While it’s all fun and games reviewing cute apps for the Mac, there is a strong push of powerful applications designed for business. We’ve been looking at a bunch of these professional applications, trying to figure them out with our non-business minds, and employing them in real-world scenarios to give you an idea as to what exactly software on the Mac is capable of. I don’t expect the large majority of our readers will be interesting in such applications, but it’s an important aspect of Mac software nonetheless. First up, Distribute by Seven Lakes Software, an Enterprise Resources Planning software.

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We’ve been testing this app for more than two months now, through the beta, in a real world scenario. I got the manager of a bookstore/warehouse—prefers to stay anonymous—to give the app a run, and see whether it fits into their workflow.

What can you tell us about your business, workflow, and what you would want your software to be capable of?
We’re a bookstore warehouse, with a front-end as well as backend ordering. We gather supplies from publishes, and act as a distributor for front-end stores. This means we deal with suppliers, a large catalog of current books, with a fairly variable stock for each book, regular bookhouses, local and overseas, as well as direct customer sales. We would need our software to manage all of this.

To give you a little background of where we come from, we’ve been using a customised Fox Pro database on a DOS machine, but have been looking to upgrade our entire system. And we were looking for something on the Mac platform.

That’s great. So how did Distribute perform at filling in those requirements?

Very nicely really. Distribute is one of the most complete ERP software I’ve seen on any platform. Most companies use customised software to get the job done, but Distribute was very powerful, flexible, and feature rich.

Can you walk me through a workflow?
Sure. There is some confusion as to which is the first logical step in the setup, as every item is cross linked to another item. I chose to start by adding contacts. These contacts can be used everywhere from suppliers to customers, so just have to keep adding them in. Sadly there was no way to import contacts from Address Book or an Excel spreadsheet.

Next, we added suppliers. Each supplier is given a number, and you can add contacts to that supplier. It’s not necessary to add contacts to suppliers, as they can exist on their own right, but it helps in the long run. It’s a little difficult to grasp at first, and the manual comes in handy at those times. Once we were done with suppliers, we added warehouses. Actually we have only one warehouse, but one needs to set up a warehouse to maintain stock for the books.

Finally, we added Articles—books—to our database. The articles are well defined, as you can enter different price points for different shipping zones, suppliers, warehouses, rebates, etc. To add stock levels for the books one has to go into the warehouse and add stock. All of this seems tedious to start with as things are not in one place, but if you look at the long run it’s much more streamlined and makes more sense.

The set up is the most crucial and difficult to grasp aspect of Distribute, as there is some trial and error involved. There’s also a lot of different customisations for each data type, much of which we didn’t require, but it’s there. I suppose that’s the price you pay for power versus ease of use.

So that’s for the set up. What about “from there on”?
Distribute is a joy to use, much better than our previous set up. Here’s how a sale works. You generate a quote, which when approved needs to be converted to an Order (it’s a simple button), Delivery, and finally an Invoice. This is a standard business model, and you can even start in between one of these steps. To add data to the fields is also very quick. Since your clients and articles are already set up, you just have to type a few characters, till it narrows down on a single client or article. It automatically accepts that entry, which is a brilliant feature. Add quantity for each article, add the shipping, and the price is automatically generated. There’s could be a bit better ‘keyboardising’ of the UI, so in a rapid-fire sale-after-sale business model like a supermarket it might be a handicap. It’s not a slow workflow, it’s just not fast. You can quickly switch to the Preview tab to see what the final template will look like. There’s a bunch of different templates to choose from as well.

When orders are processed, stock is reflected back to the warehouse, making sure everything is accounted for.

Anything you didn’t like?
Nothing really. I mean, there’s that overpowering feeling of leaving out a bunch of fields that you think you need to use, but considering that this is a serious application meant to scale to every kind of use, it’s forgiven. Once you get used to it you learn to block out those things and concentrate on your workflow.

Second, is the price. $550 is a lot for any business to put up front. The new licensing scheme allows you to purchase 500 or 1000 ‘documents licenses’ at a time for $90 or $150 respectively, but it doesn’t make sense for high volume sales. Thankfully, the trial version of the software allows you unlimited access to all the features forever so you can get a good idea of how the application will perform in your workflow. It only prints a watermark over your final invoice after it crosses 30 documents.

At the end of the day, Distribute is a really powerful application, with way more functionality than I’ve just described. It’s got scope for rebates, taxes for different regions, and a very intricate system for warehousing. If merchandising is the need for your business, I’d highly suggest you give Distribute a try.

