Thanks, I am doing monitoring for that company and someone might mistake me as their media person: blogs, twitter, using backtype, google alerts and HN search. Lot's of feedback coming from there for sure - it's almost like I've launched on my own.
Then you or I or anybody comes along and picks over their history.
Scan over their twitter feeds, pick up bits and pieces. Dig thru their "open to the public" feedback with responses.
All of a sudden, we are in possession of a lot of valuable data. eg. Unhappy customers. People wanting things which they arent able to get. Features you overlooked. Features you thought were good and without building are not so. Potential users to aim your product at. Woe them away ( might not be very ethical )
All this data will aid in the creation and moulding of your own startup. Its a little ironic. Yet at the same time. Its a completely new approach to competition
I note that you havent mentioned your competition or "the idea".
Do you think the competition would take you seriously? Serious enough to start making private ( Closed walled ) around the feedback from their users? Should they?
Its all food for thought.
Bottom line as already mentioned, dont give up! Im sure the internet has space for a few of the "same sort of web application". As I read earlier today, it is all about execution. ( I at least hope it is )
Post the url :)
I've been side developing one of those "for me" projects for some time, there's 4 other competitors out there which leads me to conclude that it could be a "for them" project as well.
and while I've been developing, I've been on a monitoring blitz, using their project, etc. looking for things that they're having issues with that either I can take care of, or make sure to leave out so I don't have the same headaches.
To also add, since you're going through the whole media side of things with their product, you'll be well prepared to defend approaches/features/etc within yours since you had to critique it against them.