2 Across App: Crossword Puzzles for iPhone and iPod Touch
August 30, 2008
2 Across is an iPhone and iPod touch application, which allows users to download and solve crossword puzzles from the New York Times, USA Today, The Globe and Mail, and other sources. There is a free Lite Edition of this app available in the App Store, but the full version costs $5.99. We tested this app today and we were disappointed…
The problem is that 2 Across offers nothing new. Users are charged $5.99 so they could access and play free crossword puzzles from different sources on the Internet. This questionable practice begs an explanation: Why would anybody want to pay $5.99 for the privilege of enjoying same crossword puzzles that are already available for free?
Our readers may be able to answer that question, or maybe the question itself is irrelevant. Thanks to generous sales, the author of 2 Across - Eliza Block - is already getting rich quick.
“Based on her iTunes Connect screenshots, Block has been earning almost $2,000 per day on the application, quite a bit more than she was expecting to make, ” - reported ArsTechnica.
$2,000 a day on “this”? Wow! Congratulations! In fact, there is nothing original or intuitive in this app. It simply lets you download and solve free crossword puzzles from the Internet. It also enables you to do some basic re-organizing of splits and clues, and that’s about it. The app crashed three times when we tested it.
According to MoneyTalks Blog, the developer said that 2 Across “is selling very well, and has a fantastic user-approval rating.” As of this writing, there are five reviews of this app, displayed in Canadian region, and all of them are rather suspicious. Four reviewers rated 2 Across with 5 stars, and one reviewer rated it with 4 stars. All reviewers praised this application as excellent. Apparently, Apple picked up on these reviews and selected this app as ”App Store Pick of the Week.”
2 Across may (or may not) qualify as a copyright infringement. These crosswords are copyrighted and offered for free, and yet, the third party is making a substantial wealth by charging people to access them…. But, in this time and age anything goes.
Clearly, the practice of charging people $5.99 to download and solve free crossword puzzles from the New York Times and similar sources is rather troubling… Users don’t even need this commercial application to access free crosswords from the New York Times and other places on the web. Just use your Safari browser and get them for free. This definitely goes as one of the worst apps we have ever tested. Price: $5.99 (download).
A sucker is born every day. Eliza Block is taking advantage of idiots who are willing to pay $2,000 a day for free crosswords…. people are stupid, don’t worry about them…
You’d think the writers of a technical blog would have figured out that iTunes divides its reviews by region. There are currently 6 (including yours) in Canada, but 113 reviews of 2 Across in the US. You can change your region and view the reviews of any app you like in other countries by changing the country selected on the main page of iTunes. Just a friendly tip.
And it doesn’t seem to me that 2 Across is claiming to make content available that you couldn’t get elsewhere — it simply allows you to solve the puzzles on your phone. Surely this counts as *something* new. Sure, you could print out the same puzzles off the web, but I find it pretty convenient to have a near-infinite supply of them handy in my back pocket. Those that have no interest in solving puzzles on their phone would certainly do better not to purchase an app whose sole purpose is to make this possible.
pete, you’re dumb. Eliza Block is making a fortune, making $2,000 a day and getting rich overnight, while you have to work your butt off for a low wage. And yet, you are still willing to pay her $2,000 a day for app that certainly does not deserve millions of dollars? Dude, you’re dumb, but how else would other people get rich if suckers don’t pay them?
jen-jen, just to clarify: I paid $6 for the app, of which I believe Eliza Block gets a fraction (Apple takes the rest). Nobody is paying anybody $2000 a day, but yes, it would seem that hundreds of people a day are paying her a share of their hard-earned $6.
If that maximal rate of sales kept up, which is unlikely given that there are a limited number of iPhones out there, it would take Eliza Block years before she made her first million. But more power to her! I wish I knew how to program.
More power to you Pete for responding in civilized matter. Sorry for calling you dumb. You don’t need to know how to program, anybody can make these apps. Apple supplies SDK (software development kit), iPhone simulator, and all other tools. If Eliza Block can do it, then anybody can do it. She just happened to be lucky. I wanted to join this program, but couldn’t, because I use Windows OS and SDK can be downloaded only on Mac OS X, and Microsoft certainly doesn’t pay us to make apps. Should I switch to Mac? Well, that’s a big question. Mac is twice as expensive and in many aspects completely inferior to Windows. But, thanks to Apple marketing machine, now many users think it’s Windows that sucks…
2 Across is a great app, much better than the competing iPhone app. It is worth a LOT to me–much more than $6–to have the puzzles in my pocket. I have downloaded lots of apps for the iPhone and have been impressed by the intuitiveness, attention to detail and the esthetic qualities of 2 Across. What–other than a fury of envy– could possibly explain jen-jen’s saying “If Eliza Block can do it, then anybody can do it.” I think it is easy to write a comment on a web site, but would that justify me in saying “If jen-jen can do it, anyone can”?