Nice and lighthearted presentation by Loren Brichter on the success of Tweetie for iPhone at Stanford’s iPhone app class. When one of the students asks about charging for upgrades, Loren answers:

You actual can’t charge for upgrades. It’s something I’ve been talking to Apple about. Right now all the point-upgrades have been free, but if you want to charge for an upgrade you have to release a whole new app.

And there’s no upgrade path for people, which stinks. Cuz I would like to release Tweetie 2 and charge ninety-nine cents for it. But either I release it completely for free and don’t make any money, or charge $2.99 for everyone.

That was six months ago.

“Luck. Quality. Marketing.” [iTunes Link]