Tag Archives: software

Raising the Bar for Bible Apps

logos bible app screenshotWe come down pretty hard on Bible apps here at MMM. Either they aren’t focused enough, or they have so many features that people get lost in using them (a product focus issue). Nevertheless, there’s always room to talk about what they do well and what can improve from there.

What Mobile Bible Apps Do Well

Its well agreed, even when comparing leading Bible apps to other eBook readers/applications, that Bible applications are well developed for their target. From the handling of notes, to offering different views to compare content. Bible apps seem to run in the lead in respect to having the kind of user experience (UX) that is responsive to many of the needs of the Bible reader.

Footnotes, cross-references, and some even integrate image support better than you’d see on the Nook, Kindle, or other electronic reading devices. Add to that, an large body of content (usually priced appropriately), and you basically have a niche in mobile Bible apps that can pretty much sustain itself – for a little while longer at least.

And then you just have availability. Just look at our Bible apps listing – there’s at least one Bible app (and therefore several Bibles and other religious literature) available for nearly any mobile device. There are even SMS and audio-only options for those folks that would prefer something a bit more responsive to those reading and learning styles. I’ve been around mobile devices and software for a very long time, I don’t know of any genre outside of games that covers such a diverse range of devices and usage types.

What Mobile Bible Apps Don’t Do So Well

Where mobile Bible apps falter, and this is true for just about anything attached to the publishing world, is in two specific areas: access and consistency.

In respect to access, we still have the situation with Bible applications that content is locked to specific applications. Though we are getting better with this – just recently, we saw the release of Simple Bible Pro for HP webOS devices which uses Laridian’s licensed content. Instead of a situation such as a single vendor needing to making an application for (and then support) various mobile platforms, another company has made the application, and there was some cross-licensing able to be done here. This doesn’t happen enough, and therefore Bible software companies are dealing with access the hard way – building platform-centric silos. And in most cases aren’t even taking advantage of respective platform strengths when doing so.

Then there’s consistency. I’ll let Kevin Purcell from Christian Computing Magazine take it form here:

…While all of these are good apps, they have one thing in common. They lag behind their iPad/iPhone counterparts running on iOS in features and sometimes in stability. Let’s take Olive Tree Bible Reader as an example. The iOS version is rock solid and has a lot of great features. It has split screen capability and markup features like book bookmarks and notes. The most recent stable Android version only recently added some of these features, but not all of the iOS features are present yet. Logos has a good iOS app. They haven’t even re-leased an Android version yet, but do have a public beta (see link above). Their beta is little more than a book reader. You cannot compare translations, there is no Passage Guide or Word Study Guide and like the iOS version it has no note taking feature, bookmarking or highlighting. Laridian’s Android app is an alpha, not even a beta. I downloaded it and they have a great start, but it is definitely missing most of the great features of the iPhone version…

Read the rest of his July 2011 article (PDF)

Feature parity is important whether you are doing simple reading, or diving into a more in-depth study with your community. This aspect really hits folks who move to another mobile device and have gotten used ot a specific feature.

How Then to Raise the Bar

This is the part where you make the call. Being that mobile Bible apps have this base, where do they need to improve or become better in your perspective? Let’s hear what you have to say, and maybe the voices can get some of these excellent companies to consider tweaking their offerings in that direction.

The Open Source Almost Answer

An article at O’Reilly Radar sparked a memory back towards a previous post on open source in the mobile ministry (#mobmin) space. Here’s a snippet of the Radar article:

So, if all software should be free and open source, who is going to write this code? One argument is that the dentist, or a group of dentists, should underwrite the production of the code. But dentistry, like most things in western society, tends to be a for-profit competitive enterprise. If everyone gets the benefit of the software (since it’s FOSS), but a smaller group pays for it, the rest of the dentists get a competitive advantage. So there is no incentive for a subset of the group to fund the effort.

Another variant is to propose that the software will be developed and given away, and the developers will make their living by charging for support. Leaving alone the cynical idea that this would be a powerful incentive to write hard-to-use software, it also suffers from a couple of major problems. To begin with, software this complex might take a team of 10 people one or more years to produce. Unless they are independently wealthy, or already have a pipeline of supported projects, there’s no way they will be able to pay for food (and college!) while they create the initial product.

Read the rest at O’Reilly Radar.

