Bits Of God Software

When we dove into the creation of Simple Bible for the webOS, it was more of a challenge to get the bible on the phone ASAP.  In doing so, we started out with just the King James Version as our base translation.  As it evolved and the reader became more complete, the most common request was the ability to add more translations.  So we dug in and found more public domain bibles and adopted them to Simple Bible.  Many people suggested we partner with someone else to gain access to copyrighted texts such as NIV, NLT, etc.  We considered it.  We made some calls, sent out some emails, but never were quite satisfied with our options.

Then the email from Laridian Electronic Publishing came.  You know who I’m writing about.  They are the publishers of MyBible for the PalmOS as well as Bible apps for Windows Mobile, iPhone and Blackberry Platforms.  With little hesitation, we have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with them.  This MoU, is basically an agreement to come to an agreement.  So nothing is set in stone yet.  However, if all goes well, Laridian Electronic Publishing will be the exclusive provider for content for our upcoming Simple Bible Pro Application.

Simple Bible Pro will be the same basic bible reader you know from Simple Bible, however it will contain many additional features you may have wished for.  Some of the additional features that could be included in Simple Bible Pro are (but are not limited to):

• Additional Copyrighted Translations
• Search
• Note Taking
• Highlighting
• Multiple Bookmarks
• Cross-Refrences
• Study Guides/Helps

This news should be of a special interest to previous MyBible or PocketBible users. Laridian plans to allow previously purchased Translations to be migrated from PocketBible and MyBible to Simple Bible Pro.

We must clarifiy that currently we just have an agreement to agree and that there is currently to guarantee that any specific content will be available on Simple Bible Pro.  However we expect after the partnership agreement is completed, most of the more popular translations to become available by the first release of Simple Bible Pro.

Read the Laridian announcement here.

We have just finished submitting version 0.11.0 to Palm for their app catalog.  The approval process could take from 3 days to over a week.  We hope its on the shorter side.  For those of you using the Palm App Catalog version, this new version includes everything in the 0.10.4 update and the following improvements as well.

1. Fixed Swipe to delete for the Installed Translations List
2. Added instructions for how to use the app in the Help Menu.
3. Changed File format for translations to accommodate better usability in the future.
4. Update the FAQ’s again.
5. Made Help Email subject include version #.
6. More code cleanup.

Our next release will allow the actual downloading of applications directly in the phone.  This should make things easier for any of you who may have trouble with the current method of installing new translations.