ProPhoto 7 has been out in the wild for a few months now and we are enjoying helping people use it to build beautiful sites. We take great satisfaction knowing that ProPhoto provides real value to people in all sorts of ventures. We especially appreciate our early adopters! There are always bugs to sort out in the early months of a software release cycle and your engagement with the product and communication with us has helped work out some of the kinks. We are happy with where it is now are are excited about the improvements that are still coming!
Back in January, we celebrated 10 years as a company. That’s right, the first copy of ProPhoto 1 was sold on January 30, 2008! Our core values remain the same – to offer products that help creative folks build excellent websites and to go over the top in our support efforts. This commitment has paid off in a strong retention rate for our users. It’s not uncommon for us to see purchase histories that go back to ProPhoto 2 or even 1. We absolutely love new users, but we realize our upgraders are in some ways the lifeblood of our business. We really try to listen to your requests and frustrations and develop with those in mind.
To honor this relationship we want to communicate clearly about a price increase that is coming soon for upgrades to ProPhoto 7. Upgrades to new versions have always been offered at a discounted rate for existing users. Currently, ProPhoto 5 and 6 licenses can be upgraded to ProPhoto 7 for $99. On August 7 the ProPhoto 7 upgrade price will increase to $119. The regular price remains $249. We want to give you advance notice of this price change so you can upgrade at the lower price if you like.
Why the price increase?
Pricing decisions are always difficult. For more than 8 years and through versions 3, 4, 5, and 6 we offered ProPhoto for $199 and upgrades for $89. We resisted increases for our users’ sake, even as we spent more development time and the market was encouraging an increase. When we decided on pricing for ProPhoto 7 we increased the price. But we increased the full version price more, percentage-wise, then the upgrade. We now see that as a mistake. The pending increase puts the upgrade price at a very similar percentage off the full price as it has been in the past.
We feel very much in the same boat as many of you. We are a small business that runs lean and lives in a competitive market space. To keep our commitments to our user base, we need to invest in development. Accordingly, ProPhoto 7 was a huge investment for us. ProPhoto has to keep getting better! So while we hesitate to raise prices, we know we have to. Our commitment to you remains as strong as ever and we are excited about the direction we are heading!