On Wed, Sep 24, 2003, Alexander Maryanovsky wrote about "Re: linux compatible online maps site?": > I can't comment on other services, but I'll comment on Mapa: > Perhaps to you, the service is essentially equivalent to a book with maps, > and that's just fine - they will still gladly sell you a book. There are
The extra features you describe (and which I also said existed) are still doable with the book, with more effort. Are the extra features you listed worth the extra 900 shekels for 5 years? Maybe to you. My claim is that most people with down-to-earth salaries and dozens of other bills to pay will make due with the much cheaper book. The strange thing is that the online site should be cheaper for them to operate. Selling physical books has huge overheads - the raw materials, the printing presses, the commisions the stores stake (probably as much as 50% of the price of the book); All these are saved in an online version, and all they have to pay is for the internet access (this costs peanuts) and for the coding, which ideally should be amortized over several years of operations (unless you write crappy, non-standard code which becomes worthless after a year!). BTW, remember that all services you described are stuff you need to do at home before you leave. Most people actually want to take the map book with them in the car... All these extra services could have been much more useful if you had them on some mobile device (GPS, cellphone, palm, etc.). > All in all, it seems to be the case that there are enough people willing to > pay for all these. I remember an article on ynet about half a year ago that > Mapa was already making money from this service. It was barely in the black > at the time, but it's probably more nowadays. I never said they didn't make money. But what if halving their price would triple their clientelle? -- Nadav Har'El | Wednesday, Sep 24 2003, 27 Elul 5763 [EMAIL PROTECTED] |----------------------------------------- Phone: +972-53-790466, ICQ 13349191 |Experience is what lets you recognize a http://nadav.harel.org.il |mistake when you make it again. ================================================================= To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word "unsubscribe" in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
