Snowfunk Posted January 8, 2011 Report Share Posted January 8, 2011 My name is Craig Williamson and I am the man behind the Snowfunk Speedway iPhone app. I invented the iPhone speedway scorecard as it's exactly what I wanted to enhance my own enjoyment of the series. I would liken it to the well-regarded KanDysoft spreadsheets (also paid-for) except that it works neatly on an iPhone/iPod. Just to clarify what Snowfunk Speedway is and why people may wish to use it. If you enjoy filling out your own scorecard while watching the series, Snowfunk Speedway provides a lot more than a free paper-based scorecard. It only takes a few taps to fill out each heat, and you then have an instantly updated leaderboard that shows you exactly how the race for the semis is shaping up. You also have an instantly updated overall leaderboard so you can see how the title race is looking. Entering riders for the semis and final also only requires a few taps so it really does make the whole process much smoother. If you don’t mind a bit of writing and mental arithmetic, and you are happy to wait for the leaderboard to appear on TV (with its occasional inaccuracies), then a free paper-based scorecard might be enough for you. If you don’t mind using a computer during the meeting, then a free spreadsheet might be enough for you (although the paid-for KanDysoft spreadsheets are hard to beat). If you're not bothered about filling in your own scorecard, then of course you can get the result through the Internet. Snowfunk Speedway can also load the result for you and provides a neat and quick way to browse the meeting. At no cost whatsoever, you can use Snowfunk Speedway to browse results from the last 2 seasons, and you also have a quick way to check the latest news. This is information available on the Internet, but presented in a neat format that I find very useful to have in my pocket. So for a small fee (currently around the price of a pint of beer) you can have a quick and easy to use scorecard covering the whole 2011 season with downloadable rider lineups and automatically updated leaderboards. At no cost you have a convenient way to view the last 2 years’ results and the latest speedway news. The app takes up most of my personal time and there are costs associated with its development. For those reasons I felt it reasonable to begin charging a small fee this season. Ultimately it is a personal decision as to whether you feel it is good value for your specific needs. Hopefully there are plenty of people who, like me, find that it really enhances their enjoyment of the series. Roll on April 30th! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fingersfin Posted January 8, 2011 Report Share Posted January 8, 2011 Good for you, any chance of an android version?..pretty please Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scorpion1 Posted January 9, 2011 Report Share Posted January 9, 2011 Good for you, any chance of an android version?..pretty please http://speedwaygp.com/en/iphoneapp Try this but you will however have to sign up to the access all areas page on speedwaygp.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Brown Posted January 9, 2011 Report Share Posted January 9, 2011 My name is Craig Williamson and I am the man behind the Snowfunk Speedway iPhone app. I invented the iPhone speedway scorecard as it's exactly what I wanted to enhance my own enjoyment of the series. I would liken it to the well-regarded KanDysoft spreadsheets (also paid-for) except that it works neatly on an iPhone/iPod. So for a small fee (currently around the price of a pint of beer) you can have a quick and easy to use scorecard covering the whole 2011 season with downloadable rider lineups and automatically updated leaderboards. At no cost you have a convenient way to view the last 2 years’ results and the latest speedway news. The app takes up most of my personal time and there are costs associated with its development. For those reasons I felt it reasonable to begin charging a small fee this season. Ultimately it is a personal decision as to whether you feel it is good value for your specific needs. Hopefully there are plenty of people who, like me, find that it really enhances their enjoyment of the series. Roll on April 30th! You are correct Craig in that it is a choice as to whether to use it. I guess my questions would centre around a couple of things 1. The vast majority of apps for iPhone you pay for and they are yours, there is not an ongoing annual subscription . You sight Kandysoft as an example but those are a one of charge 2. Why not just charge in the first place rather than put it out there free, get people using it and then introduce an annual price 3. Why has the SGP branding disappeared.............was it that if you charged some would have to go to them ? Just be interested in your thoughts Its a great app but doesn't do much that other non paying media can do for you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fingersfin Posted January 9, 2011 Report Share Posted January 9, 2011 http://speedwaygp.com/en/iphoneapp Try this but you will however have to sign up to the access all areas page on speedwaygp.com Thanks for the tip off unfortunately thats an iphone only version not valid with android. