5 ms·

I've never used the app, but I'm not seeing why their apparently unique approach to eBooks couldn't run on WebOS, Meego, or Android. I assume there's a good re

by tsuraan 15y ago

I've never used the app, but I'm not seeing why their apparently unique approach to eBooks couldn't run on WebOS, Meego, or Android. I assume there's a good reason, since you don't throw away years of work easily, but I'd love to hear what that reason is.

irons 15y ago
Build a business on Meego? Are you trolling? People in these parts honestly believe Android is a hospitable business environment, but if your business involves selling things, you have to content yourself with a tiny fraction of iOS's revenue potential. That's why these guys aren't pivoting. Their business wouldn't have existed in 2011 without iOS.
- abrown28 15y ago
  Are you saying that Android is not a hospitable business environment? I'm curious on your take because I'm working on an Android app.
- tsuraan 15y ago
  Heh, I guess with Nokia's pivot, I should have said WinMo7, but I had actually forgotten about its existence. The point was that there are other phones out there, with app stores that people (apparently) use. I can't imagine any environment (even Meego's) being less business friendly than Apple's, at this point.
  - chc 15y ago
    Even with Apple's developer-hostile policies, it seems like it's at best a toss-up at this point between the massive amount of money available on iOS and the greater freedom elsewhere.
    - Steko 15y ago
      If only we could go back to the salad days before Apple's app store when mobile developers had it good.
      - chc 15y ago
        I think your sarcasm hides a lack of an actual point to your comment (beyond reiterating my comment's point, which was that selling mobile apps seems to kind of suck in general).
        Steko 15y ago
        I think my actual point was actually that Apple has been great for developers not hostile as you claimed. I think that's true by inspection. I think this developer had a terrible business model that was exposed by entirely predictable changes to market conditions and went out of business and is lashing out.
        chc 15y ago
        Eh, the fact that Apple has been "great for developers" is largely an accidental consequence of the fact that their platform has a lot of users who are willing to spend money. Apple attracted the users because Apple wanted the users, not because they wanted to help developers out. Without the userbase, iOS would be relatively unattractive (and I don't think Apple would feel like it could pull this kind of move). A large portion of what Apple does that's specifically targeted at developers these days is negative. The NDA, rules so broken they were never consistently enforced, arbitrary rejections, retroactively rejecting apps when they decide to come out with a competitor, etc. Also, I dispute the claim that this rule change was "entirely predictable." Can you show me somewhere that you or anybody else predicted this rule change before it came to light?
- vlucas 15y ago
  I sell an SEO app ( http://semtab.com http://semtab.com ) on both iOS and Android, and the Android version is outselling the iOS one by a wide margin. It caught me a bit off guard because everyone I know keeps repeating that iOS users buy more than Android ones, but that just hasn't been my experience so far. I even put the iOS version on sale at $0.99 in hopes to increase purchases, but it is _still_ not resulting in as many purchases as the Android version at the original $1.99 price.
  - cageface 15y ago
    Very interesting. Have you marketed them in the same way? Maybe the sheer size of the Android handset market is beginning to turn the tide.
  - gridspy 15y ago
    Now that is an interesting data point. I guess your target market is the tech savvy crowd who are often put off by the iOS closed platform.
  - aaronbrethorst 15y ago
    You may want to consider a new icon for the iOS app (also, please make sure you have an @2x variant of it, too). edit: i've had a couple minutes to try using it. You may want to consider overhauling the application's user experience. It doesn't look or 'feel' like a proper iOS app, and I'm guessing that's why the Android version is outselling the iOS one. * the icons really need @2x variants. * The user workflow is brittle, especially given how few view controllers there are, here. I shouldn't be able to choose to look at the 'Web' or 'Social' tabs until I've selected a domain. * The domain entry experience feels cumbersome. Why is it capitalizing my domain name? * Why do I delete a domain from the 'Web' and 'Social' tabs, and why isn't there an alert prompt? Add Domain: * The navigation bar tint color shouldn't change. * This should be a modal view controller. * The text shadow behind the label looks weird. * The label's text should be something more like: "Domain name:", especially since you already give an example in the text field with its placeholder. * You should call -becomeFirstResponder on the text field when this view controller appears. Anyway, I know you didn't ask for any of this, but hopefully it proves helpful in driving up your sales. Good luck!
Osiris 15y ago
I'm curious about that too. What limitations does Android have that make pivoting hard to do? Why weren't they working on both an Android and iOS app, no to mention WebOS and WP7. It does seem there are a lot of options out there, so there must be a very good reason not to have utilized those platforms. Does iOS provide some APIs that make this type of online purchasing model so much easier than other platforms that it's not even worth investing in something else?
- pagliara 15y ago
  I think Android users are just less likely to spend money on apps/content vs iOS users.
  - will_lam 15y ago
    I think that's quite the blanket statement. I don't believe that to be the case at all.
  - imrehg 15y ago
    [citation needed]
  - julianz 15y ago
    I have a data point of one (me) who disagrees with that. I've spent heaps on apps. I was shocked to find that iOS makes you enter a password before buying stuff - what kind of a PITA is that?
    - camiller 15y ago
      "I was shocked to find that iOS makes you enter a password before buying stuff - what kind of a PITA is that?" On webOS (myself, wife, daughter) I had the option of requiring a password every time an app was purchased or just letting my 13 year old daughter rack up whatever credit card charges she felt like on her phone. I don't consider it a PITA to enter a password, I consider it a security feature. I am shocked that you imply that android does not have such a requirement and I feel further vindicated in choosing webOS over android.

