I realize that these forums can be, to some extent, an echo chamber, but I think this is a fair question. The silence here, from Krissy, Emily, Bob, et al., is most worrisome. Yes, I've read Emily's policy statements here on the forum. The silence to which I refer is the total absence of any sign of life, apart from updating the RTM Gmail extension periodically. The last time the blog heralded any non-Gmail development was on 12/14. This does not inspire confidence.

Have you looked at Pocket Informant for iPhone?

I've just signed up with ToodleDo and I'm going to look at the associated apps. Another route I'm thinking of taking is Things for mac and iPhone, although the license cost is a bit much. I will look at Pocket Informant as well.

Don't get me wrong, I love RTM and I'm starting to get to grips with using it as part of my GTD strategy (on a side note, if someone can tell me how to do next actions efficiently in RTM then that would be a help). Just want to make sure it's going somewhere.

For a real eye-opener, check out the Toodledo forums at http://www.toodledo.com/forums/index.php and you'll see how the developer interacts with users when it comes to questions and suggestions.

Secondly, I'm trying Pocket Informant -- very slow right now, but there's an update that is awaiting approval from Apple on the iTunes store and the developer is promising major improvements and thanking customers for their patience and support. In fact, check out the iPhone forum on their site to see how detailed the info that customers get is!

And speaking of Pocket Informant, it syncs beautifully with Toodledo and with Google Calendar. Why doesn't it sync with RTM you ask? EASY! The developers at Pocket Informant have several requests to work with RTM outstanding. RTM hasn't had the courtesy to reply to them! . Now if that isn't proof that something stinks here at RTM, I don't know what is!

So why do I hand out here? I love RTM's approach and interface, and I'm hoping that continued prodding and bitching will result in some action, but I've pretty much lost hope.

One thing I'm noticing here is that most people posting about these issues have a little "pro" icon next to their names. These are people who have stumped up $30 for RTM (and not just for the iPhone app access I would guess) and clearly care about the product. It surprises me that no-one from RTM is prepared to step up and give us some feedback to our concerns.

I'm going to go out on a limb here, cut my nose off etc, but if an RTM representative hasn't responded to this post or made a blog entry by the end of April then I'm off. You can keep the $30, I'll go somewhere with an active development setup, not just an active user community.

Not that ultimatum's work, but I like your idea. I'm with amswitzer. No other online app has the ease of use of RTM, but I'm willing to move to Toodledo if they make improvements that come within 80% of RTM's speed and usability.

I find it completely unprofessional that the Pocket Informant people have had to make multiple requests without any answers from RTM. I'm almost ready to jump ship just on that basis alone.

Toodledo has a long way to go to match the ease of use of RTM, but then saying that I've only just started using RTM efficiently so I just need to spend some time getting used to it. I'm loving Appigo's Todo app for the iPhone (using the 7 task lite version). Easier to use than the RTM app with some nice touches.

The thing is, I want to stay with RTM, it's what I've got used to. Just can't see the future in it though. No sign of an RTM comment yet.....

Nope, nothing. I've started using Toodledo for my newest project to see how it works "in real life". So far, so good.

ajcooper makes a good point. All of the people who are making noises like RTM enough to stump up the cash for a pro account, whether it was to use the iPhone app, to be involved in beta testing or whatever.

What RTM seem to forget is that we are not just users who are sitting here demanding functionality for free. We're customers and if I was in a shop and being consistently ignored by the staff, I'd go somewhere else...

Krissy, Emily, whoever. You really need to rethink this whole 'we're not talking to you' strategy, because it's not working. Seriously, people aren't going to renew subscriptions in the current climate.

tismey is right. I'm not renewing. Unless something dramatic happens. I hope this is all buildup to something spectacular.

All quiet from RTM. Maybe they view this as bullying tactics from their customers. What I'm getting is a lot of pro users who are not prepared to keep renewing their subscriptions when they are constantly being ignored. @tismey made a good point regarding the current climate, people are going to be reluctant to part with cash at the moment, especially when there are cheaper alternatives available (free account at ToodleDo, one off iPhone app for $10) - this is the route I will be taking if nothing comes up soon.

For those interested, I'm considering moving over to Appigo's Todo app to use with my RTM account until my pro status expires. I'll then likely switch over to ToodleDo as the web service. This is unless Things come out with a way of synching online.

Yeah I've started using Toodledo for some of my projects. Their iPhone app is simple, but useful. The Appigo app is really nice as well. I tried the lite version and it worked very nicely.

ajcooper Pro says:

Toodledo has a long way to go to match the ease of use of RTM, but then saying that I've only just started using RTM efficiently so I just need to spend some time getting used to it. I'm loving Appigo's Todo app for the iPhone (using the 7 task lite version). Easier to use than the RTM app with some nice touches.

