It’s been about three and a half years since I first addressed the question of PocketBible for the Mac. Things have changed significantly since then, so I thought I’d post an update so I’d have somewhere to direct those of you who ask about PocketBible for the Mac.
As I mentioned in my previous post on this topic from 2007, we’re not anti-Mac here. In fact, since then Jeff and I have converted to almost 100% Mac. For example, my primary desktop machine is a 2.8 GHz dual quad-core Mac Pro on which I run Mac OS (of course) plus both Windows XP and 7 under Parallels. One of my two monitors can be switched to my old PC running Windows XP, but since installing Office for Mac and moving the small amount of Windows development I do to my Mac, I rarely use it.
As you know Jeff and I spend two days each week working “off-site” which for us means taking our laptops to a coffee shop instead of working from home. For those days I carry a basic 13″ MacBook that is configured to do both Android and iPhone development.
Jeff’s configuration is similar but he does more of his day-to-day work on his MacBook Pro. And while the rest of my family runs Windows, Jeff’s is more of a Mac family.
In addition to the Macs, we both have more than one iPad, iPhone and/or iPod touch. I literally sleep with my iPad, which allows me to dispense with the morning email and Facebook updates before I even get up. The point is, we’re far from anti-Mac here, even though there’s no PocketBible for Mac.
In my 2007 article on this topic I focussed on market share. At the time, the Mac represented about 10% of the personal computer market in the US. That was probably overstated. 6% might have been closer to the truth. As near as I can tell it’s around 10% now (Q1 2011). I’ve seen stats based on recording information from website visits that shows Mac OS at 15% in the US, but I haven’t seen that number anywhere other than one study. Everything else I’ve seen is around 10%. With that in mind, my previous discussion of the financial aspects of making the decision to do PocketBible for Mac still applies.
What is different, however, is the amount of Mac-friendly code we now have in hand. Since iOS (the iPhone operating system) is very similar to Mac OS, and since programming for iOS uses the same Objective-C programming language as is used on the Mac, we have quite a library of PocketBible code already ported to the Mac. In fact, in some of my early testing I actually compiled the code for the Mac and displayed the contents of PocketBible LBK files on a Mac rather than an iPhone.
However, while it’s getting easier for us to make the decision to develop for the Mac, one thing that is still an issue is our limited resources. It’s still just me and Jeff here doing programming. Many of you have written to say “just hire more programmers”. That’s a great suggestion, but it ignores reality. Imagine if I came to you and said, “Just buy a new house!” or “Just buy a new car!” Few of you would say, “Oh, yeah, I never thought of that — I’ll just take a few pounds of cash from this pile I keep in my closet and buy a new one.” The reality is that hiring a programmer or two is expensive, and while many of you seem to think that we’re making more money than we can count (“profiteering from the Word of God” as many of you like to say) the reality is that Laridian doesn’t throw off that much cash.
With that in mind, we always have to consider how we make use of our time. One of the things we’ve learned with PocketBible for WIndows is that even though it’s a really nice Windows BIble program, our expertise and customer base is really concentrated on mobile devices. To the extent that a desktop program can interact with, supplement, or enhance our mobile products, it can be successful. But it’s hard for it to be successful on its own as a stand-alone desktop Bible program. So it’s best for us to always first think about mobile platforms before turning our attention to the desktop (be it Windows or Mac).
When we look at our world from that point of view, Android is the obvious place where we need to focus. It is definitely the up-and-coming platform in the mobile space, and Laridian is notoriously absent. We want to be there; we’re working on being there; and we’re going to be there. But the time spent working on Android is time we can’t spend on Mac.
To be honest, we would love to take some time and do a Mac version of PocketBible. So rest assured it’s at the top of the to-do list here. Unfortunately there are several tasks that share that position.
