Hi there, one of customers recently told us about this forum. Our company (www.appfluence.com) develops Priority Matrix (PC Mag's top 100 iPad app 2 years in a row), a priority management software to help business-minded customers manage projects, lists and agenda visually using the 4-quadrant method, icons, and colors. Priority Matrix syncs between iPad, iPhone, Mac and Windows platforms, has a very intuitive UI, works extremely well on mobile devices (4.5 stars ratings on all our platforms), and can be used online and offline.

I'm here to answer any questions about the product.

Cheers,

Hai Nguyen
Cofounder of Appfluence
hai@appfluence.com

Welcome Hai.

Three questions:

1. Is there a way to test the Windows app? I see no link for a demo download.
2. Is there a way to import appointments, tasks and contacts from Microsoft Outlook and a way to sync the Outlook calendar and task manager with Priority Matrix?
3. Do you plan to offer localized versions, e.g. in German, Spanish, French, ...?

Thanks, Franz

Interesting concept... But I was also surprised that there was no way to try before you buy (inc. the Windows desktop app)...

Hi Franz.

1) We have a demo for the Mac version, and offer a 30 day money back guarantee on the Windows version.
2) No, it does not sync to Outlook.
3) We current don't have a localized version. We do have plans for localization, and our top priority languages are German, Spanish, and Japanese.

Franz Grieser wrote:

Welcome Hai.

Three questions:

1. Is there a way to test the Windows app? I see no
link for a demo download.
2. Is there a way to import appointments, tasks and contacts
from Microsoft Outlook and a way to sync the Outlook calendar and task manager with
Priority Matrix?
3. Do you plan to offer localized versions, e.g. in German,
Spanish, French, ...?

Thanks, Franz

Hi Dr. Andus,

A significant amount of our customers purchase the Windows app through friends referral as well as after using our mobile applications. We discovered we could provide better customer service through the no-strings attached refund policy than a feature limited trial.

Dr Andus wrote:

Interesting concept... But I was also surprised that there was no way to try before you
buy (inc. the Windows desktop app)...

Hi Hai,

Your app looks indeed interesting. I've always been surprised that the four quadrant concept has not been extensively employed in task management software.

My own questions:

- Do you have an Android app planned? I don't plan to switch to iOS anytime soon.

- Are there any videos of PM for Windows in action?

- I understand that you don't need Priority Matrix Professional (the online service) in order to sync. How is sync among the products done?

- The PM for Windows Business License includes "syncing with Windows" so I understand that it can keep PCs synced together. Questions: up to how many PCs (technically)? Are additional licenses required for the other PCs, if they are all employed by one user only?

- Any possibility for a Linux version in the future?

Hello Alexander,

1) I agree, the 4-quadrant method is a very intuitive and flexible way of managing. We built the product with those goals in mind.
2) Yes on Android, but a little bit lower on our priority list.
3) We have a demo video for the Mac, which is very similar in functionality: http://www.appfluence.com/productivity/demo-of-priority-matrix-for-the-mac/
4) Correct, regular cloud sync is free with a license purchase. Priority Matrix for Team is an advanced version with delegation, automatic syncing, and version history.
5) For syncing between PC, you can share a free sync account between as many computers as you want. However, since it's manual syncing, if you are editing the same items, there are more risks with data overwriting each other.
6) Each license is per user, correct.
7) Our Windows version was built in C++, it would be possible to build for linux with some changes and testing. However, we weren't sure there was a market here, so no plans yet.

Cheers,

Hai

Alexander Deliyannis wrote:

Hi Hai,

Your app looks indeed interesting. I've always been surprised that the four
quadrant concept has not been extensively employed in task management
software.

My own questions:

- Do you have an Android app planned? I don't plan to
switch to iOS anytime soon.

- Are there any videos of PM for Windows in action?

- I
understand that you don't need Priority Matrix Professional (the online service) in
order to sync. How is sync among the products done?

- The PM for Windows Business
License includes "syncing with Windows" so I understand that it can keep PCs synced
together. Questions: up to how many PCs (technically)? Are additional licenses
required for the other PCs, if they are all employed by one user only?

- Any
possibility for a Linux version in the future?

Thanks for the quick reply. Your communication with the forum comes at the right time for me, as I am in the process of changing my task management setup and am looking around for a solution for myself and my colleagues. I like your product, as it integrates task management, task prioritisation and project overview which not many products do.

The main obstacle I see is the price. The desktop version itself is attractively priced, especially for personal use --I can understand this, given that many of your users come from iOS and are not used to paying much. The fact that one can do manual sync across devices without additional costs is actually quite generous of you.

