Pricing for E-learning Tools
May 11, 2011
I wonder if the announcement from Lectora this morning will start to change the overall cost landscape for e-learning creation tools or whether it's just a blip? While I mainly use the Articulate suite and I certainly understand the need for any company to make a profit on products they sell, there may very well be a large market for a good low cost PowerPoint to Flash convertor even for those not specifically in the "e-learning" space. I teach real estate agents and while most agents/brokers would not invest in an expensive solution, I can see them buying a relatively inexpensive software package based on PowerPoint which allows creation of flash videos for their clients. I guess time will tell before the phrase "game changer" can be used.
Todd
1 Reply
No one would argue that a lot of software is overpriced, and the trend right now seems to be for one player in the market to undercut their rivals. Apple is releasing a standalone version of its Final Cut video editing software next month for $300, which no doubt is causing some consternation at Avid, Sony and Adobe. Adobe in particular is known for very pricey software suites, which means they probably have the most to lose when prices come down. That may explain why they're trying out a subscription option.
That being said, Lectora was never a serious choice for me as an e-learning tool. They could give it away for free, and I still won't switch. I certainly won't be upset if Articulate wants to lower prices on their products, but I'll still buy them, because they're designed specifically for e-learning professionals like us. Now, if I were a budding ID with limited funds, I might be tempted to give Snap! a twirl. There's plenty of room in the marketplace for a solution that lets everyday users put multimedia PowerPoint presentations on the Web. By the way, I'll be very interested to see what Lectora charges for Snap! courses to be hosted for more than 30 days. I'm betting they make up a lot of money in subscription fees from people who don't want to take their content down.
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