Comments on: Lonely Planet San Francisco City Guide for iPhone: Now Pre-WWDC Free!

By: Al

Al — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 04:26:06 +0000

That sounds like a fun party, I want to come! Jillians is fun, we have one in Indianapolis as well.

By: Trevor Cape

Trevor Cape — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 01:39:25 +0000

One thing I bet you that wont be in that guide is the…

Appcelerator WWDC Afterparty!

Come check out Jillian’s in San Francisco on June 9th from 6pm to 9pm where Appcelerator is celebrating WWDC and some super SECRET stuff about the Appcelerator Titanium Beta Launch……it will rock your world, plus there will be free drinks, free appetizers, t-shirts for the first 250 people and a Wii and PS3 giveaway, for more information go to http://bit.ly/wv8LV, see you there!

By: icebike

icebike — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 20:31:41 +0000

My guess is that this is now Free, because they were making exactly Zero profit selling this at $15.

Any number of other apps that are Free could provide you with the same info, and with Google in your pocket, this is a dieing business model anyway.

I wouldn't pay $5 for this App, even if I was visiting for two months.

By: Mike M

Mike M — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 20:16:26 +0000

@Carl - I guess it's all in the eyes of the beholder. I'd much rather have the iPhone version so I DIDN'T have to carry around a book, with the added bonus of not looking like a tourist.

I hate the argument of "I want something tangible" that gets thrown around so much. It's technology people, it's getting better & it's not going away. Who gives a **** about touching the book's papery goodness? It says the same thing. Only difference is one has auto brightness, fits in your pocket, let's you listen to your music, and is always with you anyway.

Still, one would think that the app price would be lower because there's no printing, materials, shipping, storage, etc. But Carl also listed the Amazon price, and not the real price, for whatever that's worth.

By: Carl

Carl — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 19:17:13 +0000

I've posted this comment on TUAW also.

I'm a travel addict and own a bunch of guide books. Lonely Planet needs to seriously rethink their pricing. Now I know this is free for presumably a limited time... BUT that being said...

I can buy the printed version of Lonely Planet's San Francisco guide book for $12 on Amazon. Why would I spend $15.99 for it on my iPhone?

I love the idea of guide books on my iPhone, but if I can purchase the printed version cheaper than I can the iPhone version... i'm going to get the printed version. Sure it can't fit in my pocket like my iPhone, but if i'm traveling somewhere it isn't that big of a deal to take a guide book and have something tangible in your hands that you can flip through.

I'd say $9.99 is more reasonable, and $5.99 is even better.