Divvyshot (YC W09) launches free iPhone App

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

by simanyay • 17 years ago

73 36 17 years ago

blog.divvyshot.com

johndevor3• 17 years ago

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

seiji• 17 years ago

Secret Bump API?

there• 17 years ago

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_Odio4• 17 years ago

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.

bmalicoat3• 17 years ago

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.

simanyay• 17 years ago

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

omarish• 17 years ago

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

amichail• 17 years ago

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

johndevor3• 17 years ago

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.

dogan• 17 years ago

just shake it!

jmatt• 17 years ago

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.

johndevor3• 17 years ago

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

Sam_Odio4• 17 years ago

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.

physcab3• 17 years ago

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_Odio4• 17 years ago

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.

physcab3• 17 years ago

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.

bvi• 17 years ago

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

unohoo3• 17 years ago

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.

physcab3• 17 years ago

Competition validates the market exists.

unohoo3• 17 years ago

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.

davisml• 17 years ago

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

nishantmodak• 17 years ago

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

nick007• 17 years ago

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!

grinich3• 17 years ago

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?

tkahn6• 17 years ago

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.

grinich3• 17 years ago

Thanks. I'll try that.

grinich3• 17 years ago

What about a short movie vs. screenshots?

zackattack• 17 years ago

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.

sixbit• 17 years ago

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

Divvyshot (YC W09) launches free iPhone App

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