Twitter Inventor About To Launch His Next Project, Code-named Squirrel • Hacker News Board

Re: Twitter Inventor About To Launch His Next Project, Code-named Squirrel

#21

Post by axod » Sat, May 09, 2009, 8:34 AM UTC

gahahaha wrote: post #5

Nothing bad about the Twitter Inventor, but there was (A LOT) of luck involved in the success of Twitter. His next project might be interesting, but it is 99.999% certainly not a new blockbuster like Twitter.

>> "but there was (A LOT) of luck involved in the success of Twitter."

I'm not sure we can even call it a success yet. It's certainly getting popular, but in terms of ROI? Well, we'll have to wait and see if it generates any revenue.

Making something people want is great, but it's only half the battle. You have to be able to translate that into something they want that you can make money from. Twitter hasn't shown they have any clue how to do that yet.

Re: Twitter Inventor About To Launch His Next Project, Code-named Squirrel

#22

Post by sammyo » Sat, May 09, 2009, 12:47 PM UTC

(Just a rant here:-) but won't the next industry changing payment service be true micro-payments?

Re: Twitter Inventor About To Launch His Next Project, Code-named Squirrel

#23

Post by pj » Sat, May 09, 2009, 2:29 PM UTC

GeneralMaximus wrote: post #18

vaksel wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

why wouldn't your buddy just pay you in cash next time he saw you?

Your question can be answered by another question: why do we use credit cards? Why not use cash for everything?

Answer: Credit cards enable the user to live beyond his or her means and cash does not.

Re: Twitter Inventor About To Launch His Next Project, Code-named Squirrel

#24

Post by FooBarWidget » Sat, May 09, 2009, 2:36 PM UTC

pj wrote: post #23

GeneralMaximus wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your question can be answered by another question: why do we use credit cards? Why not use cash for everything?

Answer: Credit cards enable the user to live beyond his or her means and cash does not.

I only use my credit card as a payment method. Most online shops don't accept anything but credit card, and sometimes I just don't have enough cash with me and don't want to bother walking to the closest ATM.

Credit cards allow you to loan money but I think that's ridiculous. I don't want to have a debt every time I buy something, I just want to pay immediately, with the money I already have, not with money that I don't have.

Re: Twitter Inventor About To Launch His Next Project, Code-named Squirrel

#25

Post by c3o » Sat, May 09, 2009, 3:48 PM UTC

menloparkbum wrote: post #8

gahahaha wrote: post #5

Nothing bad about the Twitter Inventor, but there was (A LOT) of luck involved in the success of Twitter. His next project might be interesting, but it is 99.999% certainly not a new blockbuster like Twitter.

but there was (A LOT) of luck involved in the success of Twitter. Actually there wasn't a lot of luck. Twitter is something that users actually wanted: a broadcast "status" update that wasn't just on their instant message client. Twitter is successful because they remained positive and persevered while other people capable of making a similar system didn't do anything about it. Grumpy programmers just posted confused…

You wouldn't say Pownce tried competing with them head-on?

Re: Twitter Inventor About To Launch His Next Project, Code-named Squirrel

#26

Post by axod » Sat, May 09, 2009, 4:47 PM UTC

c3o wrote: post #25

menloparkbum wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

but there was (A LOT) of luck involved in the success of Twitter. Actually there wasn't a lot of luck. Twitter is something that users actually wanted: a broadcast "status" update that wasn't just on their instant message client. Twitter is successful because they remained positive and persevered while other people capable of making a similar system didn't do anything about it. Grumpy programmers just posted confused…

You wouldn't say Pownce tried competing with them head-on?

Not afaik. Pownce had features.

Re: Twitter Inventor About To Launch His Next Project, Code-named Squirrel

#27

Post by psranga » Sat, May 09, 2009, 4:55 PM UTC

menloparkbum wrote: post #8

gahahaha wrote: post #5

Nothing bad about the Twitter Inventor, but there was (A LOT) of luck involved in the success of Twitter. His next project might be interesting, but it is 99.999% certainly not a new blockbuster like Twitter.

but there was (A LOT) of luck involved in the success of Twitter. Actually there wasn't a lot of luck. Twitter is something that users actually wanted: a broadcast "status" update that wasn't just on their instant message client. Twitter is successful because they remained positive and persevered while other people capable of making a similar system didn't do anything about it. Grumpy programmers just posted confused…

IIRC, Twitter was started as a way to send personal bits of info to people you knew. Why else do they have the tagline "What are you doing?".

That idea didn't work. Hence I would definitely agree that a lot of luck resulted in Twitter being repurposed as an broadcaster of impersonal information to people who you don't know. (which is pretty much the opposite of the original intent).

Re: Twitter Inventor About To Launch His Next Project, Code-named Squirrel

#28

Post by jackchristopher » Sat, May 09, 2009, 6:09 PM UTC

pj wrote: post #23

GeneralMaximus wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your question can be answered by another question: why do we use credit cards? Why not use cash for everything?

Answer: Credit cards enable the user to live beyond his or her means and cash does not.

A benefit (of cash) is that it allows anonymity -- excluding the cashier of course.

Re: Twitter Inventor About To Launch His Next Project, Code-named Squirrel

#29

Post by ajju » Sat, May 09, 2009, 6:41 PM UTC

johns wrote: post #13

This could be killer if it lets you do person-to-person money transfers like PayPal. If my buddy can pay me back for the movie tickets I bought him earlier with his iPhone and have it go straight to my bank account, I would definitely use it. Obviously there are security and other barriers to overcome but it's not an impossible problem. You don't really need the hardware for this type of thing though.

You are going to carry around an acorn like device for your iphone so you can swipe your buddy's credit card after you lend him money? And if he has his credit card why wouldn't he just pay for his tickets using the card?

I don't think this product is targeted at peer to peer money transfers for individuals. It's for businesses who want to charge customers. The pizza delivery guy or the taxi driver who, today, copies down your credit card number or "calls it in" for example.