The argument over App Store upgrades is still going on, on Twitter and blogs.

And more and more, even normally sane people are latching onto the mantra "IT'S ONLY THREE DOLLARS!", which completely misses the entire point. So much so that it's like watching a blind person chase a squirrel. Funny, but sad and pathetic.

See the monotone "It's $3!" from Jim Dalrymple or Jeff Lamarche, and many others who are being less civil and sane. These are not normally crazy people (well, Jim's a little weird). But they're acting in a profoundly crazy and short-sighted way about this.

None of this is about the money. IT IS NOT ABOUT THE MONEY.

It's about customer service for existing customers, and about keeping existing customers in your app.

The really key point is that most, 90-99%, of Tweetie 1 users are not going to switch to Tweetie 2. They're going to see the app never get new features, and break under them when Twitter changes, and then go to another app that is being updated. Think the sales process through: "Huh, my Tweetie app broke. GUESS I'LL BUY ANOTHER COPY OF TWEETIE." It's ludicrous.

If you give a customer the opportunity to switch, they will. If you burn a customer that way, they're lost for good, and will badmouth you forever. "Bad publicity" only works when it's not about bad quality or bad pricing.

Devs whining "But it's only $3!" are just showing they have zero clue about customer service, and zero clue about what the problem is.

Now, is in-app purchase a perfect solution? No. But Apple's not going to add upgrade pricing anytime soon, if ever.

A short-term discount won't help, because early sales are important, Tweetie 1 users won't know to go get it, and if they did, they'd go buy something else.

Loren Brichter (@atebits), the author of Tweetie, has good intentions: To get paid a reasonable amount for continued improvements to an app for his customers. Apple's App Store policies make that hard to do that. But the specific plan is one of the worst business and customer service ideas I've ever heard in my life.

Update: Patrick Burleson (@pbur) has filed a Radar ticket with Apple for proper upgrade pricing, rdar://7265066 (for those inside Apple), or on OpenRadar. Go hit up Radar and file a dup!