Cost discrepancy between iPhone app and WP7 app

[miguelgigante]

Hello,

 

I previously used an iPhone 3GS and did some occasional geocaching. I used the intro app for a while before paying a one time fee of $10.00 to upgrade to the premium app.

 

When I made the move to Windows Phone 7, I expected to buy the app again since it was not only a new phone, but a whole new OS. I was surprised to see that instead of a one time $10.00 purchase price, accessing the full app for WP7 costs three times as much and must be renewed annually.

 

Looking in iTunes now, I show the iPhone version is still only $10.

 

I was hoping someone could explain this discrepancy.

 

Thanks for your time,

 

Michael

[+dingoagogo]

Hi Michael,

 

Both the iPhone and the Android apps cost $10 while the WP7 app appears to be free. At least according to this link: Geocaching Live

 

I believe the $30 annual fee you are referring to is the cost of a Premium Membership on the Geocaching.com site. You can use any of these apps with the free Basic membership, but there are limits to how many detailed cache listings you can view in a day, among other things. This page explains a little about it: Geocaching Live Access and Restrictions

 

So, you have access to the same information no matter which (Geocaching Live-enabled) app you use. But the amount of information you receive in any of those apps is dependent on the level of your membership on the Geocaching site itself. Hope that clears things up a bit!

 

~Joe

[Dulce-Joy]

Hi Michael,

 

Both the iPhone and the Android apps cost $10 while the WP7 app appears to be free. At least according to this link: Geocaching Live

 

I believe the $30 annual fee you are referring to is the cost of a Premium Membership on the Geocaching.com site. You can use any of these apps with the free Basic membership, but there are limits to how many detailed cache listings you can view in a day, among other things. This page explains a little about it: Geocaching Live Access and Restrictions

 

So, you have access to the same information no matter which (Geocaching Live-enabled) app you use. But the amount of information you receive in any of those apps is dependent on the level of your membership on the Geocaching site itself. Hope that clears things up a bit!

 

~Joe

 

The Windows Phone 7 app in NOT free. The app that is free for WP7 is a 'Lite' version which will only let you use the full app for 3 caches and that's it. Basically if you want the actual full app, it'll cost you $30. Quite a few of us disagree with the fact that if you are on a Windows Phone you have to pay $30 to get what iPhone users and Android users get for $10. It should be $10 for everyone as it was.

[Mr.Yuck]

Hi Michael,

 

Both the iPhone and the Android apps cost $10 while the WP7 app appears to be free. At least according to this link: Geocaching Live

 

I believe the $30 annual fee you are referring to is the cost of a Premium Membership on the Geocaching.com site. You can use any of these apps with the free Basic membership, but there are limits to how many detailed cache listings you can view in a day, among other things. This page explains a little about it: Geocaching Live Access and Restrictions

 

So, you have access to the same information no matter which (Geocaching Live-enabled) app you use. But the amount of information you receive in any of those apps is dependent on the level of your membership on the Geocaching site itself. Hope that clears things up a bit!

 

~Joe

 

The Windows Phone 7 app in NOT free. The app that is free for WP7 is a 'Lite' version which will only let you use the full app for 3 caches and that's it. Basically if you want the actual full app, it'll cost you $30. Quite a few of us disagree with the fact that if you are on a Windows Phone you have to pay $30 to get what iPhone users and Android users get for $10. It should be $10 for everyone as it was.

 

This is correct, and of course I remember Dulce-Joy being a prominent member of those discussions. I'm going to bet the same thing happens in the somewhat near future for the Iphone and Droid official apps, but that is just my opinion.

 

The "old" WP7 Geocaching app is still in the marketplace, costs $10, but will only work for about another 11 months. Give or take a month, don't quote me on that.

 

P.S. About 5 minutes after I posted that I noticed on my phone there is an update for the Geocaching Live WP app, but I don't see anything in the release notes section of these forums about it. Someone has already beat me to the punch and posed the question in the WP sub-forum, so we shall see what happens there.

Edited May 9, 2012 by Mr.Yuck

[+dingoagogo]

The Windows Phone 7 app in NOT free. The app that is free for WP7 is a 'Lite' version which will only let you use the full app for 3 caches and that's it. Basically if you want the actual full app, it'll cost you $30. Quite a few of us disagree with the fact that if you are on a Windows Phone you have to pay $30 to get what iPhone users and Android users get for $10. It should be $10 for everyone as it was.

