Blackberry app

[dentalben]

Since everyone and their dog it seems has produced an app (C4 included) for the iPhone, what about those of us "Crackberries" that could use a similar app for the Blackberry???

[thecodeman]

It's been asked for. The C4 My Home application was developed by a third party with C4's blessing. I doubt C4 officially would develop something like this at this time, so it's up to their partners to develop it.

[ILoveC4]

I want this as well.

[Mav-Jason]

I also have a few clients with this on their wish list.

[RyanE]

ControlUI (the makers of the C4 iPhone app) have expressed interest in creating a Navigator-type app for Blackberry as well, but they don't have any promised dates, etc.

RyanE

[MarkD]

I would LOVE to see Navigator for my Blackberry!!!!

However... my new installer (probably -- the previous one seems to have gone bust!) just wrote this about the iPhone app: "The cost for the software from Control 4 to run the free app is $388." (That's CDN$.)

How the hell does C4 justify this price? I will be very disappointed if a Blackberry app costs this much. That's highway robbery, as far as I'm concerned. I can only assume somebody is trying to minimize lost touch screen sales.

[ILoveC4]

I would LOVE to see Navigator for my Blackberry!!!!

However... my new installer (probably -- the previous one seems to have gone bust!) just wrote this about the iPhone app: "The cost for the software from Control 4 to run the free app is $388." (That's CDN$.)

How the hell does C4 justify this price? I will be very disappointed if a Blackberry app costs this much. That's highway robbery, as far as I'm concerned. I can only assume somebody is trying to minimize lost touch screen sales.

Control4 doesn't sell the app, it is a 3rd party company called ControlUI.

I agree with you on the price...I think it is absurd.

I wonder if Control4 "suggested" they charge a higher price to not eat into the sale of C4 touchpanels?

[tebery]

Control UI provides the app for free. Control4 charges $299 to activate it. They do offer a 30 day free trial, but if you already have one and try to activate a free trial on a 2nd iPhone it wont accept it. Which is total BS!

[bebster]

Does C4 charge the license fee PER iPhone?

So if I want to have 3 iPhones/iPod Touches in use, I'd need to pay the $299 fee three times?

[jberger]

Yes,

It is licensed and activated per device.

You can move it from an old iPhone to a new iPhone but it doesn't allow for multiple concurrent use of a single license.

What is not fair about not allowing multiple 30 day licenses? The 30 day trial is just that, a trial period to let you test out the app.

If you already have a license on your phone, why would you need to trial it on the 2nd unit?

Personally, it seems like the activation process serves 2 purposes.

1) It keeps apple from taking a large chunk of the revenues of the people who wrote the software. (Remember, it's not written by C4, it's a dealer that created and supports the app). If it was sold in the app store, apple's 30% cut would inflate the price even more.

2) It keeps remote access simple and secure:

It keeps the system itself more secure by only allowing authenticated and tracked application licenses to access your home controller. I don't think there is a mechanism in place today to allow you to access your home controller remotely outside of 4sight. You could probably roll your own using a VPN connection, soap and xml programming and building your own app but there is really no supported remote mechanism outside of 4sight. By having C4 as the authentication gatekeeper, it helps keep the system secure and doesn't require dedicated VPN hardware, end user certificates, dealing with firewalls and NAT'ing, etc.

I'm not saying that reduced touchscreen sales might not have been part of the equation, but given how cheap they sell the remotes already, it's a much smaller revenue stream than you might think. It's much more likely that the revenue sharing and marketing channel dictated the price.