LOMORA: The iPhoneography community has its say, and wins
Monday, July 26, 2010 at 7:37AM | Glyn Evans Many of you will remember the warning I gave a few weeks ago, and many of you commented with disgust, about a new app called LOMORA, that expired after every 36 photos taken, forcing you to buy new film!!
Well myself and reader SCW emailed Phil Schiller separately expressing our concerns about this app and the developers tactics, and I pointed Phil at the comments you all left. We both got prompt replies from Phil advising us that the AppStore team were investigating this app, and today our and your complaints have been addressed as version 1.5 of the app has been released with the following changes:
- All Films Are Now FREE
- Flash & Filter FREE
In addition to the add-on films now being free the app has also been optimised to improve performance and reduce crashing.
What this does prove however, is that Apple, at times, do listen to what we say, and where appropriate will work with the community and developers to resolve issues like this, so thank you Phil and thank you Apple for listening.
If you are interested in this app, then it is available from the AppStore, priced at £1.79/$2.99/€2.39
Glyn Evans
WARNING: It would appear that the apps new description "All Films Are Now FREE" and "Flash & Filter FREE" is a little misleading, as the films still expire and have to be purchased using points!! Points can be purcha$ed or earned with each photo taken, which doesn't make these films 100% free.
I have brought this misleading app description to Apple's attention, and they have promised to investigate.
At this stage I strongly advise avoiding this app until Apple and the developer have worked things out.
LOMORA in App Update, News
Reader Comments (13)
Thanks to Glyn and SCW for being our voice!
rock!
good thing apple corrected the issue.
however i wouldn't get close to an app like that, even if it was free. they only changed their business model because they were forced to do so, otherwise they'd still be ripping people, as they intended from the beginning.
i would never give money to someone who does something this asinine, and thinks they can get away with it.
I am the developer of LOMORA and I heard you all. In fact, when comments of expensiveness surfaced, I have immediately started to change the app to provide free films, flash and filter on my own initiative. As modification takes time and there were some technical issues when re-submitting the app, this update was delayed. I thank you all for your patience and wish you a very good experience and have fun using my updated app. *I changed all films, flash & filter to be free because I also want you to like my app* - this line is added in my updated app description to show my commitment to provide a very likable app. I like to see all to appreciate and use my app, taking great pictures!! Thanks!
@Marvin Lee Thank you for coming by to speak your peace with us, I imagine that you've been bombarded with a lot of negative comments about your app and it's pricing policy since it came out in the app store. As a business student, I understand that you want to be able to make money from your product. I imagine that the way the pricing was originally set up though, you probably lost more than you would have made by making it a flat fee to begin with and in the process have alienated a lot of people who would have otherwise purchased the app. It's going to take time for some of them to come around and maybe try your app out now, and (honestly) some of them may never come around. But at least by showing up here you show that you are trying to make things right.
First of all, this is a really great site !
About Lomora, that I purchased today for a test (I'm working for a french Web Site about the iPhone), I have to say that all isn't absolutely free here : in fact, the app comes with 600 "points" and to buy a film, you have to pay 200 points. 11 films, 200 points per film : 600 points are obviously not enough ! Here comes the trick : you have to pay to buy points : 2,39 € for 2000 points. Films are free ? Really ?
It's really a very very bad behaviour, I have to say, when Hipstamatic make the thing perfectly clear, Lomora seems to prefer the lie. That's a point of view. But certainly not the best to gain our trust !
Long live iPhoneorgraphy.com !
All the best,
Yann
Personally I would never buy anything from this developer after his initial attempts to rip people off.
Okay. I was too fast previously : in fact, you "earn" 20 points with each picture taken. So it's not so bad. I just find this app so so. If I change m'y mine, I'll let you know !
@Yann Lebecque, I think there's some misunderstanding here, I think you haven't fully tested out my app. 10 points are earned for each photo taken with the app. So, basically you don't necessary needed to buy points. Sorry for all upset users, I've tried my best to satisfy you.
@ Marvin Lee
CHANGE your app!!!
If you think after I've already spent money on your app & bought films to then have you "claim" that everything is now free & included in this app is utter crap!
