I am very disappointed to see this. I have been using BufferBox since the beginning, and it provided immense convenience for both myself, and all of my friends who used the service as well. I was worried that something like this would have happened when they were acquired by Google, and now it has :(
I just wish the team woulda got a boost after the acquisition or immediately wrapped into Google Shopping.
Shopping was the logical place the product would fit, but it seemed like they weren't given much of a boost after the acquisition and they sort of slowed a bit.
Ostensibly they did, but early on they had so many coupon codes and promotions that I never once actually paid for it. And then it went free for a year after the Google acquisition.
Huh, I only hear of them as they're shutting down; I've wanted something like this in the past. Interestingly the German and Danish postal services have been offering such a service for a while, partly out of a desire to reduce their delivery costs (it reduces the number of packages that have to be lugged out to individual doors).
Probably not... way too many users. I think fb would take a lesson from Instagram and leave WhatsApp relatively independent. Besides, only an insane person would pay $19 billion for a company just to shut it down :)
Comments
This is common enough that there's a blog devoted to it: http://ourincrediblejourney.tumblr.com/
I am very disappointed to see this. I have been using BufferBox since the beginning, and it provided immense convenience for both myself, and all of my friends who used the service as well. I was worried that something like this would have happened when they were acquired by Google, and now it has :(
I just wish the team woulda got a boost after the acquisition or immediately wrapped into Google Shopping.
Shopping was the logical place the product would fit, but it seemed like they weren't given much of a boost after the acquisition and they sort of slowed a bit.
Any alternatives out there?
In San Francisco, there's Swapbox. Don't know about in Canada
Billion $ company buys an awesome product -> Billion $ company shuts down the awesome product.
Typical day. Nothing to see here. Move on.
Is there a way (outside of founder stubbornness) to reverse this norm? It's a pity that this has become the trend.
Pay for products. Use companies that have a real business model.
Could the answer be "Charge for products"?
Was BufferBox free? I thought they charged $.
Ostensibly they did, but early on they had so many coupon codes and promotions that I never once actually paid for it. And then it went free for a year after the Google acquisition.
Huh, I only hear of them as they're shutting down; I've wanted something like this in the past. Interestingly the German and Danish postal services have been offering such a service for a while, partly out of a desire to reduce their delivery costs (it reduces the number of packages that have to be lugged out to individual doors).
Germany: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packstation
Denmark: http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&pre...
There's still swapbox, growing fast.
Is this Whatsapp's future? Stay tuned.
Probably not... way too many users. I think fb would take a lesson from Instagram and leave WhatsApp relatively independent. Besides, only an insane person would pay $19 billion for a company just to shut it down :)
$37 million dollars to waste...
well I am assuming that google saw some strategic reason for spending that $.