First off let me say that I love Skritter, after starting to use it I got rid of my 1000+ paper flash cards that I had accumulated. Unfortunately though with the increasing availability of tablet computers I've started to dream of being able to sit on the sofa or watch my son play outside while using Skritter on a tablet; so much so that I'm less motivated to sit in front of the computer (which I do at work all day already) to practice.

My question is this: I know you're working on iOS app right now, but many people for various reasons (price, philisophy, etc.) including myself cannot or will not purchase Apple products. Are you planning to accommodate us in the near future?

If price is the issue, most rumors have it that Apple is coming out with a smaller, cheaper iPad this year. 2nd generation iPad's are also pretty cheap nowadays.

Last time I saw someone ask this question, the Skritter team said that maintaining the iOS app and improving the website would take up most of their time for the future.

I was just looking at used iPad 1's on Craigslist a few hours ago and they're still going for $300+
kind of hard to compete with a new $200 from Google, Amazon, or Microsoft which should all be available in the next few months.

(this is OP btw, forgot to sign in when I made the thread)

That's because the tablets from Google and Amazon (Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire respectively) are not direct iPad competitors, the screen size is a lot smaller and they're less powerful, which explains the lower price. This is why Apple is making a smaller iPad to compete with these tablets, which should be out for the holiday season.

FWIW, you really don't want to get an iPad 1 at any price - they've already stopped supporting them with new OS updates, and they have so little RAM that many apps are extremely crash-prone on them.

Much better to wait for the iPad mini, or even just to wait for the new non-mini iPad (a minor spec bump done mostly to accommodate Apple's new dock connector) to push the price of the iPad 2 down to where the iPad 1 is now.

You could also get an iPod Touch - the latest version of that fully supports Skritter, I believe (and at what many would consider an ideal screen size for writing Chinese characters) and they're quite inexpensive.

I have the iPhone app that I am using on the iPad, but when will an app written specifically for the iPad be released? Using the iPad is hands down the best way to study!!! So easy. Thanks,

We are not doing an Android version, instead deciding to optimize and devote maximum attention for iOS and web experiences needing complete heed.

We're trying to get the iPad version ready for November.

Very disappointed with this site's attitude towards android development. Looks like maybe I won't be continuing my subscription on past the trial!

Mithra, one of the main reasons for that will be they're a very small company without the resources for another mobile app. What they have done is created a terribly good tool for Chinese learning, and it would be a shame if you missed out on that on some perceived slight against Android! I don't have an iPhone myself, but after using the web version for a long time, did get a new iPod touch primarily so I could use the Skritter app. Well worth it.

It would be a shame, I agree, and I would very much like to use it. But the main reason I wanted to subscribe was for the purpose of the promised android use, which it turns out is half-hearted at best. There are plenty of very small companies who are perfectly capable of producing apps for android and iPhone without charging $10 a month.

The iPhone app looks very well developed from what I can see, so to not even be providing a rudimentary one for Android is a bit off.

Also, since they are charging subscribers the same amount whether they use the iPhone app or not, I assume I'm significantly subsidising something I cannot use? Brilliant.

@ “There are plenty of very small companies who are perfectly capable of producing apps for android and iPhone without charging $10 a month.”

I don't mean to be rude... but... so find/found one! Make all those big bucks that you think the rest of the market has missed.

@icebear

To clarify, I'm not complaining about the subscription fee per sais, I'm fine with paying for a quality product. If it were just on the computer I'd be fine, though may well not subscribe. I'm offended by the fact that a) Their list of subscriber features includes 'android support' which is in fact just a slightly reshaped webpage, whilst iPhone users get their own app. Even if it were 'coming' I'd be fine, but to categorically just be like "yeah android users? We aren't even gonna bother.. You can pay the same subscription fee though!" is a bit insulting.

It sounds like "Android Support" should be removed as one of the bullet points on http://www.skritter.com/pricing (and replaced with "iOS support".)

That's a good idea, lechuan, with new Android phones not having Flash Player and the removal of downloads for Flash Player. We'll get rid of that line.

Mithra, I'm sorry to have insulted you.

We would love to be able to offer a good Skritter experience on Android, but it took 3000 hours of work to do the iOS version, and it's not something we can just do over for Android. A rudimentary Android implementation (what we currently have) is clearly not what people want, either. Skritter is very complicated for a mobile app.

I hope you don't see it as web and Android users subsidizing the iOS users, though. The price was the same when Android users had some mobile access and iOS users had none. We make Skritter better and better but don't raise the price, and people use it if matches their study platform of choice.

