[sbaylor]

Good questions.

Originally Posted by odamizu

This is exciting news! Unfortunately, I don't have time to beta-test anything right now, but I look forward to the official release.

There is absolutely no expectation for our beta testers to test everything. Just taking a casual look at the iPhone user interface and feeling that it looks ok are good enough feedback for us. Actually, very few bugs are expected to be found.

Some other app developers may give users a different expectation of beta testing when they require dedicated beta testers, and are proud to report how many bugs are found and fixed. We don't. We are mostly concerned about the aesthetic aspect and the look-and-feel (rather than the features per se), which are quite subjective. We think the best way to collect the feedback is to let existing users take a look. How long will it take? Probably a few minutes?

I remember that you were kind enough to help us test sync just with one iPad, when the sync feature was first introduced in BookMaster. And now you can test sync from iPad to iPhone, or vice versa. Wouldn't it be more interesting? That'll be useful, even if that's the only thing you have time to test.

Question 1: I notice syncing requires registration and is done over your own Cloud service, but there's no privacy policy posted anywhere. How much data do you collect on registered users and how is privacy protected?

Since its introduction, syncing has always required registration and is done with our own secure cloud service. We care about privacy issues. Thank you for your reminder. A privacy policy is being drafted and will be posted on our website.

Basically, data are collected only as needed to provide the service. For example, syncing of reading progress of a book involves data that identify the book uniquely and the reading progress percentage, chapter and page numbers. Nothing about your notes, vocab are collected, as they are not needed for this purpose. Moreover, we don't share the collected data outside Maplepop LLC.

Question 2: Why did you decide to give the iPhone app a totally different name from the iPad app? MapleRead and BookMaster?

Actually, we've been thinking about the app name for a long time. We want a name that is (more) unique and emphasizes the major service it provides--tools for reading, rather than books for selling (like iBooks).

Perhaps the name "BookMaster" will be changed later too!