Native XenForo App in Development.

[vbresults]

Please don't try and push information regarding this as fact thank you. The prices are marked "provisional" for a reason.

All I did was quote you, including the "provisional" part, so if the information isn't factual, that's in your hands.

Prices are provisionally:
$120 a year for a shared native app with self styling [but unavailable]
$180 a year a forum-specific app with self styling
$300 a year for a forum-specific branding free app
Additional charges may apply for differing publish options.

Until you revise this "provisional" pricing, this is the 1st payment due and it covers a year. On that note --

Our focus lies with creating the highest quality app first, the exact billing and purchasing structure will be worked out once our billing and publishing system is complete.

I see. Taking this into consideration, is it up there that anyone who signs on prior to the January 1st release pays the "provisional" $180 or $300 up front, and at some point on or shortly after the 1st, others get it for $15/$25 down? Just trying to get some clarity here, because you also posted this:

Another issue was funding, quality App development comes with a price, and whilst a croudfund was considered, it was deemed best to avoid this given the history of poorly managed croudfunds previously.

Under the [alleged] scenario, this pre-order system looks a lot like crowdfunding to me, under a different name, just like "monthly" pricing under a different name. What do you think about this?

 

[RobParker]

Under the [alleged] scenario, this pre-order system looks a lot like crowdfunding to me, under a different name, just like "monthly" pricing under a different name. What do you think about this?

Paying up front for a service isn't quite the same as crowdfunding for various reasons, the main one being that we'd have some form of consumer protection were we not provided the service that we signed the contract for.

They need startup capital and charging up front for that is the sensible way to do it.

I agree that it's just marketing/PR to quote the monthly cost but don't see it as a major issue considering it'd be cheap at twice the price.

 

[Slavik]

Our pricing was released so that forum owners could budget it into their monthly incomings and outgoings. I know I don't budget for my forums a year in advance, I imagine many others don't also.

With regards to the "crowdfunding", zero payments have been taken, and zero payments will be taken until we have a product to give for it, as I have stated to every person who has pre-ordered and enquired about payment. We are in discussion with forum owners as to how they would prefer to pay for it, be this a initial set up fee and then direct into monthly payments, upfront in full for a year, or a mix of both.

We are not insensitive that some boards may be able to afford this solution on a monthly budget, but not on a yearly cost, as such we are trying to strike the balance to get things as right as possible for as many people, as you know there is a significant up front time investment in creating/publishing an app for a client we need to account for in the pricing structure.

 

[vbresults]

Our pricing was released so that forum owners could budget it into their monthly incomings and outgoings. I know I don't budget for my forums a year in advance, I imagine many others don't also.

I imagine most forum owners, when they see monthly next to a price, expect to pay that, not 12 months.

With regards to the "crowdfunding", zero payments have been taken, and zero payments will be taken until we have a product to give for it, as I have stated to every person who has pre-ordered and enquired about payment. We are in discussion with forum owners as to how they would prefer to pay for it, be this a initial set up fee and then direct into monthly payments, upfront in full for a year, or a mix of both.

re: the bold part

If the project you’re backing is successfully funded, your card will be charged when the project reaches its funding deadline. If the project does not reach its funding goal, your card is never charged.

https://www.kickstarter.com/help/faq/backer+questions#faq_41760

We are not insensitive that some boards may be able to afford this solution on a monthly budget, but not on a yearly cost, as such we are trying to strike the balance to get things as right as possible for as many people, as you know there is a significant up front time investment in creating/publishing an app for a client we need to account for in the pricing structure.

Thanks for answering this clearly.

 

[RobParker]

I imagine most forum owners, when they see monthly next to a price, expect to pay that, not 12 months.

Really? I can think of many (if not most instances) where you're tied into a yearly contract but pay monthly for a service subscription.

Certainly car insurance, gym membership, tv subscription services and many other examples work that way.

 

[drastic]

@Slavik To be able to logon to the app and post a picture or video to XMG could be priceless for some people.

My friends have personally said "you should get an app, I would use that."

