And, unfortunately, that’s it. PhotoArtist works well, and I’ll certainly keep it on my phone and use as appropriate, but it’s a prime example of developers needing to offer a more compelling upsell. In theory, offering a premium mobile photo editing tool on top of a free photo sharing is the ideal “freemium” business model. But with an app like PhotoArtist – even though it’s dirt cheap - it simply doesn’t do nearly enough to supplant the status quo – editing photos on my desktop.
Sure, a few people might lay down $2 to check it out, and, $2 might not be enough for people to raise hell when they’re disappointed. But, it sort of reminds me of the nascent ringtone industry of a few years ago, where fortunes were made simply because people were fascinated that they could get something resembling music when their phone rang – not because the experience was something so rewarding that they felt they were getting a great deal.