Yesterday I visited two businesses: one exciting, Sliderocket, and one boring, Bluepulse.
First, about Sliderocket, it’s a new presentation tool. Here is a video I shot with my cell phone yesterday with the CEO. I’ve been using it for my presentations and it’s a TON better than either Microsoft’s PowerPoint or Apple’s Keynote for giving presentations. We filmed a demo yesterday that’ll be on FastCompany.tv in June. This thing is sexy, visual, and well integrated into Web services like Flickr and Salesforce. In other words, it’ll get lots of hype from tech blogging journalists like you read over on TechCrunch.
But the second, BluePulse? You probably haven’t heard of them, but they have customers in 198 countries, have hundreds of millions of messages flying around their social network (which is only for users who have mobile phones) and have been grabbing up Silicon Valley’s top talent — they just got Christopher Nguyen who was director of engineering at Google. You can see part of that team in the video I filmed yesterday.
In a future interview that’ll be up on FastCompany.tv in a few weeks where we met former Google executive (this is the same office where YouTube started, by the way).
So, which one is more likely to succeed?
I have to bet on Bluepulse. Here’s why:
1. Market. The cell phone market is growing much faster than the market for PCs or Macs.
2. Competition. Bluepulse wins here big time. Why? Well, let’s assume you’re a kid in India and you get a new cell phone. Do you know of a social network for that cell phone? No. So, BluePulse isn’t having to convince you not to use an entrenched competitor. But look at Sliderocket. If that same kid gets a new laptop he’s probably heard of Microsoft Office and his friends probably use PowerPoint and so, now you’ll have to convince him that Sliderocket, something he hasn’t heard of, is better. That’s a LOT tougher of a job than Bluepulse has ahead of it.
3. Monetization. Bluepulse is building up HUGE engaged audiences that it knows a LOT about. Think about the things that a social network learns about you. Heck, start with just your location. This is stuff that advertisers will pay big bucks for. Someone using a presentation tool? You’ve gotta charge them cause advertising won’t fly in that business model. That’s a LOT tougher of a business to build.
4. Usecases. One thing is going to be working against Sliderocket for at least a few months: Powerpoint works offline. Now, Sliderocket has an interesting answer there (they are building an offline client with Adobe’s AIR technology) but that isn’t finished yet, so when Sliderocket comes out in July you won’t be able to develop presentations in a plane (you will be able to play them, but the real offline client will come later).
So, add all these things up and you’ll see that the more boring Bluepulse is far more likely to build a world-class business that we all talk about than Sliderocket does.
That all said, Sliderocket is one hell of a great product and I can’t wait to show you that sexy demo.
What do you think? Which business would you rather own?
Scobleizer 
I think you confused Bluepulse and Sliderocket at the end there.
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I think you confused Bluepulse and Sliderocket at the end there.
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I assume in 4 you mean: “Now, SlideRocket has an interesting answer there ( they are building an Offline …. “
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I assume in 4 you mean: “Now, SlideRocket has an interesting answer there ( they are building an Offline …. “
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Sorry about that, fixed. I don’t know how my brain does stuff like that. Not enough coffee yet.
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Interesting perspective. I wonder if you’re comparing apples and oranges, if the point is to contrast these two products. In any case, it might be too early to write off Sliderocket. Cool sexy products have cache and can find reliable niche markets. Apple springs to mind. Can’t wait to see how SlideRocket compares with PowerPoint and Keynote… That would be a useful comparison!
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Sorry about that, fixed. I don’t know how my brain does stuff like that. Not enough coffee yet.
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Interesting perspective. I wonder if you’re comparing apples and oranges, if the point is to contrast these two products. In any case, it might be too early to write off Sliderocket. Cool sexy products have cache and can find reliable niche markets. Apple springs to mind. Can’t wait to see how SlideRocket compares with PowerPoint and Keynote… That would be a useful comparison!
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Wow!! SlideRocket looks to be incredible.
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Wow!! SlideRocket looks to be incredible.
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@roger – I think you mean cool sexy products have cachet, not cache. cache is something entirely different (and I’m sure both these products have cache!)
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@roger – I think you mean cool sexy products have cachet, not cache. cache is something entirely different (and I’m sure both these products have cache!)
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Roger, I think what’s being compared is the success of a business given the market they’re in as opposed to side-by-side comparison of products themselves. I agree, though, I’d *love* to see a SlideRocket vs. PowerPoint vs. Keynote comparison, too!
