After implementing Zenbe’s conversation view two years ago, arguments against the usefulness of the feature have been rare. Most feedback ranges from ‘I like it’ to ‘It changed my life’. For those in the camp of wanting simplicity at all costs, we do allow users to switch back to viewing a single message at a time, but most never look back after giving conversation view an honest try.

If we get nothing but praise for this feature, why is it so rarely found among Zenbe’s competition? Because it’s difficult. Not difficult to understand or to use, but difficult to implement.

Read on for an in-depth discussion of what makes this problem so difficult, how we’ve solved it, and why it was worth the effort.

Hi folks, just thought I’d share a little bit of what I’ve been up to lately. As you know Shareflow has a great HTML5 mobile web client that we’ve recently enhanced with new features to manage your Shareflow posts.

I’m now working on a native iPhone application that will include all of the features of our HTML5 web application plus camera/photo upload integration, offline data access, location integration, better email/sms integration and improved native feel and performance.

I’m using the excellent three20 framework originally created at Facebook. Three20 provides a nice bridge from a web development mindset to the iPhone SDK by introducing concepts like declarative styling, URL based navigation and simplified remote resource access.

Here are a few screenshots of the work in progress.

We’d love to hear your ideas for other things you’d look for in a native iPhone application. Tweet your ideas @shareflow.