Divvyshot (YC W09) launches free iPhone App(blog.divvyshot.com)

73 pointsby simanyayvor 17 Jahren36 comments

blog.divvyshot.com

Divvyshot (YC W09) launches free iPhone App

http://blog.divvyshot.com/divvyshot-now-has-an-iphone-app

11 comments

therevor 17 Jahren

why do developers think the shake thing is useful or fun? seriously, it looks ridiculous when you're trying to do it in public. you look like you're pissed off at your phone and trying to get it to work by shaking it.

just get rid of the gimmick and make a button initiate the action.

Sam_Odiovor 17 Jahren

We considered a button but ended up going against it. It doesn't scale - the button doesn't give us enough data. People don't time their presses well enough and if the app becomes successful we'll have a hard time telling apart presses that occur close to each other (both in time and space).

We've also considered a 4 digit pin but that confused users. It turns out that users intuitively understand the shake UX to transfer the contents from one phone to another.

bmalicoatvor 17 Jahren

Not to be argumentative but doesn't shaking present the same scaling problems? You can only stack so many iPhones before it becomes dangerous to shake them (for me shaking one is enough!). Why not put a button with a certain timeout, surely users can hit the button within 5 seconds of each other.

Sam_Odiovor 17 Jahren

We're not talking about scaling by syncing more than 2 devices simultaneously. We're talking about scaling our user base.

The problem is that we can only expect GPS to be accurate to 1-2km and the phone clocks are often off by 1+ seconds. This makes it difficult in metropolitan areas when multiple transfers can occur simultaneously within a 1-2km radius.

bmalicoatvor 17 Jahren

Ah, I misunderstood the mechanism, I thought it transferred over wifi, sorry.

catch23vor 17 Jahren

why would it be dangerous to shake a phone? it's all solid state materials, it shouldn't cause damage from shaking your phone unless you throw it.

bmalicoatvor 17 Jahren

I was joking about shaking one, but stacking two and shaking makes me uneasy because I am paranoid about scratches. And yea, throwing or more simply dropping is a slight concern.

omarishvor 17 Jahren

Bumping the phones against each other creates a certain motion signature you can use to identify the pair of phones in the transaction.

simanyayvor 17 Jahren

I think the accelerometer data is very useful to detect devices.

amichailvor 17 Jahren

Isn't this a way to draw attention to the device/app -- a form of marketing in public?

johndevorvor 17 Jahren

It does look cool, IMHO. I think it would especially appeal (at least in terms of novelty) to non-techies who aren't familiar with the concept of bumping.

[deleted]vor 17 Jahren

doganvor 17 Jahren

just shake it!

jmattvor 17 Jahren

What happens when you want to share but you aren't with that person?

For me the vast majority of the times I'm sharing it's with someone that physically isn't with me. Maybe I'm just a special case.

johndevorvor 17 Jahren

There's an option to send somebody an email with a link, or you can do twitter, flickr, or facebook.

Sam_Odiovor 17 Jahren

The website is actually more powerful for long-distance transfers. For example, the recipient can download all the hi-res photos as a zip file.

If you're not in person, just use the app email him a link to the event.

nick007vor 17 Jahren

wow -- finally a photo sharing app that makes sense and that's easy to use... jesus christ it was about time. i'd say it was worth the wait though because these these guys nailed it. i just shook pictures to a few friends in the office... worked perfectly but they should really offer a disclaimer about not being responsible for carpal tunnel (i'm feeling a little stiffness). regardless, job well done team divvyshot!

johndevorvor 17 Jahren

The shake-and-share ability looks great. Let's hope that catches on, as that would make photo sharing really easy (and fun).

seijivor 17 Jahren

Secret Bump API?

physcabvor 17 Jahren

I can't quite put my finger on it, but the voice in the video sorta bugs me. It has that infomercial-ist tone which leaves me with the impression that the product is worse than it seems.

Sam_Odiovor 17 Jahren

We noticed that too. We were even thinking we could end the video with something like this: http://www.realmofprosperity.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/...

Oh well, you can't get everything right.

physcabvor 17 Jahren

hah. yah. I've never produced a video like this and I'm sure it's harder to pull off so it makes the viewer feel like you are completely genuine. I wonder if there is a service that sells voice-overs? Getting the Apple commercial guy would be sweet.

bvivor 17 Jahren

Absolutely right. It would be much better if it sounded a lot more "personal" as opposed to some salesman telling us what's cool.

grinichvor 17 Jahren

Are you planning to promote this outside of divyshot.com? Are you running ads?

I built an app for Hacker News that just went live on the App Store this morning, but my announcement completely flopped on HN. (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=986329) I mostly built it for myself, but figured that a few folks here would find it useful. What's the right sort of marketing for iPhone apps?

tkahn6vor 17 Jahren

It might have gotten more votes if you had provided a link to a page with screenshots and a description of the app. I use Linux and therefore a link directly to iTunes doesn't do much for me.

grinichvor 17 Jahren

What about a short movie vs. screenshots?

grinichvor 17 Jahren

Thanks. I'll try that.

unohoovor 17 Jahren

I've always liked the concept behind divvyshot. However, I wonder how well it is faring considering that the juggernaut - Facebook photos - has become one of the de facto places for folks to upload photos.

physcabvor 17 Jahren

Competition validates the market exists.

unohoovor 17 Jahren

its a no brainer that the market exists. My question was geared more towards how will they compete against FB photos, which has grown like a weed.

jfarmervor 17 Jahren

There's an opportunity in mobile because many photos are taken on the phone and (arguably) it's easier to transfer photos from your computer to your phone than your computer to Facebook because USB is faster than broadband.

People want to share photos w/ their friends. Facebook is the easiest way; that doesn't mean it always will be.

jfarmervor 17 Jahren

I hate that the "reply" button vanishes so soon.

Yes, of course that's right. The 1-to-N factor and ease of tagging are why Facebook grew so much faster than all the other photo-sharing services.

I guess my point was that DivvyShot is in a different part of the pipeline (closer to the camera) than Facebook, so that presents new opportunities.

unohoovor 17 Jahren

>> Facebook is the easiest way; that doesn't mean it always will be

totally agree. But at least, as of now, FB has a very strong network effect going for it. That's going to be hard to beat. Do I think FB is the end-all ? Nope - I'm pretty sure something disruptive will come along and challenge FB's domination.

[deleted]vor 17 Jahren

davismlvor 17 Jahren

Wooo Sam! Nice to see it's finally released!!

nishantmodakvor 17 Jahren

I can share files with Bump also. Can you tell me what differentiates this?!

sixbitvor 17 Jahren

man the voice over style in the video was borderline late night infomercial.

zackattackvor 17 Jahren

How did you make this awesome demo video?

I would love if you spilled the beans...

* Writing the script * Getting someone to shoot/edit it * Lighting * Getting someone to read it etc.

I have to do something similar soon [ non iPhone, ;)] and I am truly in awe.