Why would anyone pay $24.95 for this Openoffice.org publication? The cover offers free office software. An average computer user would know that they can get this free software online without spending $24.95 at a newsagency on this publication – and more. $24.95 is, in my view, a rip off. And newsagents, because we sell it, are seen as part of the rip off.
This title should not have been distributed to newsagents. The distributor ought to have said no when the publisher and or importer made their pitch.
Are you opposed to this kind of product on principle or is the price the problem?
If you object to the high price, I agree with you.
Otherwise I think the added value is key to this kind of product.
Computer magazines, even airfreighted from the US or UK rarely cost more than $20 and, if there’s a cover disc, come with a decent read as well as a wealth of software. Open Office might be one of a dozen items.
I’ve seen the same Open Office software on sale in Dick Smiths (New Zealand) at $9.95 — not too bad considering the cost of bandwidth, disc burning and making a CD cover. A similar product could be very successful in newsagencies with the right demographic.
To charge $25, a publisher would need to add a lot of value — did the product come with a comprehensive booklet or magazine on how to get the most out of Open Office?
Bill,
I object on price and content/value. I can get what’s in this product free online. Newsagents carrying the title for two months take a cash-flow hit for something which probably won’t sell because of this.
mark