[Chris Cottrell]

Is anyone doing an app for the iphone?

cos I really want an iphone now that I bought the wife one for xmas

[Matthew Bateman]

Do you mean specifically for window cleaning?

[mark blundell]

the best phone iv'e ever had iv'e had most of the other makes and they just don't compare

[Chris Cottrell]

Do you mean specifically for window cleaning?

Yes I mean round management software like Window Cleaner Pro or George - not specifically for window cleaning though it could be uesd for other trades too (Gardiners, Milk rounds etc )

[Skyglide]

Agree with Mark. Iphone 4. Get a decent cover for it like 'Otterbox'.
It's the sort of thing you think "I've never needed this before, it's just the latest toy."
Put any apps on it to suit you and customise your own phone.
Believe me, you will regard all other phones as dinosaurs after you get one.

I asked about any window cleaning apps last month on here - there are none at present, but hopefully 2011 will produce some.

[premier window cleaners]

we've been looking into developing an app for almost a year  now
The problem with apps is Apple take 30% of all sales.

The solution we have come up with is to develop a free app.
The catch would be have the main data internet based and charge a monthly/annual subscription and use the app mainly for round management for your week ahead.

What do you think? Any feedback appreciated.

Jonathan

[ian1972]

There is styletap which alowes u to run any palm os Upto 5.2 I think,however you need to jailbreak the phone and the app is 49 dollars thereis a 14 day trail period,I did look at getting it but to b honest I don't fancy jailbreaking phone

[Matthew Bateman]

we've been looking into developing an app for almost a year  now
The problem with apps is Apple take 30% of all sales.
The solution we have come up with is to develop a free app.
The catch would be have the main data internet based and charge a monthly/annual subscription and use the app mainly for round management for your week ahead.

What do you think? Any feedback appreciated.

Jonathan

What does it matter if Apple charge 30%? Apps aren't that expensive anyway.

Id rather pay for an app directly at the point of sale than have to continually keep paying month after month. Surely that would prove to be expensive. Of course it would suit you but I'll stick to my pen and paper; additionally I'd rather not keep my business details on a remote server (yours) especially on one that could easily be construed as being that of a competitors ;@)

[Chris Cottrell]

I would just like something along the lines of Wcp or George but on an iphone with the desktop application

[JoeMax]

So it doesn't have to be an app.. it could be 'just online'.. like webmail..

[mark blundell]

we've been looking into developing an app for almost a year  now
The problem with apps is Apple take 30% of all sales.
The solution we have come up with is to develop a free app.
The catch would be have the main data internet based and charge a monthly/annual subscription and use the app mainly for round management for your week ahead.

What do you think? Any feedback appreciated.

Jonathan

What does it matter if Apple charge 30%? Apps aren't that expensive anyway.

Id rather pay for an app directly at the point of sale than have to continually keep paying month after month. Surely that would prove to be expensive. Of course it would suit you but I'll stick to my pen and paper; additionally I'd rather not keep my business details on a remote server (yours) especially on one that could easily be construed as being that of a competitors ;@)

agreed don't think i would want details like that online. would you custys want you putting there name address phone no ect online?

[JoeMax]

Most data is online these days.

[formb]

Apple charge 30%?

Do google rip people off in this manner with widgets?

[JoeMax]

I could have something similar to Window Cleaning Pro and George, that is accessible online, and eventually through an iPhone for about £400 max.

[j.v. price ltd]

Hi to all, we have just had some business management service developed that runs through the net (web based) but we have got the area managers using it through an app on iPhones, the field staff use it on cheap phones that can go on the net and use a styles just because I didn't fancy buying 30 iPhones but it is best on iPhone.

Still in the early stages of testing but when it's perfect we do plan to bring it to the Market, I guess if there us a lot of interest I will work on it a bit faster

[wightsurf]

How about the Andriod , competitor to the iphone and talk of it being better.
There is already web based software out there (cloud) stuff but i'm not to keen on it neither.I would like to have a sofware app on the phone along the lines of wcp or george.
I think the closest thing is round tracker . I'm sure this can be run on a phone.