We’ve been on the side of open source for a long time here at MMM. From Bible+ to Katana to Biblia to Door43, we are extremely supportive of those persons and organizations who see a need for transparent development, free/low-cost applications and content, and the communities that develop from such efforts. We’ve also been on the side of projects that started with a boom but are nothing more than a whimper (for example, Katana). Starting a project with the idea that it will be open source assumes a lot – and unless you are Google-like (Android was purchased by them and then made open source). You’ve got to have certain ducks in a row, and unfortunately, finances and impact are the major ones where some open source projects fail.

But, there’s a place for going open source after a time. Are  there Bible reader applications who have been in a maintenance mode, or are large enough that a critical mass of interested developers, designers, etc. would fill in some of the blanks such as platform support, languages, and reach? Probably. Yet only a few fall into this category – not to mention the fun of the content rights in this domain. It is an answer, and one that could afford to be better explored.

That only makes open source part of the answer. And as the Radar article is really trying to bring into the discussion, just because something is open source doesn’t mean its free to develop, support, or market. There are always costs, and somewhere, someone pays for this. This could be from donors, this could be from fans. But, it has to be a large enough group that open source ‘X’ makes sense over something that isn’t. When that’s not the case, open source is no more a correct answer than ‘C’ on a true/false test.

Should I Have An App?

The question of mobile applications is a popular one. Certainly, there are a number of people who cannot see mobile devices and services without them. And to some extent, this has always been the case. The question though that’s been been hard for some to ascertain for themselves though is whether they need an application or not.

Applications are event or task-driven software. Sometimes, this might require some input from the person who desires information. Other times, this input information may be derived from outside sources such as another website, sensors on a mobile device, or a combination of these plus input from the person. So then, with asking this question (should I have an app), we should probably start with the key piece of data – what will this application be providing?

In previous articles, we’ve talked about mobile having three components (devices, services, and experiences). In this piece, we’ll try to answer this question (should I have an app) through this lens.

Content and Services

There are two things you provide through any computing interface: content and services. Depending on your realm (media, education, etc.), what you are providing is key to discerning whether you need an application or not.

Taking from a recent inquiry where we were asked to help someone determine what kind of app they needed, we asked the question: what will your application be giving that your current endeavors on your website and Facebook do not already offer? The intention was to have a spade of content that was readily accessible to potential fans of their work, but that question (a content question given their realm) was already answered through their existing media engagements.

Platforms and Ecosystems

A consideration for any kind of application (whether native to a specific computer platform like Windows, iOS, etc., or more ubiquitous like the Internet) is where it will be living – if you will, what is the platform that you will choose to serve this application from. Again, depending on the realm that your content or services exist within, this can be a simple answer or a complicated one.

Graphic taken from VisionMobile’s article HTML5 and What It Means for the Mobile Industry. Also, Mobify has written recently on the topic of mobile apps versus mobile websites (disclaimer: we use Mobify for our mobilized website) with some items to consider that correlate with Vision Mobile’s findings.

Going back to the example above, the person was interested in an application for mobile devices, but was not aware that to address their current audiences, developing a mobile application for at least three mobile and at least one desktop platform (mobile: iOS, Android, and BlackBerry; desktop: Windows or Mac OS) was the course. Or, they could opt to take the route in developing a web application (using HTML5 most likely) that could fit across most of those platforms, but would (in that case) simply duplicate existing efforts on Facebook and their current website.

Closing the Experience

Regardless of your content/service and the platform, there’s a larger goal that you have in mind when you are asking the question “should I have an app.” Have you clearly defined the goal of this experience? What are the spiritual, theological, social, or personal takeaways that someone will (not should) have when they finish a session within your application.

Let’s go back to the example we’ve been using. Remember how we asked the question “what will your mobile application offer that your website and Facebook site don’t?” That question gets extended here. What is it that your content or service offers that changes the person? Does your current website or social networking engagement follow through on this experience goal? For what you think of building into your mobile application, is this a realistic goal for a mobile application? Mobile use is different than a regular PC, and even other forms of media (radio, TV). Given the attention span that a mobile device might have, and what you are thinking of as a mobile application, do goals line up with what can be had given this mobile context?

The “Checklist”

Clearly, this isn’t always an easy question. And for those whom are looking towards developing a mobile component to their offerings, there are other questions that come along as the prior two sections are nailed down. We have these three layers of mobile (devices, services, and experiences) that help guide towards answering some (or all) of these questions. This at least gets us to the point of having a checklist of sorts towards answering this question.

Should I have a mobile application?

