iPhoneDownloadBlog is Dead… Long Live iDownloadBlog!

Today is a big day for the iDB Team. After blogging for over 3 years under the www.iphonedownloadblog.com domain name, we have decided to make a strategic move and change our name to iDownloadBlog.com.

As you’ve probably noticed within the past few months, we’ve been widening up our focus from iPhone-related information to everything iOS. There are two reasons for that…

First, it’s hard to talk about the iPhone and the iPhone only when the iPad and the iPod Touch are such similar devices. Second, we love everything Apple here! And we don’t want to write just about the iPhone. We want to write about the iPhone, the iPad, the iPod, the Apple TV, and whatever iOS device Apple is cooking up.

When I started iDB 3 years ago, I had no idea it would get this big. Today is a very emotional day for me. I feel like I’m watching my kid graduate from college. I have all these good memories running through my head. I am excited and I am incredibly proud of what the Team and I have accomplished. It’s crazy how quickly times flies by when you’re enjoying every minute of what you do.

Today is also an important day for me in a business sense. You don’t change a website’s domain name and main focus without risking to take a hit. First, there is a financial risk. Doing this kind of work doesn’t come cheap, but we have skilled IT people and I trust they know what they’re doing. While I’m confident our web development Team has properly handled the domain change, our main concern is you, the iDB reader.

I know some of you will be pissed. I can already imagine some of the comments we’ll get: “I used to love iDB because it was all about the iPhone, but I don’t own an iPad and I couldn’t care less about the Apple TV. I will never read your blog again!” To this, I will answer that if you’ve been enjoying iDB for the past few months, then you will love the new iDB. Not much will change, really. We’ll still keep a major focus on the iPhone, but we’ll also talk about other iOS devices. And let’s be real here, you might not care much about the iPad today, but you’ll likely own one tomorrow 😉

I also know that a vast majority of our readers will welcome the change. A lot of you own several iOS devices and now we’ll be your official spot for everything iOS. So please, if you’re excited about this change, let us know in the comments. Haters are always more vocal than lovers and we’d love to get some positive feedback about the new site name. We do have egos that need to be boosted!

So, what’s new? Right now, besides the new domain name and logo, nothing is new. It’s still the same site design and layout. But in the next few weeks, we’ll be implementing new features, have a better navigation and hopefully get rid off those ugly ads in the sidebar. Our goal is to be THE place for iOS news and info. We’ll do what it takes to get there, but it’s not going to happen overnight. Please bear with us while we make the transition.

We have a new logo too, and as you can see, it doesn’t look great right now. We’ll be working on that to make sure it looks pretty again. Other things might be broken. If you see something that’s not working as it should, please let us know.

This name change is the perfect time to thank the iDB Team for their incredible work. I took care of this blog by myself for the first couple years and that wasn’t always easy. Having a team of dedicated and knowledgeable writers is a blessing for me. Thank you Cody, Jeff, Alex, Killian, Oliver and Michael. Thank you to the past iDB writers, and also thank you to our current interns: Kevin, Francesco and Zech (hopefully you guys won’t give up easily).

Maybe even more importantly, thank you, iDB reader. Obviously, this would have never been possible without you and your support. We have an incredible community and my wish is that it keeps growing and growing even more. Thanks to you, I am able to do what I love for a living: talk about the iPhone and the iPad. I will forever be thankful for that, and I know the rest of the Team is as well.

Now is the time to self promote ourselves… Please make sure you subscribe to our RSS feed, friend us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter (all site-related content on Twitter has been moved to a standalone @iDownloadblog account). I know most of you already do follow us elsewhere, but spreading the word never hurts.

Here’s to the future!