Add-ons missing in basic bundle

[Marc]

I've got the basic bundle but I can't install the enhanced handwriting and the Hui text-to-speech which are part of the basic bundle according to http://pleco.com/androidpricing.html. What can I do?

Actually I am also confused about "all three audio pronunciation add-ons" mentioned there. I've got installed: Audio Pronunciation (male), Audio Pronunciation (female), Extended Audio (male) and Extended Audio (female). I guess these count as two (Audio Pronunciation (m&f) and Extended Audio (m&f)), right? Then what is the third one? Would that be the Hui TTS? (In this case it would be listed twice; once implicitly, once explicitly.) Sorry about the confusion.

Thanks in advance.

 

[mikelove]

Yeah, we've got to update that page, there are 5 of them now (two Mandarin audios, two Mandarin text-to-speeches, and female Cantonese audio) and about to be 6 when we launch male Cantonese audio on Android.

Could you PM or email me your Registration ID? Enhanced handwriting should be available regardless of when you bought the Basic Bundle, but text-to-speech would only be included if you bought the bundle after we launched that add-on - we removed some items and negotiated lower royalties on others in order to make room cost-wise to include Hui.

 

[Marc]

Thanks for your reply. I just sent you an email with my registration ID.

I see... I bought Pleco about 2 years ago. I think you lowered Pleco's price by 10 bucks since then, right? I paid CHF 36.50 which was about USD 39 at that time.

To be honest it seems a bit odd to me that I paid 10 bucks more back then and now still have to pay yet another 10 bucks more just to get what today's buyers are getting, the Hui TTS. I hope you don't feel offended by this... but can you understand it's a bit difficult for me to see the fairness in this pricing?

 

[mikelove]

Yes, we did lower the price too - another consequence of those lower royalties. In fact IIRC our profit margin on that $40 was slightly lower than the profit margin on our current $30 Basic Bundle.

We don't charge for software upgrades - whatever add-ons you buy you can keep using forever - but from the first time we started offering bundles way back in 2004 we've consistently adopted the policy that bundles are not lifetime subscriptions; buying a bundle entitles you to whatever is in it at the time that you purchase it, nothing more. And over the long term there's really no way we could do otherwise. In 2001 on Palm OS $40 got you a copy of Pleco with the Pocket Oxford Chinese Dictionary and handwriting recognition, and that was it: no audio, flashcards, document reader, stroke order, or OCR, just those two add-ons, and the margin on that was lower than the margin on your $40 bundle purchase.

I understand that it feels a bit unfair if somebody comes along now and gets more stuff for less money than you paid, but we have to make these decisions based on what's best for our business going forward, not on how our past customers will feel about them. We can't afford to retroactively give new add-ons to everybody who ever bought a particular bundle, or to retroactively credit everybody who bought at a higher price when we lower one of our prices, but the only other alternative would be to never lower our prices or add new items to bundles, in which case we'd still be charging $40 for POCD plus handwriting and nobody would be buying it.

 

[Marc]

Thanks for your thorough reply, Mike. I appreciate it. And I can understand your economic reasoning even though the consequences don't feel fair in my situation. You say "we have to make these decisions based on what's best for our business going forward, not on how our past customers will feel about them" and I think best for any business is in fact if one also takes into consideration how one's past or more precisely current and still loyal customers feel. Therefore I think it would actually make perfect economic sense to give them at least a discount. It makes them feel better and valued as customers when in fact they still pay more for less than new customers. But of course up to you.

 

[mikelove]

We actually offered Hui at a lower promotional price of $5 at first, email me at mikelove@pleco.com and I can set up a purchase for you at that price if that helps any.