This looks really awesome. I like push notifications as an idea, but I'm not wild about Apple's implementation, especially since there's nowhere you can go to get a list of notifications you've gotten, so if you get one, then you get another before seeing the first one, it's just gone. (A few of Apple's decisions, like not putting a simple "Notifications" listing app, baffle me.)
One thing about the app/site: the workflow for getting started sucks. I have to go to your website, make an account, and then go to the app to put that info in. To add to the effect, the only signup link on the homepage is all the way at the bottom, and creating my account doesn't automatically log me in.
Plenty of apps give you the option to register an account right in the app, and yours should be one of them. Make the start as frictionless as possible.
Yes, agreed. The next version of the app will have registration possible in the app. Having the unpredictability of the app approval process meant I had to basically submit a minimum viable client as soon as I could to make sure it was in the app store at launch. This is super high priority.
I am curious about the answer to Jeff Lindsay's comment. Why do we need another app in this space when there is a powerful free open-source framework for doing this (http://notify.io)?
Jeff contacted me after I launched. We are in the middle of a conversation about this, but we both had to go to dinner (he with a group, and I hadn't eaten all day).
His concerns are valid, but we are both wanting to finish our discussion (it is/was quite open).
However, the canonical answer to "why do we need another X in this space" is "why did google need to be another search engine?" It may be that we are fulfilling different demands, and we both agree that competition is better for everyone involved.
Notifo has a shipping product which does notifications on a phone. notify.io has describes telephone clients as something which may possible be available eventually.
A permission marketing channel in the pocket of your users? Yes, please. It is like lifecycle emails on steroids without the spammed-to-death problem. (Well, not yet anyhow.)
This solves a real, pressing need for many sites: maintaining user engagement after they're off your website. The number of people who register and never come back is depressing -- many of them might be enticed to come back, if you only had a way of getting in touch. That is pure profit for the company, since you've already spent whatever form of resources it took to acquire them as a signup in the first place.
Alternatively, not quite the same thing at all, but a local startup here in Ottawa has a service and Restful API for Sending Push Notifications. Its called AppNotify ( http://appnotify.com/ ).
Guys, this is an awesome service. I can see a lot of other startups building on this platform.
Did you guys build push.ly yourselves? If so, the smart thing here is building and marketing a great free little demo app is a great way to get your platform out in front of potential platform customers. Also, it will provide access to some end users, so you can see for yourself what other capabilities the end users are craving. smart stuff.
yes, built push.ly myself and also the march madness alerts and stock alerts bulit into the notifo site. i was thinking it would be nice to have promotional services to get users straight out of the gate.
What's stopping someone malicious from entering my username in a random account on a random site? I see I can block it, but what if I actually want to use the site with my real account?
Seems like you should use a random token, or something slightly more secure.
Alternatively, make it even easier for users by using the email address they used to sign up for the service, like Gravatar for notifications. The user usually has to verify the email address anyway.
just set up an account on the website, then downloaded the iphone app. It doesn't seem to integrate too well with 1Password. I generated a password for the website, but the phone app wouldn't accept it until I made it simpler. The website and phone app should have the same password requirements.
So what does it actually do? The techcrunch article used the term "push" a half dozen times, but never defined it. The screenshots made it look like it's just a twitter client.
Anybody care to explain why I would want to use this?
If you use Boxcar ... that is an iPhone push notification app that when you receive an email or a comment left on your Facebook a pop up notification appears similar to what you see when you get a text message. This app allows for any 3rd party(publisher) to integrate this into their service so users can choose to get pop up notifications on their device from their favorite services(updates, news, discounts, etc).
Aha, I tried to do this a couple years ago when I registered a domain name I liked (pipinghot.info) and the tried to come up with an app to go with it. :)
I tried to do too much of the scraping work myself which got me into a mess. If you can get people to offer data rather than try to pull it yourself you might have better luck.
RSS, Alerts, etc. stuff handles a lot in tech, do you expect to try to get more casual things like live sports data, current events, etc?
Nice. Just registered. Various glitches on the website where you fill out a form (received via https), hit submit, and get the API error page saying https required.
regarding b: this is how all push notification apps work currently. Notifications can't talk to the apps on the phone when they arrive, so they must be reloaded from the server when the app opens.
Maybe if there are background apps in the future this will be solved more cleanly.
