Zhephree

Ok, so, progress on incredible! is going quite well. I don’t want to give any dates for anything because, frankly, there’s no way I can promise I’ll be able to adhere to them. However, I wanted to make some things clearer.

What Version is Almost Ready?
The TouchPad (Enyo) version. The TouchPad is currently being pushed by HP a lot, and honestly, the TouchPad incredible! experience is much better than on the phone (merely because of screen size), so I want this version out first.

Will There Still Be a Phone Version?
Of course! Remember, I’m a webOS user, too, so I want all the same things everyone else wants. Heck, I’m still on webOS 1.4.5 on a Sprintified Pre Plus. So, you can bet that incredible! will work on all versions of the OS down to at last 1.4.5. I’m shooting for 1.4.0 compatibility so our friends in Mexico on TelCel can still get it (Seriously, HP, what the hell? 1.4.0? Is it you guys or TelCel?), but 1.4.5 is my main target.

Will I have to Buy a Tablet and a Phone Version?
That’s a really good question. I haven’t totally decided. Chances are, if the app is packaged and sold as a “fat app” (i.e., a single package that has both versions in it and the proper version runs depending on what device you’re on), it’ll cost more than if it were just a phone app or just a tablet app. The reason for this is, it is literally two different apps. The phone version and the tablet version have completely different UIs and frameworks and very little code is reusable between them. I started the Mojo/Phone version of the app almost 18 months ago and it’s about 85% done. The Enyo/tablet version I started about 4 months ago and it’s about 85% done. See how that goes? Bottom line is, I haven’t decided how to package and market this app. We’ll see.

What Social Networks Will incredible! Support?
At launch, it will support Twitter, Facebook, foursquare, and Flickr. You’ll be able to have unlimited accounts of each kind, so if you have 4 Twitter accounts, a Facebook account, a foursquare account, and 2 Flickr accounts, it’ll handle them all. Once the app has launched on the TouchPad, I’ll return to developing the Mojo/Phone version of the app. When that version is completed, I’ll go back to adding new networks to the apps. Adding support for a new network takes time, especially since all of the networks are intertwined and work independently and together in incredible!.

How Much Will it Cost?
Another good question. I have no idea. I’ve been monitoring the pricing of other apps in the Catalog, but frankly, this is a very unique app. Some Twitter apps cost $3 or so, but incredible! is a Twitter app, as well as a Flickr app, a foursquare app, and a Facebook app (so far), plus there’s lots of magic sauce that ties them together to create a synergistic (see what I did there?) experience, which makes incredible! almost a fifth app by itself. Mildly similar apps like TweetDeck don’t sift through your data like incredible! does, so that’s a poor gauge. Also, they have funding and were bought by Twitter. I can absolutely say that this will definitely not be a 99¢ app.

Will the Phone and Tablet Apps Have the Same Features?
Yes and no. They’ll both support the same services, but there’s a possibility that the phone version will miss out on a few features because they won’t make sense on a small screen. For instance, the TouchPad version embeds an actual web page view of links in tweets and other posts right there in the app. This works on a larger device, but would be too cumbersome on a phone. Other features might get scrapped on the phone version because of performance issues. Sorting through thousands of social network posts and acting upon them takes some time. I’m doing my best to optimize them, but there’s a chance the phone version will miss out on some lesser features. I will, however, never purposefully cripple the phone version. If it misses out on a feature, know that it’s because it wasn’t up to my standards. However, the phone may have some features the TouchPad version won’t. For instance, since the phone version doesn’t embed web pages, extra data about a tweet or check-in is pulled from that service’s API and displayed in the app and formatted nicely, but since the tablet version can display web pages, not all data will be handled this way on the tablet and will just display the website.

Who Gets the Beta?
If you signed up for the beta on the incredible! beta sign up site, you have a chance to be in the beta. If you haven’t, well, you won’t be. Not everyone who signed up will be in the beta. I’ve had over 260 (!!) people sign up for the beta, and keeping track of all of those people will be difficult. I will, however, offer spots to people that have been foursquare beta testers and those that have donated to the incredible! RocketHub campaign. And, in the interest of disclosure, I’ll also send a beta version to any HP employees and members of the webOS press (e.g., PreCentral, webOSRoundup, webOS World, etc.), and sure, other website bloggers too, but I doubt Topolsky is clamoring for an incredible! beta (are you?). I wanted to be upfront about that that I’ll obviously be giving them a copy. I have no idea how many beta tester’s I want. Some networks (like Facebook) require at least 50 users before they list apps in their app listings, so, maybe 50? I dunno. We’ll see.

Follow my twitter (@zhephree) or the incredible! Twitter account (@incrediblewebos) to keep up with everything, including the beta.

I’m super excited about this! (Keep in mind, when I say “soon” I mean, you know, not next year.)