As a 99% Mac only desktop/notebook user, and the 1% using VMware Fusion on my iMac, I can say that I’d love to see a PocketBible for Mac, I’d buy it in a heartbeat. As someone with some business sense, I think you’re analysis is right on track, you should focus on portable, and Android is certainly worthy to be on that list (wife has Droid X, and I have Motorola Xoom). I would imagine most households have a mixed bag of portables, iOS, Android, etc., my wife also has an iPad, point being, you can’t go wrong focusing on the portables, and to be honest, even when I was a Windows user I had PocketBible for Windows installed, I rarely used it, preferring instead to the PocketPC version. I take my iPhone 4 to church, I don’t take my Macbook Pro. May our Lord continue to use your programs to reach and bless many. The quicker the Word gets out to everyone, the quicker He returns!
Not a huge Mac user and money-wise, not sure it really makes sense to do a Mac version as they still have < 15% total market share. (Want to say < 10%, but can't cite sources for that, just remembering the basic numbers.) While it might be cool, I don't know that it would have the ROI to make it worthwhile unless it was just easy to convert somehow.
One thing I'd love to see is a slight tweak to the iPocketBible.com site to allow it to work with the WP7 "hybrid" IE browser. That would tide us over until such a time as Laridian might start working on a WP7 version (and very much realize that's also a bad ROI at this point). There's just no real winner in that space. YouVersion comes close, but is still lacking and lagging behind the other platforms.
Totally agree that Android is the best place to focus new product efforts, though. It just makes sense as there are so many Android users right now. And as much as I like PB for Windows (use it prepping for lessons with easy access to all of the references and such), I can see your point on it not really running away in the Windows Bible Software market without some value realized by tying that to your phone.
Thanks for sharing your perspective. It's hard to hear when your favorite OS isn't really on the radar, but your explanation makes a lot of sense.
As you probably know, many of the base frameworks are the same, however the UI frameworks are quite different (AppKit on the Mac and UIKit on iOS).
It will be interesting to see if/when newer versions of MacOS X will have UIKit. Until them, you can watch the cameleon project (http://chameleonproject.org/). It is a clean room implementation of UIKit for MacOS X written by the folks at the Icon Factory (creators of Twitterific).
Currently it supports enough of UIKit for Twitterific. I don’t know how much of your UI depends on UIKit. Something to consider…
Wisdom.
Pocket Bible and iPad = Great for preaching!
I understand and agree. Yesterday I was using Pocket Bible for Windows on my netbook (only PC in a house with 3 Macs and 2 iPhones) and thought how nice it would be to have PB on my Macs. On the other hand, I already have Accordance and Logos for Mac and they more than cover my desktop Bible study needs & honestly I’m not sure how much progress Laridian could make against those juggernaughts (except in pricing, where I’m sure you guys would beat them hands down).
Where Laridian’s presence is really needed is on Android. The dearth of good Bible study material on that platform is downright depressing. The only major house to have a presence there is Olive Tree and their BibleReader for Android is a very sad shadow of what it is on iOS. It would be so great to have Laridian in that space. For myself, I only use Olive Tree’s product for one Bible that Laridian doesn’t offer – the Spanish Reina Valera 1960. The rest of my mobile Bible study tools are from Laridian, and since I also own an Android phone in addition to an iPhone, your presence on Android is sorely missed! So yeah, I’d prefer you to develop for Android where I believe you’ll find a far greater return on your investment.
Chris, I spent a little time a couple months ago looking at a coule UIKit implementations. They had a long way to go at that time, but the idea is intriguing.
User interface is always 80% or more of the task involved in porting to a new platform. We always underestimate it, thinking “all we have to do is glue a UI onto our existing code and we’ll be done!” almost all our Android issues are related one way or another to the UI. Right now there is a performance issue in our code that is being exacerbated by the way a piece of the UI works. So we’re on our fourth full or partial implementation of how text is displayed.
Thanks for reminding me about the Chameleon Project. I’ll have to run over there and take a look sometime.
Peter, if you happen to have the CSS and JavaScript skills it might take to tweak iPocketBible.com for WP7, contact me at
craigr@Laridian.com.
The issue with PocketBible for Windows is not so much about its capabilities, but again goes back to where our focus is at. In order to truly compete in that crowded and mature market, we really need to spend more time and money on marketing, and change our sales channel emphasis. So while we have what we believe is a nice Bible study solution for Windows, we are forced to treat it like a feature of our mobile products rather than a product in it’s own right.