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Overall he was pretty satisfied with what he saw (and I can confirm most of what he says is true). I did however have a few questions for the developer of the software. Given that this is an expensive affair, and could possibly change the way an organisation does business, I needed some reassurances. So I asked Norbert Weiss, the guy behind Seven Lakes Software, what he could tell us about Distribute in the business.

You’ve truly created a world class application, and as you say, all by yourself. What made you pick up such a complex application to start your company with, and how long did it take you to get to where you are?

Merchandise management (ERP) is what I’ve been doing for twenty years. It’s my core competence, from a user and also from an IT point of view. I love Macs and I love to be productive with them. Macs are still very rare in businesses, especially here in Europe. With a limited selection of quality software, most companies looking for ERP solutions had to choose from ugly Windows ports, Filemaker or RealBasic “apps”, Mac applications with very simple functionality or POS/shop solutions. There was no low priced, easy to use, “feels like a real Mac app” software with professional features for trading/wholesale firms available. You could say what was missing was kind of an “iApp for trading firms”.

When Apple introduced Core Data with Mac OS X Tiger in 2006, I started thinking about creating a merchandise management app for Mac OS X. For about two years I learned how to program with it and checked if I can create this kind of software with Apple’s tools. Then I quit my daily job and started working on it full time.

For a first commercial Macintosh software project it was huge, but I knew what the result should look like. I didn’t make any compromises and I took my time. Seventeen months later I released Distribute 1.0 (now known as Distribute)

Distribute is obviously a professional application, used a in a business scenario. And given the nature of the application, what’s the support system going to be like? Businesses don’t like trusting new indie outfits.

Many IT companies trading with ERP software force their customers to sign a costly support contract. Many ERP applications require training and continuous support to enable users to work with it. Training and support is a big part of many ERP software companies’ business. Support for Distribute is free and available worldwide via email or chat. I can afford to offer free support because I know that Distribute requires much less support and training than many other ERP applications do.

[In our anonymous test support requests, Seven Lakes was very thorough with the response, which took around 2-3 days to go through. The 'live chat' was mostly offline.]

The total costs for most merchandise management apps consist of four elements: 1) the price for the software license, 2) implementation by the software provider, which is often underestimated, 3) implementation by the user (his working time) and, on the long term, 4) training and support. Many companies looking for ERP software don’t realize this at the time they make their decision. They only compare the prices for the software license. Most companies, especially with big installations, have to pay much more over time than they expected. With Distribute, there are no costs for implementation by the software provider, because Distribute is easy enough to be implemented by the user, and no costs for support, because support is free.

When designing Distribute, I always had the support question in mind. Demand for support grows with the complexity of the application, so I had to keep it very simple for the user. A good example of Distribute’s simplicity is that every document type works the same way. There are no different interfaces for delivery notes, invoices or purchase orders. This alone makes Distribute extremely easy to use.

[It's a very subjective 'easy to use'. For someone who doesn't understand ERP—me—it can be quite daunting]

My experience with Distribute users is that there are very few easily answered questions at the beginning, mostly about the price and rebate system, the most sophisticated part of Distribute.

The manual describes all functions in every detail, in case a user needs to know. It also explains what to consider when starting with a new merchandise management app and it helps with a detailed check list for the implementation.

[Totally agree with the manual. It's extensive and explains everything in detail]

As I understand it, there was some database shifting issues during the beta, and then for moving to Snow Leopard. Understandably they were in the early stages of the app. Looking ahead what kind of stability do you see with the database, and the app itself? Given that a business might enter thousands of products, what’s the backup plan in case it all comes tumbling down?

Distribute should scale very well with thousands of records. I tested it with 60,000 documents and it still worked fine.

Apple’s Core Data framework supports SQLite stores, which Distribute uses. Core Data makes it much easier for Mac developers to create database-heavy applications. Apple introduced Core Data with Mac OS X Tiger over three years ago and improved it with every new OS. It’s not brand a new, untested technology. Thousands of Mac developers, like Delicious Monster, use it.

Distribute creates a backup of its database every time it quits and keeps ten most recent copies of the database in its backup folder. The user could restore it very easily in the Finder. Together with Time Machine this is a very safe and user friendly backup and restore system.

The iPhone is almost a required extension to a Mac. What’s the scope for an iPhone app that that will, be one with the desktop?

There are two main reasons for an iPhone companion for Distribute: the one is marketing and the other is what makes sense for the user. I think it makes no sense to key delivery notes on an iPhone, but it makes very much sense to have the data Distribute provides on a mobile device. I think of the product catalog, customers with open balances and sales volumes, inventories and so on, in a first step. The second step could be to benefit from the iPhone’s hardware features. There are lots of things that could be done with an iPhone companion for Distribute. At the moment I have to add some features to Distribute for Mac. After that, Distribute for iPhone is on top of my list.

