Capture One Wierd Marketing

[Dryce]

I took a look at C1 website to see if there was a deal on upgrading my CaptureOne 21 to 22 as I missed the pre-upgrade deal because I was distracted by work and family over the last couple of months.

So here's what I notice they say if you want to buy a *new* licence:

• One-time payment to own a license for Capture One 21
• NOTE: This does not include access to Capture One 22 releasing in December

Note that note? Who in their right mind would cough for a C1 licence on that basis?

 

[ecoleman]

Ahhh Capture One. Another greedy company who won't tell you when a new release is due, won't tell you what's in it and won't update you for free even if you bought the older version just days prior to the secret release of a new version.

And everybody complains about Adobe?

 

[myotis]

I took a look at C1 website to see if there was a deal on upgrading my CaptureOne 21 to 22 as I missed the pre-upgrade deal because I was distracted by work and family over the last couple of months.

So here's what I notice they say if you want to buy a *new* licence:

• One-time payment to own a license for Capture One 21
• NOTE: This does not include access to Capture One 22 releasing in December

Note that note? Who in their right mind would cough for a C1 licence on that basis?

They have always had a very strict within 30 days rule for free upgrades when a new release is issued, which for many years now, has been the 1st week in December. However, I get the impression they are running a bit late this year, maybe because of the big change of introducing Panos and merging.

Every year there are complaints from people who bought C1 just outside the 30 day period, annoyed because they aren't eligible for a free upgrade. I am guessing this posting is to make the policy very clear, and will be removed once they are confident of the V22 release date.

I've always felt the 30 days is a bit mean, but it's been the policy for as long as I can remember.

 

[robj20]

Ahhh Capture One. Another greedy company who won't tell you when a new release is due, won't tell you what's in it and won't update you for free even if you bought the older version just days prior to the secret release of a new version.

And everybody complains about Adobe?

They got me with that, just as I ordered a new camera so needed the newer version. No way I was paying for it twice within a week.

 

[Dryce]

I've always felt the 30 days is a bit mean, but it's been the policy for as long as I can remember.

If the upgrade is not announced then it doesn't seem so bad.

But if an update is announced or well publicised it would seem to be commercial sense to declare that customers buying the existing version are entitled to the update.

The usual reason for this would be to ensure cashflow and sales in that interim period.

I guess with the subscription plan they have less of an incentive to do this?

 

[myotis]

If the upgrade is not announced then it doesn't seem so bad.

But if an update is announced or well publicised it would seem to be commercial sense to declare that customers buying the existing version are entitled to the update.

The usual reason for this would be to ensure cashflow and sales in that interim period.

I guess with the subscription plan they have less of an incentive to do this?

Once upon a time C1 was pretty straight forward, they updated roughly at 18 month intervals, there were no special offers or deals, I think my first upgrade was about £80 (its now £200 without discount) and they had a strict 30 day rule about free upgrades. It was seen as an expensive, professional only, niche product and itt was common to come across people in photo forums who had never heard of it.

At some stage there appeared to be a decision to start competing with LR, as opposed to ACR (LR didn't exist when C1 was released), and I don't think they have really grasped what is needed to market and sell a to mass market product, which is obviously what they are now trying to do. It has been a bit of a mess for a few years now, but to be fair I think they are very slowly beginning to get it together.

As an aside, if you watch the C1 video I posted in the post processing forum hosted by The Camera Store (in Canada), sponsored by C1, and presented by Brad Hill, (3 days ago) they are offering free upgrades to C22 for anyone buying C21 now. I wonder if the C1 web site is out of date?

 

[Bebop]

I find it interesting that if you buy Capture One 21 at Wex at the moment, they say it includes Capture 22 when it's available, and yet this is not true if you buy it on the Capture One website.

Likes you @Dryce, I missed the pre-upgrade deal- I was on holiday and not keeping on top of my emails. I was hoping they would include it again in the Black Friday deals. I think I'll wait till next year now.