Account setup about mobile-ios

[patricksan]

Hi Jostster, you can also use the http://ios.openphoto.me. It is described in the release email. It is exactly what you suggested.

Thanks for the feedback.

[jmathai]

@jostster The option @patricksan mentioned is how we're trying to make it as easy as possible for users to start using the service. We hope that's easy enough for you to get started testing the app out.

If you really want to own/control your photos in a sustainable manner then these steps are the only option you have. Your other options are to use Flickr, Picasa or Smugmug and store it all on someone else's space.

In the future we expect that there's much less friction as Amazon and other services support OAuth. The truth is that this is the bleeding edge of what consumers can do and as a result it's not yet as easy to use as most mainstream consumer services.

This release is meant primarily for early adopters who are willing to jump through some hoops to test out a completely new way of thinking about data ownership and portability.

If there's anything we can do to help then let us know but using the server we set up at http://ios.openphoto.me might be what you're looking for.

[jostster]

@patricksan @jmathal I read the release notes and I'm merely stating I myself and many other people are not going to use an application that requires a lengthy registration process...

Your application is requiring users to go to amazon web service and create an account and setup an account and enter credit card info. I know many people will think sketchy things about an app that directs the users to sign up for a service that requires a credit card. Regardless of the name of the company. After 12 months the user will be charged and they may think by removing your app this will also remove amazon from charging them.

You need to make it clear from your app what your application is requiring and that possible charges may occur should they go over the limit or after 12 months.

You need to make clear from the start page what this application does and what is required. Being a software engineer for a SaaS company I understand what customers are willing and not willing to do. To spend 15 minutes registering (at 2 different sites) is a HUGE turn off.

This is why I recommend YOU create the cloud and limit access to the sections by user account. This will make it so only users have to register with your site and you manage the integration with the cloud and cloud setup.

TBH (with the current way the application runs) I only see this application being used by people that already have an amazon web service account. This is just feedback for you so you can look into possible alternatives that would be easier for the end user.

[jmathai]

@jostster I believe @patricksan closed the issue because registering with Amazon Web Services is absolutely required and he provided an alternative option. We hope and expect that the flow to do that can be more automated in the future but there's not really any way around that today. The same applies for using other services such as Dropbox or Rackspace.

If we create our own "cloud" services for users then OpenPhoto doesn't differ from every photo site that's already out there. While we may offer that as a "getting started" option once we launch a hosted version - at some point the user will need to use a 3rd party service for their cloud account -- else they might as well store their photos on Flickr.

I agree that we need to message the user appropriately so they know exactly who's charging them what. I thought that was evident but we'll work on that since everyone may not understand that but you're the first person who's brought that to our attention.

updated to reflect updates to the parent comment

[jmathai]

@jostster per your updates I want to convey that we're 100% aware of how difficult it is to get started using OpenPhoto. Unfortunately it's a necessary evil at the moment. A few things will make the flow easier for the user but they're not available yet (i.e. OAuth for AWS).

What we're trying to do is really new and we're venturing into uncharted territory. Amazon is the best option and they don't even have an easy way for consumers to use their cloud offerings. I firmly believe this will change and getting started with OpenPhoto will get easier as a result.

If you have any technical solutions for this then we'd love to hear them.

I think we should leave this issue closed since there isn't anything we can do about the difficulty in getting started and it was a known issue from the day we started.