The Color of Money
techcrunch.com
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This sounds to me like Chatroulette: there was much hype about it at the beginning and then it started filling with guys showing their genitals.
How long will it take before people start uploading questionable content? Even if not done on purpose, just think about using the app in a 100 ft. radius from a swingers club/gay bar. Something probably you don't want to have on your phone.
Of course.
I suppose this is good for the community as long as every one of these gambles works, but the reality is that not every one does, and I would imagine investors would become increasingly skittish because of it.
The experience: a frenzy of sharing entertaining photos and having fun anytime, anywhere, with anyone.
The reality: a classier, more respectable and 'innocent' rival to Grindr.
The money: push advert pics into the localized photo streams, even making them geographically contextual, exposing them to an already captive audience, who may even react and start talking about it (the advertised product/service) on the spot.
Actually, have to admit, I really like the idea.
I wasnt aware of this aspect... I must say - I think it is brilliant if it works, as the geographically contextual adverts has so far been an uncracked nut.
Further - imagine a social groupon-like play where your pics of the ambiance and blast you and your friends are having while eating at [#ThisRestaurant] BECOME the ad and coupon to entice others to come and eat there... click on this photostream of [#ThisRestaurant], watch it then see a deal for you too coming here and having such a greeat experience for a discount coupon...
Or is it something where you go somewhere and you can see photos taken at this location 3 months ago or something? (ie, they use space but not time for proximity)
Sure, Facebook, Bebo etc. alievate that problem somewhat by having people upload their photos and sharing with their friends list, so you might eventually get to see everyone's photos. Assuming they bothered to upload and tag. But Color guarantees that everyone walks home with The Definitive Album for that event, with no extra effort required.
From a user perspective, that's a pretty big win. Just put Color on your grand-dad's phone and suddenly he gets to join the fun, without the whole registering/tagging/uploading/friending/browsing rigmarole.
*I just made that figure up obviously but I hope you get my point.
When you turn on Color it starts recording all of the pictures that others in your local area are taking. All of those photos _are stored in your "visual diary"_ forever!
This is a "life recorder" app. Remember this: http://www.wired.com/culture/culturereviews/magazine/17-09/p... ?
In the future you'll be making a documentary of your life just by moving through space, and I think that's a beautiful concept. Your grandkids will be able explore how you lived your day to day life as witnessed by those around you.
It's a fun concept, but after using it for a bit, I'm still trying to think of why I would care. If I can only see pictures from the neighborhood, I'm unlikely to see anything that I can't already see with my naked eyes.
I'll take a stab at the vision. If you can get a lot of users the tools to give away key emotional & identity information freely you might just be able to take on Facebook. This might explain the valuation & choice of the mobile platform and why the pedigree of the founder (ex Apple) matters.
A consumer device to share information easier for undisclosed "X" use for "Y" clients. The key part of the vision is the generated information, location, a users connections, the verified identity of the user and money. A mobile phone is for all intensive purposes a credit card. These raw functions are made possible by the mobile device and the front and back-end software.
[0] 'Ex-Apple executive takes on Facebook with photo app', AP ~ http://www.theage.com.au/digital-life/smartphone-apps/exappl...
"If you had more capital, could you get to the future faster?"
"Will $25M help you get five years into one?"
-- @Sequoia_Capital invest in Time Machine
Given the reminder of why Duke Nukem failed making its way up the board this is actually quite funny. Not having constraints can often be a bad thing, not a good one.
And regardless of this, what is the 'big' idea? There's nothing big about it. It's a pathetically small idea.
This is why the bubble thing is making the rounds, there's nothing big about social apps, they're notoriously hard to make any return on.
I downloaded the Color app. I like it. I'm in downtown San Francisco. A number of other people apparently are using it right now, so I'm able to see some local content.
I think the setup experience is very nicely done. Its simple. Ask for a name, then it takes a photo of you using the front facing camera.
The interface is minimal and well designed. I'm not buried in tons of options I don't need. I played with everything for a few minutes and it didn't take long to get the hang of it.
Its insanely easy to upvote and leave a comment on someone's photo. I was actually surprised that my comment went through as soon as I hit Done, instead of showing me what the comment looks like and another button to post it.
The only thing that threw me off a little was the layout of images. The feeling I get from the interface is its reminiscent of Windows Phone OS. I personally kind of like that non-iOS kind of interface, in that its something new and interesting, but not bad. If that's where they indeed took their inspiration from, its not a bad source.
So money or not, I've had fun using it today.
Seriously? Because that's pretty much how all forum and comment software works. I'm just boggled that you find this so surprising, it's the path of least effort.