I have a lot of the Olive Tree products, but one thing that makes all these products work so well together is the BibleReader itself. The more I’ve used the BibleReader, the more I’ve discovered and began exploiting its robust features: text highlighting, searching (we’ve all had those “where is that verse again?” moments), making notes, and daily readings. As I discovered more and more of the built in features, I got so excited about it that I would get it for all my friends that had PDAs. I felt so strongly that they would find it worthwhile that I was willing to invest in the products for them.

I had used the daily reading feature of the Bible Reader off and on for years, but it wasn’t until the year I commuted daily from San Jose to San Francisco that I really appreciated its value. On my daily 60-minute train ride (which was followed by a 15 minute bus ride once I arrived in San Francisco) I had my Clie UX-50 in hand, reading the Word, and faithfully checking off the boxes in the daily reader as I went. I was transformed, held in intimate communication with my creator right there in the midst of the crowd. It transformed time that could have been wasted, and brought me closer to God. More recently, even though the I no longer commuted, it became an important part of my courtship. I and my fiancé (now my husband) read the daily reading each evening over the phone, he in Washington and me in California, he on his IPAQ and me on my LifeDrive. It was a great way to draw us closer together spiritually as we struggled with the hardships of a long-distance relationship. The daily readings served as a springboard for us to discuss all kinds of topics, including marriage and family.Another feature of the BibleReader that became important to me over time was the ability to make notes on my reading. When I put a note in, the Bible Reader would place an asterisk in the Bible text where the note was inserted. Now, when my Bible reading brings me to a certain verse, and I see that asterisk, I know that opening that note will bring me a piece of my own history. Have you ever read a journal that you wrote years before? It can be an odd experience to glimpse into the trials and triumphs of your younger self. I experience the same feeling when I open a Bible Reader note; it is kind of like reading an old journal. Only it is spiritual younger me that speaks back, not just a chronological younger me. I’m reminded of how far I’ve come, what I’ve learned, and how the Lord has changed me. The great thing is that even though I change devices, I am able to take my notes with me!And there is still more. Windowing… Linking… Verse Syncing… Searching… Bookmarking… Olive Tree has provided some great information on how to use the BibleReader on your device. You can head to the learning center for both video tutorials and user manuals at this link: Learning Center 

Hi, I’m Genny, and I’m the newest employee here at Olive Tree. But long before I was an employee I was a customer and an enthusiast. I’ve been using PDAs for about ten years, and bought my first Olive Tree product over five years ago. I’m very excited about being part of Olive Tree, and I hope that I am able to help you have a great experience as an Olive Tree customer.

If you are reading this blog, you probably already have a PDA, Smartphone, or iPhone device, and have or are considering getting an Olive Tree product. My PDA became a serious and necessary appendage to my life, in large part because of the impact of Olive Tree products. Olive Tree put some life-changing tools for Christian living in the palm of my hand, and I’m going to share with you some of my experiences as a user. My hope is that my experiences might help you find products that can transform your life as well.

I can’t remember how I obtained my first version of the Bible Reader, but I can tell you that I bought my first resource from Olive Tree in 2003: the NASB with Strong’s Concordance. For many years my life has been enriched with a study of the Bible, and as a result I was very familiar with Strong’s. Unfortunately, it was a big blue book that sat on my shelf, its size and unwieldiness not encouraging me to take it anywhere. Once I installed it on my handheld (at the time a Sony Clié), it not only went to church and Bible study with me, but it also went to work, to the doctor’s office while I waited for an appointment, and anywhere else I had a few minutes to read. I was able to look up words on the fly while sitting in church or Sunday school. And the thing I liked best about it? Even though I can’t read a word of either Greek or Hebrew, the ability to look at the word in its original language, well, it just made me feel smart!

Having the NASB with Strong’s Concordance really gave me the ability to dig deep and have a better understanding of scripture. And it was so accessable to me as a lay person, I didn’t need a degree in theology to use it. All I had to do was put my stylus on the word I wanted to know about, and a window would open up right there on my screen giving me the word in its orginal language, its English equivalent, and a short definition. Of course, as my first Olive Tree product it will always hold a special place in my heart. I hope that you are able to find products here at Olive Tree that can help you grow spiritually as well.

Sometimes a product is popular because of the hype (see the Apple iPhone). Sometimes a product appears to be popular because of its features (see the Palm Treo and several Windows Mobile phones). But to really know if something is popular, you need to see the numbers in use. And the numbers might be a surprise.

Check out this brief article by Palm Addicts. According to the numbers, Nokia phones way outsell all other phones combined and Blackberry has seen huge growth in the number of units sold. Many Nokia phones run the Symbian operating system (OS) and BlackBerry phones obviously run the BlackBerry OS – both of which Olive Tree supports.  The versions we have right now on both those platforms are very limited in what they can do. But that is going to change.  Olive Tree is working on BibleReader 4, which is a new build from the ground up and which will provide more features for all platforms we support.  Early in Olive Tree’s history, Palm and Windows Mobile were the platforms we worked hardest on.  But if we want the Bible to be in more hands, we need to target the platforms with more people using them. That is why our first beta of BibleReader 4 is out for BlackBerry.

We also know there has been a lot of buzz around the iPhone and its newly-available third party applications – so we have targeted this platform too – check out what we have so far at Olive Tree’s iPhone webpage.

But we haven’t forgot our roots.  BibleReader 4 will be available for all major mobile platforms.  This will take time.  We feel a little like David coming up to Goliath – we are a small company bringing a product to a Goliath of a market!  So be patient with us.  We believe we have the best Bible product for mobile devices out on the market!

 ~Mike B.