So in talking with folks about the upgrade to 7.0 issues, two commenters, Simon and Brett, were able to clearly point out something that I really do see as a significant problem. Our iPhone upgrade information read:
This upgrade requires the latest Windows desktop version to sync your data. If you bought the desktop version before August 30, 2009, you may need to pay for the upgrade. Visit our website for all the details.
Well that’s all well and good – but if you went to our site to make sure you had the right version, we tell you that the “latest Windows desktop version” is 6.1.4.
SO if you upgrade your iPhone, it should sync fine with 6.1.4 right? Wrong!
If you want the rest of the story…read on after the jump!
You see, when we wrote that statement, it was while under the impression that it would take more than 4 days to approve our app – more like 4 weeks – but in an effort to keep us on our toes, Apple DID release it in 4 days (after we closed – the night before Thanksgiving – Thanks, Apple!)
Well, I know there are lots of folks who don’t believe it, but we really aren’t over here thinking of ways to screw over our customers or squeeze a buck out of them. I realize that Corporate America has trained us all to expect that, but that truly isn’t our goal. We spend tons of time trying to make the best choice for the largest number of our customers. It’s the reason you can call us on the phone in an age where the prevailing wisdom is that no company should be reachable by phone.
SO – we’re working on a solution that would let you sync your 7.0 iPhone version with an update of the 6.1 desktop version. I’m not making promises here. It’s what we’re shooting for, but we just started working on this so I’m not sure what the end result will be or how long it will take. Now in theory, 7.0 will rock so hard no one will want this solution, but we’re working on it just in case.
The point is that you’ve made a fair argument with this one and we will do what we can to resolve the situation in this case. On other issues we may just have to agree to disagree, but on this one you’ve made a good point.
OK – back to prepping for the release!
- Marc
UPDATE: I just got handed a first try at a solution for the 7.0 iPhone/6.1 Windows PC issue. It will need some serious testing and likely a number of tweaks but it’s a good start.
Twitter
@Sophia:
“First of all, Apple being too fast or now, it does NOT change the fact that sooner or later we would have lost our ‘Update all” button.”
Yeah – and I gotta tell you for the long term, we still don’t have a good solution. We’re working on it though.
“Second, I *DID* check the website, and it *DID* mention I have the latest version, so I *DO* think you might soften our angry hearts BIG TIME by giving a special update price… this once. “
Yeah – as I said, we’re REALLY sorry about that. Until Brett and Simon drilled it in to me I didn’t see that. As for a discount, hopefully tomorrow’s announcement about what 7.0 is all about will help.
“Of course you are human beings, you make mistakes, but so are we, thank you. We are not faceless enemies either, and furthermore”
Yep – excellent point. And I hope that my responses have treated you with the respect I would ask in return. Well considered, honest replies without venom or malice and the underlying expecation that the other person is a reasonable human being.
“not every one of us is an American, and we do not “expect” anybody to screw us on purpose.”
Well first off, you don’t have to be American to get screwed by Corporate America.
And actually, there are lots of companies that really DO do it on purpose. Heck, I know I’m gunshy. *shrug*
“You guys made a mistake, apology (still to be given) accepted in advance”
I’ll be blunt here – I’ve said sorry a LOT of times in no unclear terms. And I truly am sorry for any trouble.
“but please, please quit the Poor-Me-I’m-Hurt-By-Your-Nasty-Messages, “
I’m sorry but many posts were completely out of line. I like to think we live in a civilized society where people can discuss problems in a rational manner, and where each side will give the other the opportunity to either make their point or in this case correct a problem. Reminding people that we’re real human beings was my way of saying that slinging accusations, calling people stupid, and similar comments get us nowhere and approach the problem with an unspoken expectation that nothing will be done and the person on the other end is without feeling. I’m sorry if you don’t like my call for civility but I stand by it wholeheartedly.
“FRANKLY, I did not see too many that were undeserved. Harsh, perhaps… but undeserved… no.”
And I respect your opinion. I on the other hand saw many comments that, while I understood why the person was upset, were simply attacks and accusations, often underlined with assumptions that aren’t true – as I said, I appreciate the opportunity to help fix a problem before I get hung for it.
