I spent 35 years developing software and hardware products. After watching the debut live stream, it would be nice to think that the app is the greatest thing for bonsai since sliced bread, but based on my experiience, I will reserve judgement until I get my hands on it and can exercise it. To make a statement that it is great before it is publicly available is misleading, and irresponsible.
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I’m certainly a bit wary about the rollout strategy, which seems to be just an old school hard launch. That sort of release is out fashion in favor of early release and rapid iteration, and for good reason. I understand there’s a beta testing group, but that is never quite the same as a full launch.
The landing page for Mirai Live is updated; you can see it by logging out. Here are the details about the app at the two tiers.
Standard - $17.99/month
Mirai Mobile Access:
- Daily Tips
- General Care Calendars for Pine, Juniper, Elongating and Broadleaf Species in the “Calendar” section and one piece of sample content for each of the 15 sub-genres of species specific calendars as they launch.
- Add and track up to 5 trees in the “My Trees” section.
- Access to How to Make a Bonsai and Bonsai Basics Academy Courses.
Pro — $29.99/mont
Mirai Mobile Access:
- Everything included with Standard, plus…
- Access to all sub-genres of species specific calendar content.
- Tracking of 25 trees, up to 20 images per tree in the “My Trees” section, additional tree capacity available as an upgrade.
- Full access to Academy Courses.
- First access to new feature launches.
Is there a way of downloading the app yet?
I would like to know how to get the app too
So if we have what used to be Premium Access, do we have to do anything to our subscription to get both the recorded content and the app?
Not that I’ve been able to figure. It’s not currently on the App Store. Would love an update even if it’s a delay just so I can know where to focus my energy.
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I agree with you Aussie Wayne. Too many people who hate change. When you are running at full capacity-24/7- no more time and /or no more resources, and you find yourself not having a place to put your new tree, or the time to take care of it, the only way you can make progress is to set aside the mediocre tree and replace it with a new tree. When you are developing or refining a new tree and find that you are not getting the growth you want in the places you need it, you prune away the overcrowded, unnecessary branches. In the process you create new, finer, healthier branches that better help you achieve your design objectives. If you find yourself getting pruned, just realize that there are new and hopefully better opportunities in front of you. Or, you can just fall to the workroom floor and get trampled on. Sounds rude, but it’s true. Sometimes you have to set the static aside in order to achieve more dynamic, more excellent results.
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I’m not hanging that attitude on Ryan, or the team members. They are too kind to make the statement. I am making that observation from 50 years of working in retail management and non-profit development. Unwillingness to change always results in stagnation.
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The app itself looks good. I’ve been wanting a calendar for JBP timing and I guess pines in general. Since “pines are built” I feel like there’s not the same leeway for mistakes as there is for deciduous species. Having a calendar will be nice to have some guidelines to follow. Emphasis on guidelines. The calendar can only do its best guess at timing. However, Ryan mentioned that in future iterations we will be able to tweak the timing of the calendar to suit our microclimate and the given tree’s reactions.
I’ll reserve final judgement until we see what the new content will be like and the frequency. Streams as we know them are going away, but streams are not going away completely. Ryan mentioned streams of him working on trees in his workshop. I wonder what those will be like.
One thing I will dearly miss is the live chat during the streams. I don’t think there’s any way to replace that.
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Do you have Apple or Android? I’m still having trouble finding the app/any information.
The app is not released yet. We’ll get an email when it is. Prior to that, sit tight, stare at your trees.
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I’m happy with change and very much looking forward to the transition. I enjoy watching demos but and looking forward to having a bit more confidence in doing work when it needs to happen.
I just wish there was a bit more communication about the release. It was a bit of a bummer to head to bed last night without an update.
All that said I understand the Herculean effort and really wish the best - I’m excited to kick the tires
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all good things take time. Patience and never assume anything arrives on schedule. that would be my advice. keeps the stress levels down. I am sure they will give us an update soon. from the previews it looks like it is worth waiting for.
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Peer groups of 3-8 people that meet on Zoom, Teams or WhatsApp, etc. are a possible replacement. …
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I was thinking might be interesting for a stream of what everyone will be doing now on Tuesday nights since the super has been deleted
I’m still cautiously optimistic and will test drive the app with an open mind. The “how to” stream last week blew my mind, but the nagging question always came down to $$. I’ve been a standard subscriber for years and learned quite bit from the live streams and the library. This learning will never stop. And $18/mo ain’t cheap. With the anticipation of the app I was hopeful that it wouldn’t cost an additional fee on top of the member rates. When he said he wanted to democratize the information and wasn’t interested in nickel and diming us to death that is what I wanted to hear. Then the questions about membership levels and app limits came up and I was hoping the limits would be limited to photos of your trees. Five trees for standard members and what looks like in the description videos geared towards basic beginner information is kind of a let down. Again, I’ve always been a big supporter and going into the next phase with an open mind. I just feel a standard membership, which isn’t by any means cheap! should come with a bit more. Bottom line I’ll have to chose my top 5 trees and give it a whirl.
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I’m personally quite disappointed in the 25 tree limit for pro tier. It seems we’re being forced to pro tier, as the standard tier is substantially diminished in value. If that’s the goal, why not make pro tier unlimited? Or at least a reasonable limit (~100 trees). I hope the team responds to feedback, and updates the limits; I think 25 would be a little low even for standard.
I’ll definitely give it a shot, but I think many folks will not be maintaining their membership with this change; as I want Mirai to succeed, I hope the team responds to that if it comes to pass.
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I´m also concerned about the down forced limit of trees for standart and for pro members.
i agree with Tiibee and pandacular. I hope they will change the limit to a reasonable value as pandacular suggested.
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I am sympathetic to the need to push people towards the pro tier, but I don’t think a crippling tree limit is the way to do it. The cost of adding a single tree to their database is probably on the order of fractions of cents. I would much prefer being enticed to move to the pro tier by better and more content–the Academy, the species specific calendars are good examples. Sort of a carrot vs stick approach.
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