I posted the first beta version of PocketBible for our beta testers this afternoon. Hopefully it’s raining somewhere over this Memorial Day weekend so a few of them will get some testing done.
We don’t anticipate this to be a lengthy beta. We’re planning to ship with a short to-do list of features we’ll add in version 1.1 and 1.2 (and beyond). The important thing is to get the application out the door.
We’re currently planning to let you download PocketBible from the App Store at no charge. It will come with the KJV and the ability to create a download account at our site that will let you download all our free resources (ASV, DNT, YLT, etc. Bibles plus several commentaries and devotionals). And of course if you already have a download account at our site you’ll be able to download any existing titles you already own, even if you bought them for a different platform. So the cross-grade charge should be $0. We’re hoping you’ll be so thrilled with the price that you’ll buy more Bibles and reference books to help pay for the cost of development.
I hope to be able to post some quotes from the testers and some indication of our progress over the next few days as we prepare to submit the app to Apple for approval. Then we wait while they give it the once over. We’ll be letting everyone know by email and here at the blog when we see it at the App Store.
Thanks for your patience, and especially thanks to those of you who volunteered but who we had to turn away due to limits on the size of our beta testing group. We think you’re going to be pleased with the results.
Hi
Yet another long term Mybible/Pocketbible user here. Really looking forward to having the iphone version to run my my nice new iPhone 3G S. I miss having the bible on my phone.
Any news yet on when it is being sent to apple?
If you want another beta tester, just ask me. Thanks. Keep up the Go(o)d work.
Mike
Hi,
I loved Pocketbible for the Microsoft Mobile OS, but when I got my iphone I was disappointed in the ipocketbible demo and never subscribed. I was wondering if the new ipocketbible native version will have many of the same features of Pocketbible 4. My favorite was when I had my NIV study bible on split screen. The scholar’s study notes were in sync with the verses. I also liked being able to flip back and forth between the two and they stayed in sync. I would love to buy the ESV study bible if this is the case with ipocketbible.
Craig,
I have been one of the last two holdouts at our company keeping my treo 650 as the rest of the world has been forced to migrate to the blackberry. The only reason I was able to hold out was that the other holdout was our CEO. I think he just generally didn’t want to change. I didn’t want to change because of MyBible and all the notes that I’ve taken in it over the past 3-4 years.
Now I’m having to switch because the CEO has quit holding out — but the good news is, the I-phone has become an option instead of just the blackberry. Is there any prayer that I’ll be able to somehow save/port my highlights, bookmarks and/or most especially my notes from MyBible ove into the Iphone app when it’s available?
Thanks so much for all your company does — and for your personal engagement in this blog.
Chaz: The native iPhone version is based on a lot of the code in the Windows Mobile version. Features will be similar. Not all features will be in version 1, but if you look at Windows Mobile you’ll get an idea of what features will be in PocketBible for iPhone.
Dave: There is, in fact, a prayer that you’ll be able to somehow save/port your highlights, bookmarks, and/or your notes from MyBible into the iPhone app.
I was wondering, with the offer of the iphone application being free, for those who recently purchased the 12 month ipocketbible subscription, will there be a credit back of unused months when it comes out? Thanks for the great product!
Also looking forward to the Native Version! I have been a long-time “mybible” user on my palm. Being a very recent convert to the iPhone platform, I would also like to echo the comments related to the ability to port over years worth of “highlights” within my 7, or so, different bible translations. In my mind, it would make sense to make sure that your first release would include this feature, as it greatly aids in famIliar navigation for those of us that study and/or teach.
Thanks!
This is great news. Although I own a iPhone since November last year and really love it. Before that used a Blackberry and Nokia Communicator. Still I have been holding on to my iPAQ 2210 for two main reasons: Turn by Turn Navigation and PocketBible. The first one is recently been solved. With PocketBible released on iPhone I finally put the iPaq to rest.
Any sight on the beta testing and release timeline?
Thanks!
Craig,
Is there any way for users to contact someone at APPLE to let them know of the intense desire to have this program? Maybe that can put a little fire under the one sitting on the beta help them to realize that there is profitability in getting it out to the public.
Just a thought because I look for it “everyday” to be added to the APP Store.
Thanks for all of your efforts!
There’s nobody at Apple holding anything up.
There’s no need to check the app store every day until we tell you it’s been submitted.
Craig,
Thank you for your patience and your replies. No question, just wanted to show my appreciation for your effort. I too have been checking the APP store daily; I’ll check here instead and try to stay patient.
BTW: I just thought of a question that was previously asked by another poster. It is about memory verse; that is my wife’s favorite. Any plans for it to be ported over to iPhone as well?
Please put me on the list for notification of the native app! I SO miss Memorize! and Hymns. Can’t wait to move my already-purchased library and begin to add to it!
Based on the May 23rd information that “it won’t be a long beta” I went ahead and bought the iphone.
I had been using several Bible versions + Greek words up on 4 split screens at a time, many times a day for a couple years on my Treo Palm. Have not found a way to do this via the very limited Safari web based approach. Going back and forth is VERY SLOW and VERY frustrating; you just can’t get much done.
