Macworld 2010: TUAW talks with App Cubby's David Barnard

I would love to be able to import the info I had in the trial version of the full app into the new version of the free app - if anyone from GasCubby is reading this! Frustrating!

We debated what to do with Gas Cubby Lite before we removed it from the App Store. Unfortunately, we just didn't have very many options given Apple's policies in the App Store.

To enable data transfer from Gas Cubby Lite to Gas Cubby by FRAM, we would have had to update the app and leave it in the App Store so that people could download and use it. But leaving it in the App Store would confuse users since Gas Cubby Lite really doesn't have a purpose now that Gas Cubby by FRAM exists. People don't read app descriptions, so people would have continued to download it and may have never found Gas Cubby by FRAM.

We could have used our sync service to make it work, but our server infrastructure wasn't written in a way that will efficiently scale to an unknown number of free users. We're looking at current usage trends and planning revamp our sync service and add it back to Gas Cubby by FRAM this summer.

But that solution doesn't really help you right now. With Gas Cubby Lite limited to just 5 records, we ultimately decided that the work it takes a few users to manually migrate was significantly less work and confusion than any of the other immediate options.

Thanks,

david
App Cubby