The idea is great, but the iPhone client is pretty poor, no offense intended. I had to restart it after every step, and when you initially install it, it's very use unfriendly. It says "create notifo account", but does not tell you how or where to create this account.
It's a great idea with a real need, but it's a bit poorly implemented.
I agree completely (I wrote the app). The next version will be much more user friendly in the install/signup stage. Timing the app approval/launch was the issue that prevented it at initial release.
Is this free for publishers? How long will it be free?
Twilio has a super simple API to push SMSes out to users, but it costs money. No one seems to have mentioned them in this comment thread, but what are your thoughts on the competition? Do you see them as competition?
It just uses push notifications. But each site you're getting notifications from doesn't have to make you install their app. You just have to have Notifo installed. You also can actually see a list of all of the notifications you've gotten.
[+] [-] jackowayed|16 years ago|reply
One thing about the app/site: the workflow for getting started sucks. I have to go to your website, make an account, and then go to the app to put that info in. To add to the effect, the only signup link on the homepage is all the way at the bottom, and creating my account doesn't automatically log me in.
Plenty of apps give you the option to register an account right in the app, and yours should be one of them. Make the start as frictionless as possible.
[+] [-] jazzychad|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] icco|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jazzychad|16 years ago|reply
His concerns are valid, but we are both wanting to finish our discussion (it is/was quite open).
However, the canonical answer to "why do we need another X in this space" is "why did google need to be another search engine?" It may be that we are fulfilling different demands, and we both agree that competition is better for everyone involved.
[+] [-] patio11|16 years ago|reply
Existing is a fairly useful feature.
[+] [-] pg|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] patio11|16 years ago|reply
This solves a real, pressing need for many sites: maintaining user engagement after they're off your website. The number of people who register and never come back is depressing -- many of them might be enticed to come back, if you only had a way of getting in touch. That is pure profit for the company, since you've already spent whatever form of resources it took to acquire them as a signup in the first place.
[+] [-] jbm|16 years ago|reply
http://www.tokyomuslim.com/2010/03/notifo-kicks-ass/
Definitely going to find a way to integrate this into my love hotel site.
[+] [-] modsearch|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mgrouchy|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] huhtenberg|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] davidu|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|16 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] brezina|16 years ago|reply
Did you guys build push.ly yourselves? If so, the smart thing here is building and marketing a great free little demo app is a great way to get your platform out in front of potential platform customers. Also, it will provide access to some end users, so you can see for yourself what other capabilities the end users are craving. smart stuff.
[+] [-] jazzychad|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gridspy|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vadbabab|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pg|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tlrobinson|16 years ago|reply
Seems like you should use a random token, or something slightly more secure.
Alternatively, make it even easier for users by using the email address they used to sign up for the service, like Gravatar for notifications. The user usually has to verify the email address anyway.
edit: ah, I see that it asks for confirmation
[+] [-] chime|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jazzychad|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Qz|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] notmyname|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jasonkester|16 years ago|reply
Anybody care to explain why I would want to use this?
[+] [-] paul9290|16 years ago|reply
Nice!!!
[+] [-] s3graham|16 years ago|reply
I tried to do too much of the scraping work myself which got me into a mess. If you can get people to offer data rather than try to pull it yourself you might have better luck.
RSS, Alerts, etc. stuff handles a lot in tech, do you expect to try to get more casual things like live sports data, current events, etc?
[+] [-] phr|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jazzychad|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ErrantX|16 years ago|reply
The concept is great but I am assuming the app is just "get it in the appstore quick". It's a little frustrating to use because:
a) it "loads" almost every screen (for a few seconds)
b) the push notifications dont go into the app automatically, they have to be loaded again when it opens. Which on 3G is a bit slow... :D
But cool concept anyway!
[+] [-] jazzychad|16 years ago|reply
Maybe if there are background apps in the future this will be solved more cleanly.
[+] [-] padmanabhan01|16 years ago|reply
I initially had notifications off and turned it on later. for whoever's info.
[+] [-] maxklein|16 years ago|reply
It's a great idea with a real need, but it's a bit poorly implemented.
[+] [-] jazzychad|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] shafqat|16 years ago|reply
Twilio has a super simple API to push SMSes out to users, but it costs money. No one seems to have mentioned them in this comment thread, but what are your thoughts on the competition? Do you see them as competition?
[+] [-] jbm|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] franck|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jackowayed|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|16 years ago|reply
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