iA's newest app, Writer Pro, has hardly gone unnoticed. Folks seem to either love the design and functionality, or they hate the developer's attitude and high price.
I don't care about the patent issue / non-issue. I don't care about patents, period1. I also don't care if the developer is a wonderful person or a huge jerk. I care only about the app, and whether it is a good value or not.
$20 for an iOS text editor is ballsy.
In a world where Byword is $5 and even the brilliant Editorial is $5, asking $20 for an iOS text editor takes balls. Big ones. I have purchased iOS apps as high as $402 — price alone does not scare me away. I am looking for value.
Writer Pro doesn't even hold a candle to the feature set of Editorial. Nor does it try. Simplicity and a novel new editing workflow are the focus. Simplicity is where Writer Pro fails in a major way. Simplicity is a great thing, as long as your product functions well. Simplicity for simplicity's sake is misguided.
The Price of Entry, and Writer Pro's failure
I'm talking about Dropbox sync, of course. iA was so focused on making Writer Pro simple that it didn't include a critical feature - Dropbox sync. A "pro" text editor released in 2013 must include Dropbox sync. That is the price of entry in this market.
Excluding Markdown autocomplete is a choice. It is a choice I don't like, but I respect and understand it. Excluding Dropbox sync? Lazy. Inexcusable. Alex from Zero Distraction managed to put together a hack that lets you sync via Dropbox. This should not be necessary.
Imagine a car manufacturer releasing a brand new compact car with a 3 speed automatic transmission, in 2013. Any less than 5 gears and you're not even in the game3.
How did Writer Pro even ship?
Dropbox sync is coming to Writer Pro. This doesn't matter. That an established developer – not a startup – would ship a luxury priced, flagship product without a mission-critical feature is absurd. It's embarrassing. There is simply no excuse for it.