I think the idea that Toodledo has a long way to go to match RTM's ease of use is just based on a lack of experience using the app. It just takes a week or two over at Toodledo to get used to their interace, and most of the features you have on RTM are available (or better) on Toodledo. And if you're a Firefox user, their Firefox Add-on is much better again, when you adapt to it. Remember - most new users to RTM found RTM's interface and methodology to enter new tasks totally counter-intuitive until they worked with it for a while - I sure did!

I've used Appigo's Todo with RTM in the past but stopped because it sometimes results in duplicate tasks in RTM. Don't know why, but I do know that using Todo with Toodledo never results in duplicates AND, the sync with Toodledo is about twice as fast as it is with RTM. Note that Toodledo's own iPhone app is quite good and mirrors the website almost perfectly, including SUBTASKS.

It's easy to import your RTM tasks to Toodledo! Read more about that here: http://www.toodledo.com/info/help_rtm.php

Guys,

I have tried several apps and still liked RTM for many reasons. I will no longer use it as much as I like it. Some of you may be familiar with Notestudio from Dogmelon in Australia. It was a fantastic app based on wikis. Many Palm fanatics used it and supported Dogmelon with ideas, scripts, etc. Then, communication from the dev stopped just like here. It went on like that for some time until they went out of business. All the work we put into the software was useless. Thousands of files (it was also used as a database) of GTD and other stuff turned obsolete without the online support. RTM sure seems to be headed that way.

Will I use Toodledo? Things? I don't know. They all have pros and cons. What I will use is a software that is going somewhere. A software where we musn't worry if it will stay in business.

Thrutfully, RTM boasts millions of users but if you look closely, it's always the same 40-50 people posting. Are they the only ones who care? Where are the others?

Nah! RTM is beautiful, love the cow but I am moving.

This is not a destructive post. It's just a fact that RTM people just don' care! They don't.

PS
If any of you are familiar with Fawlty Towers, Emily's attitude is just like Basil's: "Customers are such a nuisance!"

Like the service so much, glad about web-integration etc., but the missing of communicatio and user-ignorance will move myself back to Things or OmniFocus I think. Both licenses are waiting on Mac and iPhone.

The folks behind RTM give themselves a big kick in the back :-(

Done. I've switched to ToodleDo using the Appigo ToDo app on the iPhone. Sorry RTM, unless something earth shaking happens, you've lost me as a pro user. I won't be renewing. Toodlodo still has some UI glitches, but they offer so many ways to get to your data that the main UI is not even that important any more.

I'll be hopping in on occasion to see how things are improving and I'm willing to keep my mind open. For now, Toodledo will get my business and my commitment as a customer because it seems as they are committed to me with regular updates, good communication, and very good customer service.

Good luck to you guys!

I've spotted why nothing appears to be happening on the iPhone, the RTM developers are constantly playing catchup with Gmail. The majority of recent updates are to fix issues with the gmail add-in which have been broken by gmail code changes. Oh, also adding support for a beta browers (IE8).

Now, don't get me wrong, I used to use the RTM Gmail plugin and found it very useful. But it's a free product available for non-Pro users. The iPhone app is only for paying customers so should receive a bit more attention than it's getting.

Anyway, I spotted a very worrying post from Emily on another thread basically stating that you can sing for an update. RTM have a policy and they are sticking to it. Oh well...

Yes, the 'official policy on not letting you know what's being developed' line gets hauled out quite frequently.

Unfortunately it is an official policy that hasn't been updated since RTM was a free webapp. And when your product is a free webapp with limited competition users have to be somewhat more forgiving.

But for the hectic world of iPhone apps I think the policy needs an overhaul...

When you have nothing to say, invent a policy that you actually have lots to say but aren't allowed to.

[The iPhone app is only for paying customers so should receive a bit more attention than it's getting]
If the devs had any commercial acumen it would be the way to go. Remember we are dealing with non-materialistic idealists.

Guys, the truth is RTM doesn not have the manpower nor the skills necessary to make it beyond what they've already done. In all honesty, it is not a bad app. Lacking, of course but not bad. The irritating point is the lack of communication. That arrogance that says "we are above everyone else". It just doesn't sit well with people who've been around the block.. It denotes a lack of customer service experience, a lack of corporate experience, a lack of respect for your users. No one believes their supposed policies. It's hot air!

Well we're 10 days away from the end of April and I have seen no posting by RTM which would address our concerns (just the repeated we can't tell you anything ones). Will I be going through with my threat to move away from RTM? Who cares, certainly not RTM.