Ilium Software Blog

Behind the Scenes at Ilium Software

iPhone, iPad and iPod touch

eWallet at the Apple Stores

by Marc

Although you still have to buy eWallet for iPhone through the iTunes AppStore, if you visit your favorite brick and mortar Apple Store you just might spot eWallet there! The Apple Stores revealed a new window display this month that includes a display of 54 application icons. For your viewing pleasure I’ve included a picture of one of these displays below*. Sure enough, if you check out the right hand column, there’s the eWallet icon! With thousands of applications to choose from, it’s a real honor that they chose to include us in the display!

And credit where credit is due – I discovered this while checking out a cool site called The iPhone Savior. Definitely worth checking out!

*Picture credit: Kitetoa via FLICKR – Thanks Kitetoa!

eWallet 6.1.3

by Marc

Hey, everyone! We just released a new version of eWallet for Windows PC. Based on some of the great feedback we got from iPhone customers, we were able to make a couple of tweaks that should help to avoid some of the iPhone sync problems some people have seen.

We’ve sent this version to many users now and it does seem to help with the following issues:

  • Some cases where it can’t find the iPhone.
  • The problem where it can’t find the wallet on the phone and tries to create a new one there very time.

So, if you’re running into either of these issues, give this new version a try. Just install it over the old desktop version and it will auto-register. You can download it here. And this way, if you’re still having trouble, it will let us eliminate a variety of problems.

We don’t plan a mass email about this. The reason is that while the problems are insanely annoying to the folks that see them, the iPhone sync issues are really quite rare. We hate to have people go through an update process when there is really no advantage for them in doing so. Not only that, but even “there is a new version” emails feel like SPAM to many folks. Despite the fact that lots of people like to get these, even more don’t like to get them. Even opting-in to get the notifications, people still view corporate email negatively.

So there you go – your ‘insight into the mind of an Ilium Software product manager’ for the day! And for those of you with sync issues, hopefully this will solve some problems!

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that we’re also working on a minor iPhone side update that resolves the ‘invisible keyboard’ issue some people have run into with the 2.1 iPhone update. While we aren’t entirely sure what Apple changed that resulted in this problem, we did manage to fix it! Probably a week or two and it will be out.

It’s Out!

by Marc

In case you hadn’t already heard the news, eWallet iPhone sync is out! It went out yesterday evening. Thanks to everyone here who worked so hard to make this happen, and thank you to all of you out there who stuck with us and gave us your support along the way. It’s great to hit the “finish line!”

So, on to the other sync topics!

[Read more…] about It’s Out!

It’s synching! IT’S SYNCHING!

by Marc

IT’S ALIVE SYNCHING! I’ve been responding to the various comments on the other posts, but I just wanted to give everyone a heads up that we are in fact synching with our iPhones and iPod Touch devices here at Ilium Software! We don’t see anything that will stand in the way of our release so watch this blog and your email. As soon as it is out we’ll let everyone know!

And just to offer a little more info – we’re synching LAN, ad-hoc, multiple locations and devices, bootcamp – it’s all working! Woo hoo!

Copy and Paste – Do You Need It?

by Marc

It’s Soap Box Time! Matt Miller over at ZDNet recently wrote an article about Copy and Paste. His question was whether or not people really need Copy and Paste. To me, this is really one of those “you don’t miss what you don’t have” sort of scenarios. Fifteen years ago, the number of people who would have “missed” the internet if it went away was pretty small. Today if the internet went away, entire corporations would go under, governments would fall, and scores of stores would go belly up in a few hours.

OK, so Copy and Paste isn’t quite like that, but my point is that no one will miss Copy and Paste on a device like the iPhone until they have the power it gives them. Want a good example? Think back to the release of the Windows Mobile Smartphone. People were having fits when they moved from a Windows Mobile Pocket PC. Many simple day to day tasks suddenly became a nightmare of keypad re-entry. Sure, the iPhone has a better keyboard than those early Smartphones but we have a clear test case where no one realized they needed something so badly until they had it, then had it taken away. In the end, guess which device got Copy and Paste?

Now I realize that Matt’s use scenario doesn’t really seem to support this. Clearly he doesn’t do a lot of copying and pasting, but a lot of users do. I for one am a heavy copy/paster. Many of our customers are as well. Furthermore, even hand entering one or two 50 character redirect URLs can make you hate your device. And is that really the sort of experience Apple wants their users to have?

Not having Copy and Paste also stifles the creativity of developers. It’s one more tool that a clever developer can use to make your iPhone experience even better. For instance, right now we can’t copy password and usernames into Safari on the iPhone. The best solution available? Write our own web browser and include it with eWallet! Talk about software bloat!

In some ways cutting back on choices can make life easier and better, but at other times it prevents you from getting the most out of an experience. In the case of Copy and Paste I absolutely believe it’s the latter.

People might gasp to hear me say it but there really are scenarios where Apple would do well to take some lessons from Microsoft’s experience!

4 out of 5 Pirates Choose eWallet!

by Marc

Apparently everyone knows that eWallet is the best way to keep your information safe! Even software pirates*! 

I’ve always said that one of the key indicators of success is how many people are trying to steal your software. This has always been something we’ve seen with eWallet and apparently eWallet for iPhone is no exception. With hundreds of applications to choose from in the AppStore, the software pirates have chosen eWallet as one of 30 or so applications they’ve stripped Apple’s DRM out of. What is more, in articles about it (which I’m afraid I won’t be linking to here) they actually chose an eWallet screenshot to advertise this.

What can I say! We’re honored!

I’ll tell you, I really wish we could use this as part of a major marketing campaign. I mean, if a hacker thinks eWallet is the safest place to store their passwords and other critical information, it really says something about the level of security eWallet gives you. It’s like a skydiver telling you which parachute to buy or a police officer suggesting a particular brand of bullet proof jacket.

Yep, even software pirates know that if you want to keep your information safe, eWallet is the only choice!

DISCLAIMER: In case it isn’t obvious, I’m not advocating using pirated software. Please don’t do that. Besides the fact that it is illegal, pirating really does cut into our bottom line and makes it harder to keep releasing new versions! Clearly that isn’t in anyone’s best interest. Not only that, but lord only knows what might have been done with a version of the software that didn’t come from us. At the same time pirated software is a reality of the software industry and you have to be honored when pirates choose to steal your application over the many competing products available!

* We’re pretty sure regular pirates prefer eWallet as well but unfortunately Apple hasn’t given us a way to track whether a sale was to a regular customer, a pirate, or a ninja.

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