[clarkson]

 Hi
  I have iphone 4 and actually dont get on with it for calls email and data management as well as i did on blackberry.

 but i have yet to find the perfect software support for wc on any platform. when i last looked at wcp there was no debtors list for wc lite so i wouldnt use it. goerge is good and cheap but i dont want to clunk around a 5 year old palm on the round? why they wont make this available on i phone and android i dont know i would buy it in flash. i looked at midas its good but pricey. Steve lowe has service ceo which is good apparantly but way to involved for most of us and horrendously expensive.

 i am playing with scheduling manager by  thoughful systems at the minute it is good but very involved.

 any new suggestions would be great.

cheers

john

[Chris Cottrell]

I find it amazing that with all the software out there for various different things that you can count on one hand the amount for our industry and these seem to be either basic spreadsheet design, relient on older technology, or worse discontinued

Can it be so hard to design an application for an iPhone

[wightsurf]

I just had a look for a price guid to have a iphone app built , they charge about $150. per the hr for a good Programer 
Andriod is open source runs linux and mac by the looks of it , i would say best chance is have one built for the Andriod, still looking at a lot of dosh though 
Maybe get a price and a group of peeps together and see what we could come up with  :
What price for this app would you be willing to pay thats the real issue.
You not going to get it for £6. though 

[Chris Cottrell]

I'd pay similar prices to Wcp if it had all the right features

[deeege]

Apple charge 30%?

Do google rip people off in this manner with widgets?

A retailer taking a 30% commission is a rip off? Apple are providing a global "shop" to end users, I'd hardly say they are ripping app developers off.

Angry birds alone is grossing £1.6 million per MONTH at the moment, do you think the developer feels ripped off?   

[formb]

Apple charge 30%?

Do google rip people off in this manner with widgets?

A retailer taking a 30% commission is a rip off? Apple are providing a global "shop" to end users, I'd hardly say they are ripping app developers off.

Angry birds alone is grossing £1.6 million per MONTH at the moment, do you think the developer feels ripped off?   

I downloaded Angry Birds free on my 'droid...............

[Chris @ Aworka]

I am currently optimising Aworka to run on smartphones (should work on iPhone, Android and Blackberry). Although browser based, it will feel like a native app. I'm hoping to have something for people to try by the end of Jan. Let me know if you would be interesting in being a guinea pig...

[formb]

Apple charge 30%?

Do google rip people off in this manner with widgets?

A retailer taking a 30% commission is a rip off? Apple are providing a global "shop" to end users, I'd hardly say they are ripping app developers off.

Angry birds alone is grossing £1.6 million per MONTH at the moment, do you think the developer feels ripped off?   

See:

http://www.openhandsetalliance.com/

[deeege]

I don't understand the connection? 

[Matthew Bateman]

If 30% is a rip-off it makes you see  how your boys feel with the pittance they get 

[formb]

I don't understand the connection? 

Android is a free mobile platform:

Each member of the Open Handset Alliance is strongly committed to greater openness in the mobile ecosystem. Increased openness will enable everyone in our industry to innovate more rapidly and respond better to consumers' demands. Our first joint project as a new Alliance is Android™. Android was built from the ground up with the explicit goal to be the first open, complete, and free platform created specifically for mobile devices.

[deeege]

That's all well and good. But if all apps are free then the income generated for the app creators will be minimal and all the useful apps coming onto the Market will dry up. Who benefits from that?

[Steve CM]

I know these lot do an internet based application that would work on any handset.

www.acacia-technologies.co.uk

Its on going fees but then at least they would still keep developing it and would not have to pull the plug like WCP did.

[deeege]

I know these lot do an internet based application that would work on any handset.

www.acacia-technologies.co.uk

Its on going fees but then at least they would still keep developing it and would not have to pull the plug like WCP did.

wasn't this the company that kate1 was repping? Whatever happened to her and her grand ideas? 

