Three days ago I wrote a post describing a report that claimed Android’s marketshare was greater than RIM and Apple. Not a single Blackberry user complained, but hundreds of iOS users took the time to write to me or comment. They were mad. Based on their feedback it is clear I gave them the impression I was anti-Apple. I wanted to set the record straight that nothing could be further from the truth. Personally I use an iPhone, iPod, iPad and MacBook – my wife has an Air and an iPad and my son has an iMac and an iTouch. We are most definitely an Apple family. But I don’t consider myself an ‘Apple fanboy’. I am frustrated by the AppMarket sometimes, I am bothered by some of the decisions Apple makes and I am not afraid to voice my concerns. When I meet someone who can’t admit that Apple can make a mistake I know that I am in the presence of an Apple Fanboy. Of course when it was time to hire someone to ‘own’ the iOS version of ShopSavvy we decided it made a LOT of sense to hire one of these so called fanboys. Jake is UBER-passionate about Apple and their products.

Of course our experience with iOS hasn’t been perfect. When we launched on Android we developed ShopSavvy entirely in-house, but in 2009 we released an iOS version of the app we didn’t have any Apple talent on the team. As a result we farmed the development out to a group in India and after repeated delays had an app ready to release right before Christmas. The app sucked. It didn’t scan well. It crashed. It was generally a mess. Despite this reality more than a million users downloaded the app because our shopping data was far superior than our competitors (who admittedly had a much better scanner/app). The reviews were horrible – mostly one star ratings. I felt sick to my stomach and wasn’t much fun to be around that Christmas.

When we got back after the holidays we decided it was time to bring iOS development in-house and completely start over. We recruited a very talented iOS developer (i.e. that fanboy) who was interested in building something amazing. It took a little longer than I had hoped, but by November we had released a completely new app with a new UI, a new scanner and several new features. The new version rocked. Users really liked it. Called ShopSavvy 4, each 4.X version has been rated four stars or better (compared with an average of 2 stars for the original version).

Ironically, our Android users were REALLY frustrated we were spending so much time building an amazing iOS app. Of course they were right, we were spending most of our time trying to get the iOS version of the app right and as a result we didn’t release ShopSavvy 4 for Android until January.

Matt Weathers joined our team from ebay and immediately set about trying to determine how we stacked up to the competition on iOS – namely to Red Laser (owned by ebay). He hired a research firm to follow smartphone shoppers to watch them use both apps to determine which they preferred and why. The vast majority of users, after using both in a shopping setting, preferred the look and feel of ShopSavvy as well as the superior product results. The numbers support his finding as ShopSavvy 4 on iOS has grown downloads by more than 250%.