by tsuraan 15y ago

irons 15y ago

Build a business on Meego? Are you trolling? People in these parts honestly believe Android is a hospitable business environment, but if your business involves selling things, you have to content yourself with a tiny fraction of iOS's revenue potential. That's why these guys aren't pivoting. Their business wouldn't have existed in 2011 without iOS.

abrown28 15y ago
Are you saying that Android is not a hospitable business environment? I'm curious on your take because I'm working on an Android app.
tsuraan 15y ago
Heh, I guess with Nokia's pivot, I should have said WinMo7, but I had actually forgotten about its existence. The point was that there are other phones out there, with app stores that people (apparently) use. I can't imagine any environment (even Meego's) being less business friendly than Apple's, at this point.
- chc 15y ago
  Even with Apple's developer-hostile policies, it seems like it's at best a toss-up at this point between the massive amount of money available on iOS and the greater freedom elsewhere.
  - Steko 15y ago
    If only we could go back to the salad days before Apple's app store when mobile developers had it good.
    - chc 15y ago
      I think your sarcasm hides a lack of an actual point to your comment (beyond reiterating my comment's point, which was that selling mobile apps seems to kind of suck in general).
      - Steko 15y ago
        I think my actual point was actually that Apple has been great for developers not hostile as you claimed. I think that's true by inspection. I think this developer had a terrible business model that was exposed by entirely predictable changes to market conditions and went out of business and is lashing out.
        chc 15y ago
        Eh, the fact that Apple has been "great for developers" is largely an accidental consequence of the fact that their platform has a lot of users who are willing to spend money. Apple attracted the users because Apple wanted the users, not because they wanted to help developers out. Without the userbase, iOS would be relatively unattractive (and I don't think Apple would feel like it could pull this kind of move). A large portion of what Apple does that's specifically targeted at developers these days is negative. The NDA, rules so broken they were never consistently enforced, arbitrary rejections, retroactively rejecting apps when they decide to come out with a competitor, etc. Also, I dispute the claim that this rule change was "entirely predictable." Can you show me somewhere that you or anybody else predicted this rule change before it came to light?
vlucas 15y ago
I sell an SEO app ( http://semtab.com http://semtab.com ) on both iOS and Android, and the Android version is outselling the iOS one by a wide margin. It caught me a bit off guard because everyone I know keeps repeating that iOS users buy more than Android ones, but that just hasn't been my experience so far. I even put the iOS version on sale at $0.99 in hopes to increase purchases, but it is _still_ not resulting in as many purchases as the Android version at the original $1.99 price.
- cageface 15y ago
  Very interesting. Have you marketed them in the same way? Maybe the sheer size of the Android handset market is beginning to turn the tide.
- gridspy 15y ago
  Now that is an interesting data point. I guess your target market is the tech savvy crowd who are often put off by the iOS closed platform.
- aaronbrethorst 15y ago
  You may want to consider a new icon for the iOS app (also, please make sure you have an @2x variant of it, too). edit: i've had a couple minutes to try using it. You may want to consider overhauling the application's user experience. It doesn't look or 'feel' like a proper iOS app, and I'm guessing that's why the Android version is outselling the iOS one. * the icons really need @2x variants. * The user workflow is brittle, especially given how few view controllers there are, here. I shouldn't be able to choose to look at the 'Web' or 'Social' tabs until I've selected a domain. * The domain entry experience feels cumbersome. Why is it capitalizing my domain name? * Why do I delete a domain from the 'Web' and 'Social' tabs, and why isn't there an alert prompt? Add Domain: * The navigation bar tint color shouldn't change. * This should be a modal view controller. * The text shadow behind the label looks weird. * The label's text should be something more like: "Domain name:", especially since you already give an example in the text field with its placeholder. * You should call -becomeFirstResponder on the text field when this view controller appears. Anyway, I know you didn't ask for any of this, but hopefully it proves helpful in driving up your sales. Good luck!

Osiris 15y ago

I'm curious about that too. What limitations does Android have that make pivoting hard to do? Why weren't they working on both an Android and iOS app, no to mention WebOS and WP7. It does seem there are a lot of options out there, so there must be a very good reason not to have utilized those platforms. Does iOS provide some APIs that make this type of online purchasing model so much easier than other platforms that it's not even worth investing in something else?

pagliara 15y ago
I think Android users are just less likely to spend money on apps/content vs iOS users.
- will_lam 15y ago
  I think that's quite the blanket statement. I don't believe that to be the case at all.
- imrehg 15y ago
  [citation needed]
- julianz 15y ago
  I have a data point of one (me) who disagrees with that. I've spent heaps on apps. I was shocked to find that iOS makes you enter a password before buying stuff - what kind of a PITA is that?
  - camiller 15y ago
    "I was shocked to find that iOS makes you enter a password before buying stuff - what kind of a PITA is that?" On webOS (myself, wife, daughter) I had the option of requiring a password every time an app was purchased or just letting my 13 year old daughter rack up whatever credit card charges she felt like on her phone. I don't consider it a PITA to enter a password, I consider it a security feature. I am shocked that you imply that android does not have such a requirement and I feel further vindicated in choosing webOS over android.