Blog > Post

Wotja is a unique system and we continue to work very, very hard on it. We also regularly kick to tyres to see if we can improve how we do things.

As we started our planning for V23 we did so knowing that the world economy is entering an even more tricky time. Inflationary pressures will be hitting you, and they hit us equally as hard :(.

Not only that, Wotja continues to get deeper and more powerful every year (and V23 will be no exception!) which means there is more to maintain and test. That all meant we had quite a lot of tyres to kick!

As an aside, we buy apps and software ourselves, and we know we would like to get a heads up on what is likely to happen to pricing next year (even if it is still subject to change) simply so that we can plan for it - and so that we do not miss out, either, on any special deals!

We started out with a few 'givens'

• We always try and we will always try to do the best we can by our customers (new or existing)
  • We have always held the view (and it has never been more important) that we need to make it as simple and flexible as we can for customers to purchase in a way that best suits them at the same time delivering as much value as we can.
  • It means we always try to figure out how to deliver maximum value for all our customers, be they paid-for 'Pro' variant customers or Subscribers.
  • To do that we always plan ahead and are always kicking tyres.
• If possible, we'd like to find a way to cut down on the number of variants we need to update/maintain
  • We currently have Free and Pro variants to build and maintain for 4 different platforms. That means there are 8 variants for Apple (iOS, macOS, tvOS, watchOS), 2 for Windows and 4 for Android (Amazon and Google Play are separate builds).
  • Each of these 14 variants takes precious time to build (and test as necessary) for each update (and there have been 16 updates so far for Wotja 22), time that could be spent on developing more features etc. - it represents an enormous amount of work.
  • It would therefore help us enormously if we could just build and test ONE free variant per OS and then rely on Subscriptions (or some other means e.g Tip Jar (TJ), below) to unlock a 'Pro' Feature Set (FS).
  • HOWEVER, we understand that there are customers that for several reasons prefer to purchase a paid-for 'perpetual' fullgrade 'Pro' variant (one key reason being because they do not like Subscriptions, despite the many benefits to Subscriptions). So, for them we may just need to carry on as now - we don't yet know!
• Wotja is a deep, complex, powerful and unique system ... and we want to continue to evolve it
  • We cannot hide the fact that Wotja represents a LOT of work (see above to get some idea!), but it exists in a small niche.
  • We try our best to hold prices down and will continue to do so.
  • We currently expect Subscriptions to remain at the V22 level.

Our tyre kicking led us to this "mixed" solution...

• We need to increase the SRP price of the paid-for V22 'Pro' variant...
  • But, we heavily discounted it for those who purchased early in the product cycle.
• We need to bring Feature Set (FS) Subscriptions to Windows...
  • These have advantages for those using Wotja on multiple devices.
  • To support the above approach for our longstanding Windows customers we have at last (in upcoming 22.6.0) figured out how to implement support for Feature Set (FS) Subscriptions.
• We will add to all variants a Tip Jar (TJ) with 'one-off' tips that allow 30 days use of 'Pro' mode!
  • We have now finally figured out a way we might be able to use single purchase tips to support occasional use and/or for those that do not like Subscriptions (see Part 2).
  • One-off tips are ALSO for those that really love Wotja and have deep interest in seeing it continue to evolve, and who can afford an occasional tip!