Pro License

[BeckParticipant]

We purchased a pro license for a FloJack MSR, and were only able to download SDK v1.9. We are trying to read NDEF cards and from the forums it appears we need v2.0 or 2.1. Can we please be directed to a Pro copy of the SDK to download.

Also, assuming testing goes well we are going to be purchasing multiple readers. Do we purchase 1 pro SDK for all the readers we need, or do we need to purchase the SDK multiple times. A bit confused on how the licensing works.

Thank you!

[BeckParticipant]

Also, we are working on a solution that requires reading both the NTAG216 Type 2 tags and DESFIRE Type 4 tags. Will the FloJack MSR work for reading both types?

[RichardKeymaster]

Hi, the FloJack MSR will read NTAG216 as well as Mifare DESfire tags. I don’t see that you have any Pro SDK orders associated with your Flomio account. If you tell me your order number we can send a link for v2.1 currently in beta. The Pro SDK license gives you rights to use it with one reader, specifically the reader that you ordered with the SDK.

We are currently in the process of extending our license pricing in order to accommodate customers of all sizes. It looks like this:

Flomio SDK @ 1hour	Included            (equivalent to current Basic license)
Flomio SDK @ 1day	+$5.00/reader/year
Flomio SDK @ 1week	+$25.00/reader/year
Flomio SDK @ 1month	+$50.00/reader/year
Flomio SDK @ 1year	+$125.00/reader     (equivalent to current Pro license)

Each license term allows the SDK to operate without data coverage for that length of time. For instance, the @ 1week license subscription would operate your reader for one weeks time without connecting with our backend server. We feel this model will let us operate a more predictable revenue schedule and serve our customers best. Please note the @ 1year license is not a subscription but paid only once. It does however, require data coverage at least once a year to keep operating.

Although this model is new, we’re starting to add the infrastructure necessary to support it on our site. In the interim we’d love to hear your feedback, whether positive or negative.

best,
Richard

[BeckParticipant]

Thanks for the info Richard. I wasn’t sure if I should post the order info on the form and we just use generic email addresses whenever we sign up for forums that filter thru a catch-all email server so we can limit spam and know where any inbound emails originated from.

The order was Invoice 1632. It was purchased by Joe S. in our sales dept.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 2 months ago by  Richard. Reason: Removed email to avoid spam

[RichardKeymaster]

Got it. I’ve sent Joe S. an email with instructions to download the latest Pro SDK (v2.1). I’ve also invited him to our TestFlight program in order for you to have access to our internal sanity test tool. It will allow you to get familiar with our reader hardware much quicker than looking through code.

Looking forward to hearing your feedback on the our new licensing model.

best,
Richard

[BeckParticipant]

In terms of my feedback on the new structure, and feel free to delete it after reading if you don’t want it on the public forum (I won’t be offended at all). We tend to prefer simpler and easier to understand agreements. Typically when we purchase peripherals the SDK is included or available at an additional fixed rate. I am a fan of that model personally and it makes our lives much easier. We would be willing to pay a significant premium for that model vs. the one you presented.

From a business standpoint, you need to sell a lot of weeks at $25 where if you had just told me this SDK was $1500 and we purchased 10-20 readers and at that point we could do what we want we would personally be more happy and you would probably end up financially better. It feels uncomfortable to us to be using hardware that requires a regular phone home for reasons that are not apparently clear what is taken place in that exchange, or why it would cost more to be offline. Its also not clear what binds purchases of the SDK to the readers (keys, activation codes, is it compiled in the lib, etc..) or is purchasing the SDK again, even though the identical code base, just the mechanism of licensing.

So I guess my two cents would be we prefer it simpler even if it costs more. That could be because the size of clients and budgets that we are typically dealing with and that may be contrary to Flomio’s mission. We deal with a lot of custom built apps for events or tradeshows that have a short lifespan. So offline functioning is typically a must. With the model you are moving to would testing time of the SDK require purchase of offline time?

[RichardKeymaster]

Beck, thanks for the feedback. As founder of the company over 5 years ago, I’ve heard your points before. I won’t be taking this thread down since the conversation is very much an evolving one. The driving reason behind the “phone home” requirement of our SDK is that we don’t manufacture all the readers we support. For instance the reader you purchased, FloJack MSR is a rebranded version of the ACR35 from ACS. These are sold by other resellers as well, but we are the only ones that provide a suite of software and support to make it easy to build functional apps quickly. Inherent to NFC is hardened security and -as such- each of the readers must be unique in the purest sense, so we leverage that to audit users of our SDK. Since we don’t want to hard code thousands of reader ids into each release of our SDK we implemented the common “phone home” approach of SaaS businesses.

Our mission at Flomio is to make proximity ID technologies ubiquitous. Bluetooth has largely achieved that but NFC and UHF RFID are far behind. Having been a scrappy developer myself once (and still somewhat), I was frustrated by the steep licenses that roadblocked experimentation. Our challenge is to balance the need to keep entry level costs low while offering a premium option for those that rather own the product than subscribe to it.

Your inputs are well received and I will discuss internally what we can do. If we are to scale our business, we need to address this pain. Moving the Pro SDK from a @ 1 year per reader model to completely offline and reusable across readers is doable but I would have to check some assumptions to know if $1500 price can work for us. Would you be willing to try this out with us if the Pro SDK does what you need it to do?

best,
Richard

[DustinParticipant]

Richard, I am in a similar situation wanting to read NDEF records. May I get a copy of the latest beta?

My Order number is: 56222

Thank you,
Dustin

[RichardKeymaster]

Hey Dustin, I sent you the latest beta and Test App to your email on file. Let me know if you don’t get it. Also, if you have issue using the SDK or Test app, please post them on the Forums for us to address.

thanks,
Richard

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