Whatbird.com

I really do appreciate the commitment you are giving to your customers.  I too was initially disappointed there is no upgrade price for current plus users, but completely understand it is a limitation of the Apple Store.  I think there are some misconceptions with Apple customers who can't see a difference between updates and upgrades.  They seem to think that new features should be added to a program that already exists for free rather than updates that fix glitches or improve speed.  There's a game that I had bought a while back and now another version of it is for sale with extra gameplay.  More work went into creating these extra screens and challenges, so certainly folks should get paid for this and not just eat the cost of all the work that went into it.

That being said, I'm going against what I said in my first paragraph, I believe that the search by song ought to be added to the Plus version.  Here's my reason why: Beginning birders who are still learning (like me) can really use search by song to help narrow down the birds, same with search by month, yet they likely wouldn't feel confident enough to lay down $30 for the Pro version when it has features they might never use. It is an assumption based on not really knowing what those features are or how to use them, but again, that's the limitation of the Apple store where you can only read descriptive text and view a few images.  However, when people are concerned about money, they'll opt for the less expensive version especially when there are unknowns.  Plus these features are on your website for free and you have set a precedent of adding a new feature or two with each update.

I'm not sure I see enough difference between Plus & Pro at this point for Pro to be considered a new product.  Pro just has some extra features that the Plus does not have, but the interface is completely the same and much like what is already on the WhatBird website.  Now, if the Pro version had a search by song in the manner of the program Shazam, then it most certainly would be a completely different program.  Even better, if the distribution maps could link to the GPS in the iPhone (clearly these features wouldn't work with iPod Touch) to help narrow down the searches - or basically make a list of the possible birds in that specific area.  These are definitely significant differences in the program and would be for the very enthusiastic birders who would also be great evangelists for your program at festivals.

A note taking feature would be awesome.  I can see myself using it to date the sighting and location as well as any fun notes on the sighting - like licking a popsicle, lol! 

Is there a way to merge it with the ebird idea? Or maybe it should stay seperate and minimal or limited notes can be on the Plus. Longer note space on the Pro.

mmatmRed:

  Plus these features are on your website for free and you have set a precedent of adding a new feature or two with each update.

There is no relationship between what is on the web site and what is in iBird. They are completely different business models.

I hear what you are saying about the search by song feature and there should be more differences between Plus and Pro. I am reluctant to go much further, as its better to under promise and over deliver. But I will say this - we will continue to enhance and improve all versions of the Mitch Waite group product line. The same quality we applied as computer book publishers will be upheald in our software products.

And if you are curious as to what the competition will be like, take a look at this link.

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Mitch Waite

All apps will have the note taking feature, but Pro will be more powerful.

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Mitch Waite

I find it refreshing that a developer has so much confidence he can freely pass along info about future competitors.  I checked the link and it looks interesting.  Just as I have many printed Field Guides, I imagine I will likely download multiple digital field guides as they become available.  Having more resources and more info is always a plus (or a PRO).  In the meantime, the more I use both iBird Plus and iBird PRO, the more impressed I am with the scope of these excellent products, both in terms of their technical achievements and also the comprehensive value they add to the birding experience.  I have no connection to the developer of iBird other than being a very satisfied customer and a very impressed birder.  While I welcome additional resources, I see iBird as a long-time provider of digital excellence for birding.

Doug did you notice there was no search capability in the product? Seems strange to me to leave such an important feature out. Perhaps the company did some focus groups and discovered not that many people cared about searching, but our research shows that the search engine is very important to our customers. They also set up the GUI so that you have to tap a lot of buttons to access content. I agree that probably most serious birders with iPhones will explorer all the new apps. The real issue is will the products have legs, meaning will there be enough of a value proposition that the birding community feels its worthwhile. For example I noticed that the Peterson Backyard Bird Guide for the iPhone sold well for a few weeks but then dropped off the charts. And it has good artwork so it would appear that the interface was not done well or the content was not deep enough.

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Mitch Waite

Mitch, as I said, I welcome as many new products as possible.  At the present time, the alternative is not even available.  It is vaporware.  I don't know what will be there when it is (eventually) released.  As I said, what I do know is that I now have TWO products on my iPhone: iBird Plus and IBird PRO and they are excellent.  While I expect to acquire as many credible products as possible, iBird (Plus and PRO) have set an extremely high bar to match and these will be the lead players for years to come.  As I stated, I am totally impressed with the technical and birding capabilities of these products.  The fact that I may welcome additional (imperfect) resources is not meant in any way to denigrate those products that are not in Beta, not in vaporware, but have already proven themslves to be excellent resources for birders.  iBird Plus and PRO have set a high bar and, while I eagerly welcome every effort by anyone to offeer additional options, I doubt that iBird will be dislodged from its position at the top of the roost any time soon.

While I understand your business "model" in not offering a "typical" upgrade path from Plus to Pro, what about those of us that recently discovered iBird and purchased the Plus version not knowing a "Pro" was on the way?

