[dkonigs]

I think there's a pretty good chance that AiFlex may actually simply be in over their heads. As far as I can tell (and they don't post enough info to make it easy), they are most likely a small 1-2 person operation that is used to quickly cranking out apps for whatever the customer of the week is asking for. As such, they are likely spread very thin and really don't have a lot of resources to focus too heavily on any one project. It actually wouldn't surprise me of this is true of most of the developers currently cranking out Air and/or WebWorks apps for the PB. (Either that, or they're hobbyists with a few extra hours here and there.)

That all being said, a usable E-Mail client is a lot more work than your average website front-end, unit converter, or twitter app. It actually requires real software engineering to get it right, and is not simply a matter of throwing together some existing UI and database code. Having existing mail protocol libraries at your disposal can help a lot, but those may or may not exist in a sufficient form for your environment. (Since no E-Mail client anyone actually uses is written in Flash/Air, they probably did have to write a lot from scratch.)

I would not be the least bit surprised if the current version of AiMail was nothing more than a proof of concept, and AiFlex had an "oh crap, we need to completely rethink this entire app from scratch" moment as soon as they tried to make it useful.

[hankster1988]

Disputed with PayPal and within ten minutes had a new working registration code. Don't feel much better though. Now I have a registered version of an email app that only logs into gmail and that won't let you delete email. I get that for free with the gmail app! Lesson learned.....

The Hankster

[mscooley]

I also disputed the charge and I got a response 3 times all with activation codes. I have closed the dispute. I truly hope this app gets fine tuned and released.

Obviously the threat of losing many $2.99s is enough to get a code. But now I want the update we were promised IF we paid the $2.99.

[mscooley]

I think there's a pretty good chance that AiFlex may actually simply be in over their heads. As far as I can tell (and they don't post enough info to make it easy), they are most likely a small 1-2 person operation that is used to quickly cranking out apps for whatever the customer of the week is asking for. As such, they are likely spread very thin and really don't have a lot of resources to focus too heavily on any one project. It actually wouldn't surprise me of this is true of most of the developers currently cranking out Air and/or WebWorks apps for the PB. (Either that, or they're hobbyists with a few extra hours here and there.)

That all being said, a usable E-Mail client is a lot more work than your average website front-end, unit converter, or twitter app. It actually requires real software engineering to get it right, and is not simply a matter of throwing together some existing UI and database code. Having existing mail protocol libraries at your disposal can help a lot, but those may or may not exist in a sufficient form for your environment. (Since no E-Mail client anyone actually uses is written in Flash/Air, they probably did have to write a lot from scratch.)

I would not be the least bit surprised if the current version of AiMail was nothing more than a proof of concept, and AiFlex had an "oh crap, we need to completely rethink this entire app from scratch" moment as soon as they tried to make it useful.

In the most respectful say way of saying this, I don't care....That's not our problem. Our problem is that they used this forum to draw us to an app they knew we were desperate for and has seemingly left us all short of $2.99. If we don't receive the update we were promised by today, I will make sure this is brought to the Kevin's attention especially since CB promoted the app in the beginning. I hate to devote this much energy for $2.99, but the principle is worth it. Sorry, but I'm like so ticked.

[trsbbs]

Complaint and dispute placed with PalPal.

If nothing is heard by end of business today a complaint will be placed
with BB AppWorld.

It's not the money its the lack of respect for his customers that bugs me.

Tim

[trsbbs]

Funny thing, within seconds of placing the dispute with PayPal the new key came to me via email.

Does he have this automated? If so, that is of concern also.

I will not close the dispute until such time as some real functions are added.
I think being able to delete an email is a basic function and the function has not been delivered as promised.

Key does me no good without being to clean out the inbox!

Tim

[DenverRalphy]

After all the uproar that was posted a couple weeks back about all the conspiracies accusing rim for "Dropping the Ball" and the app not being pushed through AppWorld, I think I can confidently say that there's a lesson to be learned here.

[trsbbs]

After all the uproar that was posted a couple weeks back about all the conspiracies accusing rim for "Dropping the Ball" and the app not being pushed through AppWorld, I think I can confidently say that there's a lesson to be learned here.

Still no IMs still no other email clients.

No lesson to learn on my end.

RIM is still holding back other app besides this one.

Tim

[dkonigs]

In the most respectful say way of saying this, I don't care....That's not our problem.

Depends on your point of view. I'm not defending AiFlex in the least. I'm just explaining what I think happened. They were probably cocky to think they could pull this app off so quickly, actually had the balls to charge for a half-assed proof of concept, and now its coming back to bite them. (All while not havinh the manpower to deal with user complaints.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[npunk42]

They were probably cocky to think they could pull this app off so quickly, actually had the balls to charge for a half-assed proof of concept, and now its coming back to bite them.

