Update from the Front Lines: Mac eWallet

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…

Mac eWallet

Mac eWallet is looking great. We have the basic UI in place and I’ve gotten some VERY positive feedback from our Mac testers. Undo turned out to be a amazingly huge job but it’s coming along nicely. Sync is tricky but at this point I don’t see any reason it won’t do most of what sync does on the desktop. The devil is in the details, however. One of the reasons I had initially believed it would be out sooner is that the initial work went very quickly with clear and visible results. Unfortunately, the detail work (much of which involves making sure it works like it should rather than adding big features) is proving quite challenging.

Another thing that happened is that in the recent past we moved ListPro for iPhone in-house (I’ll talk about that below) which forced us to outsource the Mac work. Fortunately, the guys we have working on it are GREAT - but it has meant that I have to do much more detailed specs than if I handed it off to one of the folks who have been working on eWallet for years. This takes time.

At this point, I’m guessing that it will be ready around June. Yep, that’s a long time - about 6 months later than I’d planned - but I’m trying to give a conservative estimate. Part of my estimate is based on the fact that we are going to test this baby like CRAZY. It’s a VERY complicated app that never existed before on this platform - that means we need to do TONS of testing.

Needless to say we still think Mac is a great platform to write for and eWallet for Mac IS coming out. It’s just taking longer than I’d anticipated.

Password Builder added to eWallet for iPhone

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!

How Do You Use the iTunes App Store?

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.

Double the winners, double the fun

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!

Apples2Oranges in the New York Times!

I always love it when our products get on TV or into one of the big newspapers. I’m not sure if it sells more software, but it is definitely fun. You get that giddy “Woo hoo! We’re famous!” feeling. It’s just a blast. Anyhow, I just found out that Apples2Oranges got a mention in today’s edition of the New York Times (B5, lower right corner).

Bob Tedeschi wrote an article about Free Internet Calling services and at the end did one of his “Quick Calls” sections, where he highlights a few cool apps he has come across. It’s there that he mentions Apples2Oranges! You can pick up a copy at your local brick and mortar store, or read the whole article here. (You might need to register.)

So thanks, Mr. Tedeschi! We really appreciate it! I’ve got to go hit the newstand to pick up a couple extra copies!

Apples2Oranges Now Available!

Apples2Oranges, our latest iPhone application, is now available in the AppStore! Compare prices and nutritional information with a few simple taps! Whether you’re looking to save a few bucks or trying to drop a few pounds, Apples2Oranges offers an easy and fun way to do it!

We’re extremely excited about this one because it really is a first-of-its-kind release. There are other unit comparison apps out there, but nothing that really focuses in on one of the most common reason people buy those things. You can read all the official stuff in the product description and on our website, but I’ll give you my personal slant on this one.

First off, I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve sat there banging my head against the grocery store shelf trying to figure out whether the 12 pack of Big-K Cola is a better deal than the 24-pack of Coke. With Apples2Oranges you can figure it out in just a couple of quick taps!

One of my other favorite uses is measuring cholesterol content. At my last checkup my doc pretty much told me that my cholesterol is so high that the fact that I don’t exercise is the probably the only thing keeping me alive (OK, it wasn’t THAT bad but it wasn’t good.) Anyhow, now I’m constantly doing the “This one? Or this one?” thing at the store, reading the nutritional info on the sides of the box. But does ANYONE use the same serving sizes? Heck, no. Again, Apples2Oranges does the trick by letting me get an equal comparison even when the serving sizes are totally different. Thank you Apples2Oranges!

OK, enough infommercial. I really think everyone is going to like this one. It’s insanely useful and the team here did an excellent job on it. Not only that, but our art guys did a bang up job making it really darn pretty (I love the little gears. :) )

Apples2Oranges is available today in the iTunes AppStore for just $4.99. Just click here for a direct link to the official listing. You can also read about it on our web page here. Finally, I’ve included a few screenshots below so you can get a look at it ahead of time!

Enjoy!

Save Money With a Quick Compare!

Calorie Comparison Made Easy!

I Love the Gears! :)