The first questions we asked the four Bible Software organizations we questioned recently was what sort of products they made and who did they build them for?

Question: What products does your organization make available and which of these gets the most focus?

Olive Tree:

Olive Tree focuses on Bibles and Bible study resources, but also offers devotionals and Christian eBooks affording users to build a real Personal Library for their mobile device. Bibles are our primary product of interest, but we also have a section of products on original languages (Greek and Hebrew) that get a good deal of attention from those in the scholarly sector.

Laridian:

We develop and sell software for a variety of mobile devices. Our best-sellers are PocketBible for Windows Mobile and MyBible for Palm OS. We also have Bible software for BlackBerry and iPod. Very shortly we'll have Bible software for the new Apple iPhone and for the Windows desktop as well.

eSword:

e-Sword and Pocket e-Sword.  Both products are fairly mature, so creation of new resources for both products get the most attention.

Logos:

Our primary product is Logos Bible Software and the electronic books that work with it.

BibleTechnology.com.

The four organizations support a wide range of platforms between them with only Logos being a single platform (although a Mac version of Logos is in the works).  Since answering our questions Laridian actually shipped PocketBible for Windows - you can read our review of it here.

So who is the target market for these companies?

Question: What sort of people is your main Bible Software product suited to?

Olive Tree:

Those interested in reading and studying the Bible on their handheld PDA or Smartphone device, from basic reading and Bible study to more advanced lesson preparation and exegesis. In recent years we find a good number of missionaries and pastors are using these mobile devices to conveniently carry a library of materials to places that would have been not so easy in time past.

Laridian:

We believe our average customer is not a preacher or teacher but is the guy or gal in the pew on Sunday morning. Since we focus on mobile computing, our customer is probably a business person who carries a smartphone or PDA he or she depends on for their business and personal organizational needs. Because that device is with them everywhere, having the Bible on it is invaluable

eSword:

The pastor/teacher primarily, though millions of users 8 to 80 make use of e-Sword every day!

Logos:

Logos Bible Software is designed for everyone who wants to study the Bible. Our tool is specifically aimed at pastors, students, and others who want to invest in serious study with a large library of resources, but it is useful for casual students as well.

BibleTechnology.com:

The four organizations are generally aiming for the more advance student of scripture allowing you to delve more deeply into scripture should you want to.  In most cases this doesn't make a huge difference to the usability of the products, but it may make quite a difference to discoverability of features and the number of features you end up actually using.

We recommend that you take a look at several or all of these products if you are looking at purchasing software.