KNFBReader iOS App Announced for $99

As someone stated in a previous comment, there are many apps for sighted people which are also quite espensive. Ofen times, they don't have an option to try out a light or trial version. We should not expect preferential treatment because most of us aren't wealthy.

I wish they would get around to posting some proper demonstrations,
when I asked them on twitter all they said was that they would post them soon.
I wish they would also give us more of a firm idea of a release date, I know this partly depends on apple as they have to review the app before posting it in the store,
but it would be nice to know if the app has been submitted to apple yet etc.

I am also getting a little tired of all the hype knfb have been creating around the app, constantly tweeting about demonstrations at NFB etc, when actually putting nothing out for those of us unable to attend NFB, the constant tweeting does feel a bit over the top and the hype is a bit much.
Its annoying they weren't able to record the live stream and just post that a few hours after the event.
It feels a bit like they have been concentrating two much on there US customers and those able to attend NFB and are not so bothered about those of us outside the US, I suppose they are likely to get a lot of there sales from the US.

Hi, yes I think your right, the blog entry actually says late august for a release date, but that's not very precise,
yes I know product hyping is common with social media unfortunately, I am not the biggest fan of it though do admit it has its uses.

A few recordings of the KNFB demos have been put out by folks on Twitter, but nothing official. I'm not really surprised by this, as I can't think of many companies that have released audio demos pre-launch. I have no doubt you'll have plenty of demos to choose from once the app is released.

I think I'll wait until I read about how well it works for people on Applevis before buying. I just can't imagine what warrants such a difference in price between this app and things like Text Detective. I will freely admit that I am far from an expert on cameras and scanning engines, but if this scanning engine is so much better, how come other apps like Text Detective aren't using it? Again, I'm not knocking anyone or anything. I truly hope this app performs as advertised, and once I hear reviews from those who haven't used it yet with positive comments, I'll be right there buying it. Here's hoping.

One thing I wish text detective did a lot better was read a screen shot. I use a Jawbone up band, one of those fitness bands. Anyway, the up app is not very usable. Some parts I can read on my own, but not all of it. I can use screen shots with tap tap see, but not text detective. My thought is I will probably buy this KNFB reader app and see how well it performs, and if I am not satisfied with it, then I'll delete it or just use it for letters and such. I'm just glad it is not a subscription service, paying $200 a year or whatever!

For some reason, I can't find the KNFB app in the app store. The shameless price doesn't surprise me at all, after all it's an app made by those whose business is to take out as much as possible from blind people. for some odd reason the cane of the KNFB magnification app is still free. Before smart phone apps, these blindness companies tried to juice us out of our money and were selling their GPS and KNFB Reader Mobile devices for thousands of dollars. Of course, when we have all switched too much cheaper alternatives, companies such as Sendero and KNFB team are thinking how to reestablish their importance and need. No, I do not consider $99 to be a fair price tag. There's plenty of similar apps in the app store which are either free or way cheaper and may do even a better job than what KNFB promises to deliver. I already got burned once after purchasing a KNFB Reader Mobile Nokia phone. One of the biggest mistakes I could ever make.

KNFB reader iOS app is not available yet. From the article I read last week, it is slated for either mid or late august.

I read about the finger reader and saw the video, its a nice idea but I can't really see it being very efficient to use at the moment, because it can only read one word at a time, and you have to follow the lines on the page to use it.
Personally I would rather have something that gives me bigger chunks of text, also I am not a fan of all this blindness specific technology or as I call it getto technology.
I prefer where possible to adapt mainstream technology I would imagine reading a document one word at a time with this ring would be very slow and time consuming.
the big reason I am not keen on blindness specific technology is because once you buy it your usually stuck with it as it can be difficult to sell on and when you do you usually make a massive loss on it.
this of course isn't an issue with the iPhone.

Yes, if it works as advertise. $99 is much more obtainable, than the original $3,700 when the Nokia KNFB was released.

I have been using the Kurzweil 1000 software for many years now, both professionally and personally. This version of the OCR software is incredible to say the least. I can hardly wait for the iOS version. My independence is worth so much more than $99.00. It's going to be tight for me right now but this investment is certainly not to disappoint, if my experience with the PC-based software is any testament.

I think what will be really helpful with this app is the preprocessing of the image talked about in the applevis extra podcast, the fact that the app is built around the idea that people using it will be visually impaired so not the best photographers.
I think the field of view report will be particularly useful as no other apps have that, and the only app that even aattempts to guide on photo taking prismo does such a poor job when trying to use the guided mode that there is no point using it.

I think this is priced fairly.

I read with interest the comments on the forthcoming KNFB Reader and admit to being bemused by many entries, the name Kurzweil deserves more respect than many contributors seem to convey.

All OCR engines are not the same, those of you who purchase the KNFB reader app for iPhone will soon realise this. I for one will gladly put my $99 down on the first day.

So say I from a very safe distance :-)

KNFB just announced on twitter that the app has been delayed, they said they thought the app wouldn't launch for another 8 days.
I asked them how much it would be in the UK, and they suggested it would be around £58.

I think your right Michael, I misread what they wrote, I read it as saying we have 8 days before, meaning before launch, and then show time is officially delayed. But I think your interpretation is probably correct.

