02 June 2011 | The $18 Letdown

Is the new Mac application iA Writer from Information Architects worth $18? The only answer is no. There is nothing compelling or functional about iA Writer that could possibly justify its price, especially when some of its basic functions on the iPad are not present here, namely entering right-to-left text. This is a deeply puzzling oversight, particulary when a few months ago, there was an update to the app specifically addressing this. Why is it lacking here?

I can only hazard a guess as to why this text editor costs so much, and it's an issue that I cannot escape considering the app offers nothing else other than writing and editing text. It seems that Information Architects is selling a concept and attaching a premium to it. From the eager retweets of satisifed customers, this looks like a winning strategy. But the truth is, "distraction-free writing" is the refuge of dilettants, not actual writers. These very well might be the same folks who cannot decide which typeface captures the essence of what they want to write. Now, iA Writer solves part of that problem by offering only one font, which at one point, you either have to love or the program won't work for you. In short, good for them because they're consistent between the Mac and iPad apps. But as I mentioned, this is part of the overall concept they're selling you, so if you attach importance to it, you're going to easily justify the price tag or insist it makes you more productive. In short, you're buying into the brand.

So what, you say. What's the harm? Information Architects can charge whatever they want for their app, and people can pay whatever price as well. Except iA Writer offers no concrete value for the expense. It's merely a text editor: there is nothing special about it. But again, like a bottle of Evian, one apparently jettisons functionality and a certain demand for the value of your dollar for...what, precisely? Well, nothing. As a text editor, it works well and for most, that will be enough. Perhaps the app's biggest functional aspect is the vaunted Focus Mode, but this is the **only** feature of the app. (No, I'm not including Markdown support.) And this folds nicely with what they're selling: the concept that you'll be a better writer because you're using *this* app. It's a concept tailored to vanity, hence the $18 price.

If I sound disappointed, I am, and it's odd because app-pricing has never been much of an issue for me. But I was eagerly awaiting the arrival of this version for the Mac, and was initially turned off over the price. Still, I decided to put down my hard-earned money to see what it would offer, and this has been a bitter pill to swallow. When it comes down to it, as a text editor that cannot reproduce some of what I've seen on the iPad and offers nothing else, it's difficult to see where that $18 actually went.