iCab app

At York, Lionel said they released it to Apple and it should be up soon. I was just about looking at the app store tonight. and saw it.   I have been waiting for this app for a while.  I am off to check this out now.   I am glad it allows family share.

 

Interesting but at $50 I think I have enough controllers for now......

I had heard that it was going to go for $50.00 at York, I was a disappointed since that is way out of the typical price range for an app. You definitely will not have people dropping in and trying it on their phone for that price just to play with your trains.

 

The app was well designed and is pretty cool and Jon Z and his team did well, but Lionel marketing completely missed on the price point. If they could have given out a free or 99 cent version that only allowed speed control of the trains ans then has an in app purchased for something like $29.99 for an unlocked version then they would have done better.

 

In this case I would say MTH is going to win the battle of the apps with their free limited function app unless Lionel marketing pulls their heads out and drops the price and comes out with a free limited version and a 29.99 full version

 

 

This screen should be FREE or 99 cents

I just checked it out and ran a few locomotive on an iPhone6.  I have a few questions and observations:

 

How do you get the aux1 feature to do the sequence sounds.  Normally on legacy, I hold aux1 for a second.  The locomotive responds, then it works until I power off.     I saw an aux1 on the PGM screen.  I thought PGM screen was only for setting new addresses.     

 

How do you control two locomotives with the using the same app.  Can you select two locomotive, and toggle between them just like using the CAB2 remote?  During my session, I toggled between two locomotives using the roster or using the 2 digit ID.  

 

This app would be nice if you could enter in the 4 digit locomotive number to look up the address of the locomotive just like the Legacy CAB2 offers.  I am used to doing this with my CAB2.  I can use the roster function and scroll to the locomotive.  Perhaps this could be an enhancement.

 

The price is high for an APP, but I paid this price point for a few of my apps.  I would rather pay the price up front vs. a bunch of in-app purchases.  This apps does allow the use of IOS8 family share feature, so my kids can run this app without buying it again.  If it offered in-app purchases, I would buy them for each person.  If Lionel offered 2.99 for the app and 30 for in-app for full features, I would have paid 150 in in-app purchases for each user in my family vs. paying 50 for the entire family.   For single users, offering 2.99 with in-app purchase may be a better deal.   

 

 I do hope Lionel does frequent updates and an update to support the new features iPhone6 / iPhone6 plus.  The bigger screen could offer more space additional buttons or features on one page.   

 

Overall, things worked well and I had no delays in response in running my engines.  Nice to see the new app released.  I am looking forward to the DCS app when it is released.

 

 

 

 

But $50.00??? Come On. I need to buy a legacy controller, Cable, Wifi adapter anyways, it's not like they will be cannibalizing sales of those items which are expensive in their own right.

I knew the app was not going to be free, but they have priced me out for now.  I expected this to fall in the $9.99 to $19.99 range. 

I know there were some whipspers of LCS partners developing their own iCab type apps.  I think I will wait and see what there is from others and what their price points are.  I think the price feels even more shocking when you think about the LCS iPad app being free.

 

that being said, it looks cool and I'm glad they made it. Maybe in a couple years I'll have a spare $50 in the train budget for iPhone remote.  I would like one as i think my friends would be less intimitated by a phone remote than the legacy remote.

$50 makes it an easy decision for me, that's absurd!  What is Lionel thinking?

 

Besides updating the price, I hope they update the app to become a "plus" app as well.  Plus apps are designed to look good on an iPhone or an iPad. 

Since this app is designed for iPhone that means it will work on an iPad but not take full advantage of the screen.  If designed as a plus app it would take full advantage of the screen. 

 

Then I could use my LCS app to control my layout and easily switch controls to this app to get more control of the engines without having to switch devices. Again, possible now, but wouldn't look as nice adn the controls would be more centered on the iPad which I'm guessing would be a bit annoying.

 

I'm not sure what the problem is. How much does a Legacy remote cost? How much do Legacy engines cost? How much do Legacy controlled turnouts cost? $50 seems perfectly acceptable if you keep it in perspective. So maybe you buy one less boxcar this year... It's all a matter of perspective.

 

I am Solutions Architect by trade- I sell software for a living. Trust me, $50 is not egregious for this market. Especially if it can replicate all of the features of the Legacy remote and then some. I do agree that Lionel should consider offering a free/low cost version to entice people to try it out though. Even a time limited fully functional trial wouldn't be bad. That's the way we do it.

Agreed. I thought about purchasing the WiFi adapter and use iCab as transitioning to the future after just getting my 990. But it doesn't make sense. 

 

Why buy 990 + WiFi Adapter + Cable + iCab when you already have the 990 handheld? 

This would have made much more sense if Lionel had made a base only product. 

 

Not going to bother with the WiFi now. 

Thanks for posting the photo Marty!  I agree that actually doesn't look too bad blown up.  Some apps do not blow up well.  I guess the over large buttons are an advantage here because your thumb will be able to reach them easily. 

 

I also agree about your comment that this is an app and can be updated.  Which is why I posed I hope they update it.  I know members from Lionel read the forum and I also send suggestions to Lionel themselves.