  • Am I delivering content or performing/administering a service?
  • What does a mobile application enable my content/service to do that current channels (website, social networking, etc.) cannot do as effectively?
  • What platform should I choose for my initial mobile application?
  • Is my content/service complicated by logistical constraints (languages, delivery/receiving methods, etc.)?
  • What resources do I have to develop on the platform our audience is most likely to meet us on?
  • What experience should be gained after this mobile application is closed?
  • Does this follow along with our vision/values?
  • Are there aspects of the experience that we can’t control that we are ok with?

Granted, this is a simplified checklist, but it at least should help some in getting through the question of “should I have an app” towards the perspective of making sure that you don’t just have it to have it, but also profitably put your energies on reachable goals.

The Casualty of Symbian Bible Apps

In a lot of respects, its rare to talk about Bible apps for one specific platform – there so many – the causality of Bible apps for the Symbian platform has been one of those questions that has gnawed at me a bit. Not so much even for the lack of applications, but the missed opportunities because of where the Symbian platform has been represented.

What is Symbian?

Symbian is a mobile operating system and platform that’s been used by Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, Fujitsu, and LG for mobile phones. To date, there have been over 600 million devices shipped and sold with the Symbian operating system, making it one of the most prolific  in use.

Nokia has been quite adept at making Symbian fit its needs. It has pretty much been selling Symbian devices longer than people have given credence to there even being a category called smartphones. To that end, Symbian has been deployed with more carriers and in more world  regions than all but the most basic of Java handsets.

Unfortunately, it is also considered an older platform that while stable and optimized for mobile devices, falls quite far behind some of the newer entrants in respect to ease-of-use, developer tools, and ease of finding applications. And so Symbian recently befell Nokia’s reorganization efforts (first spun into an open source platform, and now to be greatly minimized  over the next years  to be replaced by Windows Phone).

Symbian and Bibles

By accident of niche, Biblical software usually is a fairly easy one to fill. Find a publisher that has the languages that you want to address, write the application to deliver it, and then make it available. The issue with Symbian is that its actually a pretty difficult platform to build on. Without getting too technical, its just plain to say that developers have needed to had a certain type of older technical knowledge (previously) or invest in toolsets (Qt, Java, etc.) which required a good amount of patience before progress.

When I moved to the Symbian platform in 2008, there wasn’t much to find for Bible apps. Laridian, Olive Tree, Symbian Bible, and Go-Bible were pretty much your only options. And for a while, this was just fine and covered most of the Symbian devices that were in existence. When Symbian went to a touch-based user interface (UI), things got a lot fragmented, and Symbian Bible pretty much became the only option (Best eBible came on the scene later). Which was good and not good – a free application, using Bibles formatted for the Palm Bible+ application, and had no support for newer translations. Newer platforms ended up with a very easy “in” for adoption, they had what people could read, and could find.

A Missed Opportunity…

In light of all of that history, its easy to say that Symbian (and the companies associated with that platform) might have missed an opportunity to take a platform that has already made considerable inroads even further. But, it had a good bit going against it, and so it is now in the position it is in.

But does that mean that all potential opportunity for this platform have been lost? I’d say no, if technical aptitude is seen as a gift that can benefit the Body. When I say technical aptitude, a platform (like Symbian, but all qualify here) benefits by such knowledge as developer tools, device interfaces, language mapping, usage analytics, etc. A person who is skilled in any of these areas would be a suitable team member for a larger project creating an application, service, or refining a digital faith experience. These persons have to be looked for in “not normal places” as their gift isn’t something you’d find in Exodus on the way to creating a mobile altar (Exodus 25-27).

There’s also the benefit of much of Symbian’s assets being made available in open forums (for example Forum Nokia), through some open source technologies (for example Qt), and through the continued ownership of Symbian devices (installed-based analysis by Vision Mobile). In effect, there’s a lot of folks out there who can still benefit from a Bible solution on this platform.

The Lesson for Other Mobile Platforms

It is easy for the market, and popular (loud) opinion to state where you should place your development resources. Certainly, making plans for mobile software you’ve got to take into account devices, services, and experiences (the entire frame of mobile) and what is currently and what will be in the years to come.

When it comes to religious software, you also have the opportunity to always tap into the installed base of current users. Many times, your frequent fans and users of digital faith items will not splurge on the latest devices or services, though they will want to receive some of the same experiences that newer devices offer. It is in this that the opportunity lies, and where its possible to not just make a product, but help drive older platforms to a friendlier sunset.