 

[gavpeds]

Yes yes yes can't wait for this! I am up for the $25 option have pm'd

 

[Robust]

I see. Taking this into consideration, is it up there that anyone who signs on prior to the January 1st release pays the "provisional" $180 or $300 up front, and at some point on or shortly after the 1st, others get it for $15/$25 down? Just trying to get some clarity here, because you also posted this:

I don't think that's what he said, but even if it is, ever heard of toll bridges or high prices when something new is made? A new bridge that cost a lot to make is often a toll bridge. A new gym that cost millions to make has increased pricing temporarily (the gym I go to has much higher pricing since they built it into a new huge one that cost them $4 mil or so, I'm planning on changing gyms lol, new pricing sucks). This definitely wouldn't be cheap to make.

 

[Robust]

@Slavik To be able to logon to the app and post a picture or video to XMG could be priceless for some people.

My friends have personally said "you should get an app, I would use that."

The official XF add-ons would be worth adding support for later down the line. Not really 3rd party mods unless it's a new application and *very* popular. In which case, some kind of 3rd party modding system would be a better idea than doing it themselves. That'd definitely be after the XF 2.0 release if they decided to do it, I'd imagine.

 

[vbresults]

@Robust Raising money isn't the problem. He went out of his was to say it's not crowdfunding. When it looks like a duck, swims like a duck... anyway, he answered this clearly so I consider the case closed.

 

[click here]

I didn't have a chance to read through all the posts so I may have missed it... will forum admin's be able to select which usergroup's can use this app on their site?

 

[James]

I didn't have a chance to read through all the posts so I may have missed it... will forum admin's be able to select which usergroup's can use this app on their site?

Yeah that was discussed and I believe slavik agreed it will be a feature. I'm not sure if initially or later down the line.

 

[Slavik]

I didn't have a chance to read through all the posts so I may have missed it... will forum admin's be able to select which usergroup's can use this app on their site?

That is one of our plans yes.

 

[click here]

That is one of our plans yes.

 

[duderuud]

I can do a translation to Dutch, it would be cool if someone else could check it afterwards because I'm not a trained translator.

I can help for sure

 

[D.O.A.]

Any 3rd party integration will be a long way off. But thanks for the suggestion.

Hopefully not too far off, the post ratings add-on would be awesome if it can extended into the app. I only say this because it's a 'major' component of our forums, we have absolutely zero competition from social media (I don't even have a facebook account) and it's the actual forum and its own internal features that make us what we are, the worst forum on the internet (well, top 30 according to salon.com). I'd love to be able to do what we do on a responsive theme with a native app but no 3rd party integration is a hurdle I can't jump yet. All the best with development!

 

[Slavik]

Hopefully not too far off, the post ratings add-on would be awesome if it can extended into the app. I only say this because it's a 'major' component of our forums, we have absolutely zero competition from social media (I don't even have a facebook account) and it's the actual forum and its own internal features that make us what we are, the worst forum on the internet (well, top 30 according to salon.com). I'd love to be able to do what we do on a responsive theme with a native app but no 3rd party integration is a hurdle I can't jump yet. All the best with development!

We've had a few devs get in touch about including their addons in the app, all I can re-iterate is that the priority will be official XenForo addons first, then based on popularity amongst other things, we will look at what can or can't be added. The timescales of these happening are still TBD once the core app is working as we expect.

 

[gavpeds]

Will the app take advantage of tablets extra space, or will it just be a scaled up phone version?

 

[click here]

@Slavik Will this app display page nodes?

 

[Slavik]

Happy new year guys!

So, this is ongoing, but the points I think that are currently outstanding.

1) Screen size, a design for a 2 pane design for tablets is being worked on, more info on this will be available nearer the design completion, for an idea the current line of thought is something similar to the BBC news app on tablets, where the left side will have navigation, forums, threads etc, and the right hand side will display the content, posts, conversations etc.

2) Polls+pages are being worked on, but may not make the first release.

Things are generally going well, though as its the first day back since the Christmas break, it may take a few days for things to get back into full swing, I should have replied to all messages received over the last week or so, but if I have missed you out, feel free to send a reminder.