Re: another plea! ShadowPlan for iOS? Seed-Money?

Jeff:

I completely understand your argument about the exclusive nature of Apple's
App Store. Even though there doesn't appear to be anything out there that
can compete with Shadow's capabilities, Apple could let you do all the
work, then kick you out of the store because one of the bigger companies
decides you're too good to compete against (same way WalMart pushes out the
competition).

BUT... how many Palm developers copied your ideas from Shadow on that
platform? How many copies did you sell for Palm, and how many are still
using it - or would if the platform were still viable? Could those users be
tempted to pick up an iPad version? Would you be able to advertise to
attract those prior customers?

I can't really afford a tablet of any kind at the moment, no matter how
great they are; but if Shadow Plan were available, I'd be searching VERY
hard for a way to move to the tablet that you chose to support.

So, yes, I WOULD spend the $50 to get you to port Shadow to iPad (my
preferred tablet o' the future).

Neil Slater
*thinking fond thoughts of my slide rule and abacus...*

On Mon, Feb 20, 2012 at 7:08 AM, <[email protected]> wrote:

> **
> Still a crazy world out there; outliners / to-do-lists /
> project-managers exist aplenty, from websites to apps; most apps are
> pretty lightweight these days (which is what most people need, but
> obviosuly theres the power niche who wants more!) .. heck, most of these
> apps don't do hierarchy, and no apps synchronize in many locations .. it
> always makes me giggle how iTunes is so painful about sync options .. or
> 'cloud sync' which usually still means single sync target, but at least
> yit works anywhere; in a lot of ways, Palm and Pocket PC apps were far
> ahead of capabilities in many apps compared to these days.. just not as
> pretty or as connected :)
>
> Anyway, the trick now for such a thing is.. competing with Bascamp
> and the 10,000 pretty good websites that do this stuff, as well as the
> existing apps. There are a lot of good sold web based applications, and
> some of those have decent on-device applications.
>
> Pretty tough nut to crack, but really.. for me, to fight all those
> big guys, it would be sort of like Shadow was at the beginning.. carving a
> specific niche and trying to grow it, without getting on the radar of the
> big guys. But in the world dominated by walled garden stores like iTunes
> and Android Marketplace, your visibility is dictated by downloads .. the
> top stay the top, and the new or niche guy has an almost impossible time
> being noticed, by store design. (They dont' want a big ecology.. the
> stores want a set of very successful few apps, in any given category.)
>
> Anyway, the question then is .. what could an app I build (call it
> Shadow for sake of argument) offer that the other guys do not, and that
> they couldnmt' then just bolt on? Its like.. if you build a better
> mousetrap, the old mousttrap companies will modify their design after
> you've done all the hard work. The trick is coming up with somethign that
> can't be duplicated.. like hard work ;)
>
> So what would need to be in a new applicaiton, that the other guys
> doint' already do? Or, just taking it seriuously? Doing proper hierarchy
> with dependancies between items and lots of dates and custom displays and
> all that? Thats pretty much the opposite of what iOS and Android
> applications are .. so hard to say if that would sell. Those markets
> thrive on $1 apps that donmt' have much work in them .. doing something
> serious takes a lot more time and you need to charge for it..
>
> .. but can you sell an app for $7 or $10 or $15 there? Pretty
> hard. If you sell it for $1, wil you get enough sell through to make up in
> volume what you dont' get per unit?
>
> Yeah, had all these same questions before, but I was younger and
> more foolish then, full of spit and vinegar ;) Now I'm still full of spit
> and vinegar, but not as much energy :)
>
> If theres a market there, I could be tempted back in :)
>
> jeff
>
> On Sun, 19 Feb 2012, swac2002 wrote:
>
> # Hi Jeff,
> #
> # I am almost willing to pay the outrageous $50 to StyleTap just so I can
> use ShadowPlan!
> #
> # But! I'd rather pay you $50.00 if that would lead, even some time down
> the line, to a version for the iPod Touch, iPhone, iPad.
> #
> # Of all the folks on the yahoo group who have asked about this, I wonder
> how many would be willing to each give you, say $25.00 seed money upfront,
> to help fund the project.
> #
> # I like my Palm T3 for ShadowPlan but I never have it with me because,
> well, it's a second thing to carry around, and I obviously can't coordinate
> what I'm doing across devices.
> #
> # I'd jump in a second to an iOS version so all I'd need to carry around
> is my iPod Touch (or iPad 3 if I decide to buy one).
> #
> # Finally, when I recently checked the StyleTap website they were touting
> some sort of Palm Software development kit that would "easily" allow Palm
> programs to be ported to iOS. Is this something that you could use? And
> even if so, would they be wanting an arm and a leg to sell you that kit?
> #
> # Thanks so much for one of the best programs ever, and for your time
> right now,
> #
> # Sincerely,
> #
> # Chris
> #
> --
> If everyone would put barbecue sauce on their food, there would be no war.
>
>
>


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