Bitcoin Forum

Right now one of the problems with the new mobile clients are that people do not know the companies behind them.

If I recommend a small shop to start using a mobile client, which should I recommend?

I believe that if some trusted software companies such as Norton mcafee or any other trusted company gave out a client it would be easy to get new people using it, people would probably even pay money for using it.

However they might not create one in years.

So an idea would be for you guys who develop a mobile client to let them license it from you. This is a common approach in many other businesses such as gambling in which a software developer licenses their software to a trusted gambling name.

Try BitcoinSpinner for Android. It's open-source.

do you really know your bank ?

haha, right.

ahahahahaha

is this a joke am i right?

Look I know YOU dont trust them but you are not the target.

I´m talking about avarage joe who have heard about Norton/mcafee/insert "avarage joe trusted companyname dealing in security here" since years back and will never trust a "unknown" company to hold their money.
Ofcourse in a few years things will change but I´m talking this/next year.

trust takes time.
or money to create a trustworthy image. like all the big, untrustworthy companies do it.
open source doesnt mean shit to the 95% of the population who get their information from evening tv. nor does any other objective measure of how trustworty an entity is. its just to complicated.
so either you ignore the problem completely and pass on that audience for the time being - which is what we have to do anyway, because we dont have the software for average joe - or you adapt the marketing strategies of the big companies.

so imho dont target average joe. its not worth the time right now and especially not worth the money it will most likely cost.

Attaching companies to "bitcoin" is not a good idea. Bitcoin is a free thing, if it start getting used by more ppl, it will be because it's useful, not cause of some company name

Or, make a iBitcoin client, stick a white APPLE and problem solved, everyone will rush to use it

It connects to a closed source server.

True, but the server does not have your private keys, and is in no position to spend your coins.

imho bitcoinspinner is as simple and nongeeky as it gets. therefore its a very important app for the foreseeable future, even though it has a single point of failure.
so jan, dont fail  ;D

You have a point. Before version 0.4 (yesterday) you could not start the client without a connection to the server. Which is bad if I for instance got a brain tumor and went crazy or something like that. Now, with version 0.4, you can launch the client without network connectivity and export your key. So if the server is discontinued you can always import it somewhere else and begone with me.

Yes, but if you close the server there won't be any other taking his place.
Moreover if you go crazy or someone else will take control of the server then he will be able to make fake blocks and stealing money.

People that are installing this app should know about these dangerous possibilities ...

If this happens, I'm sure someone will go through the code and make a compatible server... Although I think it would be wise to opensource the server side code also, to further decentralize the system.


No one can steal your funds, if they don't have your private key.

Just because you are good man. ;)
Instead, if you are a bitcoinspinner user and I have hacked the server / killed the developer or I'm Crazy-Jan, then I can make a fake account on some markets and offering you ( and many other users ) bitcoin for money.
I'll make 3/4/5 fake blocks and I'll sell to you many fake bicoin, for your REAL money. ( and then running away ... )
Can you understand it now? ;)

Connecting all/many clients to only one server ( or more controlled only by one person ) has the same problems as giving all mining power to only one pool.

Anyway, I read that slush has took the bitcoinspinner code and he is converting it to works with the Electrum server, I think this is the best choice.

No, I don't think I do. Why would I buy such coins (especially using bitcoinspinner, which is obviously made to buy stuff in the real world)? Fraud like this can be done much more easily than this.

I was giving you an example:
You are an user of the bitcoinspinner client, so you trust what it shows on your mobile screen.
I am instead the bad guy and I say to you that I'll am giving you 1000 BTC for only $3000. ( 1 BTC is $5.05 right now, so this is a great offer! )
You accept, and I'll make fake blocks with a fake transaction of 1000 bitcoin to your address.
Than you send me your money, and you are fucked :)

The other problem as I said is that the server can go offline for any reasons, and there can't be any substitute ... because there aren't any software / source code to make it.

Ok, point taken.


BitconSpinner is opensource, anyone could check what kind of requests it sends to the server and what it expects to get back from it. With that information, anyone could make a compatible server.

It isn't so easy, anyway slush seems he is making it :)

The way it works on ALL exchanges is that you send the money first, then you can get the BTC. This allows the exchange to fuck around with you regardless of what client you use.
Anyway, to pull this off with BitcoinSpinner I would first have to build up a reputable exchange site, then wait for a customer to come along who happens to use BitcoinSpinner. Then I offer to send him some Bitcoins (before he pays...nah...) in the hope that he would send me some money. Then I will fake that his BitcoinSpinner balance is higher than what it really is, and wait for him to send me some money. Eventually he will discover that the balance was fake, and I'll say muhahaha...and no one would ever use my reputable exchange site or BitcoinSpinner again.

Besides, I don't see people running around with large sums on their mobile wallets. How much cash would you put into your physical wallet?

If you do business with large sums you should use some other client.

This is why it is good that there are alternatives. We have several mobile wallets. Choose the one that suits your needs.

One of the best marketing ideas for bitcoin that I've heard in awhile.  :D

Bitcoin Wallet for android works very well too, i've been using it for months. It's also open-source.

we built flexcoin to be mobile friendly,  also we're developing an android app and releasing an api for someone to make an iphone one.

What do you think about BitPak for iOS?

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bitpak/id489248095?mt=8

full blockchain on a mobile device sounds like a very bad plan. backup on dropbox wouldnt be my prefered solution either.
so imho bitpak is a very bad app by design.

Not worth the money. It's bad enough to turn iOS users off from Bitcoin. They got my $3.99, and I deleted the app immediately after testing it. But great job to the developers who actually got a wallet approved.

1) Layman's way:

 - buy a $70 android tablet off ebay
 - add a 8gb SD card for the blockchain
 - use the official bitcoin for android client. Have it connected 24/7 and keep it charged with power
 - treat it like a cash register; offload funds to an offline address at regular intervals

2) Geek way:

- Use something like Bitpay on a phone you already have (perhaps simplecoin works for symbian touchscreen?) to connect to a server at home or somewhere.

 I prefer the former method. The second method is more portable due to lack of blockchain but then you have to have a server; both are not ideal.
 How's about,

3) 3rd Party Way:

- use a 3rd party to take payments but have an auto payout to an address you control regularly