However you still require the full Legacy system.

 

Also some precedent was set with the free LCS app. I certainly wasn't expecting free but I wasn't expecting more expensive than a pay navigation app.

Too me the problem is that is not the comparison people are going to make.  This is their third offering in the app store.  This is the first one that costs money and the amount it costs is a huge difference compared to free.

 

I also work with a development team and agree that really the cost isn't that high when consider the amount of $$ going into developing something, but I still think this app is pricey.

 

Yeah, agreed.  I closed the App Store just as fast as I opened it.

 

Too bad.

Easy for me. No iPhone, no iPad, no iCab app...

Many people (not necessarily Lionel) expected the iCab app would be a simple and cheap way to get others to try running trains. Much talk was made that your non-train friends could drop by the house and quickly download it to try it out. Stores would be able to have potential customers d/l the app and test drive a train and see what the potential is.

 

At $50.00 that is not going to happen and considering that I have two CAB-2 controllers I really don't see spending $50 for a app for a 3rd one

Lionel seems to have it backwards.

 

The LCS app is a very incomplete app, it still needs a lot of work. The LCS app is for layout automation, it doesn't come close to replacing the remote. Probably most people will use the LCS system for layout automation.

The iCab app is a complete replacement for the Legacy hand held. It also looks to be feature complete. Since the only Apple device I have is an iPad I will not be spending for the iCab app. It all depends on the size of your layout and how many people will be operating at the same time. Visitors will not download the iCab remote. YMMV

I would pay for a feature complete LCS app for layout control and have the iCab app free or low cost. This appears to be the way MTH/Dave Hikel are going.

Looking forward to see what 3rd party apps will be available.

Dan

Ah, but what you don't realize is that in today's world, if there isn't an app for something, it's not worth doing.

 

Rusty

There needs to be a Cab-1L type app.  Maybe even simplify it to select the engine from the list of engines from the Legacy base, no numeric keypad.  This app needs to be free.

 

There will probably will never be a new dedicated remote designed.  Any new features will be accessed via an app.  Example, the quilling whistle from MTH, you need their app to operate.  New features will be easy to add to an app.

Dan

 

Well...if you watch the LCS video on the iCab app, it looks pretty good. Probably worth it for the limited customer base to which it appeals.

I was thinking too that there is something psychologically different about buying software and hardware. Although some software can retain some value and can be sold, it's not the normal way we think about software. It's kind of like the money is gone forever and you cannot ever regain some of the value when you are done with it by putting it on the buy/sell forum.

So if you would like to have it, think about it being a bargain price of a couple of tickets to a ball game. Poof they're gone when the game's over, eh?

Mike W. made a similar comment when demoing the MTH app. While they had thought of a new DCS controller, the app was now their focus for adding new features.

I think some changes will need to be made as components become unavailable (as Lionel just suffered through) but so not look for a huge redesign and new features to come to the CAB-2 or DCS handheld anytime soon.

Geez all I have to say is JonZ and the engineering team must love us...  Give a remote easier than Cab 2...hence Cab1L.  Give us an easier system...hence LC and LC+.  Hey wait I want a multi train remote....  We want an App to run trains. iCab.  Wait we want a Cab1L version of the App.  

 

What a fickled bunch we are.

Marty, The problem is cost.  I understand the need to recover investment.  But at the same time there needs to be an entry point to entice new comers.  Hence with a $50 cost for the iCab app you aren't going to get newcomers or visitors to give it a try.  Thus the suggestion for a minimal feature app.

Dan

I hear ya Dan and I think it would be wise to have a "free" version to entice users.  I'm just commenting in general how it seems that the manufacturers just can't catch a break on some of this stuff.  They give us what we want and then we do a 90 degree turn.  LOL!

I was really excited about this till I heard it was 50 bucks .So much for downloading it to all my kids iPods and letting them have fun with it.If it was like 10 bucks it wouldn't bother me . I mean really lionel just got about 2k worth of preorders from me . Owell maybe mths will be free and there making smoking whistle stuff now.

It's not that we are not interested in the product, it's just that we don't want to have to sell our firstborn to have it.   $50 is in the nosebleed seats for phone applications.

 

 

Since I'd be running it on the only apple device I have, the iPad, $50 is a bit steep.  At least with the S-C you get some hardware...

 

So sell, sell, sell.

Regardless of the selling activity, I'm still not interested in paying $50 for this application.

 

So for $50 you get another legacy remote and it is has "Family Share" support so you can share it with 6 other people in your "family" so you're really not that bad if you share it with people. You get 6 remotes for $8.33 each. I can't get it on my iPad tho

 

Sure you can.

 

Do a search for iPhone Apps on your iPad.

 

 

That is not really how family share works...but you could share the app and of course you can install it on as many iDevices as you own.

Yeesh, they didn't make it a "+" app that has a specific design to maximize iPad real-estate? Definitely not dropping the money now 

Thanks MartyE, I forgot that tab was there. Anybody want to buy some 993's?

Since I have Android phones, as well as everyone else here, that's a moot point for me.

 

I'll give you $60 for the #993, so you make a profit!