So I’m extremely proud of the fact that we won a Macworld Best of Show award for Daylite Touch.
For many years, we’ve dreamed of a true mobile companion for Daylite, but as we looked at the various phone SDK’s out there (Palm, RIM and Windows Mobile), we would cringe at the thought of having to develop for those platforms. We just couldn’t bring ourselves to do it.
Then came Steve Jobs’ 2007 Macworld Keynote (one of his best) and the introduction of the iPhone.
Wow! What a game changer.
I remember, we were making final booth preparations and I had to crouch down to see the screen in the Apple booth (on which the keynote was being broadcasted on). I distinctly remember thinking to myself “this is it, this is the device we’ve been waiting for!”.
We had to patiently wait for the device to ship and then for the SDK.
The wait was tortuous.
Then on March 6th, 2008, one of our engineers luckily went to the Apple Developer site just as Apple posted the link for the new SDK. He downloaded it immediately. Shortly thereafter, the site got so busy you couldn’t even get to the page. We had the SDK and now it was time to check it out.
We were so excited, we even forgot about lunch that day as we explored the SDK to see what we could and couldn’t do. That was the very day Daylite Touch development began.
By the time it ships, Daylite Touch will have been in development for almost a full year with many engineers working on it, working on Daylite and working on the upcoming Daylite Server. It’s been a long road, but it will be worth it.
I can’t wait for you to have it.
Until next time…
AJ
Gavin says:
Daylite Server? Yikes! A whole new layer of expense and things to go wrong I suspect. I really would much prefer to hear that MarketCircle is working hard on Daylite 4 – with a view to bringing in a degree of integration with OS X that is sadly missing from Daylite 3. Current app looks like something that fell out of the 90′s. How about giving up on the dodgy built-in word processor and linking properly to actual apps? What about adding the ability to embed documents within databases linked to clients? Or support for CalDAV calendars? Or simple stuff like drag-drop in dialog boxes…?
AJ says:
@Gavin – you are suspecting wrong. An award winning mobile client is higher on our priority list than all the things you’ve mentioned. And you can also embed documents in notes, and do drag & drop in dialog boxes to link already.
Michael says:
Congratulations, AJ and team! Not release d and best of show.On top of your game as usual. kepp up the great work. Can’t wait!!!
joe says:
When?? Your killing me??!
Can you give us a better time frame for DLT than “early 2009″.
Congrats on the much deserved kudos.
jm
Commentator says:
Gavin, how can you expect that tone to motivate the Marketcircle team to address your favorite pet features / issues?
AJ, I’m looking forward to Daylite Touch. I have two client groups that use both Daylite & iPhones, and they are excited as well. Sorry if I’ve missed it, but any idea how the program will handle linked documents for contacts? How about large databases (10k+ contacts)?
Thanks.
Jorge says:
Awesome – so exciting! Can’t wait to get my hands on it. All the buzz I’ve heard from people is how excited they are about it (well, not Gavin obviously)!
Stecchino says:
Congratulations on the award, Marketcircle team!
Looking forward to learning more about it.
Lewis says:
While Gavin may not have presented his case very empathically, he’s got some great suggestions.
AJ, Daylite Touch sounds absolutely amazing. There’s nothing like it. It’s cutting edge. I cannot wait to get my hands on it.
Of course, as we all know, technology slows down for no man (or woman).
So now the question is: what’s next. The priorities Gavin has laid out are ones I totally agree with. Along with that, I’d add a new approach to creating custom reports.
Of course, Marketcircle gets to determine its own priorities and I couldn’t be more excited about this amazing game-changer, the Daylite Touch. I guess I hope that your next priority are some of the issues we’ve mentioned here.
Peter Davey says:
Aj,
Great work on Daylite Touch. While I have always been a fan of Daylite, I do think the interface is a little confusing/complex and there has been a lot of innovation on US post Leopard, can we expect to see anything in terms of a revised UI in a future release? – perhaps 4.0?
Thanks,
Peter
Chenoa says:
Hats off to the Marketcircle team & AJ! For me, it has been a 7 year wait for both the iPhone & Daylite Touch. Yes, I had dreams about it back then when I first downloaded Daylite version 1. I hope the wait will have been worth it, as I have a LONG list of things I have been wanting to do with Daylite since 2002, and now that Palm has finally gone back to innovating (Palm Pre), Daylite will probably be the one app to keeps me tied to the iPhone.
Now that we know Daylite Touch is around the corner, can we get an idea of pricing for all the pieces so that we can start budgeting?
AJ says:
Hi Gang,
We’ll be providing more information soon. Stay tuned.
Crazy busy at Macworld.
mzungu says:
maybe I missed something; but the reason I gave up on Daylite somewhere after daylite 3 was released was the inability to show calendar weeks; did I really see this on one of the pictures?
Abe says:
@Gavin,
I actually gave up on daylite due to the complex workflow. As well, I grew tired of the: “daylite doesn’t support this feature” response in the forums.