If my memory is correct I think you needed a touchscreen phone with wireless capabilities to use there software?

[Steve CM]

I think the handset just needs an internet connection.. yeah it is kate1.I speak to Her a lot. She's a good person but I don't think she couldn't handle the lions den that is clean it up. Lol. I did warn her.

[jr windows]

Kate,
Was going to do telesales for me, then out of the blue I had an email saying she couldn't do it anymore. It seemed a bit odd.

[clarkson]

 Hi ALL
 kate s still about watching this thread as it happens. Midas by accasia looks good but i dont like the ongoing fee 29.99 pm i have been reliably informed.

 you are all talking about i phone apps but you would need a core software on your laptop/desktop. i would nt want all my data on a pda of any sort  with out backups. and you wont get that done for 150 quid.

 it would be interesting to see how much a decent programmer would charge to do a proper job of it fully featured with decent sync to desktop. i think the biggest issue seems to be debtors list mobile, but you cant go to your round without knowing whos paid. i dont collect but still want to grab that owe a few cleans if i see them.

 i think wcp are the closest at the minute if they could get owers on lite and do it for iphone we would be away.

 someone said they would be doing one to work on bb but bb licence is 20000 dollars a year minimum, so this supprises me.

shall we start a consortium to commision a cleanitup  software house and do our own?

cheers

john

[Clive McDonald]

I'm a tech dinosaur- so can't comment on the phone thing, except that i run wcp on a mac.book pro(by using windows).And for something super portable i'd use my mac air 11".


I know everything is going cloud, and i understand why, (Better revenue), but i really feel rather annoyed that someone could be clever enough to create wcp - but lack the chutzpa to create a credible revenue stream from it.

Take Ronnie's current predicament, i'd be all over that like a rash.If ever there was a chance to turn the bad PR around......

[wightsurf]

There is no way i'm going to go cloud even at £10.00 pm until i see it working for a few yrs and then i would want some pretty good firewall on there.
I did think that WCP might head towards a app but how wrong was i there 

I think our best bet is a quote for a basic phone app but then what platform.
I like andriod 
How many peeps would also be interested is the main Question .
From there a quote is only a email away .

[Chris Cottrell]

The trouble with having cloud technology and a wireless device is that you will need a service provider to provide you with conectivity constantly, thats going to be costly too not to mention those of us that work out in the sticks were service is sometimes non existent so how then will they provide us with a link to your info with no network coverage?

[premier window cleaners]

to develop app & cloud internet based secure data would cost in region of £25,000

[Matthew Bateman]

I'm happy with my pen and paper.

I have records of quotes/invoices etc on my pc and also al copied to PDF on my iPhone.

[Pole 2 Pole]

As i mentioned on a previous post,i bought "logmein" app for about £18. Using 3g on my iphone i can connect to my laptop at home. Not the perfect answer but when i absolutely have to find info on wcp, its able to do that for me. But the computer does have to be on standby.

[JoeMax]

to develop app & cloud internet based secure data would cost in region of £25,000

I could get an exact replica of Window Cleaning Pro programmed, that could be accessed easily online (in the cloud - on iPhones, blackberries and iPads) and have secure logins and passes for about £1000. Easily, within 5 weeks.

[Kate2]

Im interested Joe how you would do that?  Genuinely

[JoeMax]

It's called outsourcing.

I've had scripts just as complicated created for a lot less than that.

[Kate2]

Ok

[Chris Cottrell]

to develop app & cloud internet based secure data would cost in region of £25,000

I could get an exact replica of Window Cleaning Pro programmed, that could be accessed easily online (in the cloud - on iPhones, blackberries and iPads) and have secure logins and passes for about £1000. Easily, within 5 weeks.

Isn't Wcp copyright protected ?

[JoeMax]

Of course it is.

But the general idea behind it can't be. Otherwise George wouldn't be around - I'm just saying something with roughly the same sophistication could be programmed for around £1,000 - not £25,000.

