Xobni: Our Path from ‘Wrong Product’ to Killer App(gigaom.com)
gigaom.com
Xobni: Our Path from ‘Wrong Product’ to Killer App
http://gigaom.com/2008/05/11/xobni-our-path-from-wrong-product-to-killer-app/
8 comments
Its also alot easier to write a plugin for outlook ( a desktop program )... than it is to modify the functionality of an existing website that is not yours in a nonbuggy crossplatform way.
I bet that you've never written an Outlook plugin :)
I'd much rather try to hack Gmail JS, which many people have done, btw (see Remember The Milk for a popular example).
I'd much rather try to hack Gmail JS, which many people have done, btw (see Remember The Milk for a popular example).
GMail is a moving target and anything that integrates with it is liable to break without notice. Outlook changes once every couple of years and actually has a documented API for integrating with it that is updated when a new version is released (I presume).
If enough people star the request ticket for a Gmail gData api, perhaps a xobni style widget for gmail will be easier to build in the future.
http://code.google.com/p/gdata-issues/issues/detail?id=271
http://code.google.com/p/gdata-issues/issues/detail?id=271
Okay, I did my part.
Having a documented api doesn't make it easy, just ask Xobni. In practice, making a fast and stable Outlook extension is extremely difficult.
Also, Gmail actually does have a number of documented and stable hooks for extensions to use.
Also, Gmail actually does have a number of documented and stable hooks for extensions to use.
Desktop software has the benefit of perceived privacy and being easily scalable, as you pay for a filehost and installations are done on each user's computer. However, the problem with this is that once any user sees a bug, screws up their registry, deletes a file, upgrades or installs a Firewall that starts blocking ports or an Anti-Virus program that's over sensitive or slows your application down, installs a new or different Service Pack, then you will receive questions that you now have to answer and debug that have nothing to do with your program. Then you have to create and release an update, making the customer wait, instead of being able to change things on the fly, as is possible with many web app frameworks.
It's tough to keep your own success in perspective. I agree it's not clear that they have a killer app (yet).
I really like Xobni too. I use it at work and it does make Outlook much better -- primary because of the better search and threaded conversations (the social networking and analytics features are less useful for me, though).
However, I think Xobni's market is largely hypothetical, and it's not clear how Xobni can make money. The fact that I have a credit card doesn't mean I will use it in Xobni, especially because the app is free and it already solves my Outlook problems.
(Btw, I would be happy to pay $20 for Xobni if they charged me for it :) )
However, I think Xobni's market is largely hypothetical, and it's not clear how Xobni can make money. The fact that I have a credit card doesn't mean I will use it in Xobni, especially because the app is free and it already solves my Outlook problems.
(Btw, I would be happy to pay $20 for Xobni if they charged me for it :) )
This is just silly. I install xobni, and just like the comments on that site, after a couple of days I was thinking - huh? What does this app do? And how come it swallows so much of my screen real estate.
There is space for an outlook plugin, but xobni have just picked a weak product and are getting it installed by effective marketing.
Let me make this clear guys: Your product does nothing. It's not useful to me. It's not killer, it's very weak.
There is space for an outlook plugin, but xobni have just picked a weak product and are getting it installed by effective marketing.
Let me make this clear guys: Your product does nothing. It's not useful to me. It's not killer, it's very weak.
"how come it swallows so much of my screen real estate"
I second that,the first thing i do in Outlook, Visual Studio, Eclipse ... is reorganize the panes to maximize the editor area.
For oulook this would be the email body and email list
I second that,the first thing i do in Outlook, Visual Studio, Eclipse ... is reorganize the panes to maximize the editor area.
For oulook this would be the email body and email list
I think these guys will make money, but not as much as the 20m they just turn down.
In a year these features will be developed in every email client.
In a year these features will be developed in every email client.
You are dramatically overestimating the speed with which large products develop (especially Outlook). Even if they started last year, it still wouldn't ship for years.
In addition, after it ships, it will take years for the new version to be deployed to a significant portion of existing users.
That's also true of Xobni, or any new application. Plugins may face a lower uptake barrier, but it depends on the organization. MS effectively forces businesses to upgrade Outlook every few years, and without the stick (and carrots) that MS wields, it can be a challenge to get anything new into a business.
