I work with Hal at marketing and supporting the package for Smartphone & Pocket PC magazine and there are a lot of people who purchased the package and are just thrilled with it. It does contain 8 of the top 10 best selling applications according to Handango, (Agenda Fusion, PocketPlus, Battery Pack Pro, eWallet, etc) whose price alone if bought separately is over $200 last time I checked.
That being said, Scott is correct in that the Software Package is certainly not for everyone. It is a great value for many people, however, like Marc pointed out. Scott is correct in that if you're not going to use the software, at least more than $297 worth it is not a good value for you. We included a free download of a "Value Calculator" on www.pocketpcmag.com/cd site (like Hal mentioned) so people can quickly and easily see what they would use and how much the price would add up to if purchased separately.
I also have to say we really put a lot of attention on customer service. I personally answer hundreds of questions both by phone and email, almost always within a few hours of receiving them. I make sure codes work, that people get the latest version, etc. I think this is a big help to people to have such attentive customer support, especially with these devices and with the range of software and range of different developers providing all kinds of different registration schemes.
I appreciate the fact that Scott checked it out several times for himself. That is really the best way to evaluate it. I would qualify Scott's statement slightly in order to be able to agree with him that the package "really isn't all that good a value" FOR HIM. If people are interested they can try it risk free and keep our bonuses if they choose to return it. The special reports are very helpful, the Demo CD they get to keep is great (we put a lot of work into it this year), they get free issues of the magazine, laser pen (cheap but cool) etc.
In marketing it our challenge is to find people for whom it is a good fit. I've talked to a number of people who purchased a new device, found our magazine at a newstand and were thrilled to discover the Software Package. It is like hitting the jackpot for them.
If anyone with a Windows Mobile focused website would be interested in reviewing the Package, please contact me. We had a number of thorough reviews for our 2005 Package last year which can be seen the /cd site.
If you are interested in reviewing, please contact me at my tech support email
[email protected].