If you’ve ever lost a cellphone, you know how much it hurts – no numbers, floating personal data, missing music, etc. And if you’ve ever lost an iPhone, you know it hurts even more. At $600, the iPhone is the hardest device to part with, and replace.
A few weeks ago, I left my iPhone 4 in the back of a cab. Needless to say, I was a little upset. The next morning, a friend gave me a spare Motorola Atrix – a pretty powerful device. It’s fully stocked with an 8-megapixel camera, 4G connection speeds and the Android Market among other bits of awesome. I gave it a real college try, setting up and downloading all that I could, hoping to recreate the world I lost when I left my iPhone in the cab. But something was missing - something critically important to my daily routine.
No Instagram for Android!?!?
The one experience I truly missed was Instagram, a social photo-sharing application. Since its launch in October 2010, I’ve been living my life through Instagram’s colored filters. Well, me and a million other people. I am constantly checking to see new photos from friends and admiring (and sometimes commenting on) photos from strangers around the world. I even started a site that houses my Instagram photos called Filterfest.
Like many other Apple fanboys, I scoop up the latest Apple gadgets religiously. Having just purchased the iPad 2 (replacing my gen 1 iPad), and with the fabled launch of iPhone5 this year, I tried to put off re-purchasing the iPhone 4. I told myself that using an alternate device would make me appreciate the iPhone more. And it did. But it wasn’t just the device I missed. It was the apps, and more specifically, Instagram.
For seven days, I went without the iPhone. Then I caved. I bought the iPhone4 (again) and immediately downloaded Instagram. In essence, I paid $600 for a free application. That says something about me, for sure. But it also says something about the rapid success of Instagram and the role of apps in our daily lives.
In six short months, Instagram has become an incredible force, garnering a worthy cult following. According to Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom, Instagram users upload approximately three photos a second and tens of millions of photos have already been shared. There have also been a slew of artful digital and physical experiences created using the Instagram API.
Just a few of my favorites:
Instashade is a website that groups images by color and presents them as a spectrum.
Instaprint is piece of hardware developed by Breakfast NY. Each Instaprint box is set with its location or a specific hashtag. Any Instagram tagged with that location or hashtag will pop out of the Instaprint box, giving you a modern day photo booth. We were lucky to have them join us at this year’s SXSW Town Holler in Austin, TX.
Instant Album, by Keepsy, pre-selects approx. 30 Instagram photos, as determined by “likes,” and auto-generates an album with pages of photos grouped by time.
Instamaker is a web app that enables users to drag-and-drop images onto a t-shirt, coffee mug, or postcard, via integration with zazzle.com.
And like any great thing, brands find a way of getting in on the action. Over the last few months, there has been a handful of interesting brand partnerships.
Brisk and Instagram teamed up to bring 4,000 limited edition cans to SXSW.
Brands like NPR, Red Bull and Kate Spade have also joined the party, uploading images that personify the brand. I’m sure many others will follow…
So, why is Instagram such a phenomenon? Here’s my take:
Expression – the app speaks to the artist in everyone.
Simplicity – dead simple image creation and manipulation.
Portability – turnkey sharing to a host of social channels.
And what did I spend $600 on? Not just an app, but a network - of people and pictures.
