$50 isn't much for professionals who pay hundreds of dollars for reference manuals ... or are on location in NE Turkey without laptop Mathematica access.
I'm guess W intends an access lite for later.
For decades, most tech products coming on the market start out high-priced (HD TV's for a recent one). Why should Wolfram look like it's low-balling? They know you've got a $200+ phone and are paying $1K a year to use it. Mathematica isn't cheap either: how much will the App cut into sales?
The iPhone application still requires Internet access. If you seriously needed to reference Wolfram Alpha for your work, then you would most likely be within reach of an actual computer. This app is nothing more than a novelty and is ridiculously priced.
I'm guess W intends an access lite for later.
For decades, most tech products coming on the market start out high-priced (HD TV's for a recent one). Why should Wolfram look like it's low-balling? They know you've got a $200+ phone and are paying $1K a year to use it. Mathematica isn't cheap either: how much will the App cut into sales?