# Gauging iPhone App Interest



## dvsDave (Jun 14, 2009)

We want to gauge the interest of the ControlBooth Community for having an iPhone app to interact with CB. 

Please vote in the poll to let me know if you would be interested in a $2.99 app. (obviously you must have an iPhone/iTouch to buy the app)

Screenshots of app (as built for another community)



*Navigate inside a forum*​
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*View responses to your posts/threads*​

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*View Forum Photos the iPhone Way*​
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*Create Topics & Reply to Posts*​
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## LightingPenguin (Jun 14, 2009)

I would get this, no second thoughts (unless of course it sucked  )


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## gafftapegreenia (Jun 15, 2009)

When I get an iPhone in the fall I'd get it.


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## NickJones (Jun 15, 2009)

Sincce the annoncement of the new iPhone 3GS the price of the current iPhone is set to drop to US $99 for the 8 gig version. And the iPhone 3GS is set to be around $200 US. I just a few weeks ago purchesed a 16 gig iPod Toch, for about $300 US (Aussie $419) and now I find that soon I will be able to buy a iPhone for half the price I paid for my iPod a few weeks earlier.
God it annyed me.
I will definatley get the App once it comes out just make sure its not only avialable in the US.
CB on iPhone will be great.
Nick


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## spiwak2005 (Jun 15, 2009)

Slight hijack -


NickJones said:


> Sincce the annoncement of the new iPhone 3GS the price of the current iPhone is set to drop to US $99 for the 8 gig version. And the iPhone 3GS is set to be around $200 US. I just a few weeks ago purchesed a 16 gig iPod Toch, for about $300 US (Aussie $419) and now I find that soon I will be able to buy a iPhone for half the price I paid for my iPod a few weeks earlier.



Yes but remember, you aren't buying an iPhone for $200. You're paying $200 up front for the opportunity to pay $100+ per month for service. I personally wouldn't trade my iPod Touch for an iPhone right now. I get WiFi almost everywhere I need it and use my cheapo cell phone just as a phone.

And I would love a CB iPhone/Touch app!


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## gafftaper (Jun 15, 2009)

Um Dave... what kind of websites are you hanging out on with that IPhone? You might want to re-cut that screen shot. 

dvsDave said:


>


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## dvsDave (Jun 15, 2009)

um, yeah... I didn't take the screenshots, the developer did. See Tapatalk - Online Community at your fingertips! we are talking to the developer about a private label version of this software.


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## LightingPenguin (Jun 16, 2009)

Just a note about upgrading to the 3Gs for those in the US

Unless you are eligible for an upgrade (those with contracts older than 18 months+), you're prices will skyrocket. You'll end up paying I believe 400-700 US


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## renegadeblack (Jun 16, 2009)

Since you're talking to him, will I be able to get push notifications tomorrow when I install the update?


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## NickJones (Jun 17, 2009)

And will it give me the little number above the icon or will I have to open up the app? Will it be available worldwide?
Nick


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## Hughesie (Jun 17, 2009)

Make it 5$ and donate some to CB or a theater fund. It also allows a nice round figure.

But Dave, Isn't Vb about to release their app?


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## dvsDave (Jun 17, 2009)

vB isn't working on an iPhone app to my knowledge. Unfortunately I can't do the the donating thing Huzy, Apple doesn't allow it. (see the ETC iPhone app saga for proof)


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## NickJones (Jun 17, 2009)

Apple not letting you do somting? Never! God I hate them, why must the have such cool products?


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## dvsDave (Jun 17, 2009)

*UPDATE* on the apple upgrade policy: AT&T relents a little, lets iPhone 3G customers with upcoming upgrade dates buy 3G S at full subsidy


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## NickJones (Jun 19, 2009)

To be honest Dave the more I look at this the less it seems useful. No offense, but after pulling up the current CB on my iPod (That you can do by changing the theme at the bottom to iPhone) I really see no major differences other than it takes advantage of the touch feature more. What would be really awesome would be if you could get the site to just go to the normal CB on iPhone, rather than the limiting iPhone mode. Then there would be no need for you to spend an arm and a leg on getting the App developed. The only feature the App seems to have that current iPhone CB doesnt have is the ability to look through uploaded photos like a photo album & show the avatars. The more I think about it the less point I see in doing it. How hard would it be to just take away the re-direct function when you connect on an iPhone?
Just my 5c
Nick


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## Clifford (Jun 19, 2009)

I would get the app. I don't usually use the iPhone because viewing CB in Safari is a little annoying. App please.


