Bluestack looks very interesting, thanks for drawing my attention to it Mike. That could be a great solution for a lot of people if I understand your licensing terms correctly and it is possible to use an iOS license to run the Android version. My main argument for a "real" Mac App Store version, however, is that it would be a more visible solution, resulting in more sales on both Mac and iOS. In particular, one of the recent device announcements makes me think that running Pleco simultaneously on both platforms could become very popular, I will explain why further down.
Yes, I can imagine that, despite being able the use the same underlying code, the Mac UI would need to be radically different from the touch interface. Given the amount of developers who cross between both platforms, I wonder if commercial libraries or services exist that make porting easier?
I'm not sure if Windows Phone 8 can be described as a coup quite yet. The design looks interesting and, as a consumer, it would be extremely beneficial to have a third major player in the mobile OS market but, so far, they haven't managed to make a dent - usage figures released today (http://allthingsd.com/20120920/the-smartphone-os-race-broken-down-by-carrier/) shows Windows (all mobile varieties combined) remaining stubbornly at 1% and we still don't have prices or release dates for the much-anticipated Surface tablet or even Nokia's upcoming phones. Between iOS at the high-end, the heavily-subsidized Kindle Fire at the low-end and Android at all points in between, I am not sure where Windows Phone is going to gain traction - the corporate market, perhaps? But, then again, even that market has radically changed in the past five years, with most businesses now giving their employees a choice of mobile or running BYOD schemes, scuppering BlackBerry in favor of iOS.
Obviously, Windows on the desktop/laptop is going to remain a huge market but, until they gain some sort of traction in mobile, the ability to recompile between the two seems to be a rather empty gain. Also, I question the logic of using the same OS for two such radically different form factors, rather than maintaining two separate, specialized OSes as Apple has done. I suspect that is a decision that will haunt Windows UI and performance for many years to come and, surely, as a developer, you would end up spending just as much time dealing with UI issues to cater to both form factors anyway?
I have just finished reading your wonderfully detailed February Announcement post, that is a valuable insight into just how many considerations you have to juggle and the best explanation I have ever read of the benefits of having an Android version, something that is all too easy to lose sight of in an iOS-dominated city like mine. I hope that, 7 months in, the Android version is selling well and reaching those markets for whom iOS is a barrier.
I am very glad to hear, though, that you are still busily adding new features to the iOS version. For me, the most interesting announcement last week was the new iPod Touch which will be extremely thin, feature the same impressive screen as the iPhone 5 and include advanced features such as Siri. From a Pleco perspective, it has a very good autofocus camera and a fast A5 chip, the same as the iPhone 4S, so, for the first time, you've got a relatively cheap, contract-free and extremely light iOS device that is ideal for running Pleco's OCR feature. I am convinced that this will be the best-selling iPod yet because it is so capable, because it has matured as a gaming platform and because it is finally technically comparable to the latest iphone but cheaper, less complicated to buy and much more widely available. Previous generations of iPod Touch have sold 82m combined and there are no comparable non-phone Android or Windows Mobile devices.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I think that this new iPod Touch might lay the ground for high sales of an official Mac version of Pleco, because I guess that a lot of people would choose to use it as a hand-held ancillary to the work they are doing on their Mac, especially if iCloud, Dropbox or WiFi sharing makes it easy to fling data between the two. There is also the dark horse of the rumored iPad Mini, I suspect that will have the same camera, a faster A5X chip and a similarly low contract-free price, so, that too could become a popular hand-held ancillary to a Mac version of Pleco.
Anyway, keep up the good work, you've clearly got an amazing product on your hands
Yes, I can imagine that, despite being able the use the same underlying code, the Mac UI would need to be radically different from the touch interface. Given the amount of developers who cross between both platforms, I wonder if commercial libraries or services exist that make porting easier?
I'm not sure if Windows Phone 8 can be described as a coup quite yet. The design looks interesting and, as a consumer, it would be extremely beneficial to have a third major player in the mobile OS market but, so far, they haven't managed to make a dent - usage figures released today (http://allthingsd.com/20120920/the-smartphone-os-race-broken-down-by-carrier/) shows Windows (all mobile varieties combined) remaining stubbornly at 1% and we still don't have prices or release dates for the much-anticipated Surface tablet or even Nokia's upcoming phones. Between iOS at the high-end, the heavily-subsidized Kindle Fire at the low-end and Android at all points in between, I am not sure where Windows Phone is going to gain traction - the corporate market, perhaps? But, then again, even that market has radically changed in the past five years, with most businesses now giving their employees a choice of mobile or running BYOD schemes, scuppering BlackBerry in favor of iOS.
Obviously, Windows on the desktop/laptop is going to remain a huge market but, until they gain some sort of traction in mobile, the ability to recompile between the two seems to be a rather empty gain. Also, I question the logic of using the same OS for two such radically different form factors, rather than maintaining two separate, specialized OSes as Apple has done. I suspect that is a decision that will haunt Windows UI and performance for many years to come and, surely, as a developer, you would end up spending just as much time dealing with UI issues to cater to both form factors anyway?
I have just finished reading your wonderfully detailed February Announcement post, that is a valuable insight into just how many considerations you have to juggle and the best explanation I have ever read of the benefits of having an Android version, something that is all too easy to lose sight of in an iOS-dominated city like mine. I hope that, 7 months in, the Android version is selling well and reaching those markets for whom iOS is a barrier.
I am very glad to hear, though, that you are still busily adding new features to the iOS version. For me, the most interesting announcement last week was the new iPod Touch which will be extremely thin, feature the same impressive screen as the iPhone 5 and include advanced features such as Siri. From a Pleco perspective, it has a very good autofocus camera and a fast A5 chip, the same as the iPhone 4S, so, for the first time, you've got a relatively cheap, contract-free and extremely light iOS device that is ideal for running Pleco's OCR feature. I am convinced that this will be the best-selling iPod yet because it is so capable, because it has matured as a gaming platform and because it is finally technically comparable to the latest iphone but cheaper, less complicated to buy and much more widely available. Previous generations of iPod Touch have sold 82m combined and there are no comparable non-phone Android or Windows Mobile devices.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I think that this new iPod Touch might lay the ground for high sales of an official Mac version of Pleco, because I guess that a lot of people would choose to use it as a hand-held ancillary to the work they are doing on their Mac, especially if iCloud, Dropbox or WiFi sharing makes it easy to fling data between the two. There is also the dark horse of the rumored iPad Mini, I suspect that will have the same camera, a faster A5X chip and a similarly low contract-free price, so, that too could become a popular hand-held ancillary to a Mac version of Pleco.
Anyway, keep up the good work, you've clearly got an amazing product on your hands
