Which version of the Sanford Guide would you prefer?
The Sanford Guide is a well known and widely used antimicrobial reference. The Pocket edition in print is currently a 160+ page booklet which costs US$10.50. There are also versions for Palm and Pocket PCs costing US$27.50. View the price list in their store
The question is which would you get?
Here’s the print pocket edition:
Nice looking little booklet.
Trouble is the print is extraordinarily small!
Try making out the text - many would need magnifying lenses!
Here’s the Palm version:
Nice quick index and easy searching on the PDA
Large clear text, easy to read.
Coupled with the fact that if you already have a PDA or smartphone, you don’t have to carry around another booklet, I think that makes the PDA versions a clear winner. The main grouse I have is why should the PDA versions cost almost three times that of the paper pocket version?
Tags: Palm, Sanford, Sanford Guide, Smartphone
i think the future is the bluetooth installations...
It’s a good point that has been debated for awhile, especially when we first released it in 1999. Pricing for these apps are multifactorial. A big part of it has to do with development and maintenence. The other part has to do with the specific agreement with the publisher, usually they don’t want to get lower than a certain amount. After you weigh a few other things you come up with a retail price. We try to price our products relatively low compared to our competitors, especially if we can get away with it. Unfortunately the Palm market isn’t growing as fast as we would like it to and there are really only a few serious developers left. The price of these applications are not likely to go down anytime soon unless there is a promotion. I know this doesn’t help with the wallet biopsy, but at least I’ve honestly explained it. Keep up the good work, we follow your site and Kent’s for the latest updates!
Darwin Ang, MD PhD
CEO
USBMIS, Inc.
Thanks for your comments and clarification. I would have thought one factor in favour of a lower cost for the PDA version would be not having to go thru the printing press rigamarole.
The PDA market in the US may be becoming saturated but its only just growing in other parts of the world e.g. in Asia.