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Magic+

getmagicnow.com

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Re: Magic+

#211

Post by kzhahou »

cmikec wrote: post #48
habosa wrote: post #35

“Find someone to train me like Jason Bourne.” “Get me a mobile dentist to my office ASAP.” “I want to meet Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.” “I need to rent out the Exploratorium this weekend.” “I need 6 convertibles tomorrow for rent.” “Organize my team for a town hall tomorrow.” “My 1 pm ran over. Bump my meetings back 1 hour.” “I’m out of the office today. Check my email and let me know if there’s anything urgent.” They'…

These are all real requests that our users have actually used Magic+ for. We obviously cant divulge their identities, or show photographs, etc. (since these are personal things), but it's important to convey how people really use the service. I'd love ideas on how we can communicate this point better. Part of what our users love about Magic+ is that you truly can do some pretty amazing things with it.

So did they meet Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, and how did you arrange that?

Re: Magic+

#212

Post by rahimnathwani »

newman314 wrote: post #111
cmikec wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm really sorry that your initial experience with Magic last year wasn't ideal. We have come a long way since those initial days. Believe it or not, we actually did not plan that original launch -- rather, we released the website and number to a few people and it went viral practically overnight. We set up a waitlist as quickly as we could, but there definitely were some people in the beginning who did not have a go…

I just noticed something strange in the screenshot. It seems to imply that Magic will work over iMessage. As far as I know, there is no publicly available API for iMessage so I'd be curious to know how this works.

If they were using a regular phone number, they could achieve this by using the Messages app on iOS, and controlling it with AppleScript.

Re: Magic+

#213

Post by foobarqux »

MagnumOpus wrote: post #123
captaindiego wrote: post #76

It says it works from anywhere, but then only gives a number that works from within the US. How are you supposed to use this service while in another country and not having access to a US sim card?

If you are in the target group that is willing to pay $100/hour for a virtual assistant at the beck and call of an SMS, then the $0.20 or so for the SMS roaming charges seems like small change...

I don't think US shortcodes are reachable internationally.

Re: Magic+

#214

Post by rtpg »

seanlinehan wrote: post #190
rtpg wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>but my expectation (as an investor) is that as the tech improves they will be able to bring down the price while maintaining or even improving the quality of the service Call me skeptical, but where exactly is the tech involved? Currently this is just text messages going to people + people doing the things. One possibility would be through AI (a bit of a weasel word most of the time, honestly), but Google and Apple…

You don't have to automate the parsing of queries to produce leverage here. Every time they answer a query successfully, I would imagine they add that to an internal repository of information. So the technology play would be less on the "figure out what they want" front and more on the "deliver exactly what they want" front. Need an on demand helicopter in NYC? Great, Magic knows just who to call for that because the…

that isn't technology though, you just might use technology to keep track of it (wiki/whatever). Maybe that's what paul meant by "technology" but that isn't a Tesla play by any stretch of the imagination.

Re: Magic+

#215

Post by njharman »

mbrameld wrote: post #200
Archio wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> such as having food from a restaurant across the country sent to me via chilled overnight air mail for a friend's birthday as a big flashy surprise Maybe I'm missing something here, but this is making me seriously think about what Magic's target market is. What kind of income would a person need to fathom affording something like that? I know people who I would consider "wealthy" on a first-world scale but this see…

You wouldn't need an extravagant income to do something like that. I just did a quick check and it costs less than $150 to overnight an 8lb package from NY to SF with 8am delivery. So the markup over just buying the meal at the restaurant is going to be less than $300 once you add refrigerated packaging and pay somebody to order it, pick it up, package it, and ship it. That's pricey if you're doing it every week, but…

I think most middle class people would think $300+ for a meal is wildly extravagant. And would think a $300 gift for "a friend" is on high end of gifts.

Re: Magic+

#216

Post by npizzolato »

Someone1234 wrote: post #65
dyladan wrote: post #45

I thought this was satire. Came here to see the jokes. None of you seem to be treating it like satire though.

Why did you think it was satire? They're just trying to offer a personal assistant service over the air, nothing that beyond imagination. Likely costs less than actually employing someone.

I too thought it was satire. Two of their examples are "I need to buy $2500 worth of electronics tonight like it's nothing" and "get me a private helicopter tonight for $3500", all the while paying $100/hour for the privilege.

I understand some people spend money like that, but it seemed more likely that someone was making a joke about absurd wealth and the startup scene than a real business. If the Onion wrote an article about it, I wouldn't bat an eye.

Best of luck to the Magic+ team (honestly), but this product clearly isn't for people like me.

Re: Magic+

#217

Post by PhasmaFelis »

tghw wrote: post #151
PhasmaFelis wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like, if your income is such that you care about your Comcast bill, you are really not the target market for Magic+. This is aimed squarely at the Rolex-and-Lexus set.

An hour of my time is worth more than an hour of their time costs. And that's without counting the headache of doing it. Considering it would save me money for less than I would "spend" doing it myself, I don't see how it's not an application for most people.

If you're saying that you make >$100/hour, then you are a long, long way from "most people."
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