A new update for AccelaStudy is starting to be approved by Apple. The update should become available for most AccelaStudy apps in the next few days. Take a look at the AccelaStudy website for full release notes!

Version 1.4.4 has been released and is now appearing in the iTunes App Store.  Version 1.4.4 is primarily a stability release to correct a number of issues that arose during the compatibility changes made for the iPhone OS 3.0.  There are also performance enhancements particularly noticeable in improved scrolling speed of the search results.

The next update, Version 1.5, will include additional features and, finally, also new vocabulary – verbs!  The total vocabulary set will increase by about 25%.

We’re very interested in learning how many of our users have upgraded to the new OS and who is holding back.  We know that the upgrade for iPod Touch users is $9.95 US and for some that may be a sticking point.  We want to move AccelaStudy to the new OS soon but we don’t want to leave behind our customers.  Please visit our support forum at Upgrading to the New OS 3.0? and let your voice be heard!

To all of the loyal customers who have applied to the beta testing program, we’re almost ready to start!  Invitations will be sent out next week.  We apologize for taking so long to get started but the recent release of the iPhone OS 3.0 has taken quite a lot of our time.  We’re putting final touches on version 1.4.4 which will go out to Apple and will improve the compatibility of AccelaStudy with users running the new OS.

We have a very ambitious summer planned for AccelaStudy and would like to start working with customers earlier in the development process.  Rather than getting a release out to customers and only then hearing about features and feedback in reviews and emails, we’d like to get customers involved before the products have been sent to the App Store.  Thus, we are recruiting beta testers for all future versions of AccelaStudy, starting with version 1.4.3, which is due in a few weeks.

We are looking for 3-5 beta testers per language, not including English.  AccelaStudy is now available in 15 languages plus English.  These languages are:

• Chinese (Mandarin)
• Dutch
• French
• German
• Greek
• Italian
• Japanese
• Korean
• Polish
• Portuguese
• Romanian
• Russian
• Spanish
• Turkish
• Ukrainian

Beta testers do not get paid but there are many benefits, including the following:

• Free copies of any and all AccelaStudy software for the iPhone and iPod Touch, and any other platforms for which products become available
• Early release versions of all AccelaStudy software
• Direct input to the translation and development team regarding features, vocabulary, and other product feedback
• Participation in the feature and vocabulary selection process
• Free copies of future, unannounced language products not necessarily branded as AccelaStudy

We do have a number of requirements for beta testers:

• Must have at least one *extra* iPhone or iPod Touch device for testing purposes – we do not recommend using beta software on an iPhone you need for work, for example.  iPod Touch devices are ideal since they are fully functional in every way as an iPhone but do not need a phone service contract.
• Must be willing to share the device ID of your test device so that we can add it provision it for unreleased software.  This does nothing to your device but is required since, without separate provisioning, Apple does not allow any applications to be installed on a device that weren’t downloaded from the App Store directly.
• Must be passionate about learning languages!
• Must be an avid user of AccelaStudy!
• Ideally should be a Mac user with OS X Leopard running on your Mac.
• Be willing to participate in an active beta tester community providing and exchanging feedback with others and working with the development team of AccelaStudy to improve the product line.

If you are interested, please send an email to support@renkara.com.  Please state why you are interested and why you should be in the beta program.  Thanks in advance to everyone who writes in.  Assuming the requirements are met, this is largely a first come, first serve program so write soon if you want to help us make AccelaStudy even better!

We released the Essentials by AccelaStudy line of free, “try before you buy”, language applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch last week in the iTunes App Store.  In one week, we’ve had almost 100,000 downloads of these applications and as of this writing, 8 of the applications are in the Top Free Apps list for Education:

• #4 FREE Spanish Essentials by AccelaStudy
• #7 FREE French Essentials by AccelaStudy
• #17 FREE Italian Essentials by AccelaStudy
• #26 FREE Chinese Essentials by AccelaStudy
• #27 FREE German Essentials by AccelaStudy
• #45 FREE Korean Essentials by AccelaStudy
• #56 FREE Russian Essentials by AccelaStudy
• And, our latecomer, after 1 day in the App Store, FREE Japanese Essentials by AccelaStudy debuts at #89!

