There's no ongoing development, he wants the recurring revenue to build a cash reserve so he has the option to hire a freelancer to fix bugs or implement new features if they are needed, if not then he just keeps the cash.
edit: I'm not condoning nor condemning OP's monetization strategy, I'm just summarizing what he has explained on the original post and subsequent comments.
Direct quotes:
> I suspect further development might be needed as bugs emerge or API behavior changes
> It’s not free because freeware also requires to provide support.
> if it happens that I get a few hundred paying users I can pay a freelancer to improve on the app occasionally or rationalize spending time on this fixing bugs and adding features
Why would that not be possible using a one-off purchase?
I really have a much higher understanding for things that run server infrastructure or require frequent work to keep up with things like changing third-party APIs or scraped websites.
But this is literally an Apple-hosted app using a stable API.
edit: I'm not condoning nor condemning OP's monetization strategy, I'm just summarizing what he has explained on the original post and subsequent comments.
Direct quotes:
> I suspect further development might be needed as bugs emerge or API behavior changes
> It’s not free because freeware also requires to provide support.
> if it happens that I get a few hundred paying users I can pay a freelancer to improve on the app occasionally or rationalize spending time on this fixing bugs and adding features