Filed under: Software, Beta Beat
Mailplane pricing announced
We've discussed the excellent stand-alone Gmail client Mailplane several times. While there remain a few holes here and there, I consider it a must-have application for anybody who needs to manage multiple Gmail accounts. After about half a year in beta, the developer Ruben Bakker has declared the latest Mailplane beta as ready for Leopard. In addition, he has announced that it will soon be released for sale at a price of $24.95. There will also be a "family option" for an additional $8 that allows users to install it on up to 5 machines in a single household.Mailplane remains in beta "for a short while," and you can still request a beta invitation.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Ethan said 12:16PM on 9-29-2007
$25 for a slightly more convenient interface to something I can use for free? Maybe I'm just not the target audience, but that seems more than a little lame, even with all the hotness Mailplane adds.
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sleepcountry said 12:25PM on 9-29-2007
The price is bad (try 5 dollars instead!), but worse yet, this product is really prone to freezing and crashing. Also you can't add attachments to an existing message via drag-and-drop.
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iDevin said 12:30PM on 9-29-2007
I've been using Mailplane for about half a year now and I have to say that I won't be any more. I'm sorry, it's just not $25 quality. I may have thought about it for $10, and even then I think it needs a lot of improvement. It's still incredibly buggy and the interface is still primarily Google's. I'll just stick with Firefox or use Mail.app to access my Gmail accounts.
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nosebag said 12:44PM on 9-29-2007
I don't think $25 is too bad, but then I live in the UK so it works out pretty good with the current exchange rate. It's probably a little high for the domestic market though, $15 would seem more reasonable.
I've found it to be completely stable all the time - and I have it on 24hrs a day.
I think I will be buying it, although I'd love to see it at a lower price for beta testers, and maybe even a lifetime license option.
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Eric M said 12:53PM on 9-29-2007
So what does it do that's new? Nothing?
You'd have to really drink the Mac Kool-Aid (or any other Kool-Aid) if you buy this kind of stuff.
Gee, I guess lifehacker should start charging for their "better gmail" firefox extension.
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ecartman said 1:04PM on 9-29-2007
Sorry guess I'm just spoiled by Linux, but for a 25 dollar mail program I won't even reach across the desk to fire up my G4. I guess like Ethan I'm just not the target audience. You know not even counting Linux, I can't even remember the last time I paid for an email program, maybe Eudora?
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5cents said 1:07PM on 9-29-2007
I agree, I tried the beta. Really not worth it. Devs gotta keep it in beta and make it work. Fascinating idea, but the implementation and feature set is not quite there yet. It'd be nice is there was some option to download to the local disk as a backup/sync (almost making your mailbox infinite) etc. Lots of venues to explore ... at least to justify 25 bucks a pop me thinks
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DigitalFury said 1:39PM on 9-29-2007
"I consider it a must-have application for anybody who needs to manage multiple Gmail accounts".
The "Gmail Manager" Firefox extension works just fine for me. Guess I don't see the point of paying $25 (wow!) for this application.
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Eric said 1:57PM on 9-29-2007
Add me to the WTF list. I tried it a month ago and was unimpressed. Since it's just a wrapper around safari it's just as bloated and buggy. The developer has quite a way to go before the features justifies the price.
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Qin Zhi said 2:07PM on 9-29-2007
I've been using it for a couple of months now, and yet I haven't found anything in Mailplane that is a "oh man, I couldn't live without it" feature. $25 is definitely exorbitant. Perhaps if they offered a lower price to beta testers (or perhaps free), and lower to everyone, they could build a good user base. At $25, I don't think there will be many takers.
As I wrote this comment, Mailplane crashed on me.
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Phil said 2:29PM on 9-29-2007
Wow, $25 for an email application? An email application that only works with one service at that. Is there currently any other email app that actually charges people?
This is really surprising and really really stupid. Does the sale price imply it's going to later cost more than $24.95?