@Jim: Not to worry. Nothing we are working on will delay the release. It is ready to launch first thing tomorrow.
@Dean Roberts: Over 60% of iPhone purchasers use only the device side version. You and I can’t imagine working without a backup – the majority of device owners can and do.
As for the pricing thing, being the $20 app on the store where most similar apps run Free to $9.99 would pretty much kill us. We’d like to think people would read and understand but we’ve seen first hand how that works. It really would be marketing suicide. The other problem is that we’re not allowed to do that (yes, I know – someone will yell at me for blaming Apple.) You can only sell the app that goes onto the device. Including a desktop version (even codes for it) would get us booted.
I agree though – that WOULD be the ideal situation.
UPDATE: And just in case you’re watching the comments still, my developer just handed me a first try at the “sync 7.0 iPhone with 6.1 Windows PC.” We’ll start testing it ASAP.
That’s a very nice reply, thank you Marc
My faith in Ilium is coming back seeing messages like that 
It’s all we ask for… honestly.
Since the problem appeared, I have tried 3 or 4 different programs and guess what? I uninstalled every one of them. eWallet is still the best in features, both in the desktop (PC) and in the iPhone.
So, I don’t care if you charge me 10, 20, or 30, I will pay it.
In your deffense, when the iPhone update appeared, it said version 7, then I came to the website and the most recent version was still 6.something, so I figured I shouldn’t upgrade, and I didn’t, so I never lost sync functionality.
I don’t read the update messages of games and irrelevant apps, but it is a *must* to read the update messages of apps that hold your most important information, like eWallet.
Marc,
If you have the ability to look in your records you will see that I have purchased every update ever offered for eWallet (at least it seems that way!).
I would get an email stating that an upgrade was available and I would click the link and purchase the upgrade. I too have been a palm pilot. ppc, win mobile and now iphone user.
The only reason I would not spend money on an upgrade this time is because I’ve switched to a MAC and I’m waiting for the MAC client.
Either way, I look forward to the unveiling tomorrow and if it ‘Rocks” like you said, I will upgrade the windows client if the MAC client is not ready.
Your eWallet makes my smart phone smart!
Thanks!
I received a link to download the upgraded v7. PAID for the upgrade and installed – STILL SAYS WILL NOT SYNC WITH IPHONE VERSION.
NEED A REFUND – Hope whatever you put out tomorrow is a better link and piece of software. ONE THAT WORKS AND IS USABLE.
@minime you said “@ Rodney
….or they could submit a brand new iphone app – free if they wish – instead of the update. What’s the difference? It could be exactly the same app as the update – so long as itunes doesn’t treat it as an update. How does that cost more money???”
Just to be clear and I think Marc explained what I was trying to say…but I was trying to say that they could have forced us to buy 2 new applications….one for the iPhone and one for the desktop. Which would really upset me and like Marc said almost everybody else. I was going to say “So I’m glad I only have to upgrade the desktop version, but since they are working on fixing sync for desktop version 6.x ….I don’t even HAVE to upgrade.
Yes this upgrade has removed the syncing ability for version 6 owners, but they have made very clear statements today that they are working one fixing that. Thank you iLium. And they have also said that many of us will probably want to upgrade to v7 on the desktop.
@ those who are complaining about not being able to have functionality in software that they purchased….How often do you sync anyway? Now that I’m on a mac, I’m only able to sync when I sit at my desktop at home….like once every 2 weeks. It’s a pain and not safe, but what else can I do. You all should just wait….it may take a day or two or even a week or a month…but they have said they are trying to come up with a solution.
Like they said, they are hoping for a syncing solution. So you don’t even have to upgrade…what’s all the complaining about.
So yeah, bad things happened…update released too early, broke syncing, bad wording…but ULTIMATELY it sounds like iLium is making EVERY EFFORT to find a solution for everybody. That is AWESOME customer service!!!! Other companies would just say, upgrade or leave. Don’t like our policies….find someone else.
Thanks iLium. Thanks for this open blog and for working for a solution.
By the way… I like the teaser shot of the MAC desktop on the top of the “Updates and Answers page”
Well, I’m still not sure how pissed I remain at Ilium for the mistakes getting into this mess. I wish I’d known it was even a possibility. With Marc willing to engage with all comers though, they still have my respect. And thus, my willingness to stick around and see what they can do to make it right.
