Just got an official response from the COO of Pandora, saying that they are NOT planning to invest any more resources in updating the Windows Mobile client.
Originally, he told me that the reason was that many WM devices vary in hardware too much and are not compatible with each other. Therefore, an app needs to be developed for each device and that just is too much work to support all the various flavors of WM.
I call BS. Plenty of media-rich apps works on multiple devices with varying resolutions. Heck, we've even gotten the old Pandora to work on new VGA devices by hacking and tweaking (found here:
http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=48458 ). But even when we use these workarounds to make it function, the UI is terrible since it was designed for a smaller resolution and having a D-Pad (which the TP2 does not even have). So, it would seem to me that all we need is for Pandora to update the UI a little, and we could have a release for new phones!
When I mentioned this Mr. Handman, this was his response (clipped for length and private info):
Quote:
"We have invested a great deal of time and effort, including use of third parties with extensive WM5 and WM6 development experience, in second and even third generation attempts at WM applications for Pandora. None of the resulting apps have made us happy. Compare this with the results we got in much shorter timeframes and lower costs for iPhone, Blackberry and Android platforms.
...
The sad truth is that the WM5/6 platform devices simply don't do the job as we need them to do. Battery life, audio quality, device hangs, etc are all issues. Pandora is a very complex application. Much more so than a broadcast stream. Even slight changes in the hardware seem to make enormous differences in the way our applications work on WM devices. These aren't trivial problems. For example, the volume controls buttons don't work.
Perhaps WM7 will change the situation. For now we need to focus our limited resourced where they will get the best results. "
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Does that sound like the Windows Mobile we are familiar with to anyone? Heck, the Palm Pre has terrible battery life in comparison to our TP2s, and it gets a new app...
Am I alone in feeling like these are excuses to blow off the question?
It sounds to me like WM just isn't "popular enough" to care about according to them.
In my opinion, with the right developers working on this, it shouldn't take much time at all to just update the app a little.
So- I propose we show Pandora that they are WRONG about WM, and that the community is large enough to warrant a new app!
Email
pandora-support@pandora.com and get their attention! Or, contact me if you'd like to email Mr. Handman directly...
If we make enough noise, perhaps he'll reconsider.