Sorry, I'm not actually as angry as I came across, it's just disappointing to discover what seemed really good/helpful doesn't quite live up to that! I'd definitely get rid of the android support line ;)

3000 hours?! However you phrase it, if you're in a very small team that's about a year's worth of work for one person which went into an app many people will not be able to use. I know you're a business and so ultimately have to make decisions based on money, but I'd be shocked if you didn't understand why someone could be annoyed you've spent that much time on one platform and couldn't care less about the other.

The logic of a subscription fee as opposed to a flat price is that there is some form of continuing support. Can you honestly say that hasn't been massively compromised for PC users devoting 3000 hours to an iPhone app?

Nick
My first gen GALAXY Tab still supports the mobile flash site. Could you do a quick and dirty port of that to Adobe Air (without adding off-line support) so new android users can countinue to use it. After all, it's something you have already spent a lot of time on.

Mithra
I'm not 100% sure Flash is going to stay dead on mobile browsers. Google has it runing in Native Client for the desktop and I can't see Google not bringing Native Client to Android.

Without having done it, I'll say that it seems like a quick and dirty AIR port would just be dirty, not quick.

Disappointed I can understand; I'm disappointed that we aren't able to offer an Android app, too. Annoyed, I don't get. That way of looking at subscription pricing doesn't make sense--we use the extra revenue from the iOS customers to support us making the website better and vice versa. There are only a certain number of platforms we can manage. It's not the web version that has been compromised because of the iOS app, but the possibility of an Android version.

With the roughly doubling of Skritter hours since the iPhone app's launch, and what would seem to be an influx of new iOS-only subscribers, I would think the app is paying its way. I myself just signed up for 2 years, I would never have considered a subscription for a web-only solution.

If anything, the recent confusion about Flash on Android has demonstrated quite clearly how immature and unstable the platform still is. What would have happened if Skritter had sunk 100s or 1000s of hours into an optimised Android flash solution?

I signed up for two years as well; I never used the web version for more than a couple of minutes, but the iOS version is amazing.

@Mithra: Your entitlement is off the chart. If you're that desperate to have Skritter-like functionality, buy a supported device. Nobody harangues Nintendo for not producing a PS Vita version of NSMB2. Also, the discontinuation of mobile Flash support is out of Skritter's hands.

Apart from all that, Skritter has the fairest refund policy going: http://www.skritter.com/pricing . That's assuming you've paid anything yet. Free trials are great, aren't they?

I'm an Android user as well and if I were still actively studying characters I'd also be disappointed that a native app's not in the works. However, as a programmer I understand the economics are simply not there; they would be supporting a whole new platform and codebase running on a highly diverse (or fragmented, whatever you want to call it) set of Android systems.

However, I would hold out two rays of hope. First, Android is still growing as a platform and maybe in a couple of years it will become more attractive for Skritter to have a native app. Second, maybe they will eventually have a public API and maybe someone else will build a native Android client. We've discussed this previously and Nick tells me this would be extremely difficult, so I wouldn't hold my breath.

James

In that case I suppose my best bet is the mikelove's suggestion to get a used iPod touch, although it looks like even those are going for $100. Would a 2nd generation iPod touch run the Skritter app smoothly?

2nd gen won't run it. You'd want the 4th gen, although I'd hesitate to buy one now, as that line is due for an update: http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/#iPod_Touch

I am not tech-savvy. I have recently discovered Skritter and would like to use it on a tablet, but only have an Android 2.3 gingerbread. Will that work -and continue to work in the future?
Will it work immediately on Windows 8 tablets when they appear?
Or should I bite the bullet and go for an Apple device, since that seems to be the most popular and most likely to be supported in the future?
I am trying to work out what my best (cheapest) options are.

Also, I would be interested to know whether people think a 7 inch or 10 is the best for using Skritter.

It might work on Android currently if you have Flash installed--you can try it here:

http://www.skritter.com/scratchpad?android=true&tablet=true

It probably won't work too long going forward, with embedded Flash being discontinued.

I am not sure what will happen with Windows 8 tablets--do they have access to the old flavor of Windows, or just that thing that used to be called Metro?

Some Windows 8 tablets run x86 processors and have access to old Windows, others run ARM processors and don't. (Microsoft has been releasing multiple mutually-incompatible but similar-looking and similarly-named gadget platforms at a time for almost a decade now - c.f. "Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC" and "Windows Mobile 2003 for Smartphone")

However, according to Adobe's "roadmap for the Flash runtimes" at http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flashplatform/whitepapers/roadmap.html, both versions of Windows 8 will support Flash. Haven't said anything about Windows Phone 8 but given all the code-sharing it seems pretty likely that that will support it as well.