Hey everyone, (I know this is a long read, but it provides some perspective!)
I felt the need to speak out a little on this subject as, to be honest, the expectations that the App Store has created is simply unrealistic. We provided over 3 dozen updates over the past 4 years for free. How long can any company continue to do this and actually survive? It took over a year to write iBrewMaster 2 using new technologies that Apple released since our initial launch such as Core Data. Core Data wasn't even available when we released iBM 1 in 2009, and it is necessary for us to be able to implement cloud syncing in the future. The rewrite is going to enable us to provide another 4 years of new updates and features, has eliminated the need to purchase two separate apps, and provided many new features. Software development is very resource intensive, and our developers need to be paid. I honestly mean no disrespect to anyone, but I simply can't comprehend why some users expect developers to provide unlimited updates for life, for free. No other business or career field expects this from their workers. We have a very limited audience unlike apps like popular bird games which can sell 10 million + copies, and don't even require years of extensive programming updates and maintenance. Once we reach a saturation level of users, there's no more income and thus there will be no more updates. It's really that simple. Would users be happier if sales got so saturated that the app was no longer supported or upgraded and eventually failed to work on your devices as Apple continues to release new operating systems? Are we suppose to continue to employee developers to keep the app running for the next decade so that users who bought it 14 years earlier could still use the app? Again, I mean no disrespect, but there is simply no nicer way of explaining the reality. If you are happy with iBM1, you can continue to use it for as long as you like….no different than the situation I just described. In fact, we are still supporting iBM1 for a while as some users don't have a need for more or a need for a Universal App and would like to save a few bucks. iBM1 is still a great app, even though some users have felt the need to lower their 5 star rating to a 1 star rating because our developers like to feed their kids. Is that fair? On top of all of this, in reality we are actually making less money on the new app….we invested a year in a new, updated product that is selling for less than half of what many users spent for the original version and recipes. Even if you didn't purchase any recipe packs or are not interested in them, it's still 28% cheaper if you use both the iPhone and iPad apps. Would we have been better off not investing a year of development expenses in rewriting the app, as that's really the message that some users are sending.
In order to provide a few more years of free updates, there comes a time when a new version has to come out. Like several have stated here, it's really no different than a new version of Microsoft Office or other software. In fact, they don't give you years of updates, just service pack fixes or security fixes....period. It's inevitable that some users may have enjoyed 4 years of updates and others only a year or less. But there is no migration options that Apple offers. An in-app purchase was not possible as 2,216 SQL statements had to be eliminated and converted to Core Data code and in addition we really wanted to provide a Universal App as many users didn't want to purchase the app separately for the iPhone and iPad. There is no way to migrate two distinct app ID's into one, and trying to convert an app of this size to Core Data wasn't practical. Apple does not provide a way for us to sell the app at a discount to previous purchasers. (Some users have eluded to other software that have done this, but we couldn't do the in-app upgrade as I explained.)
We are forced to work in the environment provided by Apple and the app store. No company can offer life-long updates and no matter when a new version comes out, some will have enjoyed it for years, and others for months. Quite honestly, we believe we have the solution and have sent it to Apple 4-5 times with no response. To be fair to all users, users would get a year of updates for free. They could choose to continue to use the app forever in it's last updated version. Developers could charge a few bucks for another year of updates. This would be fair to everyone as every user would get their share of updates and developers would have an incentive to continue to develop their app. If a change like this is not made, we're afraid quite a lot of good software on the app store will gradually become extinct and unsupported. But hey, even without this change, our users are still getting the app for less than $5 a year. We've probably all spent the cost of the app on a good Belgian Tripel!
Now, regarding the bugs. No, we did not intentionally rush to get the app out…in fact it was significantly delayed as our original announcement was that it would be available late 2012 / early 2013. Yes, the bugs are more than what we expected ourselves and we are a bit disappointed with some of the bugs that got thru. However, we did recruit over 2 dozen beta testers that tested the app for 2 months. It is true that a lot of bugs don't rear their ugly heads until you get the production level use out of it. It probably would have taken another 6 months for testers to find the bugs that we've already fixed in just a couple of weeks. We released v1.0.1 within 3 days, v1.0.2 shortly after, and v1.0.3 is awaiting Apples review. I hope that our past response to users and demonstration of quick updates and fixes gives users some comfort and confidence that we take the app very seriously and will absolutely, without question, not stop until all the bugs are corrected. Then we'll start looking at implementing new features!
Also, user 241 is incorrect about having to export recipes and import them on devices. Once you setup Dropbox, it's as simply as tapping on "Backup database to Dropbox" on one device, and simply tapping on that file name in the table view on the other. Your entire database is copied over. Plus, when you restore a copy of your database to another device, a backup of that device is automatically taken first just in case you accidentally go the wrong way. Sure, it's not full iCloud syncing, but quite a lot of companies have backed out of large relational database syncing due to corruption. We know of several that actually ripped out the cloud feature in their software. iCloud is great for syncing calendar events or documents, but we don't feel comfortable putting our users data at risk until the technology matures a bit more.
Finally, for those that do not like the iBrewMaster recipes, we included an update in v1.0.3 to automatically restore you back to the last filter button you chose. We have always been open to suggestions as 90% of the app comes from user ideas. All you have to do is ask for it….we can't guarantee that everything will go in the app, but we certainly try our best.
Thank you to those of you who understand the investment in development and for your continued support. We will continue to make iBrewMaster the best brewing software out there! We have a lot of plans!
Cheers,
Joe