But that whole thing about making us believe that app world was holding back its release for no good reason was messed up.I had high hopes for these guys. aVNC worked so well after a quick update and some interaction with us here. I didnt buy the pre-release aMail. I hope they come back with all of your issues resolved and a killer mail app. But we wont know until we see it. Good luck to AiFlex, I hope you can recover and pull things together.

[papped]

Even if they updated it now, would you trust them going forward and still purchase? If so, lesson not learned....

Don't buy something simply because rim didn't release native email yet... Especially don't buy an email client that never had a delete email function (unless you don't care if an update never happens in the first place).

Even if the update comes the communication won't change and future updates will be the same.

[thedark722]

No offense to anybody on here and I totally understand the reasoning behind everyone giving Aiflex the benefit of the doubt, trusting them because they were on here, interacting and seemingly doing the good and right thing. And its to those people's credit that we go out and support the little guy, but realistically, everyone had the opportunity to know what they were getting into before actually shelling out any money.

I downloaded and installed the .bar file and tried it out for that 24hour trial period or whatever it was and realized that the app wasn't ready for prime time and decided not to buy it. I couldn't see myself paying anything for something that wasn't truly finished. I couldn't get my main pop email account setup and connected, couldn't delete any emails, etc. Yup, I listened to Aiflex promise the updates, new functionality, etc. but took the stand to wait for the updates and then purchase, and am glad I did. Yes it was only $3, but the principal, as most people have stated, is the crux of it.

I'm not saying the Aiflex are a bunch of ****** bags that just stole money and ran, but chances are they are a couple of knowledgeable folks who tried to produce something that was needed, be heroes to us, make a name for themselves and at the same time make a few bucks. They are probably now realizing that they might have bitten off more than they can chew, but that's just me speculating.

To those who purchased the app and are complaining about the promised and undelivered updates, if you paid for unfulfilled promises of non-existent functionality, its your own fault. Not saying Aiflex won't deliver, but there seems to be a story about a one eyed man selling snake oil in there somewhere.

We got the chance to test it, if you weren't happy with it, you shouldn't have bought it. Really is that simple.

As always this is just my opinion, my apologies if I offended anyone, wasn't my intention.

[trsbbs]

So wrong TheDark722, they are still advertising it on their website
and the purchase links. Advertising functions that the product does not have.

This is wrong no matter what the cause or reason. Not talking
to their paying customers is also not good.

Go buy a car and if the windows don't roll down I bet you would complain.
But then you might think it's still your fault. FUBAR!

The only difference here is the price, but the thought is the same.

Don't charge folks for something you don't have and can deliver.

Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.
In this case, I bought it and they haven't delivered. I do not
see where it is my fault.

This thought pattern of "the customer is wrong" is what is wrong with the world.
Lowered standards and misplaced blame.



Tim

PS, they could be open to false advertising claims as well.

I wish them the best, but as each day goes by without a word from
them the worse it gets.

[mscooley]

@trsbbs, thank you. this is not about the money. it's about, as you stated, false advertising and failing to deliver what has been paid for. the lack of communication is also not acceptable. proof is in the puddin - it takes a PayPal dispute to get any type of response from them. this should not be the case.

[thedark722]

trsbbs: I agree with you on most counts. I haven't been to their site and didn't know they were advertising that it has functionality that it doesn't. So you're absolutely right, that's wrong no matter what the reason.

Also, not talking to your paying customers is a death knell, and also wrong no matter what. It shows a complete lack of business etiquette as well as talks to their ethics. Again, I agree whole heartedly!

Car example?...not really relevant. If you went to buy a car from a company and they told you you couldn't test drive it, would you still buy it?...and if that company had no real name, no real history, no real reputation would you not ask to test drive it?...

We all got the opportunity to test drive aMail, the .bar files worked for a day without having to purchase it. I took it out, kicked the tires, checked under the hood and found that in its current state it was a lemon...No Sale.

As consumers, of anything, we have a responsibility to ourselves to do whatever is in our power to ensure that what we spend our hard earned money on is what we expect it to be. I know that we don't always have the opportunity to test things out and that often times we do get swindled despite all of our efforts, but in this case, we all had the opportunity to test this thing out.

Not being sarcastic - Did you try aMail for the trial period before you purchased it?