Do you honestly think I am going to take photos (which your capture button / slider is not functional & truly awfully implemented) that I'm going waste a single moment of my time with your ridiculous "points" system ??? REALLY ???
You are out of your mind! When I bought Photo fx, CAMERAtan, LOMO Camera, FILM LAB, PictureShow etc (which honestly are superior to your LOMORA app in everyway) I don't have to waste my time earning points on a stupid points system in order to apply & use the film effects.
You DON'T seem to get it through your head. Either make LOMORA useable, Free films, flashes contents etc & all functions working easily & correctly or REMOVE this piece of crap from the AppStore. Adding a ridiculous points system after screwing us over with your utterly ridiculous first version of buying films & after 36 shots the film effects expired & have to be re-purchased... To now claiming all is now free & included is just a lie.
FIX this app immediately before I again am forced to contact Apple about your unhonorable intentions to play mind games with your users. And while you are fixing it also include post editing from the users Photo Album / Camera Roll too.
Until you fix this utter mess of LOMORA I highly suggest nobody buys this dishonest, ridiculously absurd excuse for a photo app! DO NOT BUY THIS APP !!!
You have been warned !!!
SCW
@Marvin Lee.
First off I'd like to say thanks for stopping by and leaving feedback for myself and the readers of this blog.
When I first discovered that you had updated your app to version 1.5 with "All Films Are Now FREE" and "Flash & Filter FREE", I thought "great", but then as @Yann Lebecque discovered and reported, you haven't really made these features FREE, as you now have to earn points for each photo taken, and then redeem these points for more films, or buy points to redeem. Now whilst we are not having to pay money for the points earned, which technically makes them free, in the real world these features are not really free, and you are still trying to make money by selling points instead of films.
I like many others reading about this misleading feature, will feel angered and cheated by your actions, and as such I have emailed Apple to bring to their attention your dishonest and misleading tactics.
I for one will not be buying your app, and I think you should seriously review your business model, or suffer the wrath of the iPhoneography community.
Hello All,
Just a thought....
If I remember correctly (going by Glyn's review and what I read on iTunes), you didn't lose access to your pictures taken on the 'film' roll purchased, but the app required you to buy another roll if you wanted to take any addition photos. The idea that it was like a real roll of film, and thus making you think about your shot rather than snapping without abandon, since each frame had a real cost was gimmicky at best. I think it's important to remember that, from what I understood based on the itunes description, this app and dev did not set out to intentionally defraud iPhone app users/customers. It's just that the model or gimmick he used to generate sales appeared to value income for him/her over features for the user.
A good comparison is a game called Elimiate by ngmoco. When it first came out, if you wanted to play continuously you had to purchase batteries/energy cells or wait real world time for your character to regenerate. You also could purchase credits to upgrade armor, weapons, skill, etc.. Again, you could earn these points and energy cell while playing, but in order to get enough credits you had to play and win quite a bit which was tough it your power cells ran dry, so buying credits enabled you to buy more items and play longer. This sales tactic was harshly criticized on tech and gaming blogs. Comments ran the full range from it being a cheap shot to being a full on rip off/scam. Even though this was a multi-player game, where such out of game purchases are not uncommon, it was the first time this format has been used on an iPhone app and iphone gamers were not used to having to pay again to play or for in-game items. It was also the first online multiplayer game for the iphone, so maybe that made users and reviews a bit more forgiving after some time, but still it did get it's share of negative "press".
I'm not defending the dev and didn't and won't buy the app as is- the concept never appealed to me and it doesn't offer anything other apps can do far better. I just feel it's pretty harsh to accuse someone of scamming unless there was real, provable intent of fraudulent behavior, which doesn't seem the case here. It was a dumb idea plain and simple and it looks like the dev lucked out with all the commentary and press (negative press is still press!), he got some of the best instruction for free. Think about how much time and money other companies spend just to get any bit of feedback! Hopefully he learns from this and changes his model.
BTW I've tested the app : it saves the pictures with a low res of 768x768 and us quite unstable. So no need to argue : it's a bad app at the moment.