I live in Taiwan. Now it is Tue noon, and I have not seen the PC version 7.0. I remembered it will be available on Tue. morning as previous statements. Anyway, I am the user who use WM6, now use iPhone. I like eWallet, so use it before and now. I have eWallet on WM6, iPhone 3GS, and Windows PC for sync. I paid for these 3 environments. I hope to see the solution for my iPhone eWallet sync to Windows PC, either v7 for Windows PC, or update for v6, even tell me how to back to v6 in iPhone. Thank you a lot.
Mark
I was a bit puzzled over the following comment you made previously …
a) Releasing a second version of the same app people have to pay for unleashes fury far greater than anything we’ve seen here. People feel like you’re forcing them to double buy. Although desktop people who get a discount might be fine, iPhone only users (over 60% of our purchasers) get ripped off.
But releasing a second version of the same app is the same when an upgrade comes for the winmobile platform! As a major upgrade comes up a purchase has to be made and I have never heard of any complaint with winmobile users, primarily because they were left with the option to keep the old PPC and desktop softwares unnaffected.
I think the best thing to do is name the next major upgrade “Ewallet8″ or something similar so as not to affect the upgrade all button and any previous desktop versions.
Well, my previous reply (and replies in other blog posts) were written in haste, and I fully admit, in anger, though I don’t think I crossed the line of civility. Tonight I have had a chance to actually read other’s responses instead of just the blog posts, and also Marc’s replies to several people including myself. One post struck my eye, and because I so fully agree with it, I’d like to copy it below. Like this poster, I too have been a long time customer of Ilium since 2001 in fact, and used both PC and PocketPC with great pleasure.
For the record: I did spend $.99 on Ascendo Data Vault and downloaded their trial PC software as well, and not to cut up the competion, but I have only one word: BLECH. There is simply no comparison with Ilium… not even the slightest.
Now that we have your attention
The ONLY thing I’d LOVE to see added, and asked for on several occasions, is an automatic log-in feature to websites 
That, I would GLADLY pay for, twice over 
—
Matt Parrish says:
November 30, 2009 at 4:53 pm
Marc, I do appreciate the fact that you’re not censoring this blog, it’s a testament to what I think are the core values of your company… the reason I’ve been a long-time customer of yours. You may be secretly regretting the decision to keep this blog open with posts like mine, but I guarantee you that if you do the RIGHT thing, I for one, will balance my posts with praise for you and your company.
IF I really believed that your company was hopeless and that this was not a programming and planning oversight, but rather just another fly-by-night company interested in getting a quick buck, then I certainly wouldn’t bother. There are enough of those companies to go around. But for whatever reason, I don’t believe that to be the case here. I think there were some big mistakes made in the planning of this rollout and your gut reaction to blame everyone else, needs to be tempered. I agree that Apple should make the app store easier to opt-out of an upgrade.. but you are depending on a service which currently does not have that feature. Your company took on the challenges of creating an iPhone app. It’s not a perfect world, but you have to take the good with the bad and and work with those folks that have stood by your side for years and not punish them because your business model isn’t profitable with the parameters you have to work with.
Thanks for doing the right thing to fix this mess. While I would have like a free upgrade to desktop7 it is not something you owe me. However maintaining sync function is. Can you assure the ewallet community that this kind of upgrade will never break sync again (or that a fix or workaround will be supplied free of charge if this does happen).
I have a great respect for Ilium and have owned eWallet and Listpro for as long as they have been around in the windows world, and hoped to keep them, moving from Windows Mobile to iPhone, PC to Mac.
eWallet holds my critical data, at the very top sharp tip of the importance pyramid in my digital life.
Having a robust and trustworthy backup (and that means restore availability too!!!) on tap all the times is of CRITICAL importance to me, both in my private and business life.
I wonder at this whole rollout/sync issue. For me it’s not so much about money or even delays, but trust. I feel a little less secure about Ilium and am considering my options. I feel a bit ticked that I need to pay for an update in Windows (in the absence of a Mac solution), but aghast that the sync broke!!!
