What was the first app to do a staged rollout or invite-only launch?
1 comments
The first big one that comes to mind is Gmail - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Gmail
That's the first one I can recall as well. Any others around that same time? Perhaps the social networks? Friendster / myspace / facebook?
This trend obviously grew from the concept of pre-launch email signups, and seems to have turned into more of a marketing gimmick than actual necessity. Smaller apps and startups have adopted the practice from big boys like Google to enhance their image.
To me, this is the digital equivalent of making you stand in line to get into a club - making it appear more crackin than it actually is.
My question is - what was the first app or service to do the whole "invite" thing?