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So that’s a look at Distribute for the Mac. Built from the ground up for Mac OS X, from someone experienced in the field. The app has extremely stable through the beta, and it seems like a viable candidate for any business which deals with managing merchandise.

[Img via Flickr]

Apple has recently sent a cease and desist to Pivotal for their Podium iPhone stand. The main reason behind the C&D is because Podium has the work Pod in it, and Pod is “short” for iPod. Also included in the letter was that it copies the design of the iMac and display stands.

I’m sure you will agree with me that this is completely out of line! Since when is Pod short for iPod? I’ve never heard anyone call an iPod of any style a Pod. I actually think Podium is a very fitting name for the device. It looks like a podium and fits in nicely with the design of the iPhone. TUAW received a copy of the cease and desist letter, and this is what Apple had to say:

The term POD has also been adopted and used extensively in the marketplace by consumers as an abbreviation to refer to Apple’s IPOD player. The IPOD and POD marks indicate to consumers that a broad range of products, including portable electronic devices, computer software, and related goods and services bearing those marks and marks similar thereto originate from or are sponsored or endorsed by Apple.

The president of Pivotal, Scott Baumann has chimed in with his thoughts:

If you look at our product and then look up the word Podium in the dictionary, I think it becomes pretty clear where our branding inspiration came from.”

Even Apple’s Dictionary does not mention ‘iPod’ anywhere in Podium’s definition. It’s even pronounced differently! If they want to go after them for the stand design, they also need send their lawyers over to Just Mobile for their XStand as it shares the same design. Is Apple taking it too far? Yes, I think so.

[via TUAW]

When I first looked at Curio I thought is was a note taking application on steroids. It reminded me of something like Ever-note. But after I started to dig into it I figured out it is so much more than that. Curio is a note taking application, a task manager, a mind mapping tool and more. Curio is a project management tool like no other. 

To many the apparent lack of structure and totally blank canvas (not to mention the millions of buttons) may be a scary thing. But to me it was a thing of beauty. A place that I could completely make my own. The blank canvas is something that allows you to have your own structure, rules, and way of doing things. You can add multiple items on a single whiteboard, include pictures, link files, and customise is to your liking.

Task lists

Curio makes setting up a task list so easy. You can rename any field and add new tasks or children tasks simply by using the keyboard returns, and tabs to go back up a level shift tab will do the trick for you. You can add check boxes and even track your progress by using a percentage to see how far you are. Adding a start and end date is very easy as well. All you have to do is click the check next to start date and then end date. Each level automatically gets one extra day then the last one. Another neat feature is that you can add resources to your task list. You just drag and drop names from your address book and then when you add then to a list there picture or avatar will show up next to the item.

It is very easy to add a background color or photo to your work you don’t have to keep the white desktop. You can have one workspace or many it all depends on how you work and what you want to see at the time. Curio is completely customisable to your liking. 

Mind Mapping

I use a white board during when preparing to create presentations. It frees me up and gets me away from the computer a little. One problem with this is that if i am on the road or in another room working then I cannot look at the white board. Curio allows you to create a mind map and it is very easy. With the click of a button the map starts hitting enter creates a child, tab a subchild. you can change the way each looks using the inspector you can have a traditional look or one like a cloud. Once you get the hang of it, adding a mind-map is as quick as you can think it. You can change the color of each level of child as well, or have each child with it’s own color. 

Along with all this mind mapping you have a range of drawing tools for quick annotations. The tools can also be linked, so that if you draw a line from Box A to Box B, in future if you move Box B, the link will stay active and the line will redraw. This allows a lot of flexibility in changing your projects later on in time. 

Note taking

Taking notes is as easy as anything else in this program, a click of a button and you can insert typed text, an audio recording or a video from your iSight camera. One thing that was missing for me, well that is until today (Feb. 12, 2009) was some sort of integration with other note programs. I have been using Evernote as my notes app on my iPhone lately and was very pleased to find that Curio now supports sync with Evernote! This means that I can be out and about and take a photo, record and audio note, or type a note and be able to access it back in Curio. 

There’s a lot to discover!

I could only possibly have covered about 5% of what Curio is. There are so many features and controls to go through. There’s spotlight integration, media libraries to dump any file related to that project for reference, and you can even embed a fully functional web page to see what’s happening in real time. The best part is doing all of this is generally requires no more than two steps. 

