Six Things Yiynova Needs to Do to Beat Wacom
Almost everyone knows that Yiynova beats Wacom hands-down when it comes to their pricing and customer support. But it’s time for the company to up the game and go head-to-head against Wacom. What’s holding Yiynova back? In a word: drivers.
Yiynova’s drivers are serviceable at best and clunky at worst – particularly on the Windows side. In my own experience, getting the Yiynova to work properly with Windows 10 has been frustrating. There are simply too many hoops to jump over to get the product to work. The Mac drivers are a bit better, but still rudimentary when it comes to the look and feel of the interface.
With Wacom’s ongoing issues with poor customer support and defective products (notably the 27″ Cintiq), Yiynova has a great opportunity to step in as a toe-to-toe competitor and give Wacom a run for the money. Here’s how I think they should do it.
1) Hire top notch third party developers to actively improve the quality of Yiynova’s driver software, making the driver installation process a pleasant and brain-dead easy experience on both Mac and Windows platforms.
2) Regularly maintain and update drivers for both Mac and Windows platforms.
3) Include an update checking option so users can be informed when a new driver version is available.
4) Overhaul the Yiynova website and include testimonials and full blown galleries of work that’s been created with Yiynova’s line of tablets. The Yiynova website feels long in the tooth. (Compare this with Wacom’s website and you’ll see what I mean.)
5) Actively engage with the artist community through select Yiynova ambassadors, made up of a few influential artists who own and regularly use Yiynova’s products. Leverage social media! Smith-Micro, distributor of CelSys’s Clip Studio Paint aka Manga Studio, does this really well.
6) Push for IPS display technology across the entire Yiynova product line.
And, on a quick note, pay a professional copywriter to properly edit and revise the supplied documentation. I would pay $100 more for each Yiynova product if I knew that the drivers were rock solid. Yiynova has a great opportunity here, and I for one, hope they don’t blow it. Agree? Disagree? What would you like to see happen with Yiynova? Sound off in the comments below.
-Krishna
Litos
February 19, 2016 at 7:14 pmI totally agree with you: Yiynova’s drivers are what keep them from giving Wacom a run for their money.
I spoke with them on the subject after reviewing the MSP19 and MVP20, and they acknowledged the problem, but said they couldn’t do much about it, since the drivers were developed by UClogic, who manufacture the digitizers. Seeing how UClogic recently came up with their own line of tablets, it makes me wonder if they’re holding back revisions of their drivers for their own brand.
Let’s hope they solve their issues, and develop a companion alternative (fingers crossed!)
Matt Strieby
February 22, 2016 at 11:48 amSpot on, Krishna. I had trouble getting the newest Yiynova driver to work with Windows 10, as well. My solution was to use an older driver (5.0.2.0- which dates back to 2011!). It works well now, but it’s a shame I have to take this kind of approach. Otherwise, my only other “criticism” is the lack of IPS on the MSP19U. However, I think the MVP22U has it, so maybe someday…
Krishna
February 22, 2016 at 2:20 pmagreed, Matt. Here’s hoping Yiynova gets the message.