[clarkson]

  Hi joe
  I didnt know for sure but i thought 25000 sounded ridiculous.  i was thinking when i suggested doing one,  4 weeks at 200 a day would be 4000 so good money for a graduate programmer just finishing there degree.

 a grand is even better. everyone seems to be happy with wcp if it was on iphone but i cant get round the fact it doesnt tell you the owers.  it would mean carrying hardcopy as well. george tells you who owes and syncs all back at base on the desktop.

the other issue people have is the ota service. why bother just set it up to do bluetooth or wifi syncs back at base. an ota service only becomes necessary when you have a number of employees or you are spread out over a large area. if its one or two in out in the field it can be backed up at base everyone, comes back for water most days anyway.

Joe would you handle it if we funded it, anyone interested?  22 people at 50 quid would give us a grand and a ton for joe for his time.

if we copy right it we can market it as a rival to the others.

cheers

john
 

[premier window cleaners]

we've been discussing this project for about a year with a developer of 25years experience and who has worked for major companies and plcs. To develop a decent round mangement program, he reckons would take about 3mths & at the low end a developer gets around £300 per day, hence £2500

[Clive McDonald]

(you missed a zero off)

The rest of us whilst interested don't have the knowledge.When reps have been on here before offering services all they ever say is what do you want? We say the functionality of george or wc pro, and they say we can do all that it's easy, but as they haven't got the foggiest of what we are talking about it's hard to believe....

We don't understand programming, and they don't understand the functionality needed, it's like they're only window cleaners how hard can it be, we can flog these thicko's something we designed for doctors appoinments or sales reps.I've never known any group talk down to us like these people do.They're all wannabe millionaires with us as the soft touch.

We would pay for good kit, but the jokers so far are clueless.

[clarkson]

we've been discussing this project for about a year with a developer of 25years experience and who has worked for major companies and plcs. To develop a decent round mangement program, he reckons would take about 3mths & at the low end a developer gets around £300 per day, hence £2500

 Hi
 you are talking to a developer of 25 years experience who has worked for major companies and plcs. theres the problem. he will be pricey. there are loads of freelancers on sites like people per hour who will work for less than that.

You can go one better a retired programmer happy to do it as gardening project, or a student bored of playstation. they would do it on a project price. maybe joe's 1000 quid is stretching the principle a bit.

we are only talking a database of customers with a few extra features after all , not unmanned trip to mars.

i agree with some of the previous comments this should be sorted by now. especially by those who are supposed to be developing window cleaning software.

by the way i mentioned sheduling manager its a no go. no mobile app at all and they advertise a window cleaning module but dont actually one yet, funny that!

cheers

john

[JoeMax]

We don't understand programming, and they don't understand the functionality needed, it's like they're only window cleaners how hard can it be, we can flog these thicko's something we designed for doctors appoinments or sales reps.I've never known any group talk down to us like these people do.They're all wannabe millionaires with us as the soft touch.

We would pay for good kit, but the jokers so far are clueless.

That rings so true. I'd love to help but I'm really not in a position to at the moment. It's something I might look at later down the line if someone else doesn't do it - I don't have the money nor would I want to risk other peoples. I've just got back from living abroad and want to focus on window cleaning (believe it or not) 

I think you should wait for this Compass 180 project - it's online and sounds great. Possibly pricey mind but what isn't 

[Count Phil]

Why don't George just do one? They'd get all the wcp customers if they were first to android/iphone.

[John drake]

Matt on the Cleaning forums had a beta version on his iphone, It worked Well from what he said.

[Kate2]

Guys with all due respect this is a subject very close to my heart. 

As many of you know I represent Acacia.

Sorry, and I really dont want to offend anyone.  Weve been in development for 4 years its taken time, toil and tears, testing, hard work, weve been out in the snow with window cleaners, we know how things operate.

