of of 250 (or fewer) copies at $20 each? Wouldn't you want to get your software into the hands of as many users as possible? Of course, maybe I'm way off base and totally misjudging the whole elasticity thing. Any software developers out there that can shed some light on this?

[Rirath]

Supply and demand? Erm... we're talking 1's and 0's here... they're unlimited. Unless you really think they hand code then uniquely compile each and every copy of the app. :wink:

I hate to say it, but I don't like it when a company can't keep it's word on price. If something is a limited offer, it should stay a limited offer. When they keep doing this "One more time!" thing, it becomes a used car dealership. What's more, they said $19.95 was a limited deal, implying it would go up in cost. Not only have they never done that, they've now dropped it to sub $5.00 twice. Bordering on false advertising here.

That said, this is an excellent program and well worth the money. $5 or $20 or $25. If you haven't brought it yet, do so. At any rate, how about changing the title. "This weekend only! (maybe, we think... it was last weekend too... but we don't know about next weekend. So probably. Perhaps.)"

[Jason Dunn]

Supply and demand? Erm... we're talking 1's and 0's here... they're unlimited. Unless you really think they hand code then uniquely compile each and every copy of the app.

Doesn't matter - buying/selling will always be about supply and demand even if it's a digital product. In this case, the supply is unlimited, and the demand is not based upon the scaricity of the product, but upon the perceived need for the product. Two Peaks has an unlimited supply, but not an unlimited demand. The trick is generating demand, and cutting prices is one way of doing that...

I hate to say it, but I don't like it when a company can't keep it's word on price. If something is a limited offer, it should stay a limited offer.

&lt;shrug> It's marketing. That's the way the game is played. :wink:

[MPSmith]

Prices bounce up and down all the time. Companies have their reasons; be it needing capital, desire to reduce inventory, need to make room for the next upgrade, etc... Usually I don't care about the reason, unless I'm a stockholder. Mostly, I just want the deal.

Jason's right, it's marketing. Personally, as long as a company sells me it's product at the advertised price, I'm not offended if it's a "limited time" price that's been "limited" for six months. I don't necessarily consider that misleading either.

I say this all the time, but I'll say it again, "What a great time to be in PPC!" $140 1gb CF cards, great $5 software, $250 Axims..... I love it!

[ppeltier]

Its a great way to increase your rank on the Handango Site! :wink:
Take advantage of the price folks..its worth the $5.00

[ploeg]

I understand the "marketing" of the deal, but they probably shouldn't be doing this for many more times.

* When you buy something for $20 and two days later it's available for $5 (and you can't get the price difference back), you're understandably cheesed off. Keep doing that for a number of times and you alienate a sizable chunk of your customers.
* If it becomes a regular thing, people are going to wait until you have the sale before they buy the product.

[jet8810]

Jason, very true. Prices are always changing due to supply and demand. I bought flexwallet at $3.75 or so last week and its awesome! At $20, I would not even try the trial because I knew I could not justify $20 for that software. Instead, I stored all my info in an incrypted .doc file that I decrypted and opened every time. Not nearly as convenient as FlexWallet!

MPSmith, I have to agree about it being a great time to be a Pocket PC owner. I own a Toshiba e740, and while the unit was expensive and I had to wait a good two months before a good keyboard was released, it was worth the wait. With the expansion pack, 1 GB Cf in route to me, the Belkin keyboard, and my 128mb SD card I can do EVERYTHING I could dream of and more! I have a usb mass storage mp3 player, so now I have a 20gb drive, along with a 1gb card to store TONS of stuff. I can type notes using the keyboard and write and edit reports, and lots more! I LOVE it! :P

[palmsolo]

There is currently no way to take your eWallet data and import it into FlexWallet. I myself made the manual switch because I like FlexWallet's templates better and love the GUI on Two Peaks' software titles. The one nice thing about eWallet is that I can use it on my Axim and my CLIE NX70V.

[MPSmith]

ploeg:

I understand your frustration, but wide price changes are commonplace in the world today, especially in the tech market. Don't let it get you down or change your buying patterns. The best you can do is try to pay a price you think is fair and don't look back!

Look at Pocket Informant. That's a great product and company (IMO). Depending on when and where you buy it, you can pay up to $25 or as little $0 after MIR!

Palmsolo:

I figured I couldn't use the data. I guess I'll have to begin again with FlexWallet!

