TechFold - Bold tech & web commentary

2pad: Anti-social Photo-sharing Innovation

2pad is an Israeli photo & video-sharing startup that offers a somewhat unique take on the traditional features that define online photo sites. See their guided tour here.

The primary difference is that 2pad assumes that you don’t want to share your photos or videos with anyone - they are private until you explicitly invite someone (from your 2pad contacts or via email) to see specific media or galleries that you give them permission to view. Its directly contrary to what one expects from a photo-sharing service in this day of social everything; to those used to Flickr’s freewheeling sharing/searching/licensing, it may seem retrograde, but I’m willing to bet that there’s a decent-sized group of Hartwellian photographers and social neophytes out there that would find 2pad’s privacy defaults comforting.

While the site itself offers the gamut of ordinary photo tools (sign up, galleries, uploads, etc.), most basic transactions are funneled through email. For example, adding a photo to your account is as simple as emailing 2pad@2pad.com. Your attached image is added to your account, the subject is taken to be a gallery designation, and the any body text in your email is taken to be a description of the photo. Its simple and elegant - and more or less identical to Flickr’s equivalent feature.

Here’s an email that I sent 2pad:

And here’s good ol’ “Blue Hills” in my 2pad account:

If you don’t have a 2pad account, your first email will get you a reply with a link to follow. When you do so, you’ll start at a gallery page featuring the first photo that you attached to your first email, and an introductory video. After you skip through the video, you’ll be prompted to select a password, and then you’re done.

2pad also apparently has a business plan. Free accounts start with a usable amount of storage, though video addicts will find it very cramped, and its very expensive and limited compared to Flickr Pro.

So - in a nutshell, it seems like a solid me-too entry, and the streamlined email-based usage model and restrictive default privacy settings will no doubt appeal to nervous-about-the-social neophyte niches. Overall though, 2pad doesn’t differentiate enough to justify its steep price premiums.

2pad, flickr photos

Share This

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

PixDrop - send photos from desk to cell

PixDrop is a simple service, elegantly executed. All it does is send a photo to a phone number. Entering your email address is optional. The service takes about 3 seconds to use, and takes place on the site’s only page without reloading.

Unfortunately, PixDrop to date works only with the US major carriers (Verizon Wireless, Sprint, and AT&T), so I’m SOL up here in the Great Hot & Humid North (Telus is my carrier). Can anyone out there tell me how it handles re-sizing? I’m hoping that PixDrop automatically re-sizes photos for mobile presentation and byte-savings. What about watermarking?

The other question that I love to ask is usage scenarios. Generally, I’m trying to get pictures from my cam-phone to my desktop - not the other way around. That being said, I can see fun and practical applications: the usual sending of silly pictures, or sending my phone a picture of a particular car I’ll shopping for later. But - most of these scenarios are very niche-y - I’m not sure about PixDrop’s long-term growth prognosis.

Suggestions

1. Widgetize it for the MySpace Crowd. Want a quick usage growth vector? Build a MySpace widget that lets people “drop” photos the the mobiles of people viewing their profiles. To me, this service speaks to MySpace-y tweens - so give them a viral tool to use & promote it.
2. Widgetize it for Professional Markets. Insurance adjusters, real estate agents, people home shopping - all targets for this technology that could provide longer-term growth. Create a real-estate tool, for instance, that watermarks house photos from an online listing with address and price and sends them to a shoppers phone. Or a similar tool for property assessors, or any of a million and one mobile professions that are time & margin based and looking for ways to squeeze margins. Good opportunity here for “pro” paid accounts as well.

Summary

PixDrop is a useful feature with IMHO a monetizeable technology that could be re-packaged for a number of different markets and business plans. I’m looking forward to the addition of Canadian carriers to their serivce.

mobile, photos, pixdrop sharing

Share This

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!