

Rackspace Chooses reMail (YC W09) To Bring Email Search To Its Customers - Sam_Odio
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/12/16/rackspace-remail/

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sadiq
Hmmm.

reMail seems interesting but I wonder what the chances are of Apple adding
those features to their mail client and then simply locking reMail out of the
App Store for duplicate functionality?

Xobni came to mind as someone who seems to have done something similar (remedy
limitations in an existing implementation) but they weren't so very much at
the mercy of Microsoft.

I'm also wondering how the economics of reMail will work out. The Redlaser
article on the HN front page from today says they've had 750k downloads
(albeit at $2 versus reMail's $3.99) but reMail seems more of a niche
offering. Even assuming they near that amount, at $3.99, is it really a
sustainable business model? I guess there's scope to upsell some other monthly
services in there.

I also have to chuckle at $4.99 being considered 'premium'.

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gaborcselle
Thanks for your thoughts! Quick clarification: The App is free. The $3.99
price tag is for IMAP accounts.

We're not making millions of dollars on reMail (yet), but quick iteration is
the key to success. We've rewritten the app once, then relaunched, then
replaced its guts, then changed the business model, experimented with UIs and
so on. Every time we do that more users start using the product. I guess the
perception of Apps in the store is that most are one-hit wonders. Instead of
cranking out a new app every two weeks, we're trying to make the one app we
have better and better. I'll let you know how that worked out :-)

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vaksel
perfect example to give when someone asks about the value of YC. Sure $5K is a
drop in the bucket..hell I just dropped that on my holiday promotion. But does
anyone think that without the YC connections and validation, that the remail
guys would have gotten this deal? I doubt that.

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JMiao
gabor's a fairly enterprising guy.

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vaksel
yeah, but would someone like Rackspace want to take the risk if he didn't have
YC backing him?

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nudist
Yes. Have you used reMail? The product is awesome and it sells itself. I
highly doubt YC was even part of the consideration.

Honestly, I feel like having YC backing you might actually end up putting a
bad taste in the mouths of some companies.

~~~
vaksel
so you think a huge corporation like rackspace, would want to take a risk with
a company run by a single person? Yes remail is a good app, but the fact that
it's a one man show, no doubt raised questions for Rackspace, and the fact
that he had YC backing no doubt helped eased them.

why would YC put a bad taste in the mouths of companies?