I purchased Plus 4 days ago - had I known a Pro was coming and there was no upgrade path, I would have waited.

I feel the least you could do is some sort of "grace" period for your customers that purchased Plus very recently, allowing them to just pay the difference.

A grace period would be a perfect idea, except we don't sell the product, Apple does. Not too many people understand that. We dont even know who our customers are so we can't send them a global email message. Any "difference" in price would come out of our pocket. If Apple offered a grace period, and rebated customers the difference in price, or gave credit for Plus if they bought Pro I would be very happy, but I can't control there business policy. Its perpetual problem in all industry - if you make a purchase right before a new model comes out, you feel hosed. The only thing I can offer is that we will continue to upgrade both products content and features. And I don't think you can find a better product in either case, Pro or Plus, on any platform.

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Mitch Waite

Did some birding this morning.  The search features on iBird (both Plus and PRO) are truly amazing.  Not just having a search feature, but how well it is implemented and the ease of use.  Much better than scrolling through a Field Guide or scrambling through an index.  A handheld birding program without a search feature might still be an interesting reference, and might still be worth adding as an additional resource, but would not be the constant companion and primary birding tool that iBird is.  I think the only reason a developer might omit it is the technical difficulty of achieving something that is both as powerful and as useful as what is in iBird.  I doubt it was "easy" to create this tool.  Each time I show iBird to another birder, the response is utterly jaw-dropping.  The scope, detail, features, and easy-to-use interface render these products instantly addictive!  I have only had this tool (the Plus version) since December, but one quickly begins wondering how we ever did birding without it!

Further to the subject of the SEARCH feature, the new search criteria added in iBird PRO to include month and location is actually a very powerful tool, to help narrow the search down to the birds currently in season.  I am certainly no programmer or developer, "just" an appreciative end user, but it seems like the hard part of this has been done and, at the risk of sounding too greedy (we want notes!  we want more search features!), it seems that it would not be too much to make one small additional tweak -- just as you added the option of setting a default location, seems like since you've already programmed all the data, it would not be too much to allow users the option of setting a default on the "search by month/location" to specify that it just look up and apply the current pre-set default location plus (using the iPhone's built in date/time) look up the current month and use that (perhaps also include one month either side to pick up early and late migrants).  Gee, four months ago I didn't have a handheld birding program at all, now I've become both dependent and demanding (but appreciative)!

I bought iBird Plus a couple of weeks ago and just love it, I thought at first that there was a listing feature and that was one of the main reasons I bought it so was disappointed when I couldn't find it, other than that it is really cool, I love being able to play bird calls from something I can hold in my hand, a little more variety in bird songs and calls would be nice.  A listing feature is one thing I would love to see added to Plus, the only thing I like about Pro is the search by song feature, other than that I wouldn't pay the money to upgrade because I like Plus a lot and can't see spending the extra $30 right now when I just bought Plus.  But keep up the good work, you have a really neat product!

Doug in Escondido:

Further to the subject of the SEARCH feature, the new search criteria added in iBird PRO to include month and location is actually a very powerful tool, to help narrow the search down to the birds currently in season.  I am certainly no programmer or developer, "just" an appreciative end user, but it seems like the hard part of this has been done and, at the risk of sounding too greedy (we want notes!  we want more search features!), it seems that it would not be too much to make one small additional tweak -- just as you added the option of setting a default location, seems like since you've already programmed all the data, it would not be too much to allow users the option of setting a default on the "search by month/location" to specify that it just look up and apply the current pre-set default location plus (using the iPhone's built in date/time) look up the current month and use that (perhaps also include one month either side to pick up early and late migrants).  Gee, four months ago I didn't have a handheld birding program at all, now I've become both dependent and demanding (but appreciative)!

 

Give them an inch and they.... Well right now we give the option to remember the state, so I am sure its not hard to remember the month/location. However there is a side effect that may not be obvious. People forget that they have it set that way. Come back several days later to do a search, keep getting zero results. How come? They didn't notice they had month/location set. I've seen this happen a lot. One person suggested we have the selected attributes "float to the top" of the search page. I dont like that because with fixed locations you remember eventually where they are. Its funny how you think adding something really simple can end up having repercussions in weird ways.

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Mitch Waite

Dear Crazy 4 Birds: What may I ask gave you the impression it had a listing feature? I certainly don't want to be disappointing people, so if there is some wording that made it seem we offered such a feature I need to fix it. More variety in the calls is on our list and being worked on.

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Mitch Waite

It wasn't anything you said, I just didn't realize that the list feature was listed under upcoming features, and now going back to look at the Plus features I see that it is there, that is something I am really looking forward to!  Also your ad in the March 2009 issue of Birding magazine is a little vague, it has all these new for 2009 features listed but doesn't say anything about all these features only being available in the Pro version, when I saw that ad I thought I would be able to get all these upcoming features when I bought Plus and I got really excited, and I saw the ad before I ever even knew anything about Pro. Oh well.