by pascal.rossini on July 24, 2010
in Apple,Ipad
This last weekend, Scoble presented “Flipboard”, a new Ipad application for a personalized magazine with Twitter, Facebook and RSS feeds. A flood of Tweets with enthusiastic articles appeared as soon as the announcement came out. The result, despite renowned founders/investors and a big IT team, Flipboard did not take into account the problems of accelerated ramp-up, the Achilles heel for all start-ups.
But it’s not this recurring problem (dixit Twitter) which will undermine the success of this type of application; it’s the replications, motivated by this success, which is just as dazzling as unexpected. In a few weeks there will be 10 Flipboard like that will offer the same features because there is no legal defense or patent that protects exclusive use of Facebook and Twitter APIs. Already, Sobees offers an application dedicated to Facebook that transforms the way to use this platform, and paper.li also proposes, but in a web navigator, an intelligent aggregation solution for feeds in the form of a magazine.
In addition, the future business model seems to be supported by the insertion of intrusive advertising. This approach is very risky; in effect, it’s my magazine, it’s personal, and I don’t want promotions spoiling my daily reading.
Flipboard app also raises some fairly sticky issues related to copyright.
The future of this type of application in terms of a business model and user acquisition will prove very improbable and yet dozens of investors are knocking at the door.
This defines well, in my opinion, the “rule of three” that maintains the actual investment ecosystem:
20% in human resources, the project and the technology
60% in pure emotion and dreams
20% paradoxes and aberrations
The central idea that guided the development of this application was to evolve the distribution model for free classifieds.
Often listed in columns in the traditional press, online classifieds services quickly benefited from the power of search and the interactivity of the Internet. The success of services such as Craiglist and Ebay classifieds transformed and popularized access to good deals.
The arrival of the portable telephone will enable the expansion of the distribution model, which has been fixed for 200 years, thanks to GPS localization or GSM triangulation. It will be possible to be near places where one can find interesting deals for consumption or to discover in real time.
This distribution model is characterized by a localized base of classifieds that adapts to a geographic, social and cultural micro environment.
In addition to geolocalization, the social dimension allows the publication of one’s offer on networks such as Facebook and Twitter, finding an instantaneous and qualified audience.
This service therefore corresponds very well to traditional needs and consumption habits, favoring local human contact which had practically disappeared from the web.
This application is available for free download from the App store, and covers the US, UK and Canada in terms of content. French and multilingual versions will be implemented in the near future.
While you are in town around lunch time, you hear a beep. Is it your mother sending you a text message? Is it another alert informing you about the latest sports results? No. It’s an offer that arrives just at the right time, as long as you like hamburgers.
You have received this coupon because you were geo localized near a business offering a promotion for two cheeseburgers for the price of one, and the business is only 200 yards from where you are. The coupon is in your Smartphone; you just need to go to where the promotion is being offered and eat the two cheeseburgers. A check-in with the business will give you the right to a free drink. WOW!
For this to happen, you must have an application that pushes this kind of information directly to your telephone, using the multitasking of the los4 and Google’s Android, and agree to receive and personalize these alerts.
A revolution ? Without a doubt; because in this case it is not a question of unavoidable or non-solicited promotions. You can respond to them minutes after receiving them or store them in a list of favorites to benefit from them at another time.
These days it is very easy to get caught up in following all of the latest trends and attempt to predict the next big digital wave. And there are indeed several interesting new, cool things you can do with digital media (I just checked in…..now, what?). Stop waiting for Web 3, semantic and other buzz words. These are nothing more than fads and will be small parts of the real change that is taking place: mobile engagement and the integration of the digital and real world – where everything all comes together and goes everywhere you do.
The first computer revolution enabled people to do things faster and easier than ever before. The arrival of desktop computers got them out of the computing center and into the office, homes and schools. Portable computers, combined with the internet, freed workers from the office to do their work from all kinds of previously unexpected places. And all of the information and services made available via the Internet increased exponentially professional and personal use (Web 1).
The Web was always about communicating but it wasn’t until real conversations started taking place that the “social” aspect of the Web off (Web 2). Social functions in digital experiences at first seemed to be a trend among young people but are now so commonplace that the thought of not having socially-enhanced experiences seems illogical.
Now more than half the planet owns a mobile device. And businesses are well on board the anytime/anywhere mobile communications medium which is at the center of how people are communicating and enhancing their everyday lives. It’s no longer about the desktop. All of the professional and personal power of the computer, the internet and mobile communication is right there in your pocket for easy access to the best things in the real world. It’s not called Web 3, it’s called Real World 2.0. Enjoy!
By Guest Author Julia Motet