Another vote for a WP7 PB! I understand Laridian’s desire to get things in place for Android, but WP7 should be next in line!
Have you looked in the Mac App Store for Bible Software. Whoever arrives first with serious contender will have a leg up. I hope you can find the time to do it as I really think you would do well.
A Mac user here, who converted from PC about 5 years ago. Personally, I’d love to see you develop the Mac software. Yes, I’ve already got Logos for Mac, but I don’t love it. It’s almost too much.
I’m a pastor, and don’t have time to try to figure out extensive and expensive software. I spend my study time shared between musty books and my PocketBible for iPad. I could see Pocket Bible for Mac filling a great niche. So I understand your dilemma, but still want to encourage you to keep it at the top of the priority list.
100% Mac here for 20+ years! Here is at least one person (with dozens of Mac friends) to contribute to your ROI on the Mac version.
I would take those market share statistics with a grain of salt – they don’t factor in the demographics of the Christian market…
Please keep the idea of a mac client alive. I would buy it in a heart beat.
CK that’s kinda what I was trying to say in this article. Sorry I didn’t make it clearer.
Great to hear. As an iPhone, iPad and Mac user, I would welcome PocketBible for Mac but I agree you should be in the Android market. I have the Windows version, but just don’t like firing up Parallels for it. I’d love to be running your software alongside of some of the other stuff I use on the Mac.
Craig,
I was touched by your mentioning “profiteering from the Word of God”.
I have no problem with you & Jeff feeding your family by making the Word available to us all in a portable format. It’s a joy to be able to use the Word of God anytime any place. It’s incredible how God is using our gadgets.
I hope the Android version is ready soon, and that Jeff is whole soon, and I agree with Laridian’s focus on the area of most ROI.
Craig,
As a long time Quickverse user (version 4) I have had a long fondness for your products. About three years ago I purchased a Mac for the first time. I had to because I make a living by providing tech support to over 300 clients. In the last three years almost a third of my client base has switched to Macs.
Why the shift to macs? My clients have given me the following reasons:
1. They like the clean all in one design of the iMac. (Reduce cable clutter)
2. They hate Vista.
3. They love iPhones and iPads.
4. The high quality feel and appearance of Apple hardware.
5. Quick startup time for macs in comparison to Windows.
6. Tired of Windows security issues and wanted to try something new.
7. iLife
I understand the monetary issues and development costs, however, based on my client experience Mac users tend to be more likely to purchase software than Windows users.
I sure would like to see a Mac edition of Pocket Bible.
I would love it and buy it but fully understand the reasons for the delay.
When the Mac App store came out, I thought I would just be able to open up Xcode and compile my iPhone apps for OS X. Boy was I wrong. Even though I’m secretly hoping myself for a native Mac app, I totally understand why there isn’t one available…
Last year, I replaced my old phone (just made calls) and my old PDA with an HTC HD2, probably the last Windows Mobile 6x phone, to keep my WM apps, especially PocketBible. But at some point in the next couple of years, I will likely get a newer phone. The main options will be an iPhone or some form of Android. I don’t see Windows Phone 7 having much of an impact and Palm and Symbian are too far behind now. I am sure Laridian will have an Android version before then.
I used PB WM regularly for reading and quick lookups. But for more detailed Bible study, I use the PB Windows. I have both QuickVerse and Logos, which have a number of books not available from Laridian. But I use PB Windows almost totally now. It is easier to use than QV and Logos. Also, I have a number of books I created with BookBuilder Pro. For me, PB Windows is my main Bible app. So, I can understand why Mac users would want to have the same capabilities.
Being able to use the “same” program and the same books both on the desktop and while mobile is the best situation. But it has to be easy. That is where Logos falls short, in my opinion.
I concur with the others that Android is first and iOS enhancements next.
I think OS X is one of Apple’s only good products they ever released. I’m not a fan of their hardware and think iOS is not a well made mobile OS for phone or tablet. I still think it was very smart for you to release pocketbible for iDevices and I think it would also be wise for you to release an OS X version of PocketBible.
So, even though I don’t use any Apple products I completely support you and think your decisions make a lot of sense!