Radar Blog
One final 'yaw!' for RadarFebruary 24, 2010
John Poisson
Comments (21)
As many of you know, last fall Tiny Pictures was acquired by Shutterfly, long-time innovators in the experience-sharing business. It's a remarkable company with great products, and we're very happy to be a part of the team.
Our mission at Shutterfly is to develop new and innovative products, bringing all that we know about mobile and social media to the mix. Our first effort together is Wink, launched at the end of last year, and we're hard at work on more.
Today I'm writing to let you know that we've decided to wind down the Radar service to allow us to concentrate on Wink and the many other things we hope to do at Shutterfly.
A bit of history
Nearly five years ago--back when Flickr was still in its infancy, and Facebook was on just a few college campuses--we founded Tiny Pictures with a view to helping people share experiences as they happen.
Radar was born a short time later, and focused on delivering a real-time, mobile stream of pictures and conversation shared by you and your friends on any phone...long before the iPhone made this a far easier experience to develop.
From the beginning, the pictures shared on Radar weren't necessarily "photographs" as such, especially when cameraphone quality was laughably poor. More often than not they were a way of sharing a status update with your friends, or 'checking in' somewhere, or somehow conveying more than just the content of the picture.
This highly personal sharing model was precisely what made Radar tick, but ultimately proved to make the service difficult to grow fast enough. And while Radar survived--and often thrived--it's not sufficiently large to be self-sustaining.
Today, this notion of real-time sharing is flourishing in services like Facebook and Twitter and newcomers like Foursquare, and while there's nothing out there quite like Radar we're gratified to have contributed what we have to the birth of mobile through these past few years.
Winding down Radar
We're taking a few steps immediately to ensure a smooth wind-down of the service, but rest assured that we'll give you time to transition. Here's how things will play out:
Today we're disabling account creation on the service and removing the iPhone app from the app store.
On April 14 we will disable posting to Radar, but you'll still be able to browse and comment. At that time we will provide you the option to transfer all your Radar photos to a Shutterfly account. This will give you the opportunity to preserve your content however you choose: create a photobook, use Wink to create photostrips of your favorite moments, or order a DVD archive of all your photos.
On April 30 here we will officially shut down Radar, and do a slow clap for everything we've experienced with you along the way.
If you have any questions or concerns about these details, please don't hesitate to email us or call the office at 415-513-5998 and ask for me.
Thank you
There are a great many people who contributed to Radar over the years, and I'd like to take this opportunity to offer my deepest thanks:
Our investors--Reid Hoffman, Joi Ito, Mohr Davidow Ventures and Draper Fisher Jurvetson--who supported this endeavor with as much insight as capital.
Our Ambassadors, who in addition to their official efforts have been a source of inspiration and wisdom and friendship.
The Radar team past and present, who built a best of breed experience in a complex ecosystem, and who knew how to double down when we needed to and celebrate when we deserved to.
And indeed all our users: the ones we've known since the beginning, and the newest arrivals to the party; the whisperers; the storytellers; the punsters; the parents; and the many strangers that became friends along the way.
Thank you all.
February 25, 2010
Is that photo from 14th and Valencia? Those were good times... Good luck working with the new stuff!
February 25, 2010
You will be missed, old friend. Onwards and upwards!!
February 25, 2010
Oh man... I'm really going to miss Radar. It's by far my favorite picture network, and has the best community around.
But good luck on your new ventures, I'll still be supporting you guys!
February 25, 2010
oh ! so radar has finaly got dry sense of humour ?joke. Gona miss ya and good luck, I enjoyed the journey .
February 25, 2010
:( I will always lovr u radar team and follower friends!!!!!
February 25, 2010
thanks for all the great experiences and memories guys!
February 25, 2010
gutted...
All the best to fugu & team*
February 25, 2010
Lots of great (tiny) memories:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/joshuakaufman/3685029068/
Thanks for everything,
Joshua
February 26, 2010
Big hearts to you all. Yaw!
March 4, 2010
Big pang for all our adventures together.... Thank you for absolutely everything!
March 4, 2010
The Big Unsubscribe.
Operation Unspread.
(unribn)
::sniff::
March 14, 2010
I just got here. :( I was really enjoying it. I thought it was new and loved the interface and how it all worked with my iPhone. Had no idea you'd been around for as long as you have. Thank you for the brief time I've been able to enjoy myself on Radar. I wish all your team a smashing success!
April 17, 2010
a big heart to all all my friends ! keep it up!
April 18, 2010
Thanks for all the great Experiences and Memories guys!
May 8, 2010
That looks like a photo from 14th and Valencia... good times and memories! Good luck and all the best!
May 8, 2010
Hi John --
I worked with your Mom in Bow when you launched this service and she was (and still is, I'm sure) so very proud of you and what you have accomplished. Now, on to bigger and better things for you, and I wish you all the best.
Gayle
May 8, 2010
First of all, excuse my English here...
I don't remember when I started to participate to Radar, but I fund the idea very good, in this ocean of startups... Radar was like a "postit" for me, like a diary sometimes, and I liked the possibility for people to react: interactivity between me in France or Hong Kong and the rest of the world. Yeah, a kind of community. Something and people closer to me than a Facebook like, totally "depersonalized". I, we could share with Fugu and Sky etc. That was strong.
We are unfortunately in an economic world... And even if me, a "consumer", I stricly disagree with this end of Radar, I can't do ANYTHING about it. And it pisses me of. Yes. I won't "follow you" to wink or whatever. Because in love, you learn. To be disapointed again in 6 months ? Non merci.
I have my little Canon sublimation ink printer, I will print my photos myself. : ) anyway guys, it's now a digital world. For ever.
I wish you good luck anyway and thanks for the good time, but it's time; for us to break.
Hasta la vista.
May 8, 2010
sad to see radar go.. hit me up on myspace.com at ouieeouieejr@myspace.com. hope to see everyone there...
May 9, 2010
A big thanks goes out to the wonderful team behind the mind of radar. You made radar feel like a family to everyone and I am sure many are sad to see it go. We cannot forget all the great friendships made by people all around the world, thanks to one "tiny" website.
Here's to an amazing adventure with radar and to an even better future with new ideas. Cheers!
May 17, 2010
I loved and always will love Radar. I am blessed for all the friends I met and continue to be friends with outside Radar. I am grateful for all the laughs and tears we shared. Skyrog I am grateful for all the help along the way and hope to continue to talk on Facebook . RIP RADAR...GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN ..RADARIANS WILL LIVE ON!
May 23, 2010
During my initial times of mobile web surfing, I was searching for a way to stay connected with my friends. Then I saw that attractinve tagline 'Your cameraphone needs some Action; RADAR'. I joined and found it really good. But my internet connection wasn't fast enough. Just a few weeks ago, I got a new cameraphone and a better internet connection. But now this as happened.
Progress is the Hallmark of human civilisation.
Good Luck for your future ventures.
You had really made a quality and technologically advanced program.
Bon Voyage!
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