That said, SlideRocket *is* sexy-looking. Can’t wait to see the demo! Scoble’s right about the “convincing” part. One of the hardest things to do is to change someone’s mind, even to make a switch to something seemingly superior. You really need to rock the foundation of one’s belief in a product.
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Roger, I think what’s being compared is the success of a business given the market they’re in as opposed to side-by-side comparison of products themselves. I agree, though, I’d *love* to see a SlideRocket vs. PowerPoint vs. Keynote comparison, too!
That said, SlideRocket *is* sexy-looking. Can’t wait to see the demo! Scoble’s right about the “convincing” part. One of the hardest things to do is to change someone’s mind, even to make a switch to something seemingly superior. You really need to rock the foundation of one’s belief in a product.
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SlideRocket has neat transitions and effects, but they don’t run nearly as smoothly as Keynote because it’s a silly flash app with no access to the computer’s 3D acceleration card.
Plus, the flash plugin on Linux isn’t that great, making effects and transitions jerky. 😛
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SlideRocket has neat transitions and effects, but they don’t run nearly as smoothly as Keynote because it’s a silly flash app with no access to the computer’s 3D acceleration card.
Plus, the flash plugin on Linux isn’t that great, making effects and transitions jerky. 😛
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I agree that as independent company SlideRocket won’t ever become a very big company but this is exactly the type of company that will get acquired by someone like Adobe and as part of a bigger player will have a very big impact.
Imagine how many people would consider using the Adobe productivity suite if it only had more than just Buzzword….. if it actually had the best presentation software + a pretty cool word processor and maybe a spreadsheet.
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I agree that as independent company SlideRocket won’t ever become a very big company but this is exactly the type of company that will get acquired by someone like Adobe and as part of a bigger player will have a very big impact.
Imagine how many people would consider using the Adobe productivity suite if it only had more than just Buzzword….. if it actually had the best presentation software + a pretty cool word processor and maybe a spreadsheet.
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BluePulse hands down. That’s the business that I would rather own. BluePulse might not have all the hype and sexyness that SlideRocket has but it does not have all the competitors that come with it either (as you mention).
BluePulse is tapping the power of emerging markets such as India. You know that these countries are going to skip the laptop and go directly into powerful handheld devices. Not only because it’s easier but because land-based IP communications are so unreliable given the current infrastructure.
Also, not everyone in the world needs to make a snazzy looking presentation but everyone needs to communicate and everyone likes socializing at one level or another.
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BluePulse hands down. That’s the business that I would rather own. BluePulse might not have all the hype and sexyness that SlideRocket has but it does not have all the competitors that come with it either (as you mention).
BluePulse is tapping the power of emerging markets such as India. You know that these countries are going to skip the laptop and go directly into powerful handheld devices. Not only because it’s easier but because land-based IP communications are so unreliable given the current infrastructure.
Also, not everyone in the world needs to make a snazzy looking presentation but everyone needs to communicate and everyone likes socializing at one level or another.
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But what’s BluePulse’s business model? Advertising on my mobile phone? Has anyone been successful with that? I don’t see much room in their interface for banner ads.
Plus what happens when Facebook says, oh neat idea, here’s your mobile facebook….
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But what’s BluePulse’s business model? Advertising on my mobile phone? Has anyone been successful with that? I don’t see much room in their interface for banner ads.
Plus what happens when Facebook says, oh neat idea, here’s your mobile facebook….
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Even if phenomenally better than PowerPoint, it will only find a niche audience, people have already decided, Microsoft won that game, and that’s not even taking into account that 99% of all Powerpoints are worthless and redundant. Mobile social networking? And they intend to fund this, easily-duplicated mere feature, how?
They are both doomed.
I think if I was a biz, I’d pay protection money for you to stay away, sort of a tech-pundit mafia extortion racket, true enough, but given that everything you talk up ends up toast, I’d pay big to shut you up, and I am only half kidding.
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Even if phenomenally better than PowerPoint, it will only find a niche audience, people have already decided, Microsoft won that game, and that’s not even taking into account that 99% of all Powerpoints are worthless and redundant. Mobile social networking? And they intend to fund this, easily-duplicated mere feature, how?
They are both doomed.
I think if I was a biz, I’d pay protection money for you to stay away, sort of a tech-pundit mafia extortion racket, true enough, but given that everything you talk up ends up toast, I’d pay big to shut you up, and I am only half kidding.
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