Guys, I hope you don’t underestimate the depth of feeling on this one…
I was surprised to see how unprofessional and incompetent the management of Ilium is. They spent most of the Monday in denial, blaming 3rd parties and even customers. Even though they eventually agreed to fix ewallet 6 for desktop I’m still kind of doubtful they realize the real screw-up was planning an iphode update that would break the existing functionality so that the customers would be forced to pay for the new desktop version.
Even if wording on your website was perfectly straight and clear it is very bad business practice that reminds me of some cheap used car salesman’s trick.
And arguing that it’s just 10 bucks that we would spent recklessly anyway (on beer in bar) is just ridiculous. If $10 means nothing for you why don’t you give us a free upgrade to v7?
Please see how others are handling the customers when something goes wrong and learn how to talk to your customers when you screw up:
Excerpts from toodledo forums:
https://www.toodledo.com/forums/1/2182/0/and-were-back-from-a-very-prolonged-outage.html
I’ve been working so hard that I haven’t had time to pre-type what I was going to announce, so I am doing that now, but wanted to let everyone know quickly that everything has been restored. I’ll update this topic shortly with a longer explanation.
UPDATE:
So here is the long story of what has been happening over the last 16 hours. I’ve built Toodledo on the principal of being completely open and honest about everything, so I’m going to lay everything out there, skeletons and all.
Our servers are hosted by Rackspace, which is a great company with excellent support and top notch datacenters. At 7:15pm CDT yesterday, a severe storm was coming through and Rackspace decided to switch power to generators. During the switch there was a mechanical failure that caused some servers to lose power unexpectedly.
When the servers came back online, we found that our database had become corrupted. Apparently, this is because the database was configured to write data to the filesystem, but the filesystem was configured to flush this to disk every 1 second. During that 1 second, that data was only stored in memory. So when the power went off, that data was lost. When the power came back on, the database freaked out because of that missing second. During this freakout, unknown bad stuff happened and the main database got corrupted beyond repair.
Luckily, we have a live backup database (called a slave) where all the data is replicated in real time. The purpose of a slave is to act as a backup in the event that the master dies. Unfortunately, the slave is an exact identical copy of the master, so when the power went out, the slave had the exact same problem. So now our backup was toast too.
I should say here, that this 1-second buffer was a mistake and I take full responsibility for this. It was this oversight that is likely the cause of the problems. The way that it was setup, it would have been easy to recover if the master or the slave failed independently. A simultaneous failure was unrecoverable. I admit that I did not anticipate a scenario where both the master and slave would fail simultaneously, and I did not understand the ramifications of the 1-second buffer . The database is now configured to flush to disk immediately, which should greatly help in the short term. We are also exploring other options for long term changes.
So, now we were in the sorry state of having to rely on our nightly offline backup, which is done at 4am every day. First, we had to transfer this huge file in from offsite, which took forever. Then we had to import all this data back into the database, which also took forever. This got us restored to 4am yesterday morning. Now, what we needed to do was replay the logs from 4am onward. The logs are like a big tape recorder. Every modification to the database gets logged in a linear fashion to the log. So, if we rewind the tape recorder and then play it back into the database, it won’t know the difference from real user interaction and recorded interaction. This replay took forever. When it was done, we ran some tests and came back online.
Fortunately, all of the data has been restored. When I say “all” I should qualify that by saying that we did lose that 1-second buffer. So, if you were using the website at 7:15 CDT last night, there is a slight chance that you may have lost the last thing that you did. There is also a slight but unverifiable chance that people who were using the website at 4:00am CDT yesterday morning might have a few edits missing. This is due to the nature of switching from the offsite backup to the tape recorder playback. The data loss should be extremely minimal, and only for a handful of people using the website yesterday at exactly 4:00am or 7:15pm.
I would just like to say that there is nobody (nobody) more horrified by this than myself. I was sick to my stomach all night; still am a little. Even though no data was lost, 16 hours of downtime is completely inexcusable and unacceptable. I know how important it is to have your to-do list available at all times.
I fully expect to be issuing a lot of refunds and losing customers over this issue. The only thing that I can say is that I am deeply deeply sorry and I am doing everything in my power to prevent this from happening again. Coincidentally, just last night Amazon had a similar weather related outage that affected a huge number of customers, so it can affect even the largest companies. I know that that is no excuse, I just wanted to put things in perspective.