However, in this day and age where Google Calendar and/or Outlook are used as a platform for exchanging information across a multitude of software and devices, I find the price of syncing with these --$20 per user/month, i.e. $240 per user/year-- quite unjustified. I have Google Apps for Business along with a broad range of free offerings at $50 per user/year. I don't expect everyone to price like Google, but I believe that they should at least take into account that competition. The moment someone implements a moderately priced 4-quadrant system under Google Apps, it will be difficult to keep your users loyal.

Don't get me wrong, I respect your business strategy and desire for a good return on your software development investment. In fact, I want all companies that make software that I use to earn good money so that they are still around serving me many years from now. I very rarely trust free services with my data, opting for premium subscriptions instead. But TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) is very important to me and my team.

Just my 2c.

Sideline: you responded to Franz that Outlook sync is not available, yet it is mentioned in the service specifications. Have I misunderstood something?

Hi Alexander,

1) Our integration on the Mac's email is actually pretty good. (I imagine it may not help you to know as a Windows user). On the Mac, we allow you to drag an email over to create tasks and notes, and it links to the original emails across different computers. Here's a video demonstration of it (I posted this just for you just now, it was a feature request by one of our big customers, so my wording and narrative reflects it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAJ0gQ6j8ok&feature=youtu.be Our Outlook integration feature is nowhere close to this yet, but this is the direction we'd like to take it.

2) Regarding Outlook, my answer applies to our existing product line since our team collaboration version is still by invitation only (and mostly focuses on iOS and Mac platforms).

3) Our price point is not yet finalized. We know that customer interest is typically a function of price. What's most important to us is first, add value, then figure out the optimal pricing afterwards. Feel free to contact me directly at hai@appfluence.com and we can discuss this further.

Lastly, feel free to try our Windows version and use a shared account with your team and see if that works for you. We have a 30 days no strings attached money back guarantee, and the basic sync works for free. You can also export your data pretty easily (we have built in generated email reports that can send your entire projects in an outline form).

Cheers,

Hai


Alexander Deliyannis wrote:

Thanks for the quick reply. Your communication with the forum comes at the right time
for me, as I am in the process of changing my task management setup and am looking around
for a solution for myself and my colleagues. I like your product, as it integrates task
management, task prioritisation and project overview which not many products
do.

The main obstacle I see is the price. The desktop version itself is attractively
priced, especially for personal use --I can understand this, given that many of your
users come from iOS and are not used to paying much. The fact that one can do manual sync
across devices without additional costs is actually quite generous of
you.

However, in this day and age where Google Calendar and/or Outlook are used as a
platform for exchanging information across a multitude of software and devices, I
find the price of syncing with these --$20 per user/month, i.e. $240 per user/year--
quite unjustified. I have Google Apps for Business along with a broad range of free
offerings at $50 per user/year. I don't expect everyone to price like Google, but I
believe that they should at least take into account that competition. The moment
someone implements a moderately priced 4-quadrant system under Google Apps, it will
be difficult to keep your users loyal.

Don't get me wrong, I respect your business
strategy and desire for a good return on your software development investment. In
fact, I want all companies that make software that I use to earn good money so that they
are still around serving me many years from now. I very rarely trust free services with
my data, opting for premium subscriptions instead. But TCO (Total Cost of Ownership)
is very important to me and my team.

Just my 2c.

Sideline: you responded to Franz
that Outlook sync is not available, yet it is mentioned in the service
specifications. Have I misunderstood something?

appfluence wrote:

Hi Dr. Andus,

A significant amount of our customers purchase the Windows app
through friends referral as well as after using our mobile applications. We
discovered we could provide better customer service through the no-strings
attached refund policy than a feature limited trial.

Thanks for your reply. I must not fit your customer profile then :) I buy a lot of productivity-type software but I can't remember buying or even seeing any that wouldn't let me try first.

Hello

1) We have a demo for the Mac version, and offer a 30 day money back guarantee
on the Windows version.

"Money back" is not the same as a demo. At least over here in Germany, "money back" through Paypal or any other service provider means I do not get the full amount of money back.

Franz

I've just been reminding myself of Priority Matrix - I installed the iPad version a long time ago, then uninstalled it. But it's made some impressive strides since then - looks really rather good. I do think not having a 30-day trial is a bit of a mistake, though - task management is a very personal thing, in my experience, and people like to experiment with lots of different models before settling on the "right one". If you can't install a trial and play with it, you're likely to move on. I've looked at the Windows version, but can't quite bring myself to shell out $50 for it...

I'd also have to agree that the subscription charge is ridiculous. There are many very powerful alternatives out there (Podio, for example) that cost nothing at the lower end of the scale, but offer mobile clients and all sorts. I'm not suggesting you should charge nothing, but there's no way I'd be paying that kind of monthly charge for a single-function app. You could much more reasonably use alternatives like e.g. Kerio Workspace, Atlassian Confluence etc. for the same purpose, with many of the same functions for team interaction (you could easily create a priority matrix in Kerio Workspace, for example). Both pieces of software have cheap/free basic versions.

