Comments on: Trillian Finally Lands on Android Market, Is No Longer Free

By: PreemoX2

PreemoX2 — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 21:30:54 +0000

Please. $4.99 is not that much. And if that is too much, then maybe a smartphone is not for you. Quality apps charge premium prices. This is not Apple where the apps ecosystem is drastically different. Maybe if people started supporting the ecosystem, more devs would come to this platform and bring more competition. We all know what that means when there is more competition.

By: Lonnie Kerchief

Lonnie Kerchief — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 22:18:30 +0000

You guys do realize that the $4.99 is to go towards maintaining their in-house servers that enable IMs to be held until your device reconnects should you enter a no-service area, right? The money isn't exactly going toward the developers' Ferrari funds. I've been using Trillian on my desktop for over 5 years now, and not once have I ever thought about migrating to another client. I also find the Android client to be the best of breed right now, and it just came out.

Try it before you knock it, and do a little research before you bash the price of an app.

By: WhereIsTony

WhereIsTony — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 20:31:27 +0000

I see no problem with trillian charging, or with people deciding Ebuddy's a better deal at free.

For me I will stick with Trillian, but am not going to pay until they add something that is not provided for free in the beta. If they were a struggling developer I would pay now, Or if the beta expired I would.
But in this case I will wait for a feature that is not already free with the beta.

By: John Goswick

John Goswick — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 19:55:38 +0000

Well said…Everything is not free. Sadly some will pirate the apk, yet hurting android reputation further. How many ppl go to work every day for free? It's under $5 for gods sake.

By: Judah Richardson

Judah Richardson — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 18:55:32 +0000

Who *didn't* see that coming? Not only is Cerulean Studios known for pulling the “free Beta -> paid Gold” trick, but it's apparently becoming the standard marketing ploy for new Android apps (see SwiftKey). eBuddy does a good enough job for free IMO, no need for Trillian.

By: boot879

boot879 — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 17:01:21 +0000

Did you make a backup?? If so… flash back and backup your app… then reinstall it. That should do the trick shouldn't it?

By: boot879

boot879 — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 16:59:32 +0000

Grumble

By: z32589

z32589 — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 12:57:59 +0000

Trillian is an excellent IM app and I rely on it every day. A reliable IM solution has been sorely missing from Android – and it's the one thing I can say I “miss” from my old Blackberry. Trillian's app is so reliable because of the amazing backend that Trillian has had going back to the days of Windows 95. They have excellent developers and have never dissapointed. I think we're sometimes quite spoiled that so many projects in the Android world a free / open. However, life isn't a free ride, some people who do excellent work need to get paid!

Personally, thank you, Trillian for developing such a wonderful IM service. I was using the Beta and bought the Market version as soon as I found out I could. Keep up the good work!

By: InvaderDJ

InvaderDJ — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 12:50:58 +0000

Nevermind they did confirm that everyone using the beta can continue to do so. So to all the cheapasses: there you go. Stop whining.

By: InvaderDJ

InvaderDJ — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 12:46:20 +0000

That is the problem with an open and free beta for a pay program. On one hand you get a huge amount of beta testers so you can make sure the app is rock solid (and it is, Trillian is pretty much the best IM app available on Android and really shows the right effort and respect for the platform)

But once the beta is over and people have to pay for you have complaints from people who are used to having it for free.

Sorry guys, Trillian deserves the money. My only complaint is (that at least so far) there is no discount or free app for people who paid for Trillian on the PC (which I did, the Trillian Android app was so good I tried it and bought it on the PC for the first time in a few years). Oh well, they've got my money.

By: Alex Mocaby

Alex Mocaby — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 11:48:01 +0000

They could just make it ad-supported, considering the Angry Birds devs are making ridiculous amount of bank with a free ad-supported version. And since this could be the slickest Android IM client out there, they could at least make enough money for their servers.

By: Jason

Jason — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 10:35:42 +0000

Given all the price hate, I don't think most people understand how Trillian works (and works so much better than other clients). When you login, you're actually logged in from Cerulean Studios' servers, so when you change 3g/wifi/etc. you don't lose any conversations. Also, they store your chat history on the server so as to sync with your desktop. Hosting such a server is not cheap; that's where your $5 is going, not necessarily to line the devs' pockets (corollary: considering server costs, it makes sense to charge a little more even if means fewer users). If you don't want those features, then don't pay and don't hate. There are plenty of free options, as many have mentioned.

By: RLJSlick

RLJSlick — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 09:23:41 +0000

They are charging for this? ROFL yeah that's gonna happen.

By: Guest

Guest — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 09:21:58 +0000

I find $4.99 for an app when most IM programs (gTalk, Facebook, AIM, etc.) offer free apps rather offensive. Trillion, get out of here…

The greed of many of these developers is honestly amazing sometimes and such a bad business move that I wonder how educated many of them truly are. If they wanted to be more profitable sell 50,000 copies of a $.99 app instead of 200 copies of a $4.99 app.

By: Jawshua

Jawshua — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 09:11:03 +0000

I definitely wouldn't update your beta then.