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ImpartialOne Posted January 9, 2011 Report Share Posted January 9, 2011 (edited) You are correct Craig in that it is a choice as to whether to use it. I guess my questions would centre around a couple of things 1. The vast majority of apps for iPhone you pay for and they are yours, there is not an ongoing annual subscription . You sight Kandysoft as an example but those are a one of charge 2. Why not just charge in the first place rather than put it out there free, get people using it and then introduce an annual price 3. Why has the SGP branding disappeared.............was it that if you charged some would have to go to them ? Just be interested in your thoughts Its a great app but doesn't do much that other non paying media can do for you Great post. Be interesting to see his response as I also feel it is a bit misleading to call it a free app and then charge £2.99 (most apps cost 59p) for the useful content. I would also be interested to know how many have paid for it. Probably not that many. But I think most people would pay 59p so he would cover his costs far better that way. Also, why Snow Funk? It's the worst name for a speedway app and does nothing to draw you to it. Edited January 9, 2011 by ImpartialOne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowfunk Posted January 10, 2011 Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 Good for you, any chance of an android version?..pretty please An Android version of Snowfunk Speedway will be next, although I can't promise any firm timescales yet! You are correct Craig in that it is a choice as to whether to use it. I guess my questions would centre around a couple of things 1. The vast majority of apps for iPhone you pay for and they are yours, there is not an ongoing annual subscription . You sight Kandysoft as an example but those are a one of charge 2. Why not just charge in the first place rather than put it out there free, get people using it and then introduce an annual price 3. Why has the SGP branding disappeared.............was it that if you charged some would have to go to them ? 1. There are plenty of apps out there with ongoing charges, and particularly sporting apps which often have 'season passes'. This usually covers regular content which, in the case of Snowfunk Speedway, is the embedded rider lineup for the year’s series, plus downloadable lineups before each of the 11 meetings and downloadable results afterwards. For the 2012 season the same service will be provided, any rule changes will be incorporated into the (rather complicated) workings of the app, and I’ll continue to make updates to improve the app and take advantage of any new operating system or device features. During each season, when Apple update their iPhone operating system I will also make any necessary fixes to ensure that the app continues to work smoothly on your devices. I personally consider all of this to be worthy of a yearly fee as it continues my time commitment and development costs, whilst providing a continuing service. 2. I’m a glass half-full person myself, so I’d prefer to look upon it as terrific that I’d enjoyed something completely free for the first year! In fact, I wanted to make sure that there was a demand for the app and that people found it useful. Giving it away for free in 2010 was a good way to find out before I continued to spend more time and money developing it further. It has now grown way beyond a hobby which has led to the fee. 3. I had an agreement with BSI that they would support my app for the 2010 series, but they decided not to renew that agreement for 2011. Great post. Be interesting to see his response as I also feel it is a bit misleading to call it a free app and then charge £2.99 (most apps cost 59p) for the useful content. This is a common and, in my opinion, very useful feature of iPhone apps. You can download something for free and then poke around and see what it can do. You can then decide for yourself whether to pay to upgrade it, keep the free functionality, or just delete it. It’s the perfect way to 'try before you buy', rather than paying money up front based upon a few screenshots and a description. The vast majority of the 59p apps out there are general enough (e.g. games) that they appeal to millions of people and therefore have the potential to make huge sums of money. The more specialized content tends to attract a higher price as the market is so much smaller. An app for speedway fans (already a very small proportion of the population) who own an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad (now a pretty tiny number of people) is unlikely to make anybody rich. I charge what I consider to be a fair price with the hope of justifying the time and expense I incur. Apple also take over 30% of any sales which should not be forgotten! