General

We have no power in the office today, so we won’t be answering phones or email. I’ll update this as soon as it comes back on, but until then, there’s not much we can do. As DTE says, “we appreciate your patience”.

We were pretty darn excited to discover that eWallet got mentioned in the New York Times today! Bob Tedeschi wrote an excellent article about how smartphones are opening up a new route to the internet (pg. C7). With the arrival of robust, powerful web browsers on smartphones, combined with high res screens and faster networks (not to mention WiFi), more and more people are using their phones as one of their prime gateways to the internet.

Needless to say, it’s been a ton of fun getting all this attention. Of course this also means our phones are ringing off the hook, our email server is running on overdrive, and our online store is busier than Walmart on the day after Thanksgiving!

I just want to let everyone know that we’re doing everything in our power to make sure that folks are still getting the sort of top quality support you’ve come to expect from us. Handling each contact individually, and having it handled by someone who knows what they’re doing, is a little slower than some speedy but less effective methods of support, but in the end we know we’ve done our very best to help. So we apologize if it takes us a day or so to get back to you, but we assure you that everyone with a computer here is helping out in some way so we can make sure to answer all your questions, fulfill all your orders, and reply to all your requests!

Morning everyone! Today I’m going to answer a few of the specific questions that have come up. Not all of these are related to iPhone sync, but they are things we have either heard a lot or that we think should get answered.

Getting Sync Help (and the Blog)

It’s great to see so many people taking an interest in the blog. The one problem we have at the moment is that we simply can’t provide support to people through the blog comments. If you have problems, you are still welcome to post here and there is a chance another reader can offer advice, but if you want a response from us please contact technical support. Logistically, it just isn’t possible to provide good support through a blog.

“Wow! There are a lot of problems!”

Actually, there aren’t. What we have are a lot of problems getting posted here because people would like some help. Another thing we have right now is about 1000X the normal number of people using the software for the first simultaneously. Usually we have a limited group each day who have fired up the software for the first time. Right now though – EVERYONE is firing it up for the first time. As a result we are getting a lot more questions than usual.

In reality (and looking at the numbers for downloads/sales/etc.) the vast majority of users don’t have any trouble at all. We are getting far more “It worked great! Thanks!” emails than problems. Now, that isn’t to say having a problem doesn’t suck – it does. But fortunately most folks are having a great experience.

Will you add FTP/Net sync to the iPhone?

I hope to at some point. No set schedule for releasing this, though.

When an update wipes out my data on the iPhone, that’s Ilium’s fault!

I won’t blame anyone for being angry if this happens, but seriously, we have zero control over this. The entire installation/update/etc. process is handled 100% by Apple. There is no special code we can include, no settings we can change, and no system we can tweak to affect this. I REALLY wish we could. Fortunately, with sync out, it will be easier to back up wallets now if Apple does zap your data.

Does AutoPass work on the iPhone?

No. This feature has only ever been available for Windows PCs using a helpful plug-in offered by MS in Internet Explorer. We are looking at ways to add this to mobile device, but at this time it is only available on the desktop.

Will my background images sync?

No. Background images do not sync. This isn’t something eWallet has ever offered ALTHOUGH we are working on adding this for a future release. You can still add backgrounds on the device or on the desktop, but the images do not sync yet.

What are those extra backgrounds and icons for?

The extra backgrounds are all included on the iPhone already. The extra icons are for Windows devices. We have put some things in place that should allow us to offer additional icons for the iPhone in the future, but at this time they are a Windows only feature.

Where is the BlackBerry version? Did you abandon it for iPhone?

Nope. We are working very hard with WebIS to get the BlackBerry version out. As I’ve mentioned before, there were some problems that we had to resolve. We will continue to push forward on that project.

When will the Mac version be out?

We are shooting for the end of this year. That’s our target date.

When will ListPro for iPhone be out?

I don’t have a release date scheduled for ListPro at this time, but we are working on it.

Why are people still seeing problems with sync? Did you test for these?