I find it really distressful that somebody comes along, and says " yea im developing" its not a game, its a trade, and  whose going to do customer support when things go wrong?  Whose going to repair things, whose going to help you out when you want to move a round due to holidays, sickness.  Honestly guys, please it isnt as simple as that.  Whose going to develop for Iphone, Ipad, Slate, Galaxy, and the next latest gadget that comes along.

Please its just not as simple as that.

[Matthew Bateman]

I find it really distressful that somebody comes along, and says " yea im developing"

I find it an open-ended statement when someone posts something like that.

I wish they'd clarify EXACTLY what theyre developing and HOW theyre going about it. Probably isn't how it comes across or how they're making out.

[Kate2]

ok Matt no probs

[Matthew Bateman]

I dont mean you Kate, I mean guys on here that say that.

[Clive McDonald]

He's talking about a spreadsheet, a worksheet, and he's got ten posts behind him.


He's just seen that app ad for tesco where apple apps have a free app where the iphone four scans a bar code and it gets straight on your tesco home delivery shopping list.Brilliant, how hard can this stuff be.

Stick a bar code on the custies front door, once scanned they  get billed, and our home comp gets updated

[Kate2]

ok Matt, no worries

[JoeMax]

I find it really distressful that somebody comes along, and says " yea im developing" its not a game, its a trade, and  whose going to do customer support when things go wrong?  Whose going to repair things, whose going to help you out when you want to move a round due to holidays, sickness.  Honestly guys, please it isnt as simple as that.  Whose going to develop for Iphone, Ipad, Slate, Galaxy, and the next latest gadget that comes along.

Please its just not as simple as that.

Who said it was simple?

Why you getting angry?

[Kate2]

Yea Matt, sorry I misunderstood, never mind.

Its a difficult one. with regards to developing its to do with your going to have to deal with all phones, androids, iphones the whole range.   If you want customer support when things go wrong?  I think we would all want that security, somebody can sort it if it goes wrong???   Also, when the income of new technology comes in, not sure if the person whose developed the app, will their programme work on that?  Technology just keeps growing I suppose.

[Sean Dyer]

HAs anyone got any update on this??

Can we get wcp on an iphone or similar programme, without paying £30 a month

[Cliff perkins]

Dunno but when you know let me know   

[brianbarber]

I use server based system, they charge £60 per annum if ou don't want automatic email invoices going out, which I don't.

www.collectmyround.co.uk


Mr B

[johnwillan]

Aworka now have a mobile version which works off line i.e. you don't need a signal. It's similar to the original George PDA application in so much as you sync (via wi-fi or 3g) as required.

At present you can access yesterday, today and tomorrow's planned work, add, skip or delete jobs from the planner, view customer & job details, access and update debts list.

I believe there are several planned additions such as entering new customers, emailing invoices etc, but even without these it works very well.

I moved from George sometime ago, not easy when George is so good and so cheap but find the benefits Aworka provides easily justify the £10 per month.

Hope this helps.

John

Ps. It was Paul from George who introduced me to Aworka which goes to show what an good guy he is.

[Chris Cottrell]

Aworka now have a mobile version which works off line i.e. you don't need a signal. It's similar to the original George PDA application in so much as you sync (via wi-fi or 3g) as required.

At present you can access yesterday, today and tomorrow's planned work, add, skip or delete jobs from the planner, view customer & job details, access and update debts list.

I believe there are several planned additions such as entering new customers, emailing invoices etc, but even without these it works very well.

I moved from George sometime ago, not easy when George is so good and so cheap but find the benefits Aworka provides easily justify the £10 per month.

Hope this helps.

John



Ps. It was Paul from George who introduced me to Aworka which goes to show what an good guy he is.

Well thats a step in the right direction  ...  if only this couild have happened a few weeks ago whilst I was using the trial period and not now that its ended   

[H S and Son]

Its worth it Chris, its all going in the right direction. Very pleased with Aworka now.

[Window Washers]

Its worth it Chris, its all going in the right direction. Very pleased with Aworka now.

you got a link for them Matt ? and do they give free trial ?