The Pro version features an innovative Shelf feature which gives you an at a glance view of all your projects so you can prioritize tasks, and see what needs to be pushed back. You can see a list of tasks for the day, tomorrow and in future. This itself could replace your task manager. Pro also comes with a presentation mode so you can go right from your project to full screen view. Sure it’s no keynote, but each project page does have some sliding animation. For a full run down of what the Pro adds, check out this page. 

Curio is a very powerful program (took me quite a while to understand it) and one I am still learning and will be learning for a while. It does take some getting used to going back and forth between the inspector and the work space, and tool bar. But it becomes almost second nature the more you work with Curio. My biggest request as I said was answered today with the integration of evernote. The inspector is a little imposing and there is a lot of information and buttons there but after a while you will figure it all out. Thankfully, Curio ships with some demo projects so you can quickly see what Curio is capable of doing and get started. Support is also very good.

For Everyone?

That said, Curio is not for everyone. For general purpose task managing, Curio would be overkill. On the other hand if you’re line of work involves managing large projects, brainstorming new ideas, or perhaps even discovering other energy sources, Curio will fit right in. At $99 for the standard version and $150 for the Pro version (only $69 for academics), you better try out Curio before you hit the store. They offer a 30 day trial, and are willing to extend it to 60 days on request. If you’re serious about sealing the deal, you might want to make use of promo code “EVERNOTE” to get a 20% discount off the total.

Let us know what you think of this app.

The financial meltdown in the USA seems to be having no significant effect on Apple. Despite the worldwide credit crunch, it managed to sell more products than ever before and laughed all the way to bank with record revenue earnings. Apple posted revenues of $7.9 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.14 billion. It sold 6.9 million iPhones, over 2.6 million Macintosh computers, and over 11 million iPods in the last quarter. “Some remarkable things are happening at Apple,” said Steve jobs, Apple’s CEO, in a rare conference call appearance. He said:

“Apple just reported one of the best quarters in its history, with a spectacular performance by the iPhone—we sold more phones than RIM. We don’t yet know how this economic downturn will affect Apple. But we’re armed with the strongest product line in our history, the most talented employees and the best customers in our industry. And $25 billion of cash safely in the bank with zero debt. We may get buffeted around by the waves a little bit, but we’ll be fine and stronger than ever when the waters calm.”

For the company’s fourth fiscal quarter, which ended on September 27 this year, Apple reported revenues of $7.9 billion, which was $1.7 billion higher than the $6.2 billion figure in the same quarter last year. Net income was $1.14 billion with earnings per diluted share of $1.26. Analysts had been expecting revenues of $8 billion and earnings per diluted share of $1.11.

Buoyed by the strong earnings, investors shored up to buy AAPL on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Apple’s stock prices were up by $9.91 or 11%. Even AT&T benefited from the strong iPhone sales and its stock price rose by 85 cents or 3.3%.

Apple Outsells RIM; 6.9m iPhones off the shelves

Apple has sold 6.9 million iPhone 3Gs in the last quarter. Compare that number with the total first generation iPhones sold—6.1 million! Apple has already achieved its stated goal of selling ten million iPhones three months ahead of schedule.

What does the 6.9 million number signify? Two things: (1) Apple is now the world’s third largest mobile phone supplier in terms of revenue, trailing behind Nokia and Samsung; and (2) They outsold RIM’s entire range of BlackBerry phones. RIM sold 6.1 million phones compared to the 6.9 million iPhones. “RIM is a good company that makes good products and so it is surprising that after only 15 months in the market, we could outsell them in any quarter,” remarked Steve Jobs.

The Mac, iTunes Store, and iPod sales have also been strong. The company sold over 2.6 million Macs with a 21% year-over-year growth for Mac sales, beating the average industry growth by a comfortable margin. They sold over 11 million iPods, setting a new record for a non-holiday quarter. The iTunes Store now has over 65 million registered customers and an impressive catalog of over 8.5 million music titles. A stunning grand total of 200 million applications have been downloaded from the App Store already, within just 102 days of its launch!

“We don’t know how to make a $500 computer that’s not a piece of junk”

At the end of conference call, in the QnA session, Steve Jobs remarked that Apple wouldn’t be making a cheap notebook primarily for surfing the Internet anytime soon. “Our DNA will not allow us to ship that,” he remarked. He said that Apple would rather cater to the large number of customers who would like to and can afford to buy their products instead of going after the extremely price conscious buyer. While he was tight lipped about any upcoming products, Steve Jobs remarked that the Apple TV and the digital living room market would remain as much of a “hobby” in 2009 as it is now, specially given the current economic condition. He also noted that the strong sales was because of the fact that Apple has strong products, talented employees, and the smartest and most product aware customers. Doesn’t that just make your heart swell with pride!