Automattic announced VaultPress, a WordPress backup and security service, in private beta. Sounds wonderful, even if the proposed price of $30 USD a month is way too high (especially if that is per blog).
$30 a month may be too high for you (and me), however it depends on their target market. People capable of setting up their own backup systems are not the targets here.
Matt seems to be very undecided on price – Techcrunch are reporting $15-20 pm, the signup page says that they are planning on $25, while in comments Matt has said that they are going to try different things.
It is a service I would like to use but there’s no way I can justify $300 per site per year, and per year is how people actually think about subscriptions, I don’t care how often marketeers talk about something being “only” $25 or whatever per month, people are smart enough to understand that subscriptions end up costing you a lot.
I sense that Automattic might have a good product here but it would be a mistake to target only companies or the 1% of the amateur market who will pay crazy prices, they will make a lot more in the long-run if they target the broader swathe of users who are more open to prices of $100 and below per year, the same broad demographic that Apple’s MobileMe service targets at $70 per year.
If enough people start using this service, the hot-patching feature could dramatically reduce the attraction of WordPress to hackers. Google’s Matt Cutts wrote a very interesting Buzz about this but he, too, highlights the barrier that the price poses:
This is definitely one of those situations in which Automattic should do themselves and the entire WP ecosystem a favor and go for scale rather than creaming it off the top.
$30 a month may be too high for you (and me), however it depends on their target market. People capable of setting up their own backup systems are not the targets here.
Matt seems to be very undecided on price – Techcrunch are reporting $15-20 pm, the signup page says that they are planning on $25, while in comments Matt has said that they are going to try different things.
It is a service I would like to use but there’s no way I can justify $300 per site per year, and per year is how people actually think about subscriptions, I don’t care how often marketeers talk about something being “only” $25 or whatever per month, people are smart enough to understand that subscriptions end up costing you a lot.
I sense that Automattic might have a good product here but it would be a mistake to target only companies or the 1% of the amateur market who will pay crazy prices, they will make a lot more in the long-run if they target the broader swathe of users who are more open to prices of $100 and below per year, the same broad demographic that Apple’s MobileMe service targets at $70 per year.
If enough people start using this service, the hot-patching feature could dramatically reduce the attraction of WordPress to hackers. Google’s Matt Cutts wrote a very interesting Buzz about this but he, too, highlights the barrier that the price poses:
http://www.google.com/buzz/109412257237874861202/JqSGGv8Bu5N/Why-is-VaultPress-important-cool-WordPress-is-one
This is definitely one of those situations in which Automattic should do themselves and the entire WP ecosystem a favor and go for scale rather than creaming it off the top.
It said $30, for me. They may be testing multiple price points to see how people react.
They can also use price to limit signups, to control growth (while maximizing profit). Lower the price once they’re ready to handle that volume.