Currently, there are several mobile platforms that have come and gone (Epoc, PalmOS, Windows Mobile), and some that are pretty much on their last legs (Symbian, older versions of Android and iOS, RIM’s BB OS 6 and earlier). Developers looking to cut their teeth on a mobile platform to learn and to provide experiences should not forget these platforms. And at the same time, you should go into any project with a clear (and simple) goal and definitive timeline. You  will not be able to support those devices for very long when the official support has faded.

Lastly, when you are a platform that has cultured a community of content, but you are no longer able to support that platform, utilize the open code and support communities of Code.Google, Forum Nokia, SourceForge, GitHub, and others as places to put your code and release notes. There might be someone willing to take up the project, or at least help you migrate your project’s contents into a newer platform. For example, MMM participated in an effort to update the Rapier Bible application for Maemo 5 devices, fixing some linger bugs, but that also set the stage to develop (and later release into widespread testing) a Bible application written in Qt from the ground up called Katana. The rewritten application leans on lessons of the former, but has a much longer viable life because of decisions made early on to support certain content and programming hooks.

For Symbian, it may very well be the case that the sun is setting for it as a leading mobile platform. It is also the case that there are some years and various regions of users that still haven’t been served with digital faith content though having a platform capable of supporting it. Do keep that in mind as you consider your mobile strategies, and remember to study the past platforms for what is probably going to happen to many others in a nearer-than-you-can-expect future.

Does Digital Lend to Maturity

This week’s topics have been about both the technological aspects of and the social responsibilities towards digital faith. In a very real sense, we are asking if believers (pastor-teachers, lay persons, ministries, developers, and everyone else) are thinking through their use of digital tools as it relates to their faith. And if so, what’s being produced?

What is being produced when you come into a fellowship, and their only means of wanting to connect with you is “on Facebook?”

What is being matured when the pastor-teacher opens the Scriptures, but you are left with dull ears because of constant quotes of modern social ills, Greek/Hebrew terms, or a literal disregard of the text that you just read for another point?

What’s being produced in your visiting of local watering-holes (whether they be coffeeshops, libraries, or your den) to get quiet time to read on your Kindle, Nook, iPad?

Are the digital tools that you have subscribed to contributing to your and your community’s pursuit of maturity? Or, are these just artifacts of our times, pushing us away from the life with Christ and one another we vowed and subscribed to?

MMM Top 10 Topics of 2010

Mobile Ministry Forum - Share on OviYesterday, we hit on the top posts of 2010. Today, we look at the top 10 topics based on frequency of use here at MMM. In one respect, this gives you an idea of how we focus on various areas, and in another respect points to areas of interest and notable subject areas throughout 2010.

#10: SMS
Makes a lot of sense that SMS would be a popular topic. Its how it was a popular topic that becomes interesting as you see the various types of posts on the topic.

#9: Software
The software industry is constantly changing, and this year in mobile has been no exception. Lots of viewpoints here from applicaitons to developer relations.

#8: Social Networking
What comes first, going social or going mobile? Hard to tell sometimes with the amount of conversations around both.

#7: Bible
It strikes me as amazing how the Bible stays in the conversation no matter if we are talking reading, communities, software, or successes in this space.

#6: Communication
As with social networking, simply communicating tends to be a common meme within mobile. Lots of potential here for more work.

#5: Education
We’ve been intentional at look at education as a part of the fabric of being mobile, and this year’s posts have fought hard towards that fact. Look for much more in this space in 2011.

#4: Tech
Technology is a term that be be denoted to any tool. Effective technology – especially in this space – is another conversation. We’ve had several of these.

#3: Resources
MMM also serves as a springboard towards research and reosurces in the mobile ministry space. As with education, this is a topic that’s bound to rise higher in 2011.

#2: Community
How does the tech and resources filter into the local community of believers? Plenty of coverage around community engagements such as Lausanne, discipliship, and more.

#1: Mobility
It would almost be obvious to say that mobile would be at the top of the list. Mobility is not just the tools, but the processes, the policies, and the implications. Next year, we might default this one out of the list.

Those areas accounted for lots of coverage here. We are expecting this list to shift a good bit in 2011. What do you think might be some of the topics that would make this list next year here at MMM? Speak up in the comments or on Twitter (@mobileminmag).

