Should Instagram’s Hyperlapse be a standalone app?
Rightfully so, there’s been a lot of hype around Hyperlapse. Wired recently did a feature about how the idea came about (like other great creations, as a PHD thesis at Stamford), the nuts & bolts behind it, and basically why they think it’s a mobile breakthrough. They even went as far to call it a $15,000 video setup in your hand.
In Instagram like fashion Hyperlapse is clean, sleek, and to the point. No frills or unnecessary features. It does exactly what it says it does. It’s almost too simple, makes you wonder — That’s it?? Now here’s my question — Should it really be a standalone app or did the team fumble by not making it spanking new feature of IG? As most technologies, only time will tell. But in the meantime, let’s break it down a bit more.
Google’s Larry Page has his own way of analyzing companies before an acquisition and it isn’t solely based on revenue or growth, although those are an obvious ingredient to get in front of Google. They call it the ToothBrush Test:
When deciding whether Google should spend millions or even billions of dollars in acquiring a new company, its chief executive, Larry Page, asks whether the acquisition passes the toothbrush test: Is it something you will use once or twice a day, and does it make your life better?
- David Gelles NYT
I take a similar approach when analyzing new apps, or other new products and their potential. Will I use the thing once a week? Or at least twice a month?
Microsoft recently released their own consumer facing Hyperlapse technology, and there’s rumors that Apple’s new iPhone will have something similar. But it’s clear Instagram has won the race to bring it to the masses’ fingertips first. Although I think Hyperlapse is technically sound and overall a great engineering feat, I’m just not sold that’ll it’ll be another home run for Instagram/Facebook like the IG team is hyping (ok, I promise I won’t say ‘hype’ again) it to be. I’m not totally convinced that releasing this technology as a standalone iPhone only app was the right decision long term. I have a lot of photographer and videographer friends who I know are currently salivating over this thing. And yes the masses will use the hell out of it NOW since it’s the new kid on the block. But let’s not forget that on average people are very picky with their selection of apps. Most heavy IG users have their go-to set of apps they use for editing photos & videos. Another app is more memory drained, memory you could have used for more videos or photos. More