 

That is exactly in line with all other apps on all other platforms (iPhone, Blackberry, Android, PC) that utilize the current Geocaching Live API. You will get the exact same data using the new free app for the Windows Phone 7 as you will using the $10 Groundspeak Geocaching Live app on the iPhone, or the $4.50 NeonGeo app for Android, or GSAK on your PC. The limits to the data you receive in any of those programs depends on whether you are a Basic Member on Geocaching.com or have upgraded to a Premium Membership.

 

For example, I have an Android phone. I purchased CacheSense. Currently on sale for $5.00, regularly priced at $10.00. If I log into the app using my Basic membership, I can only download 3 full cache descriptions per day. Now if I log into the same app using my Premium membership, I can download many more caches.

 

It seems to me that if you want to use the official Groundspeak app ($0) for your WP7, you are currently getting a better deal than an Android or iPhone user who has chosen the official Groundspeak app ($10) for their device or a WP7 user who previously purchased the old version of the app when they were still charging money for it (I believe it was $10 also.)

 

~Joe

[Dulce-Joy]

The Windows Phone 7 app in NOT free. The app that is free for WP7 is a 'Lite' version which will only let you use the full app for 3 caches and that's it. Basically if you want the actual full app, it'll cost you $30. Quite a few of us disagree with the fact that if you are on a Windows Phone you have to pay $30 to get what iPhone users and Android users get for $10. It should be $10 for everyone as it was.

 

That is exactly in line with all other apps on all other platforms (iPhone, Blackberry, Android, PC) that utilize the current Geocaching Live API. You will get the exact same data using the new free app for the Windows Phone 7 as you will using the $10 Groundspeak Geocaching Live app on the iPhone, or the $4.50 NeonGeo app for Android, or GSAK on your PC. The limits to the data you receive in any of those programs depends on whether you are a Basic Member on Geocaching.com or have upgraded to a Premium Membership.

 

For example, I have an Android phone. I purchased CacheSense. Currently on sale for $5.00, regularly priced at $10.00. If I log into the app using my Basic membership, I can only download 3 full cache descriptions per day. Now if I log into the same app using my Premium membership, I can download many more caches.

 

It seems to me that if you want to use the official Groundspeak app ($0) for your WP7, you are currently getting a better deal than an Android or iPhone user who has chosen the official Groundspeak app ($10) for their device or a WP7 user who previously purchased the old version of the app when they were still charging money for it (I believe it was $10 also.)

 

~Joe

This is incorrect. The free "lite" version for WP7 is the same as the free trial version for iPhone. Forget about premium status, we're just talking basic member status. Is CacheSense the official geocaching app for Android? If not, it doesn't compare.

[+dingoagogo]

This is incorrect. The free "lite" version for WP7 is the same as the free trial version for iPhone. Forget about premium status, we're just talking basic member status.

No, the free iPhone Geocaching Intro app will only show you the three nearest caches, whereas with the new WP7 app, if you have a free Basic Membership, you can see an unlimited number of caches with basic cache data (coords, type, ratings, size, owner,) but only three full cache listings per day (with descriptions.) This is the same as what you get with all other third-party apps that utilize the Geocaching Live API.

 

From the Windows Phone Marketplace: link

APPLICATION FEATURES INCLUDE:

 

- Free three full cache downloads per day (unlimited “lite” cache data) for Basic Members of Geocaching.com

 

- Unlimited caching for Premium Members of Geocaching.com (visit geocaching.com/membership for more information)

Upon a bit more searching, I learned that the $10 geocaching.com apps for Android and iPhone in fact don't have that limitation. It's been so long since I used mine (I played around with c:geo for a little bit, and have since been using CacheSense), and my understanding was that all mobile apps using the new Live API were operating under the same limitations. I wouldn't be surprised to see Groundspeak make the same changes to the Android and iPhone apps in the future...

 

But hey, the app is free! Plus you can still use it to go find any number of caches you want in a day. You simply can't download more than three full descriptions in one day unless you pay for a premium membership.

 

~Joe

[miguelgigante]

Thanks everyone for the input. I also think that the app will eventually be a $30 annual fee on all platforms. I don't see such a dramatic difference lasting long. But I could be wrong.

 

And I am not complaining about the price at all, just confused on why it would vary from one platform to the next. $2.50 a month is pretty cheap for the amount of entertainment it provides

 

Thanks again