As a small token of appreciation for people who are willing to stick with Toodledo, I will be giving all existing Pro and Pro Plus subscribers a free month on the end of their subscriptions. Also, for the next thirty days, new Pro and Pro Plus subscribers will be getting 13 months instead of the usual 12 for their subscription payment.
I really appreciate all the positive remarks that I have received so far from users.
I am happy to answer questions below.
Thanks,
Jake
Did you notice how nicely was Toodledo talking about the 3rd party that caused their outage?
Anyway I have one more comment about how you didn’t bother to do anything during the holiday weekend. It looks like pure ignorance. What if some of your customers had medical emergency and couldn’t read their medical data in the corrupt ewallet? What if somebody was arrested and couldn’t access his legal information?
I think that instead of Friday shopping your employees should rush to work and fix the problem as soon as possible.
Guys
This is more about Apple’s stupidly controlling mentality. Yes Marc dropped a big one – but he has apologised and is trying to sort it out!
Remember if Marc could upload updates in his own timescale and with direct access to his customers (like PPC and all other mobile OS’s) this problem would not have happened.
And yes the update all button is an issue – why do you think it was not always on the apps store on the iphone – my guess is it will disapear again sometime soon!
Well done Marc, you have as far as I see it saved the situation finally!
Simon
My feeling is that I’m perfectly fine with “forcing” people to pay for eWallet 7. The iphone app for 7 should have been a separate app, and if people want to upgrade to it and or the desktop, that’s fine. I’m 90% sure I won’t see the need to. And if they had left version 6 alone, then 80% of this uproar would never have happened.
The other 20% would have been from people upset at the thought of having to pay for a version upgrade for an iphone app, much like the griping that people had when that one twitter app came out with a separate new version and people didn’t like the idea of paying again. Hey, as long as the vendor isn’t crippling the old version, then it’s up to you if you want to pay for new features.
Marc ia full of shit on blaming Apple. There are ways (or at least one) to publish apps on specified dates, he just don’t know them. Standard procedure is to set release date long in the future, get approved, set it back to proper dat, done. Other thing is the warning – Marc is probably not an iPhone user or one of the few who actually go through the updates by hand – wast majority just do update all with thanks but no thanks result in this case. Thinking about customers and making it backward compatible should be the approach – not this shallow appology for forced upgrade and blaming the mistake on a 3rd party. What a shame:-P
I’m kind of grumpy, but hoping for a good resolution. I too have been a eWallet user for years and years, following the progression from PPC, desktop, smartphone, etc. My phone died a couple weeks ago, so I finally broke down and crossed to the dark side, buying an iPhone. A big factor for me was knowing that eWallet was on iPhone now. Well, I REALLY don’t like the limitation of having to sync via wi-fi… a world of difference from how easy the auto-sync was when I charged my previous phone from my computer. But this app update thing has been a bit annoying, too. If I had known there would be limits, I wouldn’t have done the update. Yes, some of these problems are really tied to the iPhone itself, which is disappointing for such a great device. But I’m hoping that Ilium comes up with a way to overcome and fix these to give us the eWallet iPhone performance that should be happening. Looking forward to seeing version 7.0, hoping it’s a good update, and that Ilium might sweeten the incentive a bit with this app update problem, too.
Oh, and I also want to emphasize just how critical the information is that I’ve got stored in eWallet. It’s not a fun game or useful utility. Ilium has created a program that stores information VITAL to people’s lives now, and it’s critical that the program work right, every time, fully sync up with my other eWallets, and never, never, NEVER lose any data. The standards are high for realiability, but it’s only because of the nature of what Ilium has created!
Hi Marc,
Like so many other I am also using eWallet since iPaq (2001 or so) and paid through a number of upgrades and for the iPhone version. I won’t repeat what others said so much better than me, but please count my vote also.
One thing that nobody wrote about (or I missed it somehow) is that Thanksgiving is mainly a US ‘thing’. Over here in Europe and I am sure also in many other areas of the world, we went to work normally on Thursday and Friday. Not to mention that for us Monday morning was at least 6 hours before US woke up, so try and put yourself in our shoes also. We *are* your customers and the fact that we take the time to write to you shows that we care about ‘our’ software therefore about you. Would you have prefered that everyone silently moves to another solution ? I hope not.
