The New Instagram Freemium Model?
I'm big into Instagram so any news about the Apple App of the year 2011 is major news to me. Now something big cropped up today which on the face of it looks small but is actually good - Hipstamatic are the first external app which can post direct to Instagram (full story here).
This is big news because, up to this point, Instagram have tightly controlled which apps can post photos to the stream - mainly no-one but the official IOS app. Posting photos is not in the official API (you can only build gallery apps really) and anyone who tried to reverse engineer the photo posting process was clamped down on.
Note: ccompare this to Twitter where it was open season for any app to post tweets - later on Twitter decided to reign things back in and try to consolidate the apps which people used. Primairly to control the user experience - and it's this experience which Instagram have tightly guarded up to this point.
So why do this now?
This is a good question. Instagram have been scalling up and with the recent news that the Android version is finally on the cusp, it looks like Instagram uptake is about to go into an even higher gear.
So perhaps Instagram are looking partner more as their remit goes beyond the closted confines of the current IOS only party.
Freemium
However, I see another clever move by Instagram here: an implicit freemium model. Hipstamtic aint a free app - Instagram is. Hipstamtic is an amazing app - in fact, it's the camera app which first made me jealous of the iPhone (back when I had a Blackberry for my sins). But as my Instagram fever took hold, Hipstamatc (sadly) took a back seat.
This integration (which means that you can post direct into your Instagram stream from Hipstamatic) puts Hipsta right back into the front line for the IG camp. This deal has allowed Hipstamatic to dip into some of the frictionless sharing magic which Instagram has, up until this point, owned.
I'm pretty sure that Hipstamatic's fortunes have been inversly proportional to Instagram's; as IG grew in popularity; it kept stealing limelight (and usage) from Hipstamatic.This is a shame; Hipsta is a great app and I'm sure the IG team know this as well. This deal throws a lifeline to Hipsta, and I'd say that IG have a strong case to ask for a revenue share in new Hipsta purchases (and in-app purchases). This effectively gives Instagram a paid for "pro" version in everything else but name.
To End
The fact that pictures posted to Instagram from Hipstamatic are branded with a pretty bold link back to the Hipsta app tells me that not only is this about allowing hand picked third party apps to post to IG BUT also to encourage use of those apps - kinda like advertising.
A very interesting move...
p.s. I believe this also effects the other Hipstamatic camera app - the D-Seris disposable camera - tight IG integration here also opens the door to more seamless are interesting photo competition and meetup possibilities.
