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Ask HN: Please provide feedback for fonefu.com

fonefu.com

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Re: Ask HN: Please provide feedback for fonefu.com

#11

Post by fiaz »

Great concept!!!

This is exactly the type of thing that I would use given that I do not have an iPhone (or something similar). Even if I did have an iPhone, I think the convenience of punching in the ISBN and getting a direct answer trumps having to launch Safari, navigate to Amazon.com, do a search, select the title, pinch (zoom in/out), etc.

I'm definitely going to try this one out (and this is coming from a hard core skeptic!).

I would suggest adding an SMS interface. Also, if I could get an email reminder of the books I was looking for then that would be pretty cool as well. Also, if I could get some information about discounted bundles then it would be a sure thing for me to actually use regularly.

I agree with JAcobAldridge's comment about a dwindling market. My suggestion in response to this would be to build an iPhone/Android/[whatever] app next and keep all channels open.

Re: Ask HN: Please provide feedback for fonefu.com

#12

Post by TweedHeads »

Angostura wrote: post #10

Just an idea. Could you extend this so that I could send a text with an ISBN number or numbers and you would return a text with the prices. I hate the idea of trying to hear a robotic voice in a busy store and then having to write the price down on the back of my hand while holding the phone in my third hand.

I like the texting idea, but extend it to any barcode in the world, not just books, and then extend it to receive scans from phone cameras.

I know it's been done before, but if you're gonna enter the market, enter with both feet at once.

Re: Ask HN: Please provide feedback for fonefu.com

#13

Post by khafra »

fiaz wrote: post #11

Great concept!!! This is exactly the type of thing that I would use given that I do not have an iPhone (or something similar). Even if I did have an iPhone, I think the convenience of punching in the ISBN and getting a direct answer trumps having to launch Safari, navigate to Amazon.com, do a search, select the title, pinch (zoom in/out), etc. I'm definitely going to try this one out (and this is coming from a hard c…

FWIW, Amazon has an iPhone app that makes it pretty easy to look up books and other merchandise, including a team of mechanical turks that'll look up photos of unidentified products to find info on 'em.

Re: Ask HN: Please provide feedback for fonefu.com

#15

Post by comatose_kid »

JacobAldridge wrote: post #4

Firstly, as always, congrats for making this happen so far. Two things pop out for me: 1) The brand, url etc is all about Phones and nothing about Books. Do you plan to expand the service into other areas? Because right now it sounds like it will cut your phone bill in half, not your next Malcolm Gladwell purchase. 2) As phones evolve, will your target market be dwindling. Can I go online with my current phone and lo…

Jacob, thanks for the comments.

1) Yes, that was intentional. I'd like to take this to serve different types of media, and possibly extend to UPC (although the haphazard ways that UPCs are assigned makes this task difficult). If there is any way I could make the purpose clearer short of changing all of my branding, I'm open to suggestions.

2) Yeah, for sure. This isn't necessarily for the early adopter crowd. That said, there are many people without smart phones who have no idea this service exists.

Re: Ask HN: Please provide feedback for fonefu.com

#16

Post by comatose_kid »

Angostura wrote: post #10

Just an idea. Could you extend this so that I could send a text with an ISBN number or numbers and you would return a text with the prices. I hate the idea of trying to hear a robotic voice in a busy store and then having to write the price down on the back of my hand while holding the phone in my third hand.

Yeah, good idea, and that's one service we definitely plan to offer. Meanwhile, one thing I might add is the ability to enter an email address and have the service email you.

Re: Ask HN: Please provide feedback for fonefu.com

#17

Post by durana »

Congrats on launching a service that should be very useful to lots of people.

Have you seen Amazon's TextBuyIt? https://payments.amazon.com/sdui/sdui/productsServices?sn=te...

What are your plans for the future of this service? Anything that would make me want to use it over Amazon's service?

Re: Ask HN: Please provide feedback for fonefu.com

#18

Post by comatose_kid »

tesseract wrote: post #3

I like the idea. I am probably a member of your exact target market: I often wander into a bookstore or library to kill time, but don't always have a notepad with me to jot down titles that look interesting. If I had an iPhone I'd use Amazon's app, but I don't. I could barely understand the synthesized voice (there was a lot of hissing and other artifacts when I called; I'm nearly certain they weren't on my end of th…

You are totally my target audience - I had better make you a regular user :)

The synth voice is less than ideal, I'm looking at other options, but they get expensive quickly. One possibility is to use a better codec on the web server. Added to the 'todo' list.

The number - That is a strange bug, I thought I had fixed it a while back. I'll correct it soon.

I'll have to look into wishlists - exporting them is a neat idea, and probably won't be a lot of work if the API support it.

Thanks for your thoughts. As you continue to use it, please feel free to give me feedback: ajay@fonefu.com.

Re: Ask HN: Please provide feedback for fonefu.com

#19

Post by comatose_kid »

sobriquet wrote: post #5

I enjoyed being able to clearly learn what your product does in 4 easy steps. However, step 1 (No registration required) is not a step. It told me what not to do, which is confusing. I recommend making it "how it works" in 3 steps, with a bubble or callout saying "no registration required!" Also, step 4 made me think I should buy the books in the store, which is exactly what you don't want them to do... The icon (boo…

Good points on the copy. 3 steps + a 'no reg' badge or something makes sense.

One point of fonefu beyond just the cost savings is the ability to keep a record of books you might be interested in buying later - things you lookup are stored on fonefu.com or your friendfeed.

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