It's so bizarre that all of the features they promote on the website are features that would require you to be connected to the internet, ie downloading... chatting. Isn't the point of this program supposed to be a gmail client for when you aren't able to connect to gmail?
Sales pitch...
"Hi, the purpose of our program is for you to be able to get your gmail on while you are on a plane. Here are all kinds of great features for when you are CONNECTED to the internet. Oh, it's $25 for this program even though most of its features require you to be connected to the internet where you might as well just use the normal gmail client."
Why not just import your gmail account into mail.app? Same functionality, different interface, no additional cost.
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Macskeeball said 2:33PM on 9-29-2007
I agree with $25 being too much for what it does. I was interested before, but not anymore. I think $10 would have been more reasonable.
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Richard Alden Peterson said 2:38PM on 9-29-2007
Well, I like it, especially the menu-bar item with its controls. I was just thinking $25 wasn't too bad for an app that has lots of work put into it, although a break for beta testers would be nice. I use Safari, and rarely use Firefox, so I don't use the Firefox plugins. However, when I'm on someone else's computer checking Gmail I noticed that I really miss Mailplane and its easy to find tools, and its drag-and-drop image attachments.
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blinkcowz182 said 2:44PM on 9-29-2007
I got the email about it yesterday. I've been beta testing it since I first saw the article about it on TUAW a while ago. As soon as I saw the price, I was immediately reminded of Spanning Sync...high price and limited features. All it is really is web browser with gmail loaded constantly. I rarely used the buttons at the top so 24.95 is out of the question for me. I'd pay $5-7 for this functionality max.
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TomEG said 2:58PM on 9-29-2007
It's been fun beta testing MP, Ruben is a Class A respondent to bug reports, suggestions, etc. BUT, 25 bucks is borderline commercial software, and MP is a very good concept attractive but idiosyncratic gui, and only fair execution and performance. Definitely not prime time yet, not even close. Did I mention it costs $25 count-em 25 dollars. I do count dollars with shareware, and this is poor value to say the least. Sorry, Ruben, I'll wait a while but as is the death knell meter is ticking and not slowly.
Oh yeah, per another poster's remark,
"I think I will be buying it, although I'd love to see it at a lower price for beta testers, and maybe even a lifetime license option."
Yesssss, I'd say no cost to $4 for current beta testers, and continue w. beta until it's done, i.e. fully baked.
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ibnabouna said 3:03PM on 9-29-2007
I agree with the majority opinion here. Mailplane represents a unique idea, but it is definitely not a $25.00 application (actually $33.00 if you want to use it on multiple Macs.) It is essentially a web browser that can browse to only one domain. Granted, it has iLife integration, but there are a myriad of tips on MacOSXHints.com that explain how one can create an iLife browser in the menu bar and use it to attach images and media to e-mail messages.
I think I'll save the $25.00 and wait for Leopard's new Mail application to manage Gmail accounts.
For now, Mailplane is deleted from my system, though I did enjoy using it for the month or so I had it.
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TomEG said 3:05PM on 9-29-2007
How 'bout $4-$5 for beta testers for 1.0, and/or keep the beta no charge but full charge to upgrade to 1.0? Really seems fair to me, but Ruben has made it pretty clear he's sticking with his price model. *sigh*
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compuguy1088 said 3:06PM on 9-29-2007
Same here, I was a beta tester for Mailplane, which was ok, but it doesn't have any unique features, which cannot be done with firefox + addons.
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TH said 3:56PM on 9-29-2007
I only used the free beta for a few days before getting rid of it. It doesn't have enough extra value over simply running Gmail in the browser. I was hoping it would be more like an IMAP version of gmail. $25 is too much for basically making gmail prettier and adding a few drag-and-drop functions.
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nosebag said 4:15PM on 9-29-2007
heh heh heh
looks like I'll be the only user then...
I guess I agree with most of the comments, but still... There is something I just 'like' about it. Traditionally I have just kept a firefox tab open with gmail running and all the good firefox extension lovelyness keeping me on the straight and narrow. I suppose I just like having a separate email 'program' running. - weird huh?
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