Noticing Things with Bible Formats

This should probably turn into a segment in our Future Trends series (Publishing, Software, Hardware), but I’ve got to do a bit more digging before making some more definitive positioning statements. One thing is for sure, there are some trends in regards to data formats that I see a bit clearer after doing some updates to our Mobile Bibles page, and it could end up being a win-win for a lot of folks – especially users.

A Short History of Files

Years ago, I got involved with the Palm Bible+ project as the webmaster and a user. As one of the few free Bible applications (at that time), Bible+ used to get all kinds of requests for Bibles in various languages. This was usually easy to do with a bit of programming on the part of the user, but you usually ended up with a Bible that would only work with that application.

In a similar fashion, there was the eSword application and Bibles created for it.  This application were also free to distribute  and worked across several desktop PC platforms. In the years since initially running into the eSword project, there’s been several updates to the file format, including the use of the STEP format, and the creating of a Windows Mobile client to also read these texts.

On the other side of the Bible+ project was the move to DRM texts. The original developer of the Palm Bible Reader made steps to create a version of the Bible reader that would accept copyrighted texts. The Bible+ project grew out of this, yet it was clear at this point that there would need to be two methods for handling Biblical text/media.

The Dollar Items

Of course, not everything can be for free, and as we’ve chatted about here several times, the issue of Bible formatting is a sensitive one for those publishers and developers involved.

There is a clear line though towards Bible formats and what becomes needed to be paid for. For example, there has always been numerous versions of the Bible available for free – but, it had not been until recently (past three years) that you’d be able to find some of the more modern translations available for free.  These were (rightly) tied to an application, and coded to work specifically with that body of text.

This works well when you are talking about the audience of readers whom are invested into reading the text – those people who are new to the faith, or who only see the Bible for a casual reading/reference work will place a different value to it, and therefore look at the cost of it to them differently.

Not everything can be free, and not everything will fly off the shelves priced too far away. There’s got to be some kind of answer to this issue, and maybe it is near the actual formats that are used in various Bible applications.

What I Noticed

When looking at the Mobile Bibles page, I noticed a few things. The Bible+ Project was originally just for one platform, and the Bibles created for it can now be read in PalmOS Classic, Symbian, BlackBerry OS, and Maemo/MeeGo. Bibles made for the eSword environment also are supported on several platforms (Windows/Mac/Linux, Maemo, Maemo/MeeGo, and some previous Windows Mobile devices).

And that’s the free stuff. When you get to the paid Bibles, there’s compatiability for everything from Java-based handsets, to iOS (iPad, iPhone), Android, Symbian, and BlackBerry mobile devices.

A newer approach is being taken on by Logos, with the Biblia API project. Here, its not so much the actual reading environment that is being pressed, but you are given content, and have the ability (through license agreement) to use that content in a manner that works best for you. So here, you are using both new and old texts, free and paid texts, in a connected space, over a browser, or a customized (for the platform) application. So far, other companies aren’t going this route, but I do postulate that this would be the eventual end of much of the content that we deal with Biblically when consistent connectivity (QoS) isn’t in question.

In effect, everything is covered by two approaches to Bible formats:

  • Leveraging the existing content, older translations, and multi-lingual needs created for platforms that still have a large user base, but the users may have moved to newer devices and don’t want to purchase their initial downloaded investments
  • Utilizing proprietary formats which are advantageous for newer translations, free and purchase systems, and leverage the exposed connectivity features of newer mobile platforms and/or wireless access levels of users

I think that we still need to get to a point of seeing one commonly used Bible format, with the sharing, purchasing, etc. components handled by device/user tokens. And we might get there. Looking at just what is available now, and how the needs of those looking for Bibles are being addressed, it looks like we might essentially get there – but with users needing to pay as much attention to the reading platform, as much as they do the text itself.

At least that’s what it looks like on our Mobile Bibles page. I’ll probably tweak this page even more later when more of these associations are noticed. Besides making it easier for you to find a reader, it might help you make better decisions about how to manage your digital Biblical assets before the next major change hits several more software/development companies in this space.

And to think, I’m not even touching (yet) audio Bibles ;)

Technical Issues and Practices in Mobile Ministry

Each conversation about mobile ministry brings it’s own insights and challenges. Some of those challenges are of a technical nature and require the understanding of items related to content product and design. Here are a few resource links to address some of the technical items I have recently encountered:

What are some of the resources that you use in creating those mobile innovations that bolster your mobile ministry efforts? Or, what kinds of resources would you like to see more of?