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## MNicolai (Jun 20, 2009)

CB on the iPhone as is isn't that difficult to navigate, but I didn't try posting replies or checking the glossary while I was demoing the one in the AT&T store (my 3G S is still shipping to the store yet).

A question I do have though, is if you change the website at all, and I know you always have ideas you're crunching around in your head, I would be curious how much that would affect the app and if a domino effect of problems would be created. Maybe this would work well after the next huge update to the website, unless the website looks really stable right now and doesn't need new features.

Another issue is how much people are willing to pay. If there's some, but not much added utility in having an app versus going to the WWW address, I'd be willing to pay maybe a couple dollars, because that's pocket-change to me and CB is a website I check often, but if only minor value is in added to the app, and we don't have a large enough footprint of people who would purchase it, then the pricing may not be worthwhile for us in the long -run.

For the functionality of having a dedicated app, and let's go extra special and say it plays nicely with our collaborative articles and glossary, maybe even makes it 10x easier to find those articles and modify them, then how much of a price tag are we looking on a per-user basis? That, or is this a cookie-cutter job for the dev and will be easy, quick, and not-as-expensive?


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## NickJones (Jun 24, 2009)

Im on iPhone now. It currently sucks.
Nick


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## dvsDave (Jun 25, 2009)

Here's the first version of the app: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=307880732&mt=8 You'll have to click to the educational category (I think) to find CB. I don't have an iPhone/iTouch so I can't test it. Please let me know what you think, and if you think it's worth it for CB to have it's own version of this app.


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## MNicolai (Jun 25, 2009)

Is Tapatalk by Quoord Systems the correct app?


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## MNicolai (Jun 25, 2009)

Testing. Seems to work fine on my 3G S except it doesn't have a means of connecting to the wiki or collaboratives. I can verify that it is Tapatalk by Quoord Systems. Also, it leaves this sig at the bottom by default. I'll do more regular posting from here to test it more thoroughly.

I do not have any formatting options though, and it would be nice if I could directly upload photos from my iPhone to this post like Tweetdeck interfaces with Twitpic. When posting a tweet you can either choose a photo you've already taken or take a photo directly which will upload to Twitpic and add the link to your tweet. When working in a theatre it would be awesome to seamlessly post photos directly to threads, especially for questions regarding equipment or a setup.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## MNicolai (Jun 25, 2009)

Also, I'm unable to find a way to edit posts and I can view subscriped topics but see no way to subscribe to topics without using the website. The streamlined access to threads is nice though and load times are almost instant.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## MNicolai (Jun 25, 2009)

Sorry for the splurge of posts by me. Without editing that will happen though. While I was thinking about it, also gone is the ability to do quotes on other posts so I plan to start using @username when I'm responding to someone specifically.


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## dvsDave (Jun 25, 2009)

it's only the first version. There are updates already being submitted to apple. They just haven't been approved yet.


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## MNicolai (Jun 27, 2009)

The refresh appears to be strange. If I make a post, even after exiting and reentering the app the thread does not appear to move to the top of the list.

Dave, do you know how often it refreshes or what triggers it to? 



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## NickJones (Jun 27, 2009)

Not available in Aus.... Awwwwwwwwwwwww


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## dvsDave (Jun 27, 2009)

next version will be worldwide


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## NickJones (Jun 27, 2009)

YEY! I can't find it on the search, so forgive the stupid question, are you simply getting everyone to buy Tapitalk or is is a special Tapitalk for CB?
Nick


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## dvsDave (Jun 27, 2009)

well, it's very, very, very expensive to buy a branded version of tapatalk that would be just for CB. If we see a certain % of adoption and if tapatalk's devs update the app to where we want it, then we will go with a CB branded version.


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## NickJones (Jun 29, 2009)

But if the Tapatalk developers were to do this we would all need to re-purchase what is primarily the same app but with the Controlbooth logo? Or is there a version of Tapitalk on the App store dedicated to CB but really just the normal version of Tapitalk?
Nick


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## dvsDave (Jun 29, 2009)

it's would be tapatalk, you just wouldn't have to select CB as the site to access when you open the app.


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## MNicolai (Jun 29, 2009)

If we had our own version, there would definitely be features I would like to see though that aren't there already. The app is nice and everything, but it has a ways to go before it's awesome.


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## dvsDave (Jun 29, 2009)

what would you like to see in order to justify the app?