So much promise, yet so much lacking.
Derek says:
I posted an article about Daylite Touch here –
http://derekconjar.com/2009/01/daylite-touch-countdown-a-productivity-dream/
You should definitely give me a discount for that…
Lon Cook says:
Congratulations guys; and, I cannot wait! If the iPhone was a game changer, Daylite Touch is the killer app. Between this and the iPhone companion for Billings, I’ll finally be motivated to overlook AT&T and take the plunge. 2009 is going to be a VERY productive year.
rolland says:
LOL…..FINALLY! I am so excited to see this! Man, it is gonna totally change and improve my business. I so have to throw myself into daylite now!!!
Thanks marketcirle
Zachary says:
Daylite Touch is EXACTLY what my small film production company needs to get all of our users actually USING our new Daylite setup! I am thrilled to be able to take Daylite on the road.
As I’m continuing to build the database, one large questions lingers in my mind about using Daylite Touch.
I see in the “tasks” photo at http://www.marketcircle.com/daylitetouch/index.html that it is showing tasks from the users “inbox.” I am hoping there is going to be a way to isolate a view of individual projects and see only the tasks associated with that project. Anybody play with it at MacWorld and know? AJ?
Stephen Winnall says:
I’m looking forward to Daylite Touch, but I’m a bit apprehensive about the new Daylite Server it needs. My servers are Linux and I have no plans to buy any Mac OS X servers. Will Linux be supported?
Kirk says:
AJ,
Congratulations. You deserve it 100%.
Daylite Touch looks fabulous. It is very well laid out, the functionality is top notch and it is certain to become a top application. I really hope it helps drive sales of Daylite!
Good Luck.
AJ says:
@Lon – it was good to meet you at Macworld! Yes – 2009 is going to be productive!
@rolland – you are right – it’s totally going to change habits. It certainly has changed mine.
@Zachary – yes you can see tasks for a specific project.
@Stephen – we support Mac OS X only. No Linux support is planned for the server.
@Kirk – good to see you at Macworld as well!
Anton says:
Currently testing Daylite Productivity Suite and it looks good. Will you offer a cloud-based Daylite Touch service (e.g. use MobileMe) as an alternative to installing Daylite Server (we want to move away from our local servers, NOT add new applications to it!) NetSuite is in the cloud, SalesForce is in the cloud – what about Daylite offering at least a hybrid?
Thanks for listening!
David Utts says:
Hi,
Congrats – been chomping at the bit for a long time for this. A couple questions:
If I change something on my Iphone in the Daylite Calendar – does it change the Iphone calendar? Or do I have to wait to sync with my Mac for this to sync with Ical?
I use Evernote for my thoughts and mobile InBox… Will you have “Notes” or “Memos” on Daylite Touch?
David
Keith says:
Hi AJ,
Wow. Daylite Touch looks like it will be awesome!
I run a sole operator small business using Daylite (which I love) BUT just wondering whether Daylite Touch will work as a single user without a server? In Australia?
Have held off updating my Palm to a iPhone due to the release of this very exciting app.
Thanks,
Keith
AJ says:
@Anton – no cloud for now. You can however host your Daylite server at a place like Macminicolo.
@David – we do not touch the iPhone’s calendar at all. If you want to have stuff there and in Daylite Touch, then you’ll have to setup Sync Services on the desktop (in Preferences). Apple does not provide a calendar API on the phone (not even reminders)
@Keith – As a single user, you just need to use the server version (works even on your laptop) and sync over WiFi. I see no reason why it wouldn’t work in Australia. It even works on an iPod touch.
David Utts says:
Okay – do we have a release date yet? Early 2009 it is… at least give us days away, weeks away, month away!
Thanks – David
motech says:
im soo excited for touch and server.
i will finally start seriously looking at this solution for my small business.
any more screenshots or videos and release date info would be greatly appreciated.
AJ says:
We have now adjusted our date forward to 1st quarter of 2009 – so before or on March 31. We do have an unknown factor and that is the duration of the approval process with AppStore. We’ll inform folks when we submit to the AppStore.
David Utts says:
AJ,
About syncing with Ical and Daylite – Daylite touch.
If I have Daylite syncing currently with Ical and Ical syncing with Mobile Me to my Iphone – I assume Daylite Touch will not touch this process?
Then I assume if I change something on my Iphone in Daylite – It will sync with the Daylite server to my computer version of Daylite and ultimately Daylite will sync Ical via the sync between programs on my mac and then everything will be aligned? Is this right?
David
AJ says:
@David – you are correct. Hopefully it is not problematic in practice.
Marketcircle Blog » iPhone not only the BlackBerry of small business, it’s becoming the BlackBerry of business, period says:
[...] And because of these chops, I knew that we had to get Daylite or some incarnation of it on the iPhone. Initially we did it via Sync Services where we got contacts and calendar info on the iPhone and subsequently we released Daylite Touch (for which we got a Macworld “Best of Show”). [...]