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The Death of Kiko : The Inquest

This is a really interesting read on the demise of online calendar app kiko.  I would thoroughly recommend giving it a once over, and even some of the linked pages.  Hopefully you’ll build up a picture of some of the problems web 2.0 startups encounter.

I was really interested to see the author, Richard White (the guy who tried to fix Kiko’s flawed UI), play down the impact of Google Calendar, something which got me to stop using 30 Boxes.  The other interesting point is that he identified a lack of a plan to go mainstream as a key factor in the sites downfall.  By mainstream, he means out of the tech community and into the realm of Outlook using cubicle dwellers.  Dare I say that this seems a tad at-odds with one of the other points that seems to suggest that a specific market segment had not been identfied.  Surely the tech sector is a valid market, albeit a demanding one.

Personally, I looked at Kiko ages ago and just found that it didn’t work.  The interface was illconceived and it all came across as a bit overdeveloped but underthought.  In case you’re interested, the site fetched over $200k on ebay, not a bad night out that.

This post was written on Monday, August 28th 2006 by Simon T and has been categorised under News , Technology , Web 2.0. The trackback URL is here or you could add a response. If you really want to you can Digg Story or add it to del.icio.us, Technorati Cosmos, Blinklist, furl or Reddit.

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