the time spent on the development of an application and the cost of the application are sadly not totally related in the case of harmattan. For Example you can sell a similar utility app as we call it on iOS for the same price and i can bet my bottom dollar you will be raking in huge profits.

however, when it comes to Harmattan common sense dictates that due the much smaller user base raking in anywhere as those kinds of profits is impossible. When a developer for Harmattan charges he is doing it to cover SOME of the costs that he expended while developing the app. The obvious hope is that he can cover all his costs but its quite unlikely for that to occur. The main motivation for any developer on Harmattan is his passion for the community and in return the community should show its appreciation in return.

to show your appreciation you leave positive feedback and either pay/donate for an app. Both of the latter approaches have pros and cons for developers.

for an app such as this which originally was only to help unlock orientation and set wallpapers of a users choice it was widely available from the Store since Day One.

Along the way the developer has spent further time and resources to add increased functionality which in anybody's opinion deserves a payment. Now tell me since it has been in the Store might as well implement a payments system for it instead of a donation system right? Do remember donations are not always better as can be seen in Wolke's power button mapper which has 100s of downloads yet only 2donations.

the low price allows everyone in the community to still utilise the app hence it wasn't priced higher. The main hope is that after deducting all the charges from Nokia, the developer is left with enough to at least cover the meat and beer required while developing.

Harmattan apps are different compared to iOS/Android apps in economic logic so think twice before coming to any conclusions...


Edit: I know this post has got long but one thing to ponder for anyone questioning a developer in the future:

If a developer developed the same thing for iOS this is how he would have charged and earned:

Set own wallpaper for every launcher screen + lockscreen pre-iOS5: 1 euro

Folder opacity: 1 euro

Custom operator name: 1 euro

Orientation unlocker for all apps: 1 euro

Only white text: 1 euro

SIne wallpapers pack: 1 euro

Horizon wallpapers pack: 1 euro

Total = 7euros (7 different apps)

Multiply that by at least 1 million official downloads and after deducting all charges the developer can be set for life...The userbase is so huge that even if 9million downloads are pirated and 1million are official you still earn big bucks...


Now compare for harmattan:

All the above + future support + future new features = 1 euro

Total = 1euro

Multiply that by maybe a few thousand only Now you get the difference?