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The official Basecamp iPhone app

37signals.com

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Re: The official Basecamp iPhone app

#21

Post by mbesto »

bobsy wrote: post #7

Looks good. Shame there is no mention of Android at all. The biggest thing I took away from this blog post was this. "NOTE: Basecamp for iPhone requires an account on the new Basecamp (released March 2012). Basecamp Classic is not supported." I wonder what % of users haven't switched over even after a year. I think this is a good lesson for anyone thinking about effectively launching a new product to replace one they…

Looking back I think any replacement product needs to be 100% compatible and after x months clients are forced over.

I actually think this is a ploy to get their users to convert. 37signals has a strong "we let our users outgrow us" stance, so what I read between the lines is that 37signals sees no hassle continuing to support the old system (it's massively profitable). Dually it gives a better justification for an up-sell to get people on to the new system.

I think this strategy is brilliant.

Re: The official Basecamp iPhone app

#22

Post by jasonfried »

mbesto wrote: post #21
bobsy wrote: post #7

Looks good. Shame there is no mention of Android at all. The biggest thing I took away from this blog post was this. "NOTE: Basecamp for iPhone requires an account on the new Basecamp (released March 2012). Basecamp Classic is not supported." I wonder what % of users haven't switched over even after a year. I think this is a good lesson for anyone thinking about effectively launching a new product to replace one they…

Looking back I think any replacement product needs to be 100% compatible and after x months clients are forced over. I actually think this is a ploy to get their users to convert. 37signals has a strong "we let our users outgrow us" stance, so what I read between the lines is that 37signals sees no hassle continuing to support the old system (it's massively profitable). Dually it gives a better justification for an u…

I'd love to take credit for a brilliant strategy, but this isn't one of them. The story is very simple. We released an iPhone app for the all new version of Basecamp. Nothing more, nothing less.

Re: The official Basecamp iPhone app

#23

Post by jzimdars »

rodrigoavie wrote: post #2

I remember when they said the way to go was HTML5 and all that talk. Glad their changed their vision.

All of the content screens in the app are still HTML5. Because of that direction, we now have a native experience on iOS AND a solid mobile experience in the browser. HTML5 still offers the greatest reach, a superior layout model and the fastest development. It's a myth that web views are inherently a poor experience.

Re: The official Basecamp iPhone app

#24

Post by rsinger9 »

mbesto wrote: post #21
bobsy wrote: post #7

Looks good. Shame there is no mention of Android at all. The biggest thing I took away from this blog post was this. "NOTE: Basecamp for iPhone requires an account on the new Basecamp (released March 2012). Basecamp Classic is not supported." I wonder what % of users haven't switched over even after a year. I think this is a good lesson for anyone thinking about effectively launching a new product to replace one they…

Looking back I think any replacement product needs to be 100% compatible and after x months clients are forced over. I actually think this is a ploy to get their users to convert. 37signals has a strong "we let our users outgrow us" stance, so what I read between the lines is that 37signals sees no hassle continuing to support the old system (it's massively profitable). Dually it gives a better justification for an u…

People in the tech world easily assume that upgrade = better. But that is only true if you feel underserved by the existing software you are running. Many customers out there in other fields don't have that feeling of being perpetually underserved that is common in places like Hacker News.

Re: The official Basecamp iPhone app

#26

Post by rsinger9 »

DASD wrote: post #15
jasonfried wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's still no app required. The app is completely optional.

So as a confused customer, what option do you recommend and why are there two options if both are similar in function?

The app is the best experience. If you don't have the app or it's not supported on your platform, then you have the regular mobile web views to fall back on.

Re: The official Basecamp iPhone app

#28

Post by kaolinite »

alexobenauer wrote: post #3
rodrigoavie wrote: post #2

I remember when they said the way to go was HTML5 and all that talk. Glad their changed their vision.

It's a hybrid app, views written in HTML5 & CSS3, and wrapped on the device. Navigation is native. (Source: the post)

Chances are that in a year or so, they'll release a completely native app. That seems to be the trend now - go HTML5 initially to get an app out fast, then create a native app later.

Re: The official Basecamp iPhone app

#30

Post by marknutter »

rsinger9 wrote: post #18
tudorizer wrote: post #8

Simple, dumb questions: So what is the point of it being hybrid, actually? Speed of development? Multiple platforms?

Native views and web views are good at different things. Native is good for high fidelity interaction, animations, responding to gestures. However the native APIs are bad for designing "documents" -- that is, layouts where elements flow within a container and push each other around. That means that things that are extremely easy on the web can be painstaking in native UI without much upside. Web views have limited in…

I'm on a project where we're taking the hybrid approach and I can second all the points Ryan has made here. We are launching our app soon on iOS and Android so we're getting the full benefit of cross-platform compatibility. We've run into literally zero cross-platform browser issues during the process, too. Hybrid is definitely the way to go if your app is text heavy like Basecamp and our app.
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