I think aMail (the app not Aiflex) got the better of us because we were all looking for some form of email app. When Aiflex announced it and showed their video, it kind of wow-ed us. Then we translated the non-release in appworld as "RIM doesn't want anyone else to put out email before they do" (not saying this is not really the case). And so we were all convinced, through our eagerness for the app, that it would be great. Some people just purchased on this impulse and are now seeing that it isn't all it was cracked up to be, but they all did have the opportunity to try it.


Again, I whole heartedly agree with you on one other point: Lowered standards and misplaced blame is what is wrong with the world. The lowered standards we place on ourselves in taking care of ourselves, and misplacing the blame on others when we fall short.

I almost took offense at your misinterpretation of my meaning, and painting me with the "customer is always wrong" brush, but I understand how you could get that from what I said and your frustration with this. Again, not being sarcastic or condescending.

If they are falsely advertising features and giving out something different than what they're selling, then I say screw them. But I remember reading about aMail and one of the things that stuck out to me was the long list of functionality that "would be coming in future updates" and not a whole lot of functionality that's there out of the box.

Tim (and everyone else), please don't take offense to this.

Not defending Aiflex, I could give less of a rat's "sunshine-less parts" (to quote another post), and their lack of communication and disappearance is appalling. The fact that it takes pay-pal disputes to get any kind of response, and only then its probably some canned response providing a code for access, is ridiculous. But I still stand behind the fact that we all had the opportunity to try the app out and make an informed decision as to whether to purchase.

[Lodai]

Funny thing.

Emailed AiFlex directly regarding the access code. They sent me a new one. It took about 4 hrs. before they sent it, but at least it was sent. I don't know how many of you tried to contact them directly first before opening a dispute with PayPal, but if you didn't try to contact them first....well....

However if you did and they never responded back within a day ( life happens to everyone ), then you have a case for dispute.


As to the functionality of it and the promised update.... They did state it was a version prior to what they submitted to RIM, so we all knew it was limited functionally... As to their promised update, well that never came through and they dropped the ball on that one.

Just my 2cents worth...

[danield76]

I mailed them several times if they can give an update about the .bar
No response!
I still use the app 5 times a day and i like the UI but a lot of improvement has to be done

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[mmcpher]

I had a similar problem with the .bar file, and privately emailed them and they responded within a day or so with the new code.

[tstrike34]

So what is the synopsis? From what I have read in this thread, the developer screwed up and took folks money for a half-*bleep* application. Perhaps thats why RIM shut them down pretty quickly.

Wow... just wow. Hey they got no money from me. *whew*

[ambon21]

So what is the synopsis? From what I have read in this thread, the developer screwed up and took folks money for a half-*bleep* application. Perhaps thats why RIM shut them down pretty quickly.

Wow... just wow. Hey they got no money from me. *whew*

hahahaha agreed .. i remember some on this forum blame rim on how theyre takin forever to approve this app ... Rim response should be from one of notorius big famous line "well if u dont know now you know"

[megagain]

I'm very late joining this thread, but ...

I did pay the $2.99 and had authorization code headaches. My imap for work doesn't work after endless trials and tests.

BUT ... I have 2 gmail accounts and 2 pops working beautifully. I don't care that I can't delete. I can read, reply and delete later.

I love this app and would have returned my PB without it.

I agree, it's far from perfect, but what use is it w/o any native email.

PLEASE COME BACK, AiFlex. Tell us what your future is?

[danield76]

Aiflex, where are you?

Your new version is more than welcome!

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[mscooley]

Funny thing.

Emailed AiFlex directly regarding the access code. They sent me a new one. It took about 4 hrs. before they sent it, but at least it was sent. I don't know how many of you tried to contact them directly first before opening a dispute with PayPal, but if you didn't try to contact them first....well....

However if you did and they never responded back within a day ( life happens to everyone ), then you have a case for dispute.


As to the functionality of it and the promised update.... They did state it was a version prior to what they submitted to RIM, so we all knew it was limited functionally... As to their promised update, well that never came through and they dropped the ball on that one.

Just my 2cents worth...

Multiple attempts to contact them via support and sales email. No avail. 48hrs later (ithink), I opened the dispute.

[danield76]

Multiple attempts to contact them via support and sales email. No avail. 48hrs later (ithink), I opened the dispute.

I do not understand why there is no update? 2 Minutes of typing and he saves 200 minutes of his time responding to all the disputes

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[mscooley]

I do not understand why there is no update? 2 Minutes of typing and he saves 200 minutes of his time responding to all the disputes

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Bottom line, they used CB to recruit and get attention, made a few dollars, and have obviously bailed. It's not fair to us nor to CB because they gave them prime recognition on the homepage: aMail brings email to the BlackBerry PlayBook | CrackBerry.com