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App.net dies on March 14th, 2017
Remember App.net, the (initially) paid-for Twitter clone that promised a platform dedicated to its users, rather than advertisers? The service launched in a blaze of glory, earning well in excess of its $500,000 crowdfunding target. Five years later, however, and co-founders Dalton Caldwell and Bryan Berg have conceded that their dream has died.
App.net goes gratis, announces invitation-only free accounts
Since its inception, App.net has been working hard to improve its growing platform, giving all of its paid users a 10GB bucket of cloud storage and opening up its File API so devs could use the data stored there. Today, folks wanting in on the fledgling social platform can do so without paying the $36 annual fee -- provided you can score an invite from a paying member. And, there's something in it for paid accounts who refer folks. Both the inviter and invitee get an extra 100 MB of storage (up to 2GB) if the invitee subsequently follows 5 people and authorizes a third-party app. Should you be lucky enough to score an invite, you won't have the same level of access as your paid brethren, however. Free accounts can only follow up to 40 users -- paid accounts have no such restriction -- and get a 500MB cloud locker. Also, while paid accounts can upload 100MB files, gratis accounts are limited to 10MB uploads. We got to speak with Dalton Caldwell, CEO of App.net about the shift to a freemium model and he told us that the move has been in the works for some time. The reason it took awhile to do so is that App.net wanted to ensure that it had a market for its paid services and that it had enough of an app ecosystem to make App.net appealing to free users as well. Caldwell also informed us that in order to keep the number of free accounts manageable, paid members will get a limited number of invites to start -- with more invites appearing as the company finds it prudent to do so.
App.net gives users 10GB of cloud storage, its File API to set social data free
We thought App.net had eyes only for Twitter when the project was funded and garnered its first 20,000 customers. Today, a post on the company blog reveals that its sights are set much higher than mere messaging. Rather than provide just an ad-free alternative to Twitter, it turns out App.net plans to become a social app platform through its new File API and cloud storage services. The API gives devs the tools needed to build any and all social applications they can dream up -- from photo sharing apps to collaboration tools. Additionally, App.net is giving annual and dev accounts a 10GB cloud locker. That storage can, in turn, be leveraged for simple file sharing by users and as a repository for social data that can be accessed by apps built with the API. So, photos, messages and other info from an App.net account can be fully controlled by users and can be accessed by any social app they choose. This is a stark contrast to Facebook or Google+, where access to such data is controlled by those companies. Of course, the new platform's only as good as its apps, so interested devs should head on down to the source, grab the API, and get started building the next-gen social network.
App.net edges closer to 20,000 users, drops subscription prices to $36 to fuel the social fire
When App.net kicked off its Twitter rivalry, the $50 yearly subscription fee was based on the assumption that the ad-free social service would maintain 10,000 customers. Founder Dalton Caldwell may have underestimated year-one adoption by just a tad: he now has nearly 20,000 customers on his hands in less than two months, which throws the previous economies of scale out the window. The pain for Caldwell's business model is a pleasure for fans, however. App.net's price of entry has dropped to $36 per year, with existing memberships' durations extended to match the new yearly rate. Anyone on the fence also has a chance to try the service for a short stint through a $5 monthly plan. While it's hard to know if the price drop will sustain the early runaway pace, it reflects a determination to play for keeps in the social media game -- an important trait when the chief opponent isn't sitting still.
App.net causes a HooHa with its first Android app
It's a good time for confusingly-named App.net, hot on the heels of smashing its funding goal and cooking up its first terms of service, the paid-Twitter startup now has an Android mobile client. HooHa chief Deniz Veli told The Next Web that he cooked up the software after seeing a "thriving developer community" surrounding the new service -- with many presumably encouraged by Twitter's recent API changes. Like the service itself, the app is only an Alpha release, but you can download it for free at the Play Store, no need to causes a hoo-hah (geddit?).