[ploeg]

MPSmith: I'm not frustrated, I'm simply commenting that this is how the world works, and that such marketing strategies can hurt a company long term. I can understand doing something like this to bump up your Handango download count (for example), but it's not smart to do this very often (or at least to do this gradually, and for longer time periods than a weekend).

I am a bit mystified by your advice to not let this affect my buying habits. Would you say that it would be irrational for me to wait out the full 30 days of the trial period (or longer) in hopes of getting a better deal down the road?

[MPSmith]

When you buy something for $20 and two days later it's available for $5 (and you can't get the price difference back), you're understandably cheesed off.

I'm not frustrated, I'm simply commenting that this is how the world works...

Ok, you're not frustrated, you're "cheesed off"!

[ploeg]

No, I said that "you're" cheesed off. I bought FlexWallet at $3.50.

[MPSmith]

Cool, glad to hear it. We just disagree about whether this is a good business practice. I think it is a good one for them.

[ploeg]

I don't necessarily think that it's a bad one for them. As ppeltier brought up a little while back, it's a good way for them to get their Handango download count up, and it's a good way for them to get people to download and try their product. Plus, as you mentioned, tech items tend to go down in price, which is a Good Thing. Naturally the flip side is that you buy things that depreciate in value (though perhaps not in use value), but you can't get upset about that.

My point was that wide fluctuations in price (not downward, but up and down) would absolutely influence the purchasing decisions of Twin Peaks's customers, in a bad way for Twin Peaks.

[MPSmith]

Keep doing that for a number of times and you alienate a sizable chunk of your customers.


I don't necessarily think that it's a bad one for them.

Which is it??? First you say it could alienate their customers, then you say it's not necessarily a bad strategy. :?

I am a bit mystified by your advice to not let this affect my buying habits. Would you say that it would be irrational for me to wait out the full 30 days of the trial period (or longer) in hopes of getting a better deal down the road?

Obviously not. Please read my ENTIRE post. Just try to pay a price you think is fair and don't look back! You can't always wait for a better deal to come around. Make an informed decision about what is a fair price, don't just try to guess where the price will go and wait it out. It may never come down to the price you want. This is not rocket science.

[dean_shan]

Is this a good program? Should I buy it at the reduced price or not buy it at all?

[MPSmith]

I've never heard anyone say bad things about it. There's probably a review somewhere to be found. I haven't used it, but like their other products very much.

[MPSmith]

Better buy one before they're out of stock!!! :wink:

[Rirath]

MPSmith, dude... quit putting words in his mouth. :? There's an obvious gap in communication. I obviously side with Pleog on this one, I brought it for $3.49 too. But none the less in my opinion it hurts FlexWallet. If I went to clothing store and saw a $20 jacket in a $3.50 bargain bin, then then monday morning back on the $20 rack I'd be a little confused. If it happened twice, I'd think twice about paying $20 for that jacket ever again, much less if it ever goes up in price. $5 drops, I could see that. Deals for past customers, sure. But across the board cuts hurt.

As for demand, how on earth does demand go up and down for something like this? The same competitors that's always been out there are still out there. Ewallet isn't having a big sale, so it's not like they have to match them or anything. If you have to lower the price to increase your customer base or gain rankings, I think that's telling ya the price was too high to begin with.

As for buying patterns, of course this kind of thing changes them for me. It's not like a retail store where 14-30 days you can just bring your receipt and get the difference refunded. I like companies who are willing to set a price, and stand by it.

And before anyone says it, YES I'm being quite hypocritical. I'm glad I got it for $3.50, I love it. But none the less it's still a valid point.

[docnilay]

Is this a good program? Should I buy it at the reduced price or not buy it at all?

Buy it! Buy it! BUY IT!

Is that convincing enough? It really is a great little program, I used to use CodeWallet before, and this is better, prettier, and just plain works!

- Nilay

[Rirath]

Obviously not. Please read my ENTIRE post. Just try to pay a price you think is fair and don't look back! You can't always wait for a better deal to come around. Make an informed decision about what is a fair price, don't just try to guess where the price will go and wait it out. It may never come down to the price you want. This is not rocket science.

I have to wonder if A) you have trouble predicting sale patterns, B) you just don't want to or C) you've been burned many times in the past from trying to. :wink:

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

Sweet, I missed this last week!! I'm jumping on it this time!