When you explain that ‘I had only 5 hours to deal with this’ I can accept that, but please do not forget that some of us had full days to deal with disfunctionaly software and silence from your part.
I also am trying to make profitable some software business and provide a nice work environment for my 7 employees, but it would never cross my mind to close the shop completely for such a long weekend, knowing that a major update/upgrade is already in the appstore approval pipeline. Especially when having customers all over the world !
Another extra note about life-threatening posts – I honestly believe that if you left those on the blog, it would have helped us better to step in your shoes and see your point of view. Probably most of the people that send this kind of things regret it by now.
Sorry, I can’t help it, another extra note: c’mon, I do not believe you honestly ignore the fact that a) on the iPhone people update apps in ‘batch mode’ so they cannot read the smallprint b) the users never read these messages, when they see a button they click on it straight away. Every software developer that had his software actually used by a human knows that ! We can use it to dodge responsibility, but in all fair conscience we know the users almost never read these texts.
I really hope we all learn from this experience, but I am sorry for you the trust your userbase had in you took a big hit this weekend. Trust is something you build soo slow but you can loose so fast.
I really think you can still limit the damage if you convince us that a) it was not an intentional move to force us buy an upgrade b) it will never happen again.
I think it is more than “a few” who choose to go through updates by hand. Personally I think it is madness to allow auto updating of any bit of random software onto a PC or mobile device. Even for Microsoft updates I have always set my machines to download and notify, but never auto install. I then take a look at what the update offers, and then make an informed decision as to whether I want it. A good example of this was IE8 – Microsoft was trying to install this long before it was fully compatible with many sites, therefore I was able to choose not to install it. Same goes for the eWallet 7.0 update – I read the text that was displayed with the update, which clearly said that it may need a new version of desktop – so I didn’t just hit the auto update button, and as a result still have a fully functioning product, which I can choose to update when the situation has been resolved.
Sounds like Ilium are planning to resolve this issue pretty quickly, and really can’t understand all the angst around this. Sure it’s a bit annoying how it has happened, but get some perspective – It’s not life and death. Everyone can still access their vital data, but there’s just going to be a few days when it can’t be sync’d until the solution is published.
For me, it’s a long wait. My eWallet on iPhone is not synced and currently can’t be. So “pretty quickly” was too late 4 days ago.
) I tend to “update all” after crawling through them (because every update kicks me out of the appstore and it takes forever for 10 updates for example).
Oh and the updates -> even while hand checking the updates (I do it from time to time when some of the apps catches my mind, but I wasn’t thinking about it this time
What is it you Americans say? “Enough already!” Marc has now apologised to any who’ve been offended (which includes me) and a forwards-compatible revision of the Desktop is now imminent. Lets wait and see how good things really are
@MadCap: You mention that I am “full of shiat” about the update timing. If you set a release date it takes the app off the site. So if we had set a later release date for eWallet 7.0, on Thursday night it would have pulled the app off the iTunes store which has its own set of perils. So unfortunately, you really can’t set the dates for an update release.
@Anyone Outside the US: Sorry – when I say “Tuesday morning” I mean “Tuesday morning US” since those are the hours we work. And as far as the holiday goes, I am sorry that you got hurt by us being gone for the holiday. Although you don’t take those days off, it meant there wasn’t anyone here to make major changes. I absolutely understand the timezone/holiday thing and I’m sorry when that messes things up for folks overseas.
@All: At this point I’m working at moving on with releasing 7.0 and implenting some fixes. I understand that there are still unresolved issues but I can’t really discuss them here right now – not because I don’t want to – it’s just that I need to work on the tasks at hand.
BUT HERE IS AN OPEN INVITATION!
If you still want to discuss this, have questions that weren’t answered, or just want to vent (or heck – I’ll take compliments too!) send an email to info@iliumsoft.com with ATTN: MARC as the subject and it will go right to me! It might take a few days due to the release but I WILL reply to you.
