iPhone & Chess.com

Anyone with a Blackberry Storm tried chess.com ?

Never mind! Bought an iPhone 3g, wicked cool

I tried it on the new ipod touch, but the screen is so tiny you can't see where to touch the screen accurately enough to enable you to log on.

try zooming in?

I used the newest iphone 3g, and I was able to make chess.com turn based moves! It loaded in several seconds, and I was able to make all my moves!

I just got an iPhone and I haven't been able to get chess.com working on it.

It just loads the wml file as text. I tried putting in the URL to the .jad file directly into safari and no go. Not sure what else to try.

The iPhone 3GS...yet another reason to produce an iPhone app.

I'm really surprised this is taking so long...

I was able to get Live Chess from chess.com working on my Palm Pre, but it seems very vulnerable to disconnects.  I'll try it again once I get it on Wifi to see if it improves.

":) here is the reason: probably 0.5% of our users have an iphone. but 100% of our users can benefit from live chess and other new features. it doesn't mean iphone is not a good project, but it isn't at the top of the list for now :("

This is such a naive statement, its ridiculous. You don't make choices like this based on current user base, you make it based on potential user base. Just because CURRENT members may be at .5% doesn't mean that if you release a multiplayer version you will still only serve that .5%

Releasing a mutiplayer chess app on the iphone (which I know many many many people are looking for) would send the chess.com userbase through the roof. Not only on the iPhone, but even browser based users.

It is naive to make a statement like that. The goal should be to satisfy current users and attract potential/future users. If you have an iPhone application, I am paying for a membership to have more options on my iPhone.

The key here is, I ALWAYS  have my iPhone on me. I am not always sitting at a computer.

thanks Roberto. you're right. i'm a complete idiot. i have absolutely no idea what i am doing. thanks for pointing that out. maybe you should interview to take over my role here at chess.com?

I CLAIM an app for Blackberry

(ooops it' supported it seems )

I never said you were a complete idiot and I never said you have no idea what you are doing. I DID say that it was a naive statement, and it is.

I'm not even saying that an iPhone application should be priority 1, I am just saying that what you said is extremely naive.

First, you make up a number like .5%, which is just as ridiculous an assumption as 90% or 30% or 50%.  Then you use your made up figure to justify another vague stance, that being that 100% can benefit from Live Chess (100% already do) and new features (this part is true). iPhone support IS a new feature, which by your statement, 100% of users can benefit from.

You have 652,000 members and there are over 21 MILLION iphones in the world as of Q2 2009 (not including the new versions or latest sales).

The number 652,000 may or may not be the number of users that log on on a consistent basis. Chances are that this is not true. Some percentage of your users (whatever it may be) have logged in once and never again, some percentage only login once a week/month/year (or whatever the case may be).

There are however 21 MILLION iPhone users that carry a phone with them every single day. This 21 MILLION figure doesn't even include iPod touches, which total over 20 MILLION as of Q2 2009.

Now, my numbers are inflated, because not EVERY iPhone or iPod touch user plays chess or even knows about chess.com, but the point here is that the potential number of additional users is INSANE.

My point here is that, not only ".5%" of your users can stand to benefit from an iPhone application, an INSANE amount of people stand to benefit, MOST NOTABLY YOU GUYS! Your sales would go through the freaking roof. People pay $5 bucks for a terrible chess application on the app store (Believe me, I have bought several of them), you would make a crazy amount of money if you priced it at 2 bucks and integrated it with your LIVE Chess service (which by the way, 100% of your userbase can benefit from).

So let's break it down one last time.

People who benefit from live chess: 100% of current browser based users + 100% of current users who use iPhone + insane amount of potential iPhone users.

People who benefit from new features: 100% of current browser based users + 100% of current users who use iPhone + insane amount of potential iPhone users.

According to my rather simple calculations, and according to your own words ("100% of our users can benefit from live chess and other new features"), and due to the fact that an iPhone application is both a new feature and would integrate with live chess, and adding in the potential iPhone customers... the number of people who stand to benefit are...

*calculating... calculating... calculating*

OVER 100%!

Holy insane math batman. Do you need me to write a program for you guys doing this complex calculation? I used to be a developer too.

Again, I am not saying an iPhone application should be priority one, I am just saying that your crazy percentages and assumptions were a stupid thing to try and use as proof that you guys don't need to make it priority 1.

Clearly your team is made up of talented developers. Programming for the iPhone is horrifyingly simple, and so many people stand to benefit, especially you guys.

By the way, you do an awesome job of trying to belittle your users, apparently. I'm sure you have turned at least one person away from purchasing a membership with your terrible attitude.

I know most developers DO think the are better than everyone, but I thought that you would at least show your customer service side first, especially knowing that this seems to be your livelyhood.

Tone your giant ego down.

I'll take a job if you have one available, you clearly need somebody who is better at taking criticism constructively and can think about the future of your website more inventively.

By the way, your daughter is beautiful.

lol. Sadly, no. Although I do drive a GM vehicle.

i wrote that 18 months ago, and i was only slightly off in my numbers. see this survey: http://www.chess.com/survey/do-you-own-an-iphone

i only use a little sarcasm when someone comes at me with over-the-top rhetoric, which you did. you didn't examine the context or the facts, nor did you ask for any further questions. you just launched into an aggressive diatribe with statements like "This is such a naive statement, its ridiculous." if you can't handle a little mockery after being so brash, then i'd suggest you tone it down. calling someone naive is offensive. expect a defensive reaction. just because i'm the owner of the site doesn't mean i have to thank people for being rude to me. once you're on the site for more than 24 hours you'll have a chance to read my posts and get to know me better. :)

it wasn't a naive statement to say that iphone would impact significantly fewer people than fixing live chess would. what is so naive about saying that the benefit of A is greater than the benefit of B, and since we can only focus on one, we'll do A and then do B when we can?

i wish we had started on the app earlier, but we didn't. we waited a year.  luckily, when our app comes out next month we'll be able to market it to the 1 million users (across chess.com and facebook chess) that we do have and will in short order have the top iphone chess app.

a different strategy than what you would have done, certainly. rediculously naive? certainly not.

I just want to chime in to say that I am eagerly awaiting the iPhone app. Erik, could you give us a little bit of a tease as to what features it will have, and perhaps a time window on when I can get my grubby hands on it?

Thanks!

You're right about the length of time ago you wrote that and my lack of research into that poll.

I can apologize for those things, because I didn't take them into consideration and you are right about that.

I look forward to buying your application and playing it.

thanks fireb0x. i hope you will continue to enjoy the site (and the app when it comes).

the app will have online play (though not live yet), play vs. computer, and tactics trainer.

Can't wait. Thanks for the update, Erik.

Will it be a free App, or can you give us a projection on how much it might cost? Thanks.

free

Oh, thanks!