Pushbullet team holds Reddit AMA over Pro account concerns

Pushbullet fans have been going nuts the past week, after the popular service announced a new Pro service that costs $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year. What do users get with this paid subscription? A few things; among them are an extra 98 GB of storage, file deliveries of up to 1 GB (as opposed to 25 MB and no messaging limits.

The main issue here is that some of these features used to be free. Not to mention the fact that those prices are a bit high for a secondary tool like Pushbullet. This is normally an app I would prefer paying a one-time fee for, but that is only my opinion.

The point is Pushbullet needs to somehow be monetized. It’s either that or shutting down. And no one wants Pushbullet to go under the bus, right? The only real concern is finding out whether Pushbullet went with the right pricing system or not, and that is what the team wanted to touch on during a recent Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) session.

Overall, the Pushbullet developer Guzba explained how the Pro pricing should have been added long ago. Overall, he seemed very accepting of commentary and willing to work with users. Most people go on to suggest that the price is a bit too high, or that it doesn’t offer enough premium features to justify the investment. Regardless, the situation is a bit tight for Pushbullet, which now struggles to survive and is asking fans for support.

There were different propositions the host at least seems to have put thought into. Some people suggested a promotional cost for early adopters (a la Google Play Music All Access), others thought the prices should go down altogether. Since the product is not really at a “pro” level yet, others also thought a lower price point during at least only during that transitional period.

You can read the whole AMA session by clicking through the link below. What do you guys think about this whole ordeal, though? Pushbullet needs to make money to survive, so staying completely free is definitely not an option. What pricing would you say is a more fair alternative?

New feature: sending texts from your tablet

Text messaging via Pushbullet can be easily done from a PC, but tablet users have been out of luck until today. Aside from trying to appease angry Pushbullet users, the company has announced a new feature we know many of you will love. You can now sync with your smartphone and send SMS messages from any tablet connected to the same account!

The only trick is that you have to have SMS Syncing on, but that is the only real requirement. The rest of it is just as natural and intuitive as Pushbullet has always been.