[mjs31]

Originally Posted by wickenden

I'm a happy mac user who has an android phone (my second). I had a touch a long time ago. I bought an iPad only for Omnifocus. I would love to have a solution so that I could have my omnifocus action items in some web interface I could see on my android phone.
Since this thread began in 2008 I think a significant change has happened for android. If you can't give me a full on client, then synch to the web. Right now I'm getting it into my google calendar by synching with Spanning-Synch.

No doubt Android has advanced, but what we are starting to see is the trend towards closing things up a bit. I bet you will see more and more restrictions on their apps or how you can load apps as time goes on. I know a bit off topic, but I have been with Android for some time and am a moderator on a Android forum. We are starting to see changes taking place that makes it look like the folks at Google kind of see why Apple did what they did (to a point) with their app control.
This being said... I am doing something I never thought I would do. Come Feb 3, I will pre-order my iPhone and give up my Incredible. Things are just more polished on the iPhone and Android appears to be spreading themselves out to much to really tweak things. Apps like Omnifocus, and many others, are my main reason for the switch. Although I like when apps are cross platform, there can also be a big disadvantage when it comes to maintenance and overall improvements since it takes away from the focus on the main OS.

[Ken Case]

(I know I've said this elsewhere, but I just realized that I'd never replied here in this thread!)

We have no plans for any Android apps at this time. Our plate is very full with our focus on creating great productivity apps for Mac and iOS. It’s never been our goal to reach the widest possible audience; we’ve tried to focus on the technology that we feel is the most compelling. Right now we’re very excited about the Mac and iOS platforms.

[nofriday]

Hi Ken,

I appreciate the fact that your mission is grounded in Apple-based products and that you need to "leverage your strengths".

My only concern is that, with OmniFocus, you've stumbled upon a product/market where you are, by far IMO, the best application and experience for GTD and productivity in general. I hope you're at least considering whether it would make sense to alter your mission in light of this fact.

While no Windows or Android application has caught up to OmniFocus yet, I believe that one day, someone will, and if they create a cross-platform experience that at least rivals OmniFocus, it could mean that OmniFocus loses its marketshare and lead.

I realize I am being very speculative here, and maybe you're entirely content leaving your mission as being "creating awesomeness for Mac users", but I'd say for OmniFocus, you've created awesomeness that extends beyond the "Mac niche". But clearly Android is here to stay, and their open platform means it will be easier for others to innovate than on the iPhone.

I love Apple products, but, my love is not blind. Some of Apple's "curated platform" BS around the iPhone and iPhone Apps store are starting to really annoy me since I feel they are stifling innovation. The two things tethering me to an iPhone are: a) OmniFocus and b) I feel iPhone is still the best designed phone general. But I've started to seriously consider an Android, OmniFocus or not, and I think others who are Apple and/or OmniFocus fans have already made the switch.

Mainly I wanted to hammer home that OmniFocus is awesome and that you at least periodically evaluate whether supporting non-Apple platforms would fit in with what your company does.

Thanks for listening.
-joe

[il_freddy]

Just my 2cent worth comment: I have MacBook pro and and Ipod touch and I have bought Omnifocus for both. After some thinking I decided to buy a smartphone and for several reasons I bought an android phone knowing that there is at present no support for Omnifocus. I wish the Omni group will in the future reconsider this policy otherwise I can see that I will switch to the first reasonable cross-platform alternative to Omnifocus I will be able to find.
The leap forward of android has been gigantic: look at the share of the different smartphone OS sold in 2009 and 2010
(source: Smartphone article on wikipedia):
Iphone (15% in 2009 16% in 2010) Android (4% in 2009 23% in 2010).

[il_freddy]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartphone

link to the article cited in the previous post. Sorry, but I was not allowed before being my first post ;)

[mrademacher]

One more Macbook Pro user that will not switch to iPhone. Aside from me personally wanting OF for android... how could it possibly make sense to ignore android from a business standpoint?

