Jailbroken /= dishonest.
Ouch. That's not the right way to go about restructuring your subscription schedule. We had to do one a while ago, major new functionality, people'd already paid for a subset. We switched to a basic/pro scheme, people could just choose to either go pro and pay by deducting a couple of months of their subscription, stay basic (lose access to a limited number of things, gain a month or two on their subscription) or get a refund for the time remaining. Had a few people asking for a refund, but no hard feelings.
We've licensed the VFR charts from NATS, so MM can't have a monopoly on them anymore. Technically we're not selling them to you, you pay for a years' worth of access and you'll always be up-to-date, you don't pay extra for new issues of the map.
10% jailbroken seems high, it certainly isn't that number in the aviation crowd. I'm still not sure jail broken or free would matter much in our industry. Enough users seem to be honest.
What I read was that 10% of IOS devices are jailbroken.
What the % of "serious" users is I have no idea, and it seems that most jailbreaking is done to run bootleg games (same on all platforms including the now "old" Symbian). In aviation it is probably a miniscule %.
One thing which many developers like is the relative hardness of IOS jailbreaking (and Apple always block the JB on the next OS opdate) whereas Android is easy to hack.
The reason vendors remove features is normally to make more money. MM removed QCT upload so they could sell you a license to re-enable it. Basically they ripped you off for running charts you already owned.
QCT is the old Memory Map map format. It was proprietary but it was soon reverse engineered. MM then moved to QC3 which is encrypted and the S/N of the app forms a part of the key so you cannot give a QC3 file to somebody else. It is believed that MM's sales collapsed at that point...
MM had (still have?) the monopoly granted to them by the UK CAA for publishing the UK VFR charts in electronic format. After MM moved these to QC3, people who wanted that functionality mostly moved to Oziexplorer and run scanned (or screenshot and then tile-merged) versions of the charts.
The percentage which actually jailbreaks their device seems to be tiny. Sure, some people will, but we rarely encounter it. We started out on iOS and it has been awesome to us and most of our customers. The competition is good, though. Keeps everyone innovating. There are good devices now for people who want full control and devices which grandma can use. I honestly can't say which platform is better, because in the end, they're mostly just different. All the basic features, things you need 99.9% of the time, are all there on all platforms. But different people like different things, different ways to interact with technology, different eye candy. People keep bringing up USPs. Well, in my opinion just existing and being there for your consideration is a USP. Cars and bicycles are all pretty much the same, except that they aren't - I don't feel comfortable in the latest SUV. I really enjoy my 10 year old Prius, yet both SUV and Prius would work to get me from A to B. Software is much the same, Android, iPad, UkRunways, the competition - you get to try what you like and decide what to use. Our user interface is awesomely intuitive. Sure, we can't match every feature with the competition, but they can't either. I don't like to get into a feature war, because that inevitably leads to unusable software.
Removing older, useful things, things lots of people use... seems like a waste. We've never done it, except for things where we've added a new way of doing something and removed the old way of doing it. Actually, we do that all the time, ask our selves why something isn't quite right and make it better. It really helps we're all pilots and use our own software in very different settings.
That said, what are these QCT maps you speak of?
I agree Android is the way to go. Moving from iOS to Android is like moving from Saudi Arabia to Switzerland -- both give you a good lifestyle but suddenly you learn what freedom is and don't want to do without. Giving up the iPhone in favor of Android 4.2 was one of the best things I've ever done. Still have an iPad 3 but that is my last one.
SkyDemon is on Android today. Tablets only started with Android 4 so not much legacy around. iPad 2 and earlier stopped getting updates from Apple almost a year ago.
One luxury we, as developers, have on the iOS platform is the knowledge that everybody updates their devices to the latest iOS release and updates all their apps
I get your drift but would not quite agree with the above.
I have two apps on my Ipad2 which I am not updating. One is Memory Map (whose later editions were crippled by trashing the ability to simply drop in "old" QCT maps, of which I have many GB) and the other one is... well... another useful one which was similarly crippled in later versions.
A lot of people jailbroke their devices in order to regain certain capabilities which got removed. This is done by dropping in bootleg versions of the apps, but the dropping-in process does require considerable competence (or luck) because Apple name directories in obscure ways. Jailbreaking also enables one to block the irritating update reminders, so you can configure the device exactly how you want it and when it works you know it won't change - same as one would do with any mission-critical device and I can hardly think of anything more mission-critical than displaying in-flight data when you have no paper backup.
But I agree that if your app is never crippled relative to a previous version, people will just upgrade.
I know Oziexplorer is not really your market (it is more a general moving map GPS for ground use, though there are plenty of aviation charts for it, and I use it) but they talked about and talked about an IOS version and then skipped it and went straight to Android and it works very well for them now.
Still, we have a rudimentary Android version of our App. We occasionally play with it
Well, when you finish playing, come and talk to me.
All those numbers are... very unclear. Nobody is actually telling some central organization how many they're actually selling. Well, perhaps customs would know - but they're not telling.
One luxury we, as developers, have on the iOS platform is the knowledge that everybody updates their devices to the latest iOS release and updates all their apps. This has saved us so much development time, you'd be amazed. I'm pretty sure that if we decide to do Android, we'll adopt the same policy for Android - you'd need to be on the last or second to last OS version.
Still, we have a rudimentary Android version of our App. We occasionally play with it.
It is great there is another product. But this is a crowded space and I won't look at anything unless it runs on my Android tablet. I have an ipad purely for Jepp View. And I will drop that as soon as they port to Android.
I don't see any USP in this product from the way it is described. While I think SkyDemon can be over-egged on fora such as this, it is your competitor - how are you different?
I recall reading that Skydemon started as something else (SkyAngel or something like that?) but got threatened by somebody with a similar name so they had to change it.
I would think that Android was the way to go for a new development because Apple have a huge battle on their hands to rebuild, never mind maintain, their market share. They have only one way to go from where they are and that is downwards.
But IOS is a big market right now and cannot be ignored, and you benefit from a relatively constant platform to target.
Just my opinion of course 