Absolutely. We did insane amounts of testing. The challenge with any sync release (and we saw this with out other platforms as well when they first went out) is that there are a near infinite varieties of environments people will be using this in. For instance, we’ve already discovered that when set up certain ways, Zone Alarm, Windows Firewall, and Norton Anti-virus can cause sync problems. This isn’t something we would typically warn folks about because it depends completely on having the “perfect storm” of settings/environment. Many people will sync just fine even with these in place.

Not only that, but it’s one thing when you have dozens of people working with a product. You will find a LOT of problems that you can fix and resolve doing that. Send that same product out to thousands (nearly 3000 people downloaded it in the first few hours it was out) and now you’re going to find out things you never dreamed of.

And a lot of what we are seeing aren’t “bugs” but simply finding out what advice we need to give folks as they setup sync. In some cases we can tweak the code to handle certain scenarios better, but in a lot of cases it will come down to finding better ways to provide the instructions to avoid the issues.

Why do I have to start sync on both sides? Why do I need this partnership?

Security and ease of use. First off, the partnership allows you to establish sync and then easily perform secure synchronizations in the future without going through a lot of verifications. So by building a partnership between eWallet on desktop and eWallet on iPhone, you create a trusted network. Now some applications just say “pick a device to sync with” and show a picture of a computer. You click. You sync. That’s handy, but it means that one of the following things are happening:

Your computer is constantly broadcasting that it is ready to sync. Not only is this a waste of resources, it’s extremely insecure. You don’t want a constant “sync with me” message shouting from a secure info manager every time you use it (or even when you aren’t using it!)

Your computer isn’t verifying who it is synching with. Unless a clear, secure partnership is in place, you might not be synching with who you think you are. Just firing off the data and hoping the right person picks it up is terribly insecure.

So yes, it’s an extra step, but frankly I designed it in a way that would make ME feel safe with my own data when I sync. In the long run, I feel that this is a better design choice than sacrificing security for ease of use.

And so…

Again, we’re really happy so many people are getting the new version. The response has been fantastic as have the comments. To those of you having problems, we’re sorry you’ve run into trouble and we hope that you’ll contact our support folks. We brought in extra help to make sure that anyone who is having trouble can get the help they need in a timely fashion.

 

For a while now, there has been a lot of speculation about just what the Apple AppStore review process consists of. Do they actually run the applications? Is it simply a rubber stamp? Is there any sort of criteria for acceptance or rejection? As a developer with a product in the AppStore I can confirm that the review process is very real and frankly this is a good thing!

The reason I bring this up is that besides having to prove export approval, Apple asked us for a copy of the desktop portion of eWallet so that they could review the synchronization process. Never that I know of have we had a distributor specifically tell us that they were going to test sync. Maybe they did, but I’m not convinced of that. I’m fairly certain the review process for most device software stores is much looser.

Now this process means some waiting to get apps OK’d by Apple, but in the end I believe that people will come to appreciate Apple’s careful approach to this. It will save hours of frustration for consumers who often have to “beta test” applications that don’t actually work as advertised.

So in the meantime, we’re waiting patiently. The Apple black box isn’t quite so black anymore (more of a dark grey) so we know what is happening and where we are in the process.

And in the end, I think the extra time folks have to wait to see an app go live will prove to be a long term benefit for everyone involved.

Every now and then we receive an email from a customer who shares an eWallet “Success Story” with us. Now admittedly, as is the case in this example, these stories usually involve some sort of misadventure, but eWallet is the silver lining! We love to hear these, because stories like this are part of the reason we created eWallet. Making enough to pay the bills is certainly a motivator, but the thing that makes this job so fun is working on a product that really does help people!

So here it is! A very cool eWallet success story:

I was pick pocketed in St. Petersburg, Russia; I had my iPhone with ewallet and was able to cancel all credit and debit cards within an hour of the event.  Thanks for great software.  Now I’m looking forward to being able to synch with a version on my PC.

The thing the customer told me (I promised him I wouldn’t share his name) was that he’d entered all of the “Call of Lost or Stolen” numbers from his credit cards into his eWallet cards. No searching for old billing statements at home, no wracking his brain to figure out which cards he had. He just opened eWallet and started calling.

So there you go! A little bit of self-congratulatory back patting, I know, but the story put me in a great mood so I just had to share it.