Please note: this article was last updated in 2009. For the latest information on MindMeister for iOS, visit mindmeister.com/apps
As some of the Techcrunchers (or followers of Ouriel Ohayon) among you might know already we recently entered into mobile device territory by acquiring MindMaker, one of the few native iPhone mind mapping tools currently available in the App Store.
No need to bring up iPhone sales stats or any other justification for that decision here, as the reality today is that any self-respecting web (2.0) app needs an App Store sibling to complement its online service for users on the go.
Our ultimate goal is to provide our users with an exceptional mind mapping experience, wherever they are and whatever device they use. A native MindMeister iPhone app is a big step towards achieving that goal. We acquired MindMaker because it’s a great app and gives us a sound headstart in developing a MindMeister application, which we’ve wanted for months (the common name genealogy was just a bonus). The colorful look and feel of the maps in MindMaker is obviously a bit different to our mostly blue maps, but the rest of the app was so well done that it helped us a great deal in getting started.
Melchior, the main developer of MindMaker, even gave us a hand in integrating it with the mindmeister.com API and getting the syncing working. Here’s a quote from him from our press release:
MindMaker started out as a pet project but quickly became one of the leading iPhone apps for mind mapping”, says Melchior Brislinger, developer of MindMaker. “MindMeister’s acquisition brings an integration with a premier web-based service and will accelerate the further development of MindMaker.
The ability to sync data with your online MindMeister account is pretty nifty, we think, particularly for a collaborative tool where different people might update the same data all the time. Create a draft map on the tube, sync it back to the cloud once your 3G connection is up again and let the others finalize it.
Right now we’re busy completing the integration. The app will support graphical views of a user’s mind maps, similar to the one in our award-winning web interface. Essential editing functions will be supported on the iPhone / iPod Touch as well, with many more features to be added in upcoming releases.
Syncing between the iPhone app and mindmeister.com will most likely be made available as a Premium feature – that means for paying MindMeister users only. Existing MindMaker customers will get a special discounted upgrade offer for a MindMeister Premium account.
So what about all the Blackberries, Nokias and Palm Pre’s out there? Well, for us it was clear that we wanted an iPhone app first, before following that up with other mobile interfaces. We’re Apple people and we admit it. And really, it’s just such a great device, no?