Marc

I’m excited to announced that we just released a new version of eWallet for BlackBerry with our good friends over at WebIS. This latest release is a free upgrade for current eWallet for BlackBerry customers. It addresses a few minor bugs but also adds a number of great features.

UPDATE: This upgrade will change the version of both the eWallet sync add-in for Blackberry Desktop Manager, and the Blackberry version, to 6.1.4.3416. The desktop eWallet does not change – it will stay at 6.1.3.24746.

One of my favorite features is the updated UI with focus on the touch interface of the BlackBerry Storm. Here’s a screenshot showing a little of what this new version has to offer:

Other features include:

• A new Quick Search that makes it easy to find the info you’re looking for.
• Easier first time synching so that new users can get synching faster.
• Support for landscape mode.
• Improved scroll speeds, category behavior, and more.

If you are an existing BlackBerry user you definitely want this upgrade. We’ll be notifying all BlackBerry users soon and will provide you with download links!

My first draft of this was about four pages long. After giving it a lot of thought, I took another whack at it. I’ll try to get straight to the point in this version. I’m not going to sugar coat things or pad my comments with biz-speak. I’m just going to give you the info you need in plain English.

ListPro for iPhone and eWallet for Mac are not done yet. I’ve made some guesses about when they’ll be done but, frankly, they’re guesses. The reality is that we won’t release them until they meet the standards of quality we’ve set for ourselves. We WILL release them (we always finish what we start) but it will be when they are ready and not before.

In fact, this is how we’ve always developed software. The only difference is that we pre-announced these two products. Before this we never announced anything until it was out the door. These announcements were a mistake and I place the blame firmly on my own shoulders. I jumped the gun because I was so excited about these. (I’m STILL excited about them.)

I read every email about this. I read every frustrated comment on the blog. And I respond. I’m acutely aware that my decision to pre-announce these products has frustrated some people. I’m not exaggerating when I say that I think about this in bed at night. We aren’t just sitting around laughing this stuff off.

But no matter how hard it is for me to not release this stuff yet, I will not compromise on quality. I also won’t hack the products down to get them out sooner. If I can’t give you the features you need then I’m not going to waste your time. Until we have the very best product with the right features, I won’t release.

Does this mean some folks will give up and move to a different product while they are waiting? Sure, and we don’t blame them. If that’s what they need to do then that’s what they need to do. We’re not asking anyone to do us any personal favors. We might like a lot of you folks and you might like us, but you need to make the decisions that are right for you.

eWallet for Mac and ListPro for iPhone are coming. When we release them they are going to rock. I’m sorry that I gave the OK to announce that they are coming and thus set unrealistic expectations about when they’d come out. I’m not going to make any further predictions except to say that we will release them.

If you choose to use something else in the meantime, that’s fine. But when we do release these products, I encourage you to give them a try. See if they are better than what you are using, and if they are, switch back. I’m confident that you’ll find them to be the very best in their class.