43 Actions: Towards a native iPhone application. Assistance requested.
Apple recently revealed their plans for the “native” iPhone SDK (Software Development Kit). This was the announcement we had been waiting for for a long time, in order to start planning the development of native applications—applications that live directly on the iPhone, like Apple’s own apps—with the ability to interconnect and sync both with 43 Actions on the web, as well as (eventually) with Mac OS X Leopard services like the iCal and Task stores.
Here at 43 Actions, we have always strived to stay open and keep a more intimate relation with our community—as a gesture of respect to our valued users—so today we decided to reveal some internal information about the future of our business; something most companies would not very often discuss in public.
We’re not afraid.
Our team had secretly wished and hoped for something very similar to what was revealed in Steve Jobs’ iPhone SDK Keynote. We were very, very impressed by what we saw, and felt a great relief regarding the future outlook of creating a native version of 43 Actions; one free from the “offline-access” problem and with a more fluid and responsive user interaction than is possible with a web application today.
But—and this is a big but—we will most certainly need extra resources to pull off this huge new task. This SDK represents an entirely fresh code base and platform for all of us—a huge new playing field with as yet very early development tools and user interaction conventions, requiring a significant new investment in time and resources. We would need to hire at least one additional developer, a support person, and probably a marketing/community position as well.
In his keynote, Steve Jobs revealed the iFund, a new Venture Capital fund founded by the esteemed VC firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, with the specific purpose of providing funding for brand new applications for the iPhone and iPod touch mobile platforms.
We believe strongly that 43 Actions—with its already large (and seemingly quite pleased :)) user base—in this exploding field of online and mobile-accessible to-do lists and organizers (thanks in part to the significant rise in popularity of such books as Getting Things Done, and the general interest in “life hacking”)—is in quite an opportune position to get attention from Venture Capital firms such as KPCB.
We are thankful for any help you as a user can give us in this regard. It could be as simple as sending us your feedback and encouragement, giving us more valuable input from actual users—instead of just relying on faceless statistics—for reporting our market prospects and current user satisfaction with our funding submission.
Would we to receive funding—from one source or another—we could hire the few extra people we need to come through with this new goal of building a native version of 43 Actions; a brand new type of mobile productivity applications, living in conjunction with the web application as well as the Leopard services on your main computer—always staying in sync.
We thank you all for your encouragement and valuable feedback on this important matter, as we venture (pun intended) into future territories unknown!
P.S.: If you have a specific and valuable suggestion on how to help 43 Actions move towards getting funding, please let us know as soon as possible! The sooner we have the manpower and financial and creative incentives necessary, the sooner this will all be done—and ready for download onto your very own iPhone or iPod touch. (For phone and other contact information, please send an email to 43actions+vc [at] gmail dot com.)
1 year ago