

Our motivation for Pixter - faizanaziz
http://blog.metarain.com/post/51652826561/pixter

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iaskwhy
> We are exited to launch our latest app - Pixter. 

The first sentence had some strange effect on my brain.  It's just a small typo
but given the context my brain had some problems parsing it. 

~~~
faizanaziz
Thanks for that…

'break;'

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da_n
Really hope this goes somewhere for the developers, I much prefer the paid
model (I pay for Fastmail for example) and would certainly consider paying for
a really good app/service.  As someone else mentioned, they would do well to at
least confirm the existence of other platforms (like Android) and any plans
they may (or may not) have.  However going iOS first they do stand a good
chance of getting Gruber, Dalrymple, Marco etc posting about it as they love
those iOS exclusives these days ("iOS is superior because we get apps like
this" type posts).  I don't blame them going iOS first, but ignoring everything
else is definitely a bad idea.  Good luck anyway, if you get an Android app
will be sure to try it. 

~~~
faizanaziz
Thanks so much.  We need support from users like you and that's what matters. 

We understand the need to come to other platforms, at the moment it is tough
because of limited time.  We have worked really hard over the past 3 months to
come to this.  There are only two of us, one designer and one coder. 

~~~
da_n
No I totally get it, if I was doing an app which ultimately would be multi-
platform, it would be foolish not to consider going iOS first despite any
personal preference.  You've done a great job, just wish I could support it. 

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robotmay
It looks good (somewhat like the better parts of Google+) and I like that
you're looking at other ways of monetising it than advertising. 

Personally I'd be more likely to pay a one-off fee for a mobile app than a
subscription, but that might be due to my low usage of them.  I hope it works
out for you :)

~~~
theanirudh
Im really glad that you liked the design, it inspires me to do more.  Pixter is
a full service and the iOS app is just a part of it.  We have a lot of features
planned, and we are just getting started.  We need support from people like
you! 

PS: we have a free account, which allows you to follow as many people as you
want.  It's like a read-only mode, writes are limited to 12 photos a year :)
Every sign up helps! 

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markdown
The copy on pixter.in is saturated in negativity.  Your demo is all the way at
the bottom, while you use the top of the page to bash the incumbent market
leader and say how much better yours is. 

I don't think that's a good way to sell a product. 

~~~
faizanaziz
Thanks for your advice… Our logic was that since most people know about photo
sharing we need to tell them how our product is different.  Then we can say
what other features we have. 

We will look into it

~~~
markdown
I wish you the best :)

I'm impressed it was built by two dudes in such a short timeframe.  I've been
working on my webapp for almost an entire year. 

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ameen
Congrats Faizan.  Wonderful to see this come out of India, a soft target for
free services. 

Keep at it guys.  The first few months of running a paid service is crucial,
once you hit critical mass, there's gonna be no looking back. 

~~~
faizanaziz
Thanks so much Ameen.  We are in it for the long haul, lets hope for the best. 
Thank you so much for your advice and support. 

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raphdg
Sad to see that the awesome features are not directly related to the
awesomeness of the product, but totally focused on some terms of services
about property and privacy...

~~~
faizanaziz
Can you please explain? 

~~~
raphdg
My rights as a paying user should be one (and it is a very nice one I admit)
among other features that make the user experience of pixter awesome.  Instead,
I land on pixter.in and I see 6 bullet points all focused on this one feature,
as if Pixter had nothing else to offer. 

~~~
faizanaziz
Oh ok… Thanks for that… The rest of the page talk about the features of the
app, but I see your point… Will definitely look into it and change it. 

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protomyth
Can I download my photos after I take them?  If no third-party can sublicense
the photos, does that mean that third-party websites / apps cannot display the
photos inline? 

~~~
theanirudh
Yes, we provide an option to export all your photos.  Its in the settings of
the app. 

Third parties that want to display your pictures can only do so for pictures
that are shared publicly(more private options coming soon).  They have basic
caching options, but cannot store the image, and most importantly cannot use
them out of context. 

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tuananh
So this is like the bastard son of App.net and Instagram? 

~~~
faizanaziz
We wanted use instagram but with App.net's TOS/Privacy and general interest
towards users. 

I would say inspired by both of them

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programminggeek
Every time you see a big, free, ad-supported or VC funded startup with
millions of users, just know that there is probably a place for a paid
application that is basically the same app only charging money. 

Even for social networks and things, people will gladly pay money for value
you provide. 

The problem is that it's not the kind of thing that VC's will get as excited
about, because unless you can grow into many millions of dollars of revenue
fast, it's probably not an interesting way to turn over their money. 

So, GMail, Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, even something like Groupon could exist
as a successful paid app with a one time or recurring revenue stream. 

~~~
theanirudh
Agreed.  Thats why approaching VC's does not make sense for us and we need
support from our users. 

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Yuioup
Sorry to be offtopic but I'm beginning to get annoyed of all the stories that
have a title that give you no indication of what the story is about. 

For example the top story "Glass".  Am I supposed to automatically know what
that is about?  Same with this story.  I click on the title and it's basically
an announcement for a new service named "Pixter".  Why not put this in the
title. 

Is Hacker News a site exclusive to Silicon Valley insiders?  I live far, far
away from Silicon valley.  Am I supposed to infer the topic of the article by
looking at the title and go "Ah yes, that's the talk of the town you know. 
Glass and Pixter". 

~~~
faizanaziz
This is not an announcement for pixter.  We did that sometime back.  This
article is about difference between free vs paid services and why we chose to
build pixter.  We do have an introduction paragraph about pixter without which
the article would not make sense to people who don't know what pixter is. 
Sorry about that, it was not our intention. 

To make it clear I have added Pixter to the title

~~~
Yuioup
Thanks!  That's a lot clearer. 

(PS: Despite my criticism, HN is by far the best tech news site around.  To
everyone involved: Keep it up!) 

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shaunpud
Not everyone uses iO(PO)S

Live filter is pretty cool though. 

~~~
lucian1900
I have resigned myself to completely ignoring iOS-only products.  It's less
annoying that way. 

~~~
faizanaziz
As a person who cares about technology in general, its not that simple to make
that choice.  Especially when your just starting of…

Thanks for your feedback, will definitely look into it

~~~
lucian1900
I feel there's plenty of new technology around to make the cost of ignoring
apps specific to a platform I don't use (at least on my phone, anyway) not a
problem.