HTC admits customers have Nexus One 3G trouble, not yet blaming the phone

It’s a rough world out there. The device looks very cool and its impressive to see Google make a big push into the cutthroat wireless market. We got a good preview of the Android OS this weekend over drinks with @scottvreed. Android has some very sophisticated apps (Layar, for one) and can be extensively configured and customized.  It seemed kind of complicated to use though. It will certainly appeal to the gadget-oriented market segment, however the mass market might be a bit intimidated.

There is always the tradeoff between features and easy of use – it’s a fine line to walk.

An interesting interview with Jack Dorsey in the NY Times blog highlights some important evolutionary needs for Twitter:

quoting @jack

Let’s talk about another small project you started: Twitter. Where do you see it going over the next year?
Right now we’ve created a really easy way to get the information into Twitter. I think the next big challenge is helping get the information out in a relevant way. Also exposing trends that are relevant to locations, topics and networks. I think the focus within the company will be around filtering: how do we create smart filters, like a smart playlist?
___
This is what we’re trying to accomplish with bizzly – help people develop relevant followings on Twitter. In our case, local merchants. We believe your Twitter following should loosely parallel the people you know in the real world. The initial bizzly project is focused on merchants and their customers, and helping them connect more easily on Twitter. However, this concept can be extended in many ways.

Enabling people to coalesce around certain types of interests, locations, etc. will be a key factor in making Twitter more useful. Particularly for new users who haven’t had time to build relevant followings.

Building a relevant following as Twitter grows* is hard, and many users get lost in Twitter and give up too quickly. Many new accounts experience the “one tweet and done” effect – we’re working to solve this problem one tweet at a time. Keep at it everyone, investing time in Twitter is a worthwhile (and interesting) process. Just ask Walmart – they have 11 accounts now

* since we launched in beta, 7 million people have joined Twitter (wow)

Merci beaucoup a Xavier Vespa @xavierv pour son article comprehensif sur bizzly a TwitteRadar. On apprecie la recognition de l’idee et on veut venir a France quand l’application et l’equipe est pret. On a eu beacoup d’interet des marchants en France deja. Merci encore!

L’article / the article on TwitteRadar

The article in English – courtesy of Google Translate

All of us at bizzly certainly appreciate the recognition, and are excited to see broader awareness of the fundamental power of Twitter. A big thanks to Kelly Porter (@kellyrporter) from Woodside Capital Partners for putting so much thought into the space. I’m quite sure we’ll be hearing more from them in 2010.

We are spending our days focused on application features + refinement and meeting with local merchants who understand Twitter can help them, but don’t know where to begin. What began as the proverbial cocktail napkin has evolved into a mission to reinvigorate local retail and local connections. The internet revolution was powerful, but socially dissociative and isolating. Twitter, and other social media platforms, have emerged as a counterweight to this trend, bringing people back together. We’d love to hear from anyone on this list, or anyone who would like to learn more about how bizzly works. We have learned bizzly, like Twitter, is something that needs to be experienced versus explained. Thus, we are spending our days in the streets, shops, and neighborhoods around us. A refreshing change from 18 hours a day of design + development work, but we are already eager to get “back in the lab”. As we mentioned on our website, bizzly is one of several concepts we are interested in pursuing.

@techcrunch

bizzly featured in Techcrunch top 10 digital deals of 2010

4. Twitter acquires Twithawk, TweetMeme, bizzly, Skout and TwitJump

Some believe Twitter should sell to a larger company, but they are missing the greater opportunity. Twitter enjoys massive potential as a standalone company. It is reminiscent of Yahoo! in 1995—a single compelling product, lots of traffic, growth potential and buzz, and poised to dominate several markets—in this case, the markets surrounding all things realtime. These five acquisitions—although all young companies themselves—would extend Twitter in significant ways: business marketing (Twithawk); realtime news discovery and sharing (TweetMeme); realtime promotion, publishing and sharing (bizzly); realtime dating/connecting (Skout); and Twitter management tools (TwitJump). Twitter could organically grow these new capabilities from within, but acquiring them through M&A would be faster and would also bring new talent into the company. Most important, these markets would bring new revenues to Twitter, extend its network effects, and broaden its footprint—ultimately positioning the company more favorably for a public offering.

Thanks to Wildfire restaurant in Chicago for the nice review on oneforty! Wildfire is part of the Lettuce Entertain You family, probably the best restaurant group in all of Chicago. (other restaurants include Wow Bao, R.J. Grunts, and Osteria Via Stato

I sent the creators a DM on Twitter and received a phone call within a few hours! This is a great way to share deals with potential customers and get the word about your business out into the Twitter read more…world. I haven’t seen another application like this on Twitter, and I’m really excited that we can actually track the views and shares…what a great tool! I’ll be telling anyone and everyone about bizz.ly and using it for my personal deal shopping!

Thanks bizz.ly team!

Thanks @saraaltier !

Stay tuned for lots of new features in January!

The oneforty review

Just learned about this website yesterday and we already love it! Lots of great deals on the hotlist, love that we can track our traffic and a great way to reach out to new customers Matt has been super helpful in answering all of our questions as well!