Lonely Planet has come forward to (almost) explain why it slashed the price of its glossy iPad app in half within days of its launch in the iTunes store.
A string of users turned on the company in the reviews section of iTunes, most  notably to complain about its initial $19.99 download price.
Lonely Planet dropped the price to $9.99 after just two days as the number of negative comments increased and the average rating for the app remained at a lowly 2/5.
Avoiding any mention of the poor reviews, officials are giving another explanation for the drop in price.
The company says it priced the book fairly in the first instance as it is trying to “re-imagine” the quality of its print books onto new digital platforms. However, it adds:
“It [iPad] adds value through interaction and multi-media as well as the ability to share. But we understand the potential of the iPad to reach out to new audiences for Lonely Planet and, as such, we’ve made a decision to reduce the price to enable us to achieve that goal.”
Lonely Planet says the appearance of some overwhelmingly positive reviews of the product in iTunes before the launch date of the iPad may simply be due to some early downloads of the app by reviewers.
Related posts:
- Lonely Planet slashes iPad app price in half after just two days
- Lonely Planet raises the iPad flag with Ultimate Experiences app
- No proposed change to BBC ownership of Lonely Planet
- We love Lonely Planet and want to see it get better says the BBC
- Lonely Planet CEO – more integration, premium content works, mobile push
Sounds like so much corporate speak to me! Can’t imagine them dropping the price by half a few days after launch if the ratings had been in the four or five star category. The iPad opens new opportunities for travel content delivery but to inspire a demanding audience of early adopters the developers and publishers have to step up to the plate and deliver an experience that capitalizes on the platform.
@joe
well, err, yes indeed. But then again they would never admit otherwise, would they?!
“due to some early downloads of the app by reviewers.”
Ahhh right I understand now — they’re talking about the users who purchased and downloaded the App onto their iPad before the iPad had been released. Clears that one up — thanks.
Yea … well like it’s mentioned above it’s a mindless corporate statement. Faceless and with no real connection to it’s customers.
What made Lonely Planet in the first place was the opposite. Sadly seeing things like this statement, and the notion of pre-release reviews adds to it’s decline in trust.