Believe it or not, this is my second ever iPad related post on here – a sure sign that this place hasn’t been getting much attention over the last couple of months. Having said that, something happened a couple of days ago that made my blood boil, and it’s not just the mini-heatwave we’re experiencing over here in Blighty!
On the 21st of May I checked for iPad and iPhone software updates, as I tend to do every couple of days as I’m terrified of missing something. Along with a couple of updates to apps I’d forgotten I’d even downloaded in the first place, I spotted one for the Sky Mobile iPhone app. A glance at the changes revealed the app was now a universal binary, meaning the developer had given us a version capable of working at the iPad’s native resolution – complete with a higher resolution video stream. Nice!
Or not.
Scrambling for the dock cable I told my iPad to sync, and sat contemplating the thought of full-screen, high resolution football (that’s the real football!) on the iPad.
After iTunes had done its thing, I tapped the app and went on search of something to tell me what to do next. What I found was a surprise to say the very least.
Now before I go any further, let me say this. I currently pay £6 a month for this content via the iPhone app. I happily pay that, as I like the convenience of having all the Sky Sports channels in my pocket for when I’m not near a TV. I always expected the iPad version to require an extra subscription, and I even had my credit card handy, all set to give Rupert Murdoch even more of my hard earned cash.
What I didn’t expect was the utterly crazy amount of money Sky was going to expect me to pay.
It would appear those higher resolution videos cost a fortune to stream, as the iPad subscription hits at a whopping £35 per month! I honestly expected the fee to be around £10 a month – a premium over the iPhone for obvious reasons. How, though, can anyone seriously justify the increase from £6 to £35? To put this into perspective, the last time I checked, if I wanted to get Sky TV in multiple rooms, I would only need to pay £10 extra. That’s for ALL the channels. £35 for a handful? Thanks, but no thanks.
I expected to be reading a lot about this all over the internet, as I would have imagined this app being one a lot of people would be interested in. Apart from a couple of forum postings, I’ve seen nothing. This got me wondering if I’m the only one who either cares, or thinks that the price is just too high. So with that, I’m going to end with a question…..
Will you be paying? (answers in the comments please)
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[...] reported by @TheiBlog, Sky mobile has today received an update which adds universal support for the iPhone, iPod touch and [...]
Jesus christ! i pay less than that for my sky digital + broadband + phones, and as you say get more channels.
this might sound harsh, but i hope something horrible happens to murdoch, stupid money grabbing ***hole.
im just counting the days till every story on sky news comes with a press red to buy access and descramle the picture.
Nonesense. I cannot see even a single person signing up for this at £35/month. I only pay that that for my whole Sky+ HD TV package.
£10/month I would have thought reasonable (same as multi room, which in effect this is, as it would treat your iPad like a second TV). I might even have gone as high as £15/month, but not while the football isn’t on. But £35/month is ludicrous.
Greed. Pure and simple !
screw you Sky ! not only did you mess up my recording of the Lost finale today, I go and read this! £35 a month?! are you on drugs! for something that is free on a netbook ( via skyplayer ) what makes you think you can charge that much for what essentially is in place of a netbook.
screw you Sky ! not only did you mess up my recording of the Lost finale today, I go and read this! £35 a month?! are you on drugs! for something that is free on a netbook ( via skyplayer ) what makes you think you can charge that much for what essentially is in place of a netbook.
Madness. I happily pay £6 a month so I can keep one eye on the footie whilst ‘watching’ Bones or The Good Wife with the missus, but £35 a month is insane. Personally I think even a tenner a month would be pushing it for the same content streamed to the same App in the same OS, just on a different device. As someone said further up the thread, I can’t believe they’ll get a single subscriber to this – and they deserve not to.
[...] week I posted about the Sky Mobile app and what appeared to be their extortionate pricing. Since then, Sky have seen fit to clarify the [...]