Quote:
Originally Posted by chaley
My feeling is that you are objecting to the a second app (second UI etc), and are really arguing for option 1, implemented differently to deal with our objections to IAP. I can understand this position. Clearly the combination of CC's import and the second app is not as elegant as CC itself directly accessing the cloud. On the other hand, the combination offers more functionality because it is not tied to any N (for whatever N) cloud storage companies. On the third hand, the combination is more difficult to explain. and so on.
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My concern about a second app is that its going to be harder to convince people to use two apps for functionality that is pretty tightly intertwined with their use of CC. The more functionality you give the app, the more you will be doing things that are kind of CC actions.
As far as funtionality goes, at one end you have a file manager app that does nothing but browse the file folders in the cloud and allow users to download them. This replicates nothing in CC. At the other end you have a full metadata reader/browser/searcher that does everything CC except using a calibre metadata database and a cloud folder for its books.
Some users like me keep their entire databases on their phones. Our use of the new app will be for the occasional times we want to grab a few new books that we not have synced after adding them to the library. We will be satisfied with a minimal app that perhaps just allows people to see which books are new (or perhaps missing).
At the other end of the spectrum, some users may keep only a few books on their phone. They will want a full searching/sorting solution that helps them pick new books to download.
If all your users were like me, you could do the simplest app and move on. If your users are all like the second type, then a simple app isn't going to cut it, and you are going to have to do more if you want a usable solution.
I don't know what the bell curve of your users looks like, so I am just trying to come up with ideas that might start small and be extensible.
I also figured an app that looked like it was part of CC would initially raise less expectations among users than a full new app. A standalone app is going to have to be fairly full featured right from the start or people whose needs are more than mine may just look at it once and never come back.