We’re having a sale on Fairway in the AppStore. Instead of being $9.99 we’re cutting the price in half to $4.99. Because we’re all depressed when the end of a golf season nears we figured we would lower the price in a hopes that you’d cheer up a bit and give it a try.

After you take it for a swing let us know what you think. We’re always happy to hear from our users. We’re already hard at work on version 1.0.2 after getting some valuable user feedback on 1.0.

Update: Thanks to TUAW and iPhone Alley for covering the sale.

We just published version 1.0.1 of Fairway to the AppStore. Based on past history you should see it available in approximately one week for your device. We’ll update this post when we know it has been released.

Here are the details of the upgrade:

Fixed Bugs

• Display problem when removing all clubs from a bag.
• A low memory crashing bug and another obscure distance related one.
• Display issues when you repeatedly add and remove samples.
• Recommendations of swings when non-yardage based distance format was selected.
• Swing selection and highlighting on the main view, it is now more prominent.

Features Added

• The ability to invert the controls for left handed users.
• Refactored the settings section with help and made it faster to edit.

Until we add application backup or Apple fixes the iPhone and iPod Touch application updating we highly recommend that you upgrade using iTunes at this time. You can find information about other releases on the Fairway release notes.

Update: Version 1.0.1 has been approved for the AppStore so look for an update to show up soon. We still recommend updating via iTunes until we see if the 2.1 release fixed the data loss issues people have seen. Enjoy!!!

I spent this past weekend attending C4[2]. By all definitions I’m a true alumni as I’ve attended all of the C4* conferences [0-2]. This year however felt very different than the past few as this was the first year I had an application in the wild.

I started my journey back in September of 2006 leaving my full-time job for consulting. As a matter of fact the topic of consulting was one presented by Andy Finnell this year at C4. I had intended to use the jump into consulting to develop my software … instead, I spent almost all of my time trying to keep my client happy and paying. This was something that Andy talked about in his presentation as well and offered up a solution of having a few people work on long term company projects while a few worked on paid client projects. I can see how this would serve a company of many people but a company of one often lacks that flexibility.

So at C4[0] I had just started consulting and was trying to start working on my applications. By the time C4[1] had arrived I was deep into consulting and had made little progress toward writing said applications. Between C4[1] and C4[2] I have become a father, stopped consulting, started a full-time job, and released my first application named Fairway.

So what changed? How did I finally make something happen? A few things changed actually … first, I followed some of the advice of folks like Gus Mueller and stopped watching as much TV and instead started coding. It’s amazing how much time I had lost to this activity alone. The second thing I did was I stopped consulting. I know this may sound counter intuitive to going Indie but as I mentioned before I had lost my software vision due to the conflicting demands of my clients. Leaving consulting allowed me to refocus my new found free time towards my software projects. So how did becoming a father change things? Well, while it did mean a few months of little to no code I was blessed with a new baby that loves to sleep. In fact she regularly sleeps 11-12 hours each night.

What does this have to do with C4[2] you must be asking? I entered into this conference having finally attained the huge goal of releasing an application. I have also developed a new found focus and vision on an exciting new iPhone project. C4[2] helped me even more by elevating me to a new level of motivation, reached by listening to talks such as Mike Lee’s ideas on making a pimp application, Craig Hockenberry share his view on the evolution and future of the iPhone & touch computing, and many other topics ranging from SQLite to Going Free. The people @ C4 are always a blast and it’s great to thank the people who have listened to my banter and helped me with my questions throughout the year.

No write-up would be complete without ideas on future C4 topics. I’ve had a heck of a time getting coverage Fairway’s release. The biggest obstacle I’ve encountered has been the fact that most programmers and bloggers don’t golf so finding people to review or even mention the release has been difficult. I’d love to see a talk on not just developing buzz (we’ve covered that in the past) but infiltrating the non-Mac non-programmer press. I’d also love to see talks on internationalization of Mac and iPhone user interfaces, complete Mac or iPhone product life-cycle development, or how to drink a security analyst under the table without getting a hangover.

Many thanks go out to Wolf and his team for putting together and running a great conference. Thank you for enabling all of the conversations, laughs, and ideas by bringing like minded Mac & iPhone developers together to commingle and learn from one another. I’m already looking forward to C4[3] …

Some snippets in the press about the Fairway product release:

• MacWorld – Fairway app for iPhone acts as ‘virtual caddie’
• MacMegasite – republished press release
• PcWorld – republish of MacWorld article
• iPodNN – Fairway caddy app debuts for iPhone/iPod touch
• iPodObserver – WideAsleep Intros Fairway 1.0
• MacTech – shortened press release
• iPhonesTalk – Fairway – a virtual caddie – iPhone app released
• InspireTech Blog – small news writeup with screens

Our first official press release via prMac:

Press Release

WideAsleep announces Fairway 1.0 for iPhone and iPod Touch

Downers Grove, IL Sep 03, 2008 in iPhone

WideAsleep LLC is proud to announce Fairway 1.0, their virtual caddie utility for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Fairway lets you manage everything about your golf game including bags, clubs, and swings through a single simple interface. It empowers you to evolve your golf swing by making educated measurable improvements to your game.

[prMac.com] Downers Grove, Illinois – WideAsleep LLC is proud to announce Fairway 1.0, their virtual caddie utility for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Fairway lets you manage everything about your golf game including bags, clubs, and swings through a single simple interface. It empowers you to evolve your golf swing by making educated measurable improvements to your game.

Fairway is perfect for both new and avid golfers. It provides a simple and attractive interface for finding their ideal swing in any situation. In Fairway, the golfer can quickly slide the golf ball distance meter to enter their distance from the pin and then touch their course location. They will be presented with the club and swing options that best suit the shot. It even highlights the club and swing that ideally fits their situation. They can touch any suggestion from the list to quickly see details and notes they’ve previously entered.

Fairway isn’t a scorecard application … instead, Fairway acts as your virtual caddie allowing you to focus on improving your game by giving you the information you need to make the best club and swing selection. Stop picking clubs at random and aimlessly hitting balls at the range. Get organized and improve your game with Fairway.

Version 1.0 features include:
* Management of bags, clubs, and swings.
* Customization of distance and length for both English and Metric.
* Selection of preferred distance tolerance for making swing recommendations.
* Quick selection of the active bag.
* Filtering and recommendation of potential swings based on distance and course location.
* Quick display of swing and club details.

Minimum Requirements:
* iPhone or iPod Touch 2.0

Pricing and Availability:
Fairway 1.0 for iPhone and iPod Touch is only $9.99 USD and available exclusively through Apple’s App Store.

WideAsleep
Fairway 1.0
Download / Purchase
Fairway Screenshots
Fairway Icon

Headquartered in Downers Grove, Illinois, WideAsleep LLC is a small privately funded LLC founded in 2006 by Sean Willson. WideAsleep prides itself with having a passion for simplicity & elegance in the design and development of software. Copyright 2006-2008 WideAsleep LLC. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone and iPod Touch are registered trademarks of Apple Computer in the U.S. and/or other countries.

###

Sean Willson
Managing Member
312-961-3681

We’re happy to announce that Fairway is now available in the iTunes AppStore. It doesn’t appear that all of the searching through iTunes brings it up yet but you can find it through the Sports section right now.

Thanks to everyone who’s helped me the past 5 months with design ideas, coding questions, and my incessant banter about Fairway, Golf, and programming on the iPhone. It’s been an interesting few months writing this software. I’m looking forward to getting user feedback and sharing with everyone my many ideas for future development on Fairway. Look for postings soon on future features … you can also see a few things in the release notes that are forthcoming in future releases.