I definitely will be purchasing this app. Though $99 isn't chicken scratch, it is still a far cry from the price of most items that will make this big of difference in a person's life. I had the early KNFB reader on the N82 phone and had extremely good results and would expect the same or better from this new format. Have used prismo on my iphone and though it does work, it is far from perfect and nowhere near as good as my older KNFB on the n82. Also, prismo and the other apps currently available may be less money but it takes much more adjustment on average to get a decent scan. Many things on knfb will be done automatically which makes possible to get a good scan the first time around rather than needing the monky with it a long time. I have openbook at home and doubt anything will ever be quite as good as that, but far less money and openbook isn't portable. Nothing wrong with trying to make one of these other apps work for you, but will take lots more effort and they are designed for sighted people and helps to have sight in order to get the document lined up. knfb does a lot of this for you. If you are looking to read something on rare occasion, I still think its worth it but even more so for those who want to read their mail, an article in paper someone gives you or whatever. Ability to get this for $99 compared to over a grand for a computer type version is a no-brainer for me. the demo video seemed very good and from experience with the much older version, I am willing to bet this will be great. been a while in coming but ocr software has gotten better as well. This is a life changer, not just a fun little app. to easily have access to the printed world is a big deal. No fumbling to try to hope to get something lined up with prismo, only to hear it say something like not readable.

I definitely agree with you on all your points. It's a long time coming, for KNFB on the iPhone, and I'll be buying it when it is made available later on. Prismo works good for what little I use it for, but this KNFB will work great for me.

I have found knfb pretty bad at replying on twitter to me, also has anyone noticed there facebook page for the ios app only has 12 likes including me lol.
In fairness to knfb I emailed jim gashall the guy featured on the applevis podcast with a few questions and he replied to me within a few hours.
I was interested in if knfb could help navigating a menu on a tv screen, and he told me that at the moment it wouldn't be able to tell you what option you are highlighting in a menu.
People might also like to know I asked on twitter if it could recognise handwritten material and was told not at the moment but they are looking into it.
Still, I believe most OCR packages aren't great when it comes to handwriting, and who knows if the writing is clear maybe reader might be able to make a bit of sense out of it.
I do agree it would be nice to know though that the app has been submitted to apple for approval, in fact if they were saying 8 days from Saturday before the launch was considered delayed I think it must have been submitted as I think it can take a few weeks for apple to approve apps, and I guess knfb don't know quite when they will get that approval, but it would be nice to have it confirmed that the app has been submitted to apple.
If I had to place money on when the app will come out assuming it will be before the end of august I would guess hopefully buy Friday at the latest? as would they release it over a weekend? if they only got approval on Friday I suppose its possible they could wait till the beginning of the next week, as when apple approves an app that doesn't mean it automatically goes live, the publisher can choose when to make it go live.

I still have the Knfb Reader on an old Nokia. I will purchase it just as soon as it comes out. It's great. It will get a lot of use. I don't have a problem with the price. When you think of all of the development that has gone into this application, it is well worth the money. I understand it's a high price for many of us to pay. But for me, it's worth the price, no matter how hard it is for me to pay for it, I'm excitedly waiting!

Well, I think we might as well right a release off today. I just heard from several US people I follow on twitter its labour day weekend, so does that mean you get Monday off as well?
I suppose this means we won't actually see a release till the beginning of September at the earliest, so much for an end of August release, and I can't believe how bad KNFB are at keeping potential customers informed about what is happening. Even if the delay is down to apple it wouldn't do them any harm to post some kind of statement on there site saying we are waiting for approval from apple, nothing we can do to speed this up guys, something like that.

On the other hand James this blog entry has two pages of comments, plus they have posted a lot of audio and a youtube video demonstrating the app, what other marketing would you like to see from them? and I would say two pages of comments is quite a buzz lol. I do think your comment about the app not existing is ridiculous though as we have had the audio and it was announced at nfb, simple fact is it does exist but with poor communication. Yes they don't use social media well, with few answers on twitter an only 12 facebook likes lol, but I did get a prompt reply to my direct email to james gashall. also remember twitter is a very limited platform for engaging with people due to the character limits.

I doubt they will get many sighted people buying this app, very few blindness apps get mainstream coverage, OK yes apps like fleksy, blind square do but fleksy went mainstream and blindsquare has had a bit but not two much.
This app is pretty much intended only for the blind, yes sighted people can use it but they will probably mostly stick to cheaper apps like prismo because they don't need special features like field of view report that we do. As such I doubt we will see sites like idownload blog covering it.
Also the company is very small and I doubt doesn't have a huge marketing budget, yes I do agree with you tutorials and documentation on the site would have been a good idea buy this point though.

well I just read the statement on the release, and I have to say I think the way knfb have handled this is utterly stupid, I mean why announce a product for end of august and then say actually we are holding off till the release of ios8? I mean OK I can understand the reasons for wanting to be compatible with ios8, but that is why you have the beta program, to ensure developers can make apps compatible, I don't see the need to hold off on the release, I feel there marketing team has done a terrible job on this, and I am quite sure they wouldn't have released a statement today if it hadn't been for tweets from myself, marko z and applevis, I do feel quite disappointed in the way knfb have handled this situation and annoyed they said end of august then went back on that.

In a previous post I said I would put my money down on the first day KNFB was released, I can't, I don't get my iPhone 6 until tomorrow. I have had rather a shock as KNFB is listed with a price tag of AU$139. The current exchange e rate is: Australian dollar is worth 90 American cents. Me thinks we Ausies are being taken to the cleaners. I don't want to see any complaints from you folk in the states. Anyway, I get my phone, I will pay up. I have pre-ordered the phone so it should come tomorrow. If it does I will be sure to post my impressions of KNFB.

Unfortunately I guess that's how it works with exchange rates, they said it would be $99 in the US, for me in the UK I paid £69.99 and I think the app is worth it after only a few minutes of use. I have deleted all my other OCR apps in favour of this one.