The 12seconds.tv iPhone app lets you create quick slideshows with your own voiceover on the iPhone. It ties into the 12seconds.tv web site (you’ll need a free account to use it) and is a very slick and fun little program.
Here’s a quick usage example: yesterday my daughter had her first ever dance /gymnastics ‘Show’ at the local Little Gym where she takes the combo class for those. We took some Flip video and tons of iPhone snaps. Flip Video is great, but it takes a while to get it onto your PC, create movies and share them (with her grandparents) via YouTube. So … when we got home we selected 3 prime pics (featuring her medal that all the kids were awarded) and my daughter recorded 12 seconds of audio saying what it meant to her and how much she missed / loved the grandparents. It took us maybe 3 minutes (probably less) even with some time for giving her some ideas on what to say.
The slideshow got created in no time flat and we sent off an invite to her grandma and grandpa. And it’s great! Maybe not going to worry any Hollywood film-makers, but perfect for the occasion and lovely to watch for all of us.
Anyway, back to the point of this post. The 12seconds iPhone app has recently had a price drop – from an already very reasonable $0.99 to free. I found this out via an email from the founder of 12seconds.tv, Sol Lipman. Here’s a slice of what the email had to say:
The Good News:
We’re releasing a new version of the app which makes it way more stable, allows you to rerecord audio and saves all the images you take automatically to your library.The Bad News:
We’re going to make it free (for a while). I know that you spent your hard earned buck on the app so I wanted to tell it to you straight. I hate it when I buy something and then it gets cheaper (no matter what the price). So, I wanted to tell you this personally so that you have an outlet for any frustration (my email, 12seconds and twitter information below) and to explain why. We’ve decided that we really want to drive registration and see the iPhone app as a great outlet for that. I know it’s only a buck but we respect your buck.
The first thing I thought when I read the email was ‘much respect’ for even thinking to talk to 12seconds users directly and let them know about the price drop. My impression is that this is rarely (if ever) done by most software publishers. I also was impressed that Lipman offered up his email address, contact details at 12seconds.tv, and Twitter details as ways to contact him.
I really like the line about ‘outlet for any frustration’. I know that some may view this all as just a gesture – and I wouldn’t really argue with that – but I think it’s a rare and good and smart gesture. Saying ‘you bought our app, we want to talk to you and let you talk back to us’ strikes a very good cord with me.
As it goes, I don’t feel any frustration at all. I feel my $0.99 was well spent, and wish the app, and its developers, well – hope they succeed and hope the price drop does help to drive registration, which I imagine will ultimately drive improvements and enhancements to the service as a whole and likely the iPhone app as well.
So if you haven’t tried out 12seconds.tv yet, give it a go, grab it for free – I won’t begrudge you the free price tag, and you’ll have yourself a very cool new iPhone app …
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TAGS: iphone apps
