[Ravr]

Would you be willing to pay for a premium theme that has been revised, tested and is guaranteed to work well before purchasing it? For between $1 - $3 depending on the complexity of the theme?

I ask because I want to know if it is going to be worthwhile to produce premium themes and if there is any sort of demand for them. Obviously there are TONS of free themes including a couple I have released. However many of them could use some refining and are a bit buggy/slow. If there is a demand for inexpensive premium themes then we as developers may be willing to spend the extra effort to go all out and make the theme "perfect". As well as providing continuous updates for current customers.

BTW... More than $5 for a theme is INSANE in my opinion. As a developer i'd never charge more than $5 regardless of the complexity of the theme.

[yapkuen]

$1-$3 is certainly within my price range of willingness; it just depends on whether or not I like the look of the theme.

[hastings]

I don't think as a developer you can actually guarantee performance. There are too many variables, especially with everybody loading beta OS'. I think if you make a theme good enough and charge nothing for it, you'll get enough money to make it worth your while.

[oblivion77]

Good point Hastings. Makes me wonder how all this factors into RIM's development of future OS builds.

[Ravr]

I don't think as a developer you can actually guarantee performance. There are too many variables, especially with everybody loading beta OS'.

Hence the "continuous updates". Performance can be tested and guaranteed on official OS releases.

[Caddyman]

$1-$3 is certainly within my price range of willingness; it just depends on whether or not I like the look of the theme.

I don't think as a developer you can actually guarantee performance. There are too many variables, especially with everybody loading beta OS'. I think if you make a theme good enough and charge nothing for it, you'll get enough money to make it worth your while.

I agree with both here kinda, I would pay for a awesome theme....but providing free of charge I am sure you get good donations if it's a real nice theme..

[Ravr]

I agree with both here kinda, I would pay for a awesome theme....but providing free of charge I am sure you get good donations if it's a real nice theme..

Hardly.

I've had one theme downloaded and installed by over 6400 unique people. (tracked) Amazing comments, many requests, not a single donation.

I believe charging $1 for a theme is fair enough and gives us reason to keep the theme up to date and update it for any OS changes we may have. As well as spend time on every little detail of the theme.

My free themes get pumped out after only a few hours work, a premium theme may take me weeks to do.

[manchesterjm]

I would pay up to 3 bucks for a good well thought out theme that has all the bells and whistles.

[TKDogg391]

I think if your theme is good...enough people will donate 1-3 dollars anyways to make it like you charged for it originally, plus more people will dl it...so you get more feedback

[Caddyman]

Well that really sucks, I would expect you would get decent donations....if I were you and had 6400 d/l's and no donations...and i worked a good while on it, I would charge.

free themes are great, some guys make premium themes free, that is super great and appreciated, and speaks volumes of the persons dedication to the community...

At the same time though, you charging for a theme doesn't make you a bad guy, it is your right to charge for anything you make yourself.

I used to do web work, particularly vbulletin work for free, after a while and a lot of free work for lots of people i decided to charge for it, and still do, and people are glad to pony up.

[stevebtx12]

If an individual puts a lot of work into creating a really nice custom theme, then I don't have a problem with paying for/donating. But, I also think that free updates would be in order as better more stable versions of Plazmic come out.

[jpalm]

Are you serious? 6400 downloads and no donation's? That blows.

[gqathu]

This whole 'premium' theme classification is SO subjective...What exactly is a 'premium theme'?!?!?

I know you all say something that is well put together and aesthetically pleasing. So many of you say AppleBerry=Premium... What if I were to make a well executed Simpsons theme, or something along those lines. I'm SURE nobody would classify it as 'premium' just because of the content.

So I think the question should be, are people willing to pay for themes AT ALL, assuming that they are well put together....

[gqathu]

Are you serious? 6400 downloads and no donation's? That blows.

Agreed...That's why "donations" are a crock of sh1t...Thus why free themes will slowly fade in the coming weeks...

[Caddyman]

What if I were to make a well executed Simpsons theme, or something along those lines. I'm SURE nobody would classify it as 'premium' just because of the content.

I disagree, if it met the aforementioned qualifications of a premium theme i would call it premium....

your post brings up a good point, what should be "official" qualifications for a premium theme

aesthetics
usability
maintenance/updates/support

etc etc....

it is a crap shoot

[rugbyjulia]

I completely agree that designers who have put lots of effort and time into their themes fully deserve to charge for a theme they've chosen to dub 'premium.'

However, until Plazmic comes out of beta, there is no question for me. It's against the EULA > the EULA is a contract agreed upon by the user > User (designer) cannot charge until it is out of beta.

Until then, it's as simple as that from where I stand.

[hastings]

Since I created the AppleBerry theme I have received a "healthy" amount of donations.

I'm also quite well versed in statistics and marketing, and after crunching some numbers and adjusting for statistical outliers (big values that far exceed the average range) the average donation was $4.10.

This indicates to me that people are willing to pay $4 for a premium theme, but not much more. I tend to believe this is a fair price and something I personally would pay for a great theme if I wanted one.

[Revolutionary]

I answered no, but that is limited to only the current situation.

1) It is a violation of the Plazmic beta ToS to even distribute a theme, let alone charge for it.

2) That said, I am willing to pay for the time/labor involved in a custom mod of a free theme.

[maddie1128]

I have no problem paying for a theme that works on my bb...but I think there should always be a free trial cuz I have spent money on too many apps that didn't work.
As for 6400 downloading and not donating-- that is just so wrong! I have seen many rave about a free app and then say how they will donate soon-later..whenever...IMHO that is when you should get the app. Just saying!

[DeeBee85]

I would pay quite a bit for a theme from this dev.

Elecite - Premium BlackBerry Themes

simply beautiful work^

[protree70]

I answered no, but that is limited to only the current situation.

1) It is a violation of the Plazmic beta ToS to even distribute a theme, let alone charge for it.

2) That said, I am willing to pay for the time/labor involved in a custom mod of a free theme.

I agree with you on this one. I would pay if it works without issues and is within the licensing agreement.

[BboyerUGA]

Thats what I did. I started off with a free theme that I just created for myself. There was such a huge demand for it and comments telling me that I should charge for it that I developed 3 more and asked for donations for them and people went wild.