Please “getr done” and release some level of iphone APP that provides some usability!
What is the hold up and when will you release the APP so we can use the hundreds of dollars of materials we’ve bought from Laridian?
Craig,
ps please also put me on the list for notification of the native APP release.
thanks.glen
First, there is no such list. We will notify our customers and post something here when the application is submitted to Apple.
The beta has been held up by two issues: First is that the version 3.0 OS from Apple dramatically changed how certain messages are passed to our program and completely broke the way our text is scrolled and displayed. It introduced some positive things, too, but the things it broke were show stoppers.
Second, Apple used to allow us to have 100 developers and 100 beta testers and to distribute to those outside the App Store for development and testing purposes. Somewhere in the last few months they changed that to only 100 total, then they changed to to only 100 EVER. So when someone upgraded from original iPhone to iPhone 3G, that counted as TWO devices even if they sold or destroyed the original device. Then when they upgraded to 3GS, that counted as yet another device.
So in a weird twist of ironic fate, our beta testing team has been decimated by its best testers upgrading to the new 3GS phone. They can no longer test our product and they’ve consumed a “slot” in our 100 devices that we can never ever get back. Furthermore, neither Jeff nor I can upgrade our devices to 3GS (we can buy a 3GS — and we have — but we can’t deploy our app to it).
This situation is creating a huge flame war against Apple by its developers but so far Apple is not listening.
So we haven’t distributed Beta 2 yet because of the problems with OS3 and once we do our supply of testers will have been cut by about 1/3. Needless to say we’re upset about the whole mess.
Never had this problem with Windows Mobile.
Craig
Thank you for the updates Craig. I am sure you have considered shutting down these comments and halting further feedback until it is released like what happened a few months back after all the criticism. Just want to let you know, we appreciate your work. It sounds like it has been a very frustrating process, thanks for persevering. God bless you in your work, and I apologize on behalf of all those who impatiently criticize. Praying that god gives you wisdom as you code.
For $99 you could start a “new company” and get a new cert to distribute with. That will get you an additional 100 phones you can distribute to. On the renewal date of your old $99 membership you will get a new one year cert and can distribute to a different set of 100 phones. As far as upgrading, yes, when people replace their equipment with a new phone they actually get a new device that has a new hardware id. If the $99 is a deal breaker I’ll be happy to pony up the $99 if I can be a tester.
So its $99/year for adhoc distribution to 100 devices. There isn’t a limit to the total, just the number you can do with each “company.”
I’ve been thinking about that solution but the problem is that there are reports that it’s not possible to have two developer certificates on the same machine. So we’d each have to dedicate a Mac to each company. (And issue new security certificates with the same names so that builds would work for either “company” etc.)
It is NOT the case that renewing gives you 100 more phones. That’s part of what has people upset. It’s 100 UDIDs for the life of your company and once you mess it up by having more than a few beta testers who upgrade to 3G then to 3GS, you’re stuck.
The correct solution to this is not for developers to go get a bunch of new MacBooks and a bunch of $99 developer accounts, but rather for Apple to remove their crania from their recta and simply fix their broken Web site and developer-abusive policy.
Actually, its 100 UUID’s for the life of the cert which is 1 year from issuance. Each year you get a new cert and a clean reset of your 100 UUID’s. It isn’t 100 UUIDs for the life of your company, its for the life of a particular cert and that’s one year.
As for the problem of having more than one developer cert installed on a host. It certainly isn’t going to require a second computer. Its either manual cert management. Creating a second user account on the same computer to handle the second “company” cert. Or in a total worst case, a second HD to install a complete OS and toolchain. Its not going to require a complete second computer.
Anyway, those are just some workaround solutions to avoiding a problem with Apple Developer Tool Chain issues and the lack of communication your are getting from them. I only offered the second “company” as a quick solution to your testing problem. If you want to wait for Apple to fix the underlying problem with their DTS service. History says you will be waiting a long time.
To repeat, one of the current bugs in the iPhone Dev Portal is that renewing your developer certificate does not reset your 100 UDIDs. In effect, the 100-UDID limit is for the life of your company. That’s the problem. We all agree it shouldn’t work that way, but it does. And Apple says it doesn’t work that way, but its developers who have renewed their developer license are saying otherwise.
For lurkers who aren’t following Matt’s suggestions, while they’re good they point out the complete absurdity of Apple’s security system for developers. He’s suggesting paying the annual registration fee ($99) a second time, installing a second hard drive containing not just a second copy of the compiler but a second copy of the OPERATING SYSTEM. This is a brilliant solution to the utter lack of competence at Apple, but it doesn’t have to be this way.
Anyway as I said before this isn’t what’s holding up beta 2 except to the extent that we can’t add our own 3GS device to our own account, so we can’t install our own program onto our own new devices.
Meanwhile I’ve never bought a Windows Mobile device onto which I couldn’t install PocketBible.
Craig, I do appreciate that these kind of posts can take up your precious time, but just to say that your explanation really did help me appreciate the complexities and therefore makes the wait a little bit easier. I hope and pray you can find a way forward.