As for the whole supply/demand issue, if this is indeed the best of the 3 major wallet programs, then as long as its regular price is competitive with the competitors, I don't think they risk losing business b/c of perception issues.

I'm a CodeWalletPro user myself (I believe Jason was too) and didn't have compelling reason to switch for another $20, but I'm willing to switch at that $5. Note the 20% discount on their other products (once you buy this) and I'd say their marketing dept is making a rather aggressive move to gain some brand recognition.

Not a bad move in my book.

[MPSmith]

MPSmith, dude... quit putting words in his mouth.

That's why I'm quoting him directly, Rirath.

Ekkie: Couldn't agree with you more. Their marketing dept. is working overtime. I use the Perfect Home software and like it a lot, too.

[malcolmsharp]

always[/u] be about supply and demand even if it's a digital product. In this case, the supply is unlimited, and the demand is not based upon the scaricity of the product, but upon the perceived need for the product. Two Peaks has an unlimited supply, but not an unlimited demand. The trick is generating demand, and cutting prices is one way of doing that...

Sorry, but supply isn't unlimited. You have to consider the cost of making the program first... that can be alot. Then there is the costs of each copy... not atoms and such, but bandwith for the download, support for customers and continuing to imporve the product. Not to mention marketing.

[helloboys]

ARGH!@#$!!@

I missed the last time this was cheap, so I bought it the day after for regular price. Now they discount it again ... my timing sucks :/

[Jason Dunn]

Sorry, but supply isn't unlimited. You have to consider the cost of making the program first... that can be alot. Then there is the costs of each copy... not atoms and such, but bandwith for the download, support for customers and continuing to imporve the product. Not to mention marketing.

Time investment only counts with the first one is created - in a digital world, replication is not a relevant factor. Thus, supply = infinite, not creation = instant.

Bandwidth is supplied by Handango - as long as people are buying copies, Handango is happy.

Customer support is a relent factor, but not an issue of supply/demand - it's more a matter of returns. ie: "If I sell this app for $5 instead of $20, am I making enough money to provide tech support to all those new users".

You bring up valid points, but they're about the software business, no about supply and demand. :wink:

[Roosterman]

Take advantage of the price folks..its worth the $5.00
I have to agree, I got it on the last limited time only offer and am very happy with it.

[Kati Compton]

If you got this deal, consider using the 20% off for Traveller if you do travelling of any appreciable amount...

This has been a public service message.

[dean_shan]

Well I went a head and bought it. Nice program.

[psyfactor]

I took advantage of this rebate and bought FlexWallet. On the order page it says that the version would be 1.5. However after installed, the software reported its version as 1.0 (which has some limitations & bugs). Frustrated, I went to TwoPeaks's homepage and followed the download link on Version History page and reinstall the software using the newly downloaded file. Guess what? The version reported is 1.53 after reinstallation.

So, if you have the same problem as mine go to this page http://www.twopeaks.com/Main/software/flexwallet/history.aspx and download the update.

BTW, FlexWallet (Pocket PC + PC edition) is a very nice package, much better than CodeWallet that i've been using for months.

THP

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

If you got this deal, consider using the 20% off for Traveller if you do travelling of any appreciable amount...

This has been a public service message.
Yeah I was looking at that and it looks great... then I started wondering (for myself of course) how many "information" programs are too much? FlexWallet, ListPro, HPC Notes, Traveller?

[Kati Compton]

Yeah I was looking at that and it looks great... then I started wondering (for myself of course) how many "information" programs are too much? FlexWallet, ListPro, HPC Notes, Traveller?

It depends. Each of those can fill the gap of the other, just not necessarily as well. My tactic is that for the things I personally need most often (wallet program, travel itinerary) I got the specialized programs because they're "smoother".

[Rirath]

Yeah I was looking at that and it looks great... then I started wondering (for myself of course) how many "information" programs are too much? FlexWallet, ListPro, HPC Notes, Traveller?

I've wondered the same thing myself seveal times. I used Pocket Informant for everything, just figuring it was simpler to have it all in one place. But now with FlexWallet, I can see how much easier it really is to have it seperated. I'm thinking of buying ListPro next, and I do worry about it being too much, but they each have their own usages.