Thanks again for all the feedback and I’ll keep you updated about the release and 6.1 sync fix (which we’re testing right now!)
PS: @Dean Roberts: YES! Someone noticed!
Hi
@Marc + Team. Well done for being up front and personnel over the last days and dealing with the issue with diligence and concern.
Although I can understand the frustrations of people unable to access their important and valuable information, which in cases may have affect their business activities. Which company (the answer is none) can say nothing has ever gone wrong from strategy to implementation.
Thou I still believe it went a little over the top and quite worrying to be honest at times from intelligent folk. If an issue is raised with a supplier they need to be given chance to rectify the issue, whatever the cause and not have it get personnel its business.
This kind of dedication and giving a rats about customers is why I trust Ilium with not just my online access and details, but everything to insurance details and every other bit of info I need secure but within easy reach.
Also I am aware that what is stored in my ewallet is not making its way into marketing associates of the business product I use.
Im not one to give praise often, thou I have never had to call for support since I started using the product so no hastle here.
So when we get the scoop on the big update
.
Regards
Carl
Marc, you folks are doing a great job and I will be glad to put out a few dollars for 7.0 ESPECIALLY with the teaser @DeanRoberts picked up on too. I am a Mac guy. Just waiting for the website to have 7.0 on it.
@Carl and JoeDr: Thanks!
@All: And to let everyone know – the release is “in progress”. It requires the simultaneous launching of web pages, online store components, retailer files, retailer descriptions, and a bunch more – takes a couple of hours to get it rolling but we’re working on it!
Marc said:
mac? mac? MAC!!?
I’ve got something for you – not exactly what you’re expecting but I think you’ll like it! Check back tomorrow!
I’m so curious to see what this means!
Syncing nicely thanks (on 7 desktop!)
Simon
Guess the cat is out of the bag:
http://www.iliumsoft.com/site/ew/ew_70.php
“With the release of eWallet 7.0 we’re completely reshaping how you buy the product. Now, you can use eWallet on any device we support for one low price. So if you switch devices in the future, or have different devices for work and home, you can use eWallet on all of them. No extra versions. No extra purchases. Because when you buy or upgrade eWallet, it’s for you, not your device.”
But I guess the iPhone version will still be a separate purchase through the appstore (for new customers), whereas all other platforms are supported by the “universal” version you can buy directly at Ilium, correct?
Just downloaded the new desktop version and LOVE IT! Thanks, Marc. The product is, as usual, terrific, and the price is more than reasonable.
@All: Some of the pages and downloads are already working. I’ll post the official announcement shortly!
@Frank: Right – there is no good way for us to do the universal thing through iTunes. I won’t go into that here BUT you can still by iPhone for $9.99 and then upgrade to the full package for $10.00 more. The end result is (for most folks) the same thing.
@Michael and Simon: Cool and thanks!
We’re really excited about this.
Does this mean …
that the purchased key will also be valid for your upcoming Mac OSX-Version?
On the iPhone, will it now be possible to create new cards based on custom-made templates created on the desktop application?
[...] Palm OS « “Oh! THAT statment!” [...]
@Daniel: I’ll start with the easy one. No, template sync was not included in this version nor was custom template creation on the iPhone but it IS on the update list (that is, things we ARE planning to do.)
As for the pricing, I am not sure if the Mac version will go out as part of a free upgrade or part of a paid upgrade, but either way, once you own the full eWallet package, the upgrade price gets you any new features AND any new platforms. So in a worst case scenario you’d be paying the reduced upgrade price. It would not be a new purchase.
Ello again!
Sync to Firefox, yay can dump I.E I had for Ewallet only.
Mac version in reach. Come on home straight.
Thou this is my third post (in 2 days may I add) since i brough Ewallet moons ago, its a record.
Why do I feel im spamming
Ill stop now.
Good work guys and gal’s, I feel kind of sad (grinning) over a piece of software but its a key part of my setup.
Kind Regards
Carl
I’m curious why the iPhone customers apparently have to pay for the upgrade if they purchased eWallet over the past few months but other users do not? Thanks.
@marc
I am glad that you guys are making the steps to correct this mess. As promised before, I will work just has hard to praise your company’s efforts for making this right as I did complaining to make you understand our position. If you guys follow through with making this right, not only will I purchase Desktop 7, but as my role as IT Director for a retail corporation, I will give serious consideration for the next round of software upgrades/purchases.