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## MNicolai (Jun 29, 2009)

Possible features:

Ability to perform basic formatting (bold, italics, underline, numbered and bulleted lists)

Better automatic and/or manual refresh of forums and thread order based on most recent reply

Ability to take a photo or upload one directly from iPhone, possibly via a remote service like TwitPic and then place link in post.

Ability to edit posts

Access to view, edit, and post to blogs, collaborative articles, and wiki

Given the nature of posting from a phone, the ability to save posts as a draft.

Ability to quote posts by other people. Also, it would be nice to be able to view recent posts within a thread while responding to it.




They aren't so much justifications, but if I was looking for the ultimate Controlbooth app, I think it would include those features. However, more features is often synonymous with more clutter.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## listerofsmeg (Jun 29, 2009)

I would buy it, something to do during Dance school shows


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## MNicolai (Jul 10, 2009)

I don't suppose there's a way to look at the Offtopic forum within the app?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## willbb123 (Jul 10, 2009)

MNicolai said:


> I don't suppose there's a way to look at the Offtopic forum within the app?
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk



The off topic and punching bag are the last two in the CB Discussions list, atleast for me.

One feature that I really want is when you go to a thread it goes to your last unread post.


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## MNicolai (Jul 10, 2009)

They're not showing up for me, but I only recently upgrade my account. I'll try logging in again.


Pause


Pause


Pause

Hey, it worked. Sweetness.


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## dvsDave (Jul 15, 2009)

Version 1.2 of the app is currently pending at the App Store. New features include:

1) Full Private Message support
2) Quote reply
3) Faster load-time and improved session management
4) Full screen image viewing
5) Board Statistic
6) Who's online

And.. Push Notification is in full stream development!!


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## NickJones (Jul 16, 2009)

But still not available here, think of poor me, Chris15, Logos & Hughesie! Aussies want the app!


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## dvsDave (Jul 16, 2009)

1.2 will be worldwide so just keep an eye out.


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## Chris15 (Jul 21, 2009)

NickJones said:


> But still not available here, think of poor me, Chris15, Logos & Hughesie! Aussies want the app!



EWWWWW No.

It involves Apple. I want nothing to do with it...


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## Hughesie (Jul 21, 2009)

NickJones said:


> But still not available here, think of poor me, Chris15, Logos & Hughesie! Aussies want the app!



Speak for yourself Nick. I'm actually with Derek on this one, all its going to do is let people further ruin the recently poorer English on this forum. Which is one of the reasons i no longer frequent this forum.


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## MistressRach (Jul 22, 2009)

Hughesie said:


> Speak for yourself Nick. I'm actually with Derek on this one, all its going to do is let people further ruin the recently poorer English on this forum. Which is one of the reasons i no longer frequent this forum.



First of all- Derek didn't even post in this thread. You don't want people to put words in your mouth, maybe you should show others the same courtesy. 
Also, there are some pretty glaring errors in capitalization and punctuation in your post for someone who is supposedly lamenting the demise of the English language.
Finally- if you no longer frequent this forum, what are you still doing here posting???


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## Hughesie (Jul 24, 2009)

I came back to see if much had changed. By the looks of it the same convoluted hirachy remains. It's good to see you posting mistressrach


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## philhaney (Jul 24, 2009)

Hughesie said:


> I came back to see if much had changed. By the looks of it, the same convoluted _hirachy_ remains. It's good to see you posting mistressrach.



"hirachy" ...? (A friend of Pagliacci, perhaps...)

And that should be MistressRach. 

Not that I'm a Grammar Nazi, or anything.....


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## icewolf08 (Jul 26, 2009)

Just testing some features of tapatalk. 

*can I wrtie in bold?*


icewolf08 said:


> can I quote myself?



The app is pretty cool and much simpler and easier to use than the web interface on iPhone. Do mods and senior team memeners still have full funtionality?

And a bug I noticed: it doesn't seem to want to scroll while I type when I get to the bottom of the screen so the text just goes behind the keyboard. That is a little annoying. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## dvsDave (Jul 28, 2009)

Okay, worldwide App is released! 

iTunes Store

Adds Private messaging, quote support, and is much faster on the OS3.x platform.

They are working on the following for the next release as well:

- Full Pagination support
- Push Notification (Private Message and Subscribed Topics notification)
- Image Attachment and Camera integration (You can't even do it in Safari! ;-)
- Who's Online


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## MNicolai (Jul 29, 2009)

Testing new app.

This is sleek now. Still looks like you need to manually code formatting but it's certainly making it even easier to manage your CB lurking via your iPhone.

Anyone know how to use the image attachment feature?


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