Well, the new iPhone OS 4.0 came out this month and we were caught a bit flat footed. Some testing we did had indicated there would be no big problems with the 3.2 OS version of WeatherFix working on an iPhone updated to 4.0. We were wrong. There are some performance issues, so we’re now going back an updating Weather Fix to OS 4.0. Should have an updated version out (hopefully) around mid-July.
WeatherFix Global is now available on the App Store. This replaces WeatherFix v1.7.
WeatherFix Global includes global weather forecasts covering the entire planet using the same gridded forecast engine we use for US forecasts. The only difference is that in certain parts of the world, due to forecast data availability and other factors, the geospatial accuracy of the forecasts will be from between 1 sq. km and up to 20 sq. km, versus 1 sq. km across the USA. Most of Europe, for example, should be on 1 sq. km grid.
Also, there is currently no radar available outside of the US and parts of southern Canada. Actually, there are radar feeds, available, it’s just quite expensive to use and the integration for the various available feeds is not necessarily uniform. We are working on a solution for this and hope to have something available later this spring or early summer. So please stay tuned….
We expect to add an enhanced forecast in the near future, covering the immediate 6 hour time period. This enhance immediate-term forecast uses greater observed weather data and various satellite feeds to better predict near-term forecasts. We are pretty sure this will be a running addition to the WeatherFix service, and will be “turned on” in the “backend” servers that support WeatherFix, and not in the app itself. Thus, you probably won’t need to download an updated version of the app. At least that’s the plan.
We have posted this version on the App Store as an entirely new app due to the inclusion of the global forecast capability and to have the app placed at the top of the “new releases” in the App Store (albeit temporarily), which we hope facilitates greater visibility, and therefore more downloads, of the app by the iPhone/iPod touch community of users.
WeatherFix Global is available on the following country app stores:
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Bulgaria
Canada
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Ireland
Italy
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta, Republic of
Netherlands
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom
United States
The data center reported they fixed the switch failure. WeatherFix service is now back online. Now, we’ll need to talk to the data center and find our why they didn’t provide a switch failover to prevent interruption like any datacenter worth its salt should.
The data center housing our WeatherFix servers reported a switch failure today at 4:57PM MT. They say they have technicians working on replacing the failed switch, but in the meantime WeatherFix service may be interrupted temporarily. We apologize for any service interruption you may experience and hope the data center can get the switch replaced and back online shortly.
And it only took Apple about 24 hours to review and approve it for sale. Wow, that was fast! Anyway, you can now buy / download the first global weather app available on the App Store — WeatherFix v1.7. Your weather for anywhere on earth, anytime you need it. Only $1.99 on the App Store. Enjoy!
Well, we finally submitted WeatherFix v1.7 to Apple for review. This is the global version which will enable you to get a forecast literally for anywhere on earth. (Previously WxFix has only provided forecasts for the continental US.) With luck we’ll have it up on the App Store in 30 countries (including the US) very shortly.
There are a few caveats with WeatherFix 1.7 globally (i.e., outside of the US) that we need to make note of: First, lack of radar coverage outside of the US. We has hoped to have a non-US radar solution in time for this release, but for a variety of reasons (cost, radar feed availability/coverage, data feed integration issues) we were unable to get this done. We are continuing to look into this issue and hope to have at least a partial answer sometime this spring or early summer (or fall or early winter if you’re south of the equator).
Second, the grid forecast locational accuracy. In the US WeatherFix (or WxFix) is on a 1 sq. kilometer grid; that is, the forecast you get in the US is for the 1 sq kilometer of real estate in which your dropped pin or saved favorite sits. Outside the US the grid size will vary from 1 sq. kilometer up to 50 sq. kilometers. This is a function of how the gridded forecasting engine that WeatherFix uses works, and is highly dependent on how much local/regional weather forecast data is available for a particular part of the world. As you might imagine, it varies widely, especially in remote areas of the world, where most of the forecast “input” is inferential vs. observational.
Notice the name change: We’re now calling it “WeatherFix” vs. “WxFix.” Because of how users search for apps on the App Store, we decided that “WxFix” was not very searchable. Because “Wx” is the abbreviation for “weather” we decide to make the change and just spell it out, and make it much easier (hopefully) for App Store users to search for it. Note: If you bought a previous version of WxFix you’ll be able to download this new version free as with previous version upgrades.
