We released WPtouch 2.0 about 6 weeks ago now, and have constantly been improving it since day one. In fact, since that time we’ve added or improved over 100 features — you can take a look at the change log.

We’re currently in the process of revamping our product information pages to reflect some of these new changes, but I thought now would be a good time to overview where we are with the product.

New Features

Version 2.0.7 was a substantial update, adding a whack of new customizations options (colors, fonts, etc.) for the Classic theme. We also added a Backup/Restore function to aid 5-pack and development package users, many of which can save time by using this feature to Backup on one site, and Restore on another. We also improved the WPtouch Pro warning system — if you have a plugin that may interfere with WPtouch Pro, we show a warning message so you can learn more about it and possibly fix it. In addition, we’ve been active in our Pro support forums, helping users sort out issues in short order.

Internationalization

WPtouch Pro has been fully internationalized since day one. Our plan has always been to translate our Pro series plugins into as many languages as possible. Truthfully, I love seeing WPtouch in another language — I was like a kid in a candy store when WPtouch Pro was translated into Japanese.

WPtouch Pro is currently available in eight languages: Spanish, German, Portuguese, French, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, and Dutch. The plugin will automatically detect what language WordPress is configured to use and emulate that, or the language that WPtouch Pro will use can be selected from the WPtouch Pro administration panel.

Developer Package

WPtouch Pro also has a developer package, complete with online development documentation. If you’re a development package user, you’ll have access to architecture information, plugin hooks and filters, and various code examples for tweaking the plugin.

WPtouch Pro is a full mobile development framework, capable of being used to customize the look and feel for any mobile device at the code level. Some of our users are using it to do iPad development, some are doing custom integrations with their own iPhone applications. Because WPtouch Pro is GPL, the sky is really the limit for what some of these projects may ultimately become — we’re anxiously awaiting to see the results, as some of them are going to be pretty exciting.

Going Forward

We’re currently working on our 2.0.8 release, which will probably be out late next week. We’re also working hard on finishing off the upgrade system for those users that are looking to upgrade between packages (we’ve actually had quite a few inquiries about this recently). Hopefully within a week or so users will be able to automatically upgrade their packages.

Our 2.1 release will be a fairly important update, and we’re looking forward to starting to work on that. If you’ve already purchased WPtouch Pro, you’ll automatically receive 2.1 when the times comes. If you’re interested in grabbing a copy now, head on over to the WPtouch Pro page and pick one up.

Thanks again to everyone who has supported WPtouch Pro and BraveNewCode – we have many more great things to add to the product, so hop aboard the train and come along for the ride!

Coffee & Code

After several months, thousands of hours, hundreds of thousands of minutes, we’re close enough to WPtouch 2.0 Pro to announce pricing.

Premium Community

Truth be told it’s actually been difficult for us to make the decision to throw weight behind a premium version of WPtouch. We have always loved the spirit of the open-source community, and agree with the software freedoms associated with works attributed under a GPL license. And we’ve also been behind freely available plugins for our favourite publishing platform. Yet for those with successful and popular WordPress plugins, the support, update, maintenance and upkeep for such a plugin become hefty. Without financial support, they are impossible to sustain effectively, and enjoyably.

There’s a growing community of premium solutions available for platforms like WordPress, and with WPtouch Pro we’re throwing our hat into the ring.

Unlike many other paid plugins, WPtouch Pro is neither small or limited in its functionality, nor is it a premium plugin that’s come out of nowhere— people who purchase WPtouch 2.0 Pro know the quality, time, dedication and style of the work we do, based on the freely available WPtouch 1.x that’s been out for almost 3 years, and our other popular WordPress plugin, WordTwit.

Without Further Ado: Pricing

All figures in Canadian dollars (CAD).

• The price for a single license of WPtouch 2.0 Pro is only $49
• The price for a 5-pack of licenses is only $99
• The price for an unlimited, developer license is only $199

Licenses, among other things offer:
- Free automatic upgrades through a major version (all 2.x releases)
- Pro Support on bravenewcode.com/support
- Access to Docs, Knowledge Base articles
- Receive the new themes that ship with 2.x as a part of automatic updates

Note: Free direct support for WPtouch 1.9 is being discontinued. Free support will end 30 days after the release of 2.0. The Support forums will still include the community forums for 1.9 so users can share tips, and find existing answers to commonly asked questions.

Compare

Compare WPtouch Pro pricing with most other premium plugins and we think you’ll find it quite reasonable (it’s probably one of the cheapest premium plugins, really).

And for all of what WPtouch 2.0 Pro brings to the table we think it’s an incredible offer as far as premium plugins go.

Beta 2

We’ve been making good progress with beta 1 of WPtouch Pro, and plan on pushing out beta 2 early next week, likely Monday. For those in the beta program, expect a 1.4 update tomorrow which should shore up the existing issues in beta 1, and we’ll be working aggressively over the weekend to add a few more things for beta 2.

Beta 2 is an important milestone because it will mark the finished Skeleton template, complete with web-app mode, enabling those of you most interested in custom theming to get to work with what will essentially be the shipping version of the Skeleton.

More Info

You can get more information on WPtouch Pro, what’s included, feature set overviews and sign-up to be notified when its available by visiting bravenewcode.com/wptouch-pro.

We’ve had our nose to the grindstone for a few months here, and haven’t had much time to update any of our plugins. But rest assured we’re still committed to them, and will be updating most of them shortly.

With that in mind, we wanted to see if there were any feature requests for WordTwit. We’ll probably add official WPMU support to it shortly, as well as per-user Twitter information, so each person’s Tweets can go to a different stream. Another feature we might add is the ability to Tweet to multiple accounts at the same time, for sites with multiple streams.

If you have any great ideas for features, just drop a comment here. Thanks.