[johnwillan]

Hi Chris give Chris a call/email I'm sure he'll be happy to extend the trial

[johnwillan]

Hi Ian it's Aworka.com and they do a 6 week trail, any questions mail Chris he's very helpful and easy going. John

[Sean Dyer]

Is Aworka easy to use on iphone 4

Can i change from wcp easily ie transfer the data?? as a cpu programme i love wcp but its crap that i cant take it on my phone , wish i stayed with george pocket but that only works on turdy old palms

[H S and Son]

Its worth it Chris, its all going in the right direction. Very pleased with Aworka now.

you got a link for them Matt ? and do they give free trial ?

6 weeks free.

http://www.aworka.com/

[[GQC] Tim]

No point in getting an iphone. So many better phones out there, much much better. There needs to be software for Android.

[Sean Dyer]

No point in getting an iphone. So many better phones out there, much much better. There needs to be software for Android.

i've got one free on my upgrade and love it!

Cant see too many better phones?

[johnwillan]

Sean, Chris at Aworka can transfer all the data for you.

Tim,  Aworka is a web based application that uses the phones cache, it should work on all smartphone platforms including Android

[George Systems]

Hi Guys

Have  you had a look at at GeorgeOnline here:

http://www.george.aworka.co.uk

I think it has an iPhone app.


Paul

[mister bit]

Just doing some research and there's some free stuff based on Wordpress Joomla Drupal and the like you can host on your own webspace ...... all free of charge. I'm giving that a go I'll let you know how I get on.

[H S and Son]

Have you got a link?

[Walter Pole]

Hi Guys

Have  you had a look at at GeorgeOnline here:

http://www.george.aworka.co.uk

I think it has an iPhone app.


Paul


How do get in without already being registered as the home screen asks for login details?

[mister bit]

I am a bit of a geek in my spare time and if you want something off the shelf then this won't be for you but it seems quite doable to host every thing yourself and just use your webspace to do it all - enquiries payment round management everything. Front end gui and back end for analytics etc

Anyway it seems to me that all these phone apps mentioned are just CRM (customer relationship management) type programs. They have been about for years, you can buy them or download torrents if that's your bag. there are versions for microsoft, quickbooks and sage which is brilliant because you can tie them to your accounts contacts diary and any other databases you may have so that's the office computer sorted then - may even work on windows based phones? You'll just need to spend some time setting it up for you.

Then I wondered if Google were doing one of their freebie online ones to go with all their other online software (app) which would be good for android based phones ... (unfortunately I'm a Nokia fan they make brilliant phones n900 at the mo 64gig linux based open source fast as fluff brilliant!) ... never got that far with it all but somebody probably has on one of the open source coding hubs on the net (this is where most of it originates anyway) sites like https://github.com/ for code and better gitorious.org/ for the gui's.

Just take the bits you want employ a coder from the Indian sub-continent for £30 (easy online) buy a server and host it all from there bit of marketing/advertising on forums and watch the money roll in while your out window cleaning.

Never got that far with it because I found the open source thing for Wordpress Joomla Drupal so it can all just be integrated into your own website and you can just use it on the fly whichever phone/computer your using (they only have a short life before a better one becomes available anyway). The back end will be maintained by the Wordpress Drupal Joomla community because of all the bloggers wanting to be on different platforms. Lots of work to do on it but nothing ventured nothing gained and it'll be like my little project if anyone is interested in being a bit geeky let me know how you get on maybe it'll be fantastic maybe crap  

Cutting a long story short the link is http://civicrm.org/ and you'll probably need to start reading up on some php/mysql

I use George on a Palm m130 by the way and by the time you've waded through this Google will probably have free software up online in the cloud which would render this whole post useless but you did ask and it is Saturday morning missus at the shop!

Best of luck!

[H S and Son]

Hi Guys

Have  you had a look at at GeorgeOnline here:

http://www.george.aworka.co.uk

I think it has an iPhone app.


Paul


How do get in without already being registered as the home screen asks for login details?

You click sign-up bit like you have to do when using an internet forum.