View from the Peak
PhotoDialer Update
It’s been almost six months since we put the first version of PhotoDialer in Palm’s App Catalog, and three months since we started charging $1.99 for it. In that time, we’ve submitted a handful of bug-fix and feature-enhancement releases, including the 1.3 release which just hit the App Catalog today. This latest release gives you a little more control over where your contacts’ names are overlaid on their pictures and addresses feedback from our users. We’ve also recently fixed a problem where some photos would be distorted. We hope you enjoy it!
We saw with some amusement that MyAppBox.com currently has us listed as the most likely paid app to win Palm’s top prize of $100,000. Of course we’d love that, but unfortunately I have to question their data. They have estimated that we’ve had over 10,000 paid downloads, and, sadly, the real number is substantially less. Having an app in the App Catalog is not yet a path to riches, at least not if you’re trying to make money simply by selling the app.
I also wanted to address a complaint that keeps coming up. Many people have reported difficulties downloading or updating PhotoDialer. Unfortunately, the download process is handled entirely by the WebOS system software, so it’s out of our control. This problem first surfaced when the application transitioned from the beta App Catalog to being a paid app and appears to be a result of the conversion process that Palm performed.
We have reported these problems to Palm, but we’re not able to address them ourselves. This is especially frustrating, because problems downloading or updating PhotoDialer is the leading reason for customers to rate us anything but four or five stars in the App Catalog. And getting good ratings seems to be the key to continue to get people to purchase the app, which is definitely the key that will keep us investing in it.
If you are experiencing problems upgrading PhotoDialer to a more recent release, the following procedure has been shown to work around the problem. First, delete the PhotoDialer app. (To delete, hold down the orange key, and then tap on the PhotoDialer icon, and then tap “Delete” in the confirmation dialog that appears.) Second, re-install PhotoDialer from the App Catalog. You should not be charged for this, even if you originally installed PhotoDialer during the Beta period when it was free.
Palm continues to communicate that they are working to address the problem properly on their side, so here’s hoping for a proper resolution soon.
Chad Scates has significant experience managing software development teams and developing GUI-intensive applications in cross-platform environments.
Tags: PhotoDialer
