Today I’m writing about the questions that asked how you evaluate apps. And yes, I’m still surprised.
The longer version follows. In case you missed it, last week we posted a survey about how people use the iTunes App Store. I published results about how people find apps a few days ago.
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The Advisory Board is back! For those of you new to the blog, the “Advisory Board” is you! Here at Ilium Software we’re extremely interested in what folks have to say about our products. We take the advice we receive to heart and it plays a major role in deciding what to do in new versions of our applications.
So, let’s get to the assignment! Read on after the jump!
Although iPhone, Windows Mobile, and BlackBerry get the most attention around here lately, we keep a close watch on the other mobile platforms. Personally, I think this is an exceptionally exciting time for our industry. The smartphone (which frankly is just an old school PDA with a phone built in) has really come into its own. People really care about these devices, and more and more people feel like they have to have one!
As an example of how much a part of the public conciousness these devices have become, I offer up the latest “cardboard drink cozies” from Starbucks – you know, those little cardboard sleeves that keep you from burning the skin off your hand when you get your drink. Their most recent sleeve has the following statement on it:
The only handheld device you’ll ever need.
This might not seem like a big deal to most folks, but to me it’s huge. Three, even two years ago, when people asked me what I did I’d say “We write software for handheld devices.” The answer was invariably “For handheld what?” Most people didn’t know what the heck a “handheld device” was. But just a few years later, the term is so common place that Starbucks can use it without explanation.
With my long winded intro complete, I’m going to take a few minutes today to talk about these other platforms and share my opinions of them. If you’re interested, read on after the jump!
The short version: OK, I’m surprised.
The longer version follows. In case you missed it, last week we posted a survey about how people use the iTunes App Store.
Continue reading
Of course my news wouldn’t be complete without some updates on Windows Mobile! Due to some top secret stuff that’s underway I’m afraid that in this area I’m going to be a bit cagier than on other topics. In a nutshell, however, we do have some very cool plans for both Windows desktop and Windows Mobile.
I will say that I’m SUPER excited about Windows Mobile 6.5. Not only are the UI updates very cool, but for the past decade we’ve been begging Microsoft to take applications more seriously. With this new version of the OS they really are. I think the changes are going to be an enormous benefit to users and an equally big benefit to developers.
In fact, that’s one thing the folks at Microsoft have always been quite good about – communicating with us. Sure, every company has their moments, but overall Microsoft does a really good job of providing a good back and forth when we have questions. To see them putting such an emphasis on their Windows Mobile stuff again is really wonderful.
COMING MONDAY:
Next up on the news extravaganza is ListPro for iPhone. I know a lot of people are eagerly awaiting this one so I want to make sure to fill you all in as to what is happening, especially since we got so much incredible advice from the advisory board.
So if you’re one of those people who can’t wait to use ListPro on their iPhone, this post is for you. Read on after the jump!
It’s been a little while since I last gave folks an overall update about what’s up here at Ilium Software, so I want to take am minute today to do that. I started this as a single post but as always, I got a bit wordy so I’m breaking it up. Some of it I’ll post today, some will go up on Monday.
I have couple of reasons for doing this. First, I’m extremely excited about the future of our industry and our company. There is a lot of very cool stuff to talk about. Second, one of our blog commenters – Henry – gave me some excellent advice yesterday. Based on that I want to offer you guys some news.
First up on the agenda is Mac eWallet. If you want to know more, read on after the jump…
Hey, everyone! I wanted to let you know that we got word that our latest update to eWallet for iPhone has gone live in the AppStore. eWallet 6.1.4 includes our PassBuilder password generator. Now you can generate passwords for any Hidden (aka: Password) field.
The interface is as easy as ever and the new feature works great! I included a couple screenshots below so you can see how it looks. If you already own eWallet you should get the updated automatically. If you don’t own eWallet yet, what are you waiting for! Get your copy here!
There’s a lot being written about iTunes and the App Store this week. And a lot of it is by developers who are guessing what people want, how they find it, and how much they’ll pay for it.
Rather than guess, I thought I’d ask.
I’ve put together a very short survey. If you’d like to fill it out, please do! We’d appreciate the answers. And we’ll give away a bunch of iTunes or Amazon gift cards to people who fill it out (and include their email addresses, which we won’t do anything else with), so you’ll have a good chance to win.
We’ll publish the results if we get enough responses to be meaningful. So if you’re interested, help us publicize it!
Check it out. Tell your friends. And if you have comments, please post them below.
Hey everyone! It’s time again for another installment of our monthly blog contest. To anyone who may have noticed, I apologize for slacking a bit and not announcing a winner in January. I was pretty busy, and by the time I realized I’d never done my usual contest post, the month was half over! So I decided to keep on slacking and double up my contest today.
All right, I’ve got two winners to pick, so let’s get started! First up, the lucky winner from December ’08: vi, for commenting on the post eWallet for Mac Update. And our winner for January, the first winner of the new year: Duncan, for commenting on Macworld Thoughts. Congrats to both of you – take a bow! I’ve just sent you an email explaining how to get your prize. If you don’t receive it, reply to this post and let me know.
To everyone else – keep the comments coming, because now that I’m back on track with the contest, next month’s winner could be you!