I saw this thread a few days ago when I too was wandering just why the 'official' Geocaching app is so expensive. I agree its not that expensive in general terms, but taken in context with the rest of the market its extremely expensive. Having failed to receive a good number pros/cons I figured I'd buy it and find out. So why is it over three times more expensive than the average app?
Having used the app for a few days I can say that its most useful feature is the offline lists for checking cache details and live map functionality. The GPS utilisation is a tad buggy and the app has a tendency to get frozen when searching nearby caches (Devs: This really should be interruptable). The log writing functionality is also a little clumsy from a UI workflow perspective and could use some refinement. Finally GPS coordinate fixes are often hard to come by with a fix radious of 20 to 50 meters on average and the app does seem pretty hungry when it comes to the battery life. Now the bulk of my complaints are likely the result of app / handset interaction (However other GPS enabled apps do fair much better with GPS access and often get better fix range) but this is the nature of phone apps and that's why they are rarely more than a few quid.
Will I be moving from my phone to my GPS? Not a chance My GPS unit is an old eTrex HC and while it also eats batteries I generally get 10 hours of use for a set of AA's and as you'd expect its fix capability is far superiour to my phone. I'll use the app when I'm out and about for some on-the-fly caching where getting accurate cache coordinates is less important, and I'll probably use it in conjunction with my GPS unit for its offline list capability, but the app has done little to improve me existing caching experience.
To those thinking of buying the app: If you want to do casual caching then there are much cheaper apps on the market with nearly the same functionality that'll work just as well, or you could just use your phone's browser. If you're an avid Geocacher then it might give you some additional accessability on the road but beyond that its of little use.
To Ground Speak I'd say: Drop the price of your app to no more than £3. While at that price it's still more than most apps, the majority of customers will feel happy to have gained a few handy tools. Its also close enough to the other Geocaching apps for you to take a bigger slice of the app market and grow your mobile customer base with the potential to increase the take-up of premium membership. At £3 people might even consider buying it just to give you a little extra income. Often you'll earn more money lowering the cost of an app as you'll get a much higher adoption rate. Currently I believe you're running the risk of growing a disenchanted customer base who expected a lot more functionality for the price of the app.
