Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Streaming New Sooloos iPad App

The thing is, we've known here that this app has been in development for months already. Inside word had hopes for a release in December, then CES, then by end of January, now a murky "February". Sure, the official press release from Meridian was in mid-December, but we've all known this was coming well before that. Even if we didn't, we had the fair expectation to think that it should be coming as Sooloos was getting lapped by others in the market who had far better and more useful iPad app implementations. Again, the original app release date was May of 2010. Shouldn't there have been an update by sometime in 2011 at the absolute latest?

Yes, we complain. We likely complain either way. You know what though? That's business. Customers pay money for a product and they have expectaitons. Are those expectations sometimes or even often unrealistic? Sure. In a case like this though, I have a hard time seeing it that way. We should have seen the updated app well before now.

Jeff

Perhaps if the App were a "pay for" item instead of free then Meridian would have an incentive to hurry it up (to gain revenue) and be able to afford to employ extra developers to get it out on time.

How many would object to paying?

Chris

I have no problem with Meridian giving us a roadmap and advance notice of products if they choose to, be that weeks or months, but once you state or strongly imply an availability date and then you fail to meet that you let yourself and your customers down, I note the first post of this thread states here is a look at the new iPad app due sometime in January and that is from a premier dealer,

Russ

After paying something like �8000 for my MC600 I would say that it is paid for in full. I sold my C15 when I received the MC600 trusting that the iPad would match the functionality of the C15. I have been living in the dark for a long time now. I guess 1st of April is my best bet now but I am still uncertain of the year.

Irrespective of the year this could be a little foolish.

I'm not sure that's a game Meridian wants to engage in given their track record. Should I really believe that they would be able to make such a tradeoff, or would this likely just be some additional revenue generation avenue? Plus, if they are smart and include some type of "demo" mode in the app itself, the free app becomes a marketing tool for the whole system for users who have never tried it out. All owners agree that the true magic comes from interfacing with a Control:10/15. With the iPad app, they would have the ability to give potential glimpse into that magic without ever having to step into a showroom. That's not happening in a paid app scenario.

Beyond this, you can't ignore what the competition is doing. You know who makes products in this similar space and who doesn�t charge for their iOS control apps? Qsonix, Sonos, Kaleidescape, Logitech (Squeezebox), Naim, Olive, Widealab (Aurender), Denon, Marantz, Pioneer, Yamaha, Control4, Linn, ReQuest, etc. Are there some paid apps like this out there? Yes. But the prevailing model is paid hardware accompanied by free software. Meridian would have to justify the additional software cost for hardware that is already expensive.

Jeff

Well I was wrong with my 'best guess', but not long now....

Rick

Almost a year ago, around the same time as the 'no product being developed to replace the TwinStore' Premium Dealer announcement, I raised the question of how to control the 6 MC600 Zones WITHOUT an improved iPad App. It is absolutely ridiculous to still not have one, even out in Beta format to help knock out the inevitable kinks. It makes the MC600 also an incomplete product and it would have been a hard-sell at CES to shift without a few Control units in tow.

How is it that Dune and Oppo, for examples, can have 'Suggested Features' or 'Bugs' pages? I'm sure many of us here wouldn't mind being guinea pigs for a good cause. This could have been ongoing over Christmas.

They have managed to miss Christmas, the Sales (!), CES and now part of February and probably Valentines Day!

Must try harder .....

M

I can't help think they (M) are "damned if they do; damned if they don't".

We spend years with no line of sight of new products and developments. It was annoying and sometimes very costly.

As soon as we get some line of sight we seem to hear a lot of moaning about the date with some strong language to match. (IMHO)

As has been stated before on this topic, the app is apparantly with Apple and unless you know otherwise, this takes a variable amount of time to get through the Apple system. I hope the time taken means that it will work properly straight off.

I, for one, will be disappointed if this negativity results in a move back to silence and no visibility of what is to come.

Nick

New app coming soon with improved funtionality etc: stay tuned for more details, is fine, no news whatsoever, not good, Premier Dealer notifying an availability date that then never happens and is not explained is poor, sorry it just is. The App maybe with Apple for approval, if so, say so, then the frustration at the delay is with Apple and not, quite correctly, with Meridian. Still due to the delay I may get to install it on my iPad 3

Russ

If they're that sensitive, then maybe that's their best play. Last time I checked, they were a for profit company with customers who have the right to ask questions. Frankly, I'm not all that convinced that they know how to successfully manage a drip information flow anyway given what I've seen.

Set appropriate customer expectations and then deliver or exceed those expectations. Release timing is one of those. Personally, I don't believe that this is all due to some an Apple delay. Color me cynical, but I don't.

http://reviewtimes.shinydevelopment.com/

Jeff

No apologies from me - I object completely and vigorously in principle.

By M moving from screen based systems (C10/C15) to extend the range to the MC200 & MC600 then NEED to have a proper app to deliver a better customer GUI than the current app provides. The Sooloos GUI was and remains a key feature of the product offering. It would be like Apple charging for the GUI on an iPod/iPhone/iPad or charging separately for iTunes. Furthermore it has been promised and is part of the sales spiel coming from M's retail partners. There should be no question of having to pay for it - it is integral to the product offering and its acceptance by customers, and as other posts have demonstrated it is the product model. I feel I have pre-funded their development costs as it stands!

M has made a timetable public and they have not delivered - no surprise then that clients who have paid premium prices for what is claimed to be a premium product are disappointed with what remains a sub-standard product and that the disappointment is being publicly voiced.

M is not like your favourite aunty or uncle who is old, a little forgetful and needs a compassionate helping hand from time to time. It is no longer even a "family" affair - as I understand it - it is owned/controlled for the most part by hard nosed investors trying to strip consumers of as much cash as possible while investing the bare minimum to achieve that aim. Although admittedly they have been investing and thankfully the design and technology leadership of the old M is largely in tact.

How much damage has yet another timetable "malfunction" already done to M's consumer profile and how does that dampen sales revenues of new hardware sales across the range? Why cannot an apology be made with a simple statement communicating an accurate correction to the release date and any meaningful reason for that delay?

If they choose to return to shutting down the shutters on effective communications with their customers - all fool them. The SQ product offerings from competitors keep on improving and some of the existing competitor product GUIs are already ahead of the game...