Over the past several months, by far the number one question I’ve gotten asked is if I can get people access to Mailbox and/or when is it coming out…
Well, the answer is really soon now. Today, the team rolled out a smart reservation system to make sure they can gracefully launch the service to the hundreds of thousands — perhaps millions — who are undoubtedly going to want it ASAP.
Unfortunately, this system means that some will have to wait longer than others. But at least there will be some transparency in the process: with Mailbox’s reservation system, you’ll be able to see exactly where you are in line to get the app — both the number of people in front of you and behind you.
Once again, trust me, it will be worth the wait. And yes, the app will be free.
Back in August, I wrote a post teasing Mailbox, the new app from the team behind Orchestra. Today, they’re ready to reveal a bit more. The video above offers a taste, but I’ll have more thoughts to share later on.
Put simply: this is the most excited I’ve been about an app in a long time. I’ve been testing it out for a few weeks now and it’s already the app I use most often. I say this, of course, as a happy investor, but I shit you not: if you hate email, you’re going to love this app when it comes out in a few weeks. It’s fucking amazing.
This is the teaser page for Mailbox, a new product by the Orchestra team. I can’t say too much yet, but I’ve seen what they’re up to (we are investors, after all). It’s potentially game changing when it comes to email. And those who follow my email saga closely will know that I would not say that lightly.
They have a bit more about the process of evolving from Orchestra to Mailbox here. The best excerpt:
At first the idea seemed crazy. Email felt like this massive thing that startups don’t mess with. “This path is paved with corpses,” one friend told us. To be really blunt, we were scared. But as we explored the idea and the capacity of our team to tackle it, we felt emboldened. We realized we could apply everything we had learned about building fast, friendly, mobile collaboration tools to the inbox. We can’t replace email, but we can change how we interact with it.
Bingo. It’s not about replacing email. That has been tried and tried and tried and failed and failed and failed. It’s about changing the way we perceive email.
Mailbox is not quite done yet, but it will be worth the wait. Trust me.
Like seemingly everyone else in the tech blogosphere, I’ve been playing with Clear, a new personal organization app from Realmac Software, for the past few weeks.
Super simple. Slick UI that’s bound to be copied quite a bit. Lovely.
Macstories, The Next Web, SiliconFilter, and TechCrunch have solid reviews.
(Disclosure: CrunchFund is an investor in Orchestra, a competitor to Clear.)