[deaddowney]

+1 for an Android version.

Not much to add to what already has been said, but Omni is ignoring half the market for what would probably be a small amount of work.

Upon reading Ken's response, I can only conclude that Omni is not interested in Android no matter how much braying we do on the forums. This is a shame because I view mobile access to data as a support for the desktop product. If I can't access my data from anywhere, the desktop product is of much less value to me.

If Omni's unwilling to devote the resources, perhaps Omni could consider publishing an API for a third party to create an Android client?

[whpalmer4]

Originally Posted by deaddowney

Not much to add to what already has been said, but Omni is ignoring half the market for what would probably be a small amount of work.

Let's see, we've got a new hardware platform (and one without a strong guiding hand, unlike Apple), a different language, none of the extensive Apple frameworks that provide much of the look and feel and underlying services, none of the Omni frameworks built up over years of development, no pool of experienced support staff for Android products, and no established base in the Android market. You're right, it shouldn't be much work at all :-)

Just because there are a lot of people with devices that run some flavor of Android does not mean it would necessarily be particularly profitable for Omni to pursue that market. There aren't enough hours in the day for them to do all the things they want with the products they have now, how would diluting their focus in such fashion help? There may be money on the table, but the resources required to collect it might be more profitably employed elsewhere. There are many more Windows users out there than Android users, after all! A web-based client would serve more potential users, too.

If Omni's unwilling to devote the resources, perhaps Omni could consider publishing an API for a third party to create an Android client?

More likely that they would choose to implement a web client themselves, I think. No need to coordinate development with a partner, more flexibility, get to keep all of the revenue. They make no real secret about how things work as it is, and I believe it likely that anyone who could build a worthwhile Android client could use the information that has been presented on the forum along with that which is right in front of you after you unzip your database to hook it up. It might not be easy, but there's all that money out there waiting, right?

[deaddowney]

Originally Posted by whpalmer4

Let's see, we've got a new hardware platform (and one without a strong guiding hand, unlike Apple), a different language, none of the extensive Apple frameworks that provide much of the look and feel and underlying services, none of the Omni frameworks built up over years of development, no pool of experienced support staff for Android products, and no established base in the Android market. You're right, it shouldn't be much work at all :-)

Snark received loud and clear, but c'mon, what we're talking about is mostly checkboxes and text entry. It's not rocket science, or Angry Birds even. I think even a barebones interface with the ability to sync would satisfy most users. I would also venture to say it's a lot easier to find Java developers that could do an Android app than finding Objective C developers, or that it would not be that hard as you suggest.

Originally Posted by whpalmer4

Just because there are a lot of people with devices that run some flavor of Android does not mean it would necessarily be particularly profitable for Omni to pursue that market. There aren't enough hours in the day for them to do all the things they want with the products they have now, how would diluting their focus in such fashion help? There may be money on the table, but the resources required to collect it might be more profitably employed elsewhere. There are many more Windows users out there than Android users, after all! A web-based client would serve more potential users, too.

The bigger issue is not making money off the Android market, but not losing customers like me who are happy with the desktop product but are frustrated that the data is not available wherever we go. The fact that it's OUR data and we should be able to access it however we want. I've invested in a desktop program (OmniFocus for Mac) that I'm happy with, but as we get more mobile and my data is not available to me, I'm not so happy with my desktop investment and suddenly I'm looking for alternatives. Ev*rn*te and other products are providing your data whereever you go, Mac/Windows/IOS/Android. So far I've ignored their product because it doesn't fit my workflow, but I believe that ubiquitous data access is more compelling than the exclusivity of knowing that your text boxes are rendered in 3d hardware using the latest greatest Cocoa APIs.

I think a web client is the minimum required to provide this access.

[Brian]

A data point which may be relevant to this discussion. According to the study, iOS represents 82.7% of mobile app sales revenue. Android represents 4.7%.