That’s 2 applications in the Top 10 and 5 in the Top 30!

What makes Essentials so popular?  They’re actually useful!  Rather than release some stripped down freeware, each copy of Essentials is the full version of AccelaStudy, but with a smaller vocabulary list of basic words.  However, this vocabulary list still has between 125 and 150 words, which is a lot of words for a beginning language student.

Thanks to all of the people who have downloaded Essentials by AccelaStudy and making them some of the most popular applications in the App Store!

Version 1.4 is a huge success and it’s available to try for free, now in the iTunes App Store!  You can find the following applications:

• FREE Chinese Essentials by AccelaStudy
• FREE Dutch Essentials by AccelaStudy
• FREE French Essentials by AccelaStudy
• FREE German Essentials by AccelaStudy
• FREE Greek Essentials by AccelaStudy
• FREE Italian Essentials by AccelaStudy
• FREE Japanese Essentials by AccelaStudy
• FREE Korean Essentials by AccelaStudy
• FREE Polish Essentials by AccelaStudy
• FREE Portuguese Essentials by AccelaStudy
• FREE Romanian Essentials by AccelaStudy
• FREE Russian Essentials by AccelaStudy
• FREE Spanish Essentials by AccelaStudy
• FREE Turkish Essentials by AccelaStudy
• FREE Ukrainian Essentials by AccelaStudy

Essentials by AccelaStudy are exactly the same as the paid version of AccelaStudy but with a reduced set of vocabulary words and audio files.

After only 5 days in the App Store, 5 of the Essentials applications are already in the Top 100 Free downloads in the Education category with FREE Spanish Essentials already in the Top 20!

Thanks to all of our customers whose feedback has helped make AccelaStudy a stunning success!

FREE Essentials by AccelaStudy are available now in the iTunes App Store.

AccelaStudy version 1.4 has been approved by Apple and is now live in the App Store.  Version 1.4 is a massive update with all of the following features now available:

• Audio Quiz Mode. Hear a word and choose the word you heard from the list of answers.  This feature is particularly useful for languages which do not use the Roman alphabet.
• Spaced Repetition Mode. AccelaStudy 1.4 now truly accelerates your learning with the new spaced repetition mode.  Spaced repetition automatically tracks which words you know and which words you are learning and helps you focus on the words you are learning.  In our testing, students have learned at > 1 word per minute using spaced repetition.
• Completely new user interface. As described in an earlier post here, the user interface of AccelaStudy has been completely redesigned for better usability and expandability as we add new features to the application in the coming weeks and months.
• Audio downloading. This design change deserves a post of its own but the key point is that after initially downloading the application from the App Store, the audio files are not initially available.  Once the app is launched, simply navigate to Download Audio on the home screen to download all of the expected audio files.  A WiFi network connection is highly recommended. The AccelaStudy application could no longer include audio files in the App Store updates because the resulting application size was far too large for most users, i.e. those accessing the App Store via WiFi and 3G networks.  The audio files only need to be downloaded once and will persist through future updates to the application.  We apologize in advance for any inconvenience this change may cause our existing customers.
• Add categories to study sets. You can now add the words from one or more categories to a study set at once.
• Add words to study sets. As you navigate through words in Study Mode, Flashcard Mode, or Spaced Repetition Mode, you can now take the current word and add it to any of your other study sets without leaving your current mode.
• Search results with audio. When you search for a word, the matching search results display in both languages of the application.  Now, when tapping the Play icon in the search result, the application will play audio for the first language with the first tap and audio for the second language with the second tap.

Unfortunately, what this update does not have is new vocabulary, audio, or verbs.  These are all still coming soon and we will have several major announcements to this end in the coming weeks.  However, the user interface redesign and the offloading of the audio files to external servers became a very high priority over the last two months and needed to be done before expanding any further.

As always, please contact support@accelastudy.com with any questions, concerns, or other feedback.