Franz, I have a similar concern - except for me the problem has been in the buying, and with a company called DigitalRiver.

Recently I bought a program for $149 US - at the time, the Canadian dollar was within a couple of cents to the US dollar. The software seller - NovaMind - was using DigitalRiver to handle sales.

DigitalRiver tacked on about $17 in addition to the NovaMind selling price.

I complained to NovaMind, who in turn went to DigitalRiver. DR said it was all fair and above board and passed on the exchange rate, and that I would have paid more with a credit card. I checked that out with my bank, and it that was not true. In fact, my experience using my credit card on other software purchases shows that what DR said was not true.

I wrote again to NovaMind, and my emails have been ignored.

This isn't the first time I've had that issue with DR, and some of the software developers mentioned on this forum use, or have used DR.

In retrospect I should have just asked for a refund.

So, it is not just whether software is available for a trial period, but also what the process is if and when one of us makes a purchase.

Daly

Franz Grieser wrote:

Hello

>1) We have a demo for the Mac version, and offer a 30 day money back guarantee

>on the Windows version.

"Money back" is not the same as a demo. At least over here in
Germany, "money back" through Paypal or any other service provider means I do not get
the full amount of money back.

Franz

Hi Franz, Daly, Dr. Andus, Dane,

Got it. Given all your feedback, I think we'll be providing a trial version shortly. I will update on how to get the trial version once we have a new build out.

Hai

Daly de Gagne wrote:

Franz, I have a similar concern - except for me the problem has been in the buying, and
with a company called DigitalRiver.

Recently I bought a program for $149 US - at the
time, the Canadian dollar was within a couple of cents to the US dollar. The software
seller - NovaMind - was using DigitalRiver to handle sales.

DigitalRiver tacked on
about $17 in addition to the NovaMind selling price.

I complained to NovaMind, who
in turn went to DigitalRiver. DR said it was all fair and above board and passed on the
exchange rate, and that I would have paid more with a credit card. I checked that out
with my bank, and it that was not true. In fact, my experience using my credit card on
other software purchases shows that what DR said was not true.

I wrote again to
NovaMind, and my emails have been ignored.

This isn't the first time I've had that
issue with DR, and some of the software developers mentioned on this forum use, or have
used DR.

In retrospect I should have just asked for a refund.

So, it is not just
whether software is available for a trial period, but also what the process is if and
when one of us makes a purchase.

Daly

Franz Grieser wrote:
>Hello
>
>>1) We have
a demo for the Mac version, and offer a 30 day money back guarantee
>
>>on the Windows
version.
>
>"Money back" is not the same as a demo. At least over here in
>Germany,
"money back" through Paypal or any other service provider means I do not get
>the full
amount of money back.
>
>Franz

Great, Hai. :-)

appfluence wrote:

Hi Franz, Daly, Dr. Andus, Dane,

Got it. Given all your feedback, I think we'll be
providing a trial version shortly. I will update on how to get the trial version once we
have a new build out.

Hai

Great! I will definitely check it out.

Hi all,

I want to touch back to make sure you know I haven't forgotten. The last week has been very busy. We added more than 70,000 new users just on the iPad in the last several days, and I have a lot of threads going on simultaneously.

I apologize for my slow response, so what I can do instead is to gift any of you from this forum who are interested our Priority Matrix for Windows license. Then if you are using it and find it value adding, then you can pay for the actual license anytime down the road. This may take a week for you, or a month, but I'll let you decide. If you don't like it, then it's completely free. Just shoot me an email at feedback@appfluence with an appropriate subject header (I'd need your email address to send you a license).

Let me know if that sounds reasonable,

Cheers,

Hai

Dr Andus wrote:

appfluence wrote:
>Hi Franz, Daly, Dr. Andus, Dane,
>
>Got it. Given all your
feedback, I think we'll be
>providing a trial version shortly. I will update on how to
get the trial version once we
>have a new build out.
>
>Hai

Great! I will
definitely check it out.

Thanks Hai.

I received the licence.
My first impression after half an hour of playing with it:

1. It looks clear and tidy.
2. I learnt that I can use it also for SWOT analysis, idea management, pro&cons analysis and other purposes, which makes it more useful. I must have overlooked that info on your website (or you didn't mention it).
3. Importing Outlook todos is doable - though you have to export the todos from Outlook to a CSV file (which can be imported into PM). I have to test how well that works, though.

Franz

Hai, I am a Ipad user of Priority Matrix and want to test with my computer too syncing (Windows 7) can you give me a trial version too in order to do that?