In another thread of this forum, someone recently asked for "concrete information" about the release date of a competing product. That thread has now been closed, mainly because it was old and had so many posts as to make it unwieldy. I'm opening this thread as a way to address some of that user's concerns, and to give it a more general focus: namely, how Accordance stacks up against all the competition, as opposed to just one competing product.
With respect to the request for "concrete information" about the release date of a competing product, it doesn't appear that there is any. A look at that competitor's web-site will reveal that the "official launch is planned for late fall 2006." Meanwhile, their web banners still read "Spring 2006." And at a recent presentation of that software here in Orlando (yes, I attended), the presenter told the audience the Mac version would be available "this winter."
I understand the appeal of new Bible study programs coming to the Mac. Besides the natural curiosity about whether the grass is really greener somewhere else, some of these competing products do offer materials which Accordance does not offer.
The user who posted to that other thread explained that while he's generally happy with Accordance, he is not "religiously devoted" to it, and that he would be tempted to purchase another product "if/when [it] finally gets off the ground, and works, and works well." In my opinion, that's a perfectly reasonable approach. We're not looking for users who are "religiously devoted to Accordance." We want our users to purchase Accordance instead of the competition because it's better. Where a competing product offers something you absolutely must have that Accordance simply doesn't offer, buy that product with our blessing.
Assessing the Competition
However, I would encourage you to take a good hard look at competing products before you purchase them, rather than just buying into all the marketing hype. Here are some things to consider:
1. Where Accordance is concerned, Mac users are not an afterthought. Windows developers who port to Mac are, by definition, merely trying to supplement their existing revenue and user base. When it comes to allocating development resources, where do you think they're going to concentrate their efforts?
2. Where Accordance is concerned, Mac interface standards are not an afterthought. Another program may look appealing on paper, but if its interface is unwieldy, you won't end up using it, and what looked like a "good deal" will simply become money that's been wasted. This has largely been the reaction of users who purchased another recent Windows port.
3. Don't be taken in by boasts of quantity. The question should never be "how many books do I get?" but "Which books do I get?" Many large collections are sold for exorbitant sums because they offer a few key resources which you probably will use, and a bunch of material which you probably won't use.
I'm confident that if users consider these factors, they'll choose Accordance as their main Bible program every time. That doesn't mean they won't have cause to supplement with other programs in order to have access to materials Accordance doesn't offer. If you absolutely HAVE to have an anti-semitic Greek lexicon which propagates the "etymological fallacy," then by all means feel free to buy another product to get it.
But if you want a dozen or so Greek lexicons you can actually USE, your best bet is to stick with Accordance.Future Strategy
Okay, there's my sales pitch. Now there's just one last point I need to address: where do we go from here? The user who posted on this issue closed his post by musing about our options in the face of additional competition. Do we respond by focusing on high-end, specialized original language resources? Do we concentrate on best-selling popular titles like the Prayer of Jabez and Your Best Life Now? Or do we try to fall somewhere between?
My question is this: Why do people seem to think we need to make some radical shift in strategy because some big company is entering the Mac market? Believe it or not, we've been competing with all these companies for years. The platform difference has been something of a buffer, but not really. As long as our users have been aware of what other companies offer, they've been pushing us to do the same things. So our strategy isn't going to change, and we certainly have no intention of conceding any part of the Mac market to the other guys (since we don't think any Mac users are really going to be happy with them anyway).
Here's our strategy in a nutshell:
1. We're committed to remaining the leader in original language and scholarly resources. Our users who rely on these materials can continue to expect some really exciting new modules in the very near future.
2. We're committed to offering the best resources we can for pastoral and personal study. Look for lots of new commentaries (like Word), study Bibles, etc. and a new Library CD-ROM which is packed with cool new stuff.
Don't expect books like the popular self-help/Christian living books mentioned above. Who wants to read books like that on a computer anyway? Our focus is on reference material which is most useful in an electronic form.
3. We're committed to offering cutting-edge program features which are of use to BOTH audiences.
All this has been our strategy from the very beginning, and it's why Accordance is consistently praised as the best Bible software available on any platform. About the only area where we seriously lag behind the competition is in marketing muscle and spin. That's why we need you, our users to continue evangelizing Accordance's superiority.