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fingersfin Posted January 11, 2011 Report Share Posted January 11, 2011 An Android version of Snowfunk Speedway will be next, although I can't promise any firm timescales yet! Good stuff, hopefully ready before the first GP?? Don't worry about the charge, its loose change!! Really puzzles me when people get their knickers in a twist about a couple of quid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psycho3a Posted January 11, 2011 Report Share Posted January 11, 2011 Firstly i believe its false advertising,,, It appears as a free app,, this is obviously not the case. Like people have said previously Kandysoft is a one off charge and not an annual cost. I agree it was a very useful App but certainly not worth the £2.99 per year its also principal as it was popular Craig now feels he can cash in. I also would be interested to find out how may people downloaded for Free, how many people would have spent 99p annual cost or a £1.50 lifetime cost as against the £2.99. I'm in sales and would rather have 2000 people at 99p (£1980)using the App & spreading the word particurly as more people are using iphones than 100 at £2.99 (£299) I still have to produce a paper document for my father who does not have the latest technology so it is no hardship to print off an extra copy. With regards to the comparison that the cost of a programme, a programme is a full colour brochure with articles to read and keep not just information for 12 months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fingersfin Posted January 12, 2011 Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 but certainly not worth the £2.99 per year lol........get a grip..... what is that about Yorkshireman...arms,trousers etc. Before you say it, yes I am Scottish and yes every penny is a prisoner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Humphrey Appleby Posted January 12, 2011 Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 I'm not a fan of recurring subscriptions, but I don't think it unreasonable to charge a one-off for something that's taken time, effort and undoubtedly has required the purchase of a programming environment to develop. At the end of the day, no-one is forcing anyone to buy it, and 2.99 is cheaper than a paper programme. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ImpartialOne Posted January 15, 2011 Report Share Posted January 15, 2011 An Android version of Snowfunk Speedway will be next, although I can't promise any firm timescales yet! 1. There are plenty of apps out there with ongoing charges, and particularly sporting apps which often have 'season passes'. This usually covers regular content which, in the case of Snowfunk Speedway, is the embedded rider lineup for the year’s series, plus downloadable lineups before each of the 11 meetings and downloadable results afterwards. For the 2012 season the same service will be provided, any rule changes will be incorporated into the (rather complicated) workings of the app, and I’ll continue to make updates to improve the app and take advantage of any new operating system or device features. During each season, when Apple update their iPhone operating system I will also make any necessary fixes to ensure that the app continues to work smoothly on your devices. I personally consider all of this to be worthy of a yearly fee as it continues my time commitment and development costs, whilst providing a continuing service. 2. I’m a glass half-full person myself, so I’d prefer to look upon it as terrific that I’d enjoyed something completely free for the first year! In fact, I wanted to make sure that there was a demand for the app and that people found it useful. Giving it away for free in 2010 was a good way to find out before I continued to spend more time and money developing it further. It has now grown way beyond a hobby which has led to the fee. 3. I had an agreement with BSI that they would support my app for the 2010 series, but they decided not to renew that agreement for 2011. This is a common and, in my opinion, very useful feature of iPhone apps. You can download something for free and then poke around and see what it can do. You can then decide for yourself whether to pay to upgrade it, keep the free functionality, or just delete it. It’s the perfect way to 'try before you buy', rather than paying money up front based upon a few screenshots and a description. The vast majority of the 59p apps out there are general enough (e.g. games) that they appeal to millions of people and therefore have the potential to make huge sums of money. The more specialized content tends to attract a higher price as the market is so much smaller. An app for speedway fans (already a very small proportion of the population) who own an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad (now a pretty tiny number of people) is unlikely to make anybody rich. I charge what I consider to be a fair price with the hope of justifying the time and expense I incur. Apple also take over 30% of any sales which should not be forgotten! Fair enough, I think probably a lot of