We know some of you have been waiting and waiting....
We know that every time we mention our popular iPhone app, Diet Doctor Eat, we get a flurry of impatient, even angry, messages from Android users. (Pssst - for you iPhone users who haven't downloaded Diet Doctor Eat, it's amazing for phone-ready recipes and shopping lists, so try it today. It's free!)
You rebuke us and take us to task.
"What is taking so long?" "C'mon Diet Doctor, give us the Android app!," you scold us in Facebook and in comments on our site.
We've heard you loud and clear.
Well, here's the fantastic news. After more than 18 months of scouring the world, screening dozens of potential applicants, we've hired a great senior Android app developer.
His name is Stanislav (Stas) Shakirov. He was hired at the end of November and he moved from St. Petersburg, Russia, to join the engineering team in our Stockholm office on January 27. He's settled right in and is hard at work building the app. Already he's made significant progress.
"Our plan is to have an app prototype ready by March 1st that we are testing internally with employees. We aim to have a public release by April 30th," said Stas, who has worked with a number of international companies as an Android developer.
Stas says he is very happy to be working for Diet Doctor and loves the company's mission to make low carb simple. He aims to bring a great product to Android users as fast as possible, while maintaining very high standards of performance
It was important to Diet Doctor not to contract out the Android app development to a freelancer but instead to find a talented programmer who would move to Stockholm and work for the company full time, notes Diet Doctor founder Dr. Andreas Eenfeldt.
"To make low carb simple we need to create great apps for mobile phones. We didn't want to outsource this important work - that's just a quick fix. We want truly talented engineers who can continually improve our apps and make them fantastic.
"For the Android app it has been a far harder and longer search for someone great to lead this work. But with Stas having moved to Stockholm to work full-time with our team, we are now in a very good place. I am convinced we will have an amazing Android version of our app soon."
One of the challenges of Android development is something called device fragmentation. While the iOS software that underlies the iPhone app only has to work on three basic products, the Android app has to work on hundreds of difference devices, of different ages and stages of OS updates, with a variety of different displays and functions. It is estimated that Android app development can take 30 to 40 percent more time because of issues like fragmentation.
That doesn't faze Stas, who has solved these problems before. "You have to build in the time to do all the tests to ensure reliability and a stable app that will work well on all devices."
And believe this: When the Android app launches, we would love to hear your feedback, good or bad. The input from our members and the low-carb community, even when highly critical, is a key driver of continuous improvement at Diet Doctor.
So, when you take us to task, we are listening and striving to do better - to meet your needs as best we can, to make low carb simple, and to empower people everywhere to dramatically improve their health.