The 30 countries WeatherFix will available include:
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Bulgaria
Canada
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Ireland
Italy
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta, Republic of
Netherlands
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom
United States
So, look for WeatherFix 1.7 soon (hopefully) on the App Store.
We are making some changes to WxFix and the way we sell it on the App Store. First, we’ve stopped offering the “Lite”, or free, version of WxFix. Second, we’ve dropped the price of WxFix Standard to $0.99 (from $3.99).
Why? Simple: Downloads of the Lite (free) version were far outstripping the Standard (paid) version, and we weren’t seeing the conversions of free to paid that we had anticipated. Therefore, since we can’t earn a living from giving away the app for free, we decided to remove the free version from the App Store altogether, and simultaneously lower the price of the Standard version in a bid to make it more attractive from a price standpoint.
You can expect to see a new version of WxFix, slightly re-named, on the App Store sometime in the next few weeks. This version will incorporate global forecasts; that is, you’ll be able to get a forecast for any point anywhere on the planet. We’re pretty sure WxFix is the first mobile app to provide this kind global forecasts all in one app. This means we’ll be able to offer WxFix on other country app stores, which we’re excited about, and which we’ve been unable to do until now.
If you have already paid for WxFix Standard, fear not! You’ll be able to download the new, re-named version as a free upgrade as with previous version upgrades.
We hope you understand why we’re making these changes. Also, we’ll reveal the new name soon. If you have any questions, concerns or feedback please let us know. Thanks!
Ok, so we’ve been a little sparse on our blog updates of late. Have to do a better job there, for sure. But we’ve also been working on the global version of WxFix, and it’s been taking longer than we anticipated to get right. Because of the type of forecasting technology we are using, time zones calcs are important — and more difficult/time consuming than we thought they’d be — to implement and have work properly. We don’t want to release an app that doesn’t work in some time zones, or messes up forecasts in others, so we’re spending additional time to make sure things work they way they’re supposed to.
Also, you may see a name change in the app. We’re trying to avoid a drastic name change, but because of the way people have to search for apps in the App Store on iTunes, “WxFix” poses some discovery limitations. We’ll keep everyone posted on this and what it means as we get closer to launch.
That said, we’re closer now to being ready to release the global version than we were a month ago, so we can say with a bit more certainty that it’ll be “soon.” That’s about as accurate as I can put right now. In the meantime, please let us know if you have any questions or comments about WxFix. Thanks for your support!
Hello, and Happy 2010! It’s been several weeks since our last post, but we’ve been hard at work implementing the next major upgrade to WxFix – global forecasts. We think having the ability to get forecasts for almost anywhere in the world is a really significant upgrade to WxFix, for obvious reasons. Naturally, we plan to expand the availability of WxFix to App Stores for other countries, too.
We’ve starting our pre-release testing, and so far so good. It works well – you can search for a location and drop a pin just about anywhere in the world and get current wx and a 6-day forecast, just like in the U.S. We expect to have some global radar capability too, although this is more of a problem getting implemented. Radar coverage in many parts of the world is spotty at best, and sometimes non-existent. For countries that do have decent radar coverage (some have better wx radar coverage than in the U.S.), it is costly to obtain the data – whereas NWS radar data feed is free, in most other countries you have to pay for it. Nonetheless, we hope to have a workaround implemented and in place providing at least some radar capability in certain parts of the world outside the U.S.
So please look for this new WxFix global weather capability update sometime in late Jan. We’ll be sure and post on update here to coincide with its debut on the App Store.
From all of us at Eelios, we’d like to thank you for your support in 2009, our debut year. It’s nerve wracking launching a new product, but it’s fun, and it’s worth it. Any business like ours ultimately relies on you, the customer, to take a chance and give a new product like WxFix a try. And we can unequivocally say, thanks for taking a chance on Eelios and WxFix.
Thanks for downloading (and even buying!) WxFix and giving it a shot. Thanks for providing us with your numerous comments and helpful feedback. Thanks for sticking it out through a few pretty major bug issues we experienced recently with v1.6 of the app. Thanks for telling your friends, family, colleagues – basically, anybody who’ll listen – about WxFix. Most of all, thanks for becoming a customer.
2010 promises to be an even better year, and hopefully we’ll be able to bring out more good things, and make WxFix even better and more user-friendly. We look forward to it, and to your continued support and feedback.
Indeed, here’s to a great 2010. Thanks and Cheers!
