Given the fairly nutballs hype surrounding the launch of Mailbox for iPhone (and its crazy queues), you could probably assume that they’d bring the app to other devices and platforms — and you’d be right if you did.
The company recently started letting users know of their upcoming projects: an iPad app is in the works, with Android and desktop clients “on the agenda.”
[Disclosure: TechCrunch founder Mike Arrington is an investor in Mailbox by way of CrunchFund. While neither Mike nor anyone else at CrunchFund has ever even mentioned Mailbox to me, I prefer to make these things nice and transparent.]
While Mailbox had mentioned to us that they were tinkering with an iPad app in previous briefings, they’ve only recently begun to mention it in public — and even then, seemingly only through relatively quiet Twitter responses. This is also the first we’re hearing of potential Android/Desktop clients.
@AdamYaffe no ETA yet but the iPad version is coming soon! iCloud and other accounts may be added as we grow !—
Mailbox (@mailbox) April 15, 2013
Though there’s seemingly no ETA for any of the above, it would seem that the iPad app is further along in its development than the other aforementioned platforms. While their mentions of the iPad app are frequently detailed as “in the works” or “coming soon,” mentions of the Android/Desktop app are always labeled with the considerably less committal “on the roadmap.”
@bsetter iPad is in the works and desktop is on our roadmap!—
Mailbox (@mailbox) April 25, 2013
@1LottoStud No certain timeline yet, but other platforms are coming down the road—including Android!—
Mailbox (@mailbox) April 25, 2013
We’ve reached out to the company for clarification on where each project currently sits, and we’ll update if we hear back.
It makes sense that an iPad app would come first. Mailbox is already written for iOS/Cocoa Touch —most of the work would be in adjusting the interface for the bigger screen, unless they add iPad-exclusive features. Porting it to Android, meanwhile, would involve quite a bit more new code. Even porting it to OS X would require a pretty drastic rethinking of the super touch-centric UI, at the very least.
On a side note: I actually stopped using Mailbox a few weeks after installing it. As it strongly focuses on fast actions on individual emails (as opposed to en-masse actions on groups of emails), I found myself paying more attention to preening my inbox than before. I still really dig the time-based reminder future, though.
[Double disclosure, for good measure: see the above disclosure about CrunchFund.]