But, it's true that a small company can deliver to the people who will upgrade or install new tools in ways that a large company generally cannot. But the slow adopters are going to be slow adopters no matter who builds the application.
But, it's true that a small company can deliver to the people who will upgrade or install new tools in ways that a large company generally cannot. But the slow adopters are going to be slow adopters no matter who builds the application.
accidentally downmodded, sorry
I'm not sure of what can be added to something like gmail to be honest,
Gmail search: fantastic, threaded conversations: fantastic, search for attachments etc: all works fine.
For me, Gmail just works great. I'm not really interested in seeing a graph/analytics for emails to be honest.
Obviously it makes sense for outlook, since that is a very very painful thing to use, but I'd be surprised if ms don't just fix search and add threaded conversations in the next version.
Gmail search: fantastic, threaded conversations: fantastic, search for attachments etc: all works fine.
For me, Gmail just works great. I'm not really interested in seeing a graph/analytics for emails to be honest.
Obviously it makes sense for outlook, since that is a very very painful thing to use, but I'd be surprised if ms don't just fix search and add threaded conversations in the next version.
Xobni search for Outlook is much better than Gmail's native search, and they have no native platform for managing attachments well, which is, imho, one of the value props Xobni has.
I don't understand why all focus on the statistics/analytics features. It might be smart of the company to either remove it or minimize its presence because I've seen so many take the route of "analytics? whoop dee doo."
Also, if Xobni would like to be a stand-alone email/CRM one day, integration with as many email applications is quite necessary.
I don't understand why all focus on the statistics/analytics features. It might be smart of the company to either remove it or minimize its presence because I've seen so many take the route of "analytics? whoop dee doo."
Also, if Xobni would like to be a stand-alone email/CRM one day, integration with as many email applications is quite necessary.
The statistics and analytics features serve (IMHO) as initial attraction hooks. For example, a lot of people I know went to GMail because of the 1GB space thing rather than all the revolutionary features inside. They discovered all the goodies only as they started using it. I think a similar thing happens with the colorful graph that Xobni shows. If you think about it, nobody would give a damn about what that graph is showing. But as Gabor points out in the article, if I am passing by, that's the first thing I'd get attracted by. It just looks really really spiffy.
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From the article I found this graph interesting http://gigaom.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/xobni_mail_client_....
Outlook 400 M - Lotus 250 M - Yahoo Mail 260 M - Hotmail 200 - Gmail 100 - Apple Mail 50 M - Thunderbird 30 M
This totals 1290 M , now if their market penetration is 0.5% (i.e. 0.05) and they sell the product for 1 dollar that's 60 million in revenue
Lets try another what if. What if they sell it for 20 dollars, how much market penetration to they need to make 100 Mil revenue!
~0.39% (0.0039)
I am guessing they played a math game. And the math says, unless they totally suck, they will pass that 20 million sooner than spending 20 million
Finally we meet some business men in the startup software market
pick your market, before you pick your product
This totals 1290 M , now if their market penetration is 0.5% (i.e. 0.05) and they sell the product for 1 dollar that's 60 million in revenue
Lets try another what if. What if they sell it for 20 dollars, how much market penetration to they need to make 100 Mil revenue!
~0.39% (0.0039)
I am guessing they played a math game. And the math says, unless they totally suck, they will pass that 20 million sooner than spending 20 million
Finally we meet some business men in the startup software market
pick your market, before you pick your product
I like and have always congratulated Xobni ( http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6477 ) but I don't think the product is killer yet (though they might be referring to the stuff they have in development that they can't show to anybody yet.)
I don't understand how Xobni helps me? I installed it, I let it index my entire inbox... and .. what now? They should have taken the $20 million.
They had to take the 20 millions. why? 20 millions for an eye candy, that's a lot of money already. IMHO.
1. There's not clear evidence yet that they've landed on the "killer app". Yes, it's likely more killer (killerer?) than what they started with, but it's too early too tell. Lots of things seem like the killer app, but few are. They may have a couple of iterations left before they hit the true killer app.
2. One of the the stated reasons for not supporting GMail yet is that "Outlook users are more likely to have business credit cards". Although that's true, my guess is that there are enough users on GMail that also have credit cards for it to be interesting.
On the other hand, the "are you happy" box is cool.