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The cost of an app is irrelevant. If an app is $5/$50/$500 and only one person bought it then the dev will only get $5/$50/$500 (ignoring the slice that publishers take). Now would you say that dev is $5/$50/$500 better off or not? I'd say definitely not.
Each app costs much, much more than that develop than the end user will ever pay for it. It is only when many people buy apps in large amounts that the developer will make a profit on it.
Sometimes (especially) with webOS there just isn't a large enough market to make money - perhaps that's why some paid apps aren't getting updates. If the dev isn't getting paid for the work he's already done, should he do more free work, or write it off? Does he move onto another project in the hope that that one will pay his bills, so that HE can eat?
I do my apps for the love of them - my sales will testify to that (some I've done for free, others for other people - see my TouchPrompt app). With all the webOS apps I've produced in the last year, I've got back less than £100. Yes, really. I can work less than 20hours at minimum wage to earn that in my REAL job. I gurantee you that each and every single one of my apps has had many, many more than 20 hours of work put into them. Do I see a financial return that equates to time invested? Not at all. However, if people inform me of problems, then I fix them. Not every dev is like me (in fact, probably none). I've been coding since 1984 and only this year started selling my apps - everything else has been freeware on a number of platforms, including iOS, GP2X, Wiz, pc, Amiga, CPC etc.
So, if you aren't communicating with the devs and asking for fixes and/or updates, how do they know what the end-user wants, and why do you expect them to give them to you?
In retail, the customer is always right. In software, this isn't the case. Sometimes the end-user wants far more than the dev feels that the software was intended for (see my TouchPrompt for that - I offered to create a piece of software based on a given spec; then other users wanted other things added to it - changing it from what was originally requested - however, I did implement them as they additions did improve the software, but changed it. One person was up in arms about the changes until he realised that the extras were optional). It's impossible to please everyone, everytime, but some of us devs, do try - much to the detriment of our own mental health and empty stomachs! :P
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