HanDBase Related News Update!

[kou]

Thanks for sharing!

[jimgrant1]

Dave, as I have posted a couple times before, I think HanDBase is a great app. I've searched the App Store a couple times for alternatives and nothing comes close. I continue to use it 2-5 times a day.

You continue to have challenges devoting time to upgrading HanDBase. I would be very disappointed if you weren't able to spend any more time on it.

Have you considered selling it to another software company so as to generate some cash for yourself and protect your customer base?

Jim Grant

[aa6vhDave]

You mean like what happened to the old Palm THINKDB application? It was sold (and became Smart-List-To-Go), and was subsequently strangled to death due to the incompetence of the company that bought it.

Much rather see this product stay with someone who loves it, rather than a company who just wants to milk the profits and discard it.

[ddhsoftwareadmin]

Dave, as I have posted a couple times before, I think HanDBase is a great app. I've searched the App Store a couple times for alternatives and nothing comes close. I continue to use it 2-5 times a day.

You continue to have challenges devoting time to upgrading HanDBase. I would be very disappointed if you weren't able to spend any more time on it.

Have you considered selling it to another software company so as to generate some cash for yourself and protect your customer base?

Jim Grant

Hi Jim,

Thanks for writing and sharing your concerns. I actually have been working on a HanDBase upgrade for a few months now and am just about code complete. So while I don't have the time I did when this was my full time endeavor, I am still at work on it and have so many ideas and plans for it! I know that plans are only valuable if they are put into motion and so this is just words for the moment and I get that.

I don't envision HanDBase being acquired for several reasons, one of which is that prospective buyers would look at current sales, not past sales as an indication of a product's future prospects and for that case it's in a state of decline for many years! Secondly, I do still have a love for the product and there is so much I'd still like to do. I just continue to search for a business model where I can pursue this with more time and still pay my bills while doing so

[b2b]

re: price, I have not done a sale in a few years, but each time I've done it in the past, the sales increased only marginally for a week and then fell to the same levels as before. Since I was charging less for the app it meant less overall income, so it always dissuaded me from a permanent price decrease. That said, I have been thinking about all people have suggested here and have some plans to try something entirely different- a free ad-supported version, with a paid unlock for full featureset and no ads. A price reduction on the main app, and an optional subscription for new features. Still working out the details but hope to give this a try in the near future. If I can generate some interest and income, it can justify a redesign of the app and/or website.

Thanks again for your thoughts.

From your previous post: I personally would be all for your idea of an ad-supported version, with the paid unlock for full features and no ads. As well as the optional subscription for new features as long as they come on a dependable schedule. Especially if you would expand some of the latest upgrades to include the MAC desktop and laptops.

On another note, as far as some recommendations to sell HandBase for $1.99 or even $4.99 "like some of the many other apps" to me people need to realize what this is. And its not a typical $1.99 application. It's a full-blown programmable database manager of which we users can design our own databases, screens and the like. Of the apps out there for those low prices they are not the same thing. You get what you pay for which is a simple, in most cases a flat based, non-relational data file piece of software. For those who have not programmed a full-blown relational database manager which includes a designable screen with multitudes of objects from standard fields to dropdown field, etc., they don't have a clue the amount of work this is. Personally I would pay you at least $45 to $50 every year for this product if you could give me the same thing on my Mac as you have on the iPhone and were still around upgrading it every few months or years.

All I can say Dave is good luck and I for one hope you'll be able to pursue what you obviously want to do with HandBase.

Bob, Saint Cloud, FL
from the earliest version of Palm HandBase

[ddhsoftwareadmin]

Thanks Bob, for the encouraging words! I have been working on an ad supported version of HanDBase. The plan right now is to release alongside the paid version. As an option to hopefully grow the userbase that doesn't negatively effect existing users. We'll see how it goes soon enough. Its success or lack thereof will determine what comes of HanDBase in the future- I have a tempered hope for great things. One of my beta testers who is also a close friend heard me shared my dreams for the future of HanDBase and his excitement for what I told him reinvigorated my own. Here's hoping this will help fuel the flame so that we can all someday see the vision realized!

[David@PacificData]

Hi Dave,
I have been a using HanDBase since the Palm days and have not found anything that is better. I would pay a yearly subscription of $40 - 60 to help keep the development going.
Thanks for what you have done,
David

[exmpro]

I held my breath when iOS was recently updated (yet again) this time to v11. Would Handbase still work? If not my iPhone and iPad would be rendered almost useless. I updated one device, and tested it carefully. When it worked I heaved a sigh of relief and repeated the operation with the other device.
All this is a long-winded way of saying that I hope you keep going with HB, Dave, and that you will finally see a way of financing survival. I have posted on this matter before, and see that some of my suggestions are being considered again. - Free light version, with ads and limited functionality, maybe a fully-featured read-only demo so that potential buyers can see what they would be getting with the complete version. A more realistic price... serious users will pay serious money. A cheap price suggests a flimsy product.
Best wishes
Michael

[ddhsoftwareadmin]

Hi Dave,
I have been a using HanDBase since the Palm days and have not found anything that is better. I would pay a yearly subscription of $40 - 60 to help keep the development going.
Thanks for what you have done,
David

Thanks David for your support and input. One of the things I was thinking about was setting up a Patreon so that kind folks like you could support this endeavor beyond the single purchase. I support a small number of developers in this manner and it seems to work out ok for them without interfering with the existing sales model for the app itself. As a bonus, they often share an interactive todo list so that the patreon supporters can vote for things they'd most like to see in the app in the future.

What do you think about such a setup? Good idea?

[ddhsoftwareadmin]

I held my breath when iOS was recently updated (yet again) this time to v11. Would Handbase still work? If not my iPhone and iPad would be rendered almost useless. I updated one device, and tested it carefully. When it worked I heaved a sigh of relief and repeated the operation with the other device.
All this is a long-winded way of saying that I hope you keep going with HB, Dave, and that you will finally see a way of financing survival. I have posted on this matter before, and see that some of my suggestions are being considered again. - Free light version, with ads and limited functionality, maybe a fully-featured read-only demo so that potential buyers can see what they would be getting with the complete version. A more realistic price... serious users will pay serious money. A cheap price suggests a flimsy product.
Best wishes
Michael

Thanks Michael! I hope to be able to keep the lights on for HanDBase for the foreseeable future- maybe the free ad-supported version will prove successful. I must admit it has me nervous as it's such a disruptive change, but I hope by keeping the existing product active for a while that it should smooth out most of the disruptions. If the free version is successful, I can begin work on HanDBase 5.0 with this new model- we'll see!

I have to tell you as I was reading your post when you said a more realistic price, I thought you were saying at first it was too expensive! And then that you thought it warranted a higher price was a pleasant surprise