For me one thing that's still important is desktop editions. I love FlexWallet's desktop version, it makes it far far more useful for me than it would have been alone. I hear ListPro has a desktop as well. I would be in love with a Desktop Informant. :? (Outlook is just too much hassle.) The more information I store, the more I realize the pocket pc is not the ideal place to store it all. Yet, NOT having automatically synced on the Pocket PC is just as bad.

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

I've wondered the same thing myself seveal times. I used Pocket Informant for everything, just figuring it was simpler to have it all in one place.
Yeah... forgot to mention that I have PI as well...

For me one thing that's still important is desktop editions. I love FlexWallet's desktop version, it makes it far far more useful for me than it would have been alone.
CodeWalletPro has a desktop version as well (and I'm sure eWallet does too), but just fired up FlexWallet, and the interface just has a better look and feel to it than CodeWalletPro.

I hear ListPro has a desktop as well.
ListPro does have one and it's excellent. ListPro is great b/c it's like a portable database (though not quite RDBMS-type).

EdH mentioned HanDBase a little while back... and it sounds like a true pocket RDBMS solution. I'm afraid to look at it, 'cuz I'll probably buy it and render ListPro obsolete.

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

It depends. Each of those can fill the gap of the other, just not necessarily as well. My tactic is that for the things I personally need most often (wallet program, travel itinerary) I got the specialized programs because they're "smoother".
You're absolutely right... if I let one drop by the wayside, I do pay a certain price. It's a balancing act I guess.

In any event, I'm trialing Traveller now. From reading the descriptions, it sounds like it does use your Outlook DB to store itinerary info which would be nice. The ability to store flight times with respect to local timezones is a bonus as well.

[Rirath]

Eh, I was too hard on Outlook. After reading these posts I spent a good hour or so just going through it, cleaning up the tasks, setting the custom view settings. Turns out it's actually quite nice for agenda and task management alongside PI.

Gave ListPro a shot, hmm.. don't think it's for me. The desktop interface has far too much whitespace. 30 day trial... I'll keep at it.

[Kati Compton]

In any event, I'm trialing Traveller now. From reading the descriptions, it sounds like it does use your Outlook DB to store itinerary info which would be nice. The ability to store flight times with respect to local timezones is a bonus as well.

Not quite... It'll copy an event from its own database to outlook if you use the settings right. Look for the thread I started about it where I did a mini-review.

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

Gave ListPro a shot, hmm.. don't think it's for me. The desktop interface has far too much whitespace. 30 day trial... I'll keep at it.
Yeah, there is a lot of whitespace. The interface itself is not flashy in any way/shape/form, but it's effective with its ListPro functions.

I just love having the RDBMS-like structure... each data file is synonomous to a database and each list is similar to a database table. I have one list that tracks all of my PPC apps (with separate fields for app name, version, version date, access code, vendor, order number, order date, price). In that way, it's priceless, but as Kati mentioned earlier, there are other ways to track the same info. One thing that I really liked (that I discovered I can't do using Flexwallet) is that I can add and subtract fields on the fly even if data is present. In FW, the template is locked once you have even one card using it.

...but it's absolutely not for everyone and there is overlap with all the other information programs.

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

In any event, I'm trialing Traveller now. From reading the descriptions, it sounds like it does use your Outlook DB to store itinerary info which would be nice. The ability to store flight times with respect to local timezones is a bonus as well.

Not quite... It'll copy an event from its own database to outlook if you use the settings right. Look for the thread I started about it where I did a mini-review.
Yeah, I see that now that I'm playing around with it. There are appointments/reminders that it will set up through the outlook db, but mainly, this does maintain its own data. I like how it organizes flights/hotels/car rentals/etc to your predefined itineraries.

I'll look for your review.

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

Started playing around with FlexWallet and I'm debating now whether I want to stick with CodeWallet or make the switch. Is it just me, or is FlexWallet dog-slow on the PPC when scrolling up and down card info?

I also had some problems with the desktop crashing on me resulting in lost data entries (fyi, I do have version 1.53). I really like the slick-looking interface and the template manager is implemented really well IMO.

In short, FlexWallet has better features and a nicer interface, but CodeWallet just feels more stable.

On the plus side, the 4.95 purchase provides me with 20% off of other products such as Traveller... so if I end up buying Traveller, the FlexWallet purchase pays for itself since I'd be saving $6 on Traveller. :)