people were under the impression that SGP owned it before and someone else took over and wanted to charge. I understand it takes time and money to do these things and I guess it still doesn't pay greatly so fair play for that. I always wondered what Apples cut was. That's almost a pound gone to start with! Thanks for your comments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travtastic Posted January 17, 2011 Report Share Posted January 17, 2011 I used this App for last years GP's and have paid the £2.99 to use it for next year. It's cheaper than buying a programme and when going to the GP's abroad it's quicker than waiting for the english announcement on the tannoy!! I didnt have any problems with the countback and qualification to the semi's... it was always accurate. It's good to be able to see immediate updates of the nights scores and also the overall standings. Great idea... hope it continues Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i love tractors Posted January 18, 2011 Report Share Posted January 18, 2011 Used it last year and will be using it again this year. I cannot believe some people are that tight. But i'm sure they will pay £5+ for a GP program! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psycho3a Posted March 3, 2011 Report Share Posted March 3, 2011 NEW SGP APP AND GAME SGP fans will have this season’s series at their fingertips after rights holders BSI Speedway agreed a three-year deal with Vivid Games to develop a brand new smartphone app and mobile game. The new official SGP App will be available on all iOS platforms (iPhone, iPod, iPad) via the App Store and through the Ovi Store for the latest Nokia devices. It will replace the 2010 version and the partnership with Vivid Games, one of Europe’s leading mobile and handheld console game developers, will ensure fans get a new and improved experience. The latest edition will be available to download the week before the FIM European Grand Prix at Leszno on April 30 and offers up-to-date results and live scorecards from the SGP rounds. Supporters can plan their Grand Prix trips using our venue information, SGP calendar and ticket details. They can also read all the facts and stats on their favourite World Championship stars, take part in our Twitter feed, and enjoy photos and videos from the events. The app is being designed by Vivid Games, who are based in Bydgoszcz, Poland, and are also working on an official SGP game that will be available on all the same platforms as the official app. BSI Speedway managing director Paul Bellamy said: “This is a very exciting move for the SGP series and speedway as a whole. Apps and social media have become a massive part of our daily lives and have a huge role to play in taking the sport to a wider audience. "We want to keep our fans up-to-date wherever they are in the world and this new app is the perfect way for them to follow the fortunes of the world’s top riders.” Vivid Games’ chief executive, Remigiusz Koscielny, said: “As a Bydgoszcz company, we definitely have the sport in our blood and I’m sure this will help us develop a must-have app for speedway fans the world over. "We have a history of developing great apps and games and we don’t just want to develop a brilliant speedway app. We want to develop one of the best sport apps on the market.” Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattK Posted April 21, 2011 Report Share Posted April 21, 2011 How much does the official app cost? Does that include the "game" or do you have to buy that separately? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Bee Posted April 21, 2011 Report Share Posted April 21, 2011 It costs £2.99. I've purchased it for my ipod touch but not had a real chance to sit and go through it yet today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpeedwayTShirts Posted April 23, 2011 Report Share Posted April 23, 2011 Just downloaded it Free Of Charge on Install0us, if your jailbroken it's worth a download, intact if it wasn't for the extra in app top ups it's probably worth an official download Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chesilmaster Posted April 26, 2011 Report Share Posted April 26, 2011 This SGP app is a waste of money. A rip off and doesn't work!! A rip off because = It cost £2.99, then a further £7.50 to update!! Not advertised, so possibly illegal? A waste of money = It is not as good as the snowfunk app. It doesn't load on my iphone. Avoid like the plague! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Brown Posted April 29, 2011 Report Share Posted April 29, 2011 Utter and totally typical disgrace from these people who will bleed speedway at any opportunity For your £2.99 you get NOTHING that you can use on GP night. If you want the draw its $0.99 per GP or $9.99 for the season. As said this is NOT mentioned until you have already spent your £2.99 Don't bother I was a critic of Snowfunk but I apologise as this was great value compared to the BSI rip off Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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