You may be surprised, even in this economy, how generous and loyal your customers can be, if you show them the same loyalty.
@Allison: The policy is the same for everyone. iPhone users who purchased eWallet for desktop within the past 90 days get the upgrade to the complete package for free.
If you only purchased the iPhone version and didn’t add the desktop, even if you purchased in the last 90 days, the iPhone version is the only free upgrade. You need to already own the desktop version to get the free or updated pricing.
@Matt Parrish: Thanks, Matt. And check the other blog posts! You’ll see we already released the update that lets you sync eWallet 6 on Windows PC with eWallet 7 on iPhone.
@ Marc.
OK – I’ll offer my complete and humble apologies. You have obviously done very well in getting out a syncable version of V6 desktop. Well done!
Actually, I should be thanking you – but I don’t think you’ll appreciate it. Because of the fiasco attached to all of this I have spent some of today looking at competing applications. And I have found one that is very similar to eWallet both in Desktop and iPhone – (don’t think it’s fair to say which one here) except for one detail which hugely enhances the functionality of the iPhone app. What is it? Autofill! I can now link directly to a website in iPhone Safari AND it will autofill the login details. As I tend to use strong passwords, that functionality is HUGE! And it’s only cost me a couple of dollars more than your upgrade would have.
I do think you’ve tried very hard and you deserve credit for that even though some of the stuff you’ve written here still doesn’t stack up. So I wish you luck with your launch and I might even consider coming back if you add autofill to your iPhone app.
@Marc-
I guess I’m dense. So users on other platforms who purchased their eWallet (with or without the desktop) recently receive eWallet 7 gratis (and eWallet 7 includes the PC, or, desktop, version) but not the iPhoners? I don’t find any reference that non-iPhoners must have purchased the desktop version.
I must be missing something here. If I’m not, why the discrimination?
@Allison:
eWallet for iPhone is $9.99 on iTunes. That gets you eWallet on iPhone only. You do not get a desktop version for this price.
If you want to use eWallet on your desktop, there is an additional cost of $10.00. It doesn’t automatically come with the iPhone version.
If you paid the $10.00 for the extra version for desktop in the past 90 days, you get eWallet 7 on the desktop for free. If you paid the $10.00 to add eWallet for desktop more than 90 days ago, the upgrade is $10.00.
This isn’t just for iPhone people. If a person bought eWallet for Windows Mobile but NOT the desktop version, they too would pay $10.00 to add the desktop version.
The ONLY people who are getting desktop upgrade for free, are people who paid for it less than 90 days ago. Everyone else (whether an iPhone user or not) pays for an update.
Hope that helps!
@Allison: I can’t speak for Ilium, but it may be because the iPhone app has always been less expensive for new customers than any of the other pre-7.0 versions were. If recent iPhone buyers got the “universal” version for free now, they would get the total package (i.e. iPhone + “universal”) for $10, while everybody else has paid $20 or more. And remember that iPhoners get the 7.0 upgrade of the iPhone app for free.
@Frank and Allison: Thanks, Frank. Basically, eWallet is now $19.95. If you buy it in two parts ($9.99 at the AppStore + $10.00 to get the universal package) or together (WinMo users who pay $19.95 directly from us for instance) it’s the same price. In fact this release is even MORE fair than previous ones in that everyone pays the same price. Iphone just makes things a little wonky because we can’t offer the universal package direct (wish we could) but the end result is the same.
NOW MAYBE you are asking about “If I upgrade my iPhone to 7 for free, do I HAVE to pay for an upgrade?” If that is the question the answer is no. See the newer blog posts as I handle that there.
@marc: Thank you. I downloaded and it worked great. You guys did the right thing and I think I can speak for a lot of us that are greatly relieved. You have re-affirmed my belief in your company and your great products. I read MiniMe’s comments above about using this time to find a competitor’s product that was supposedly better than yours. Personally, I don’t care if the competition is better (which I personally doubt), you’ve earned my loyalty back today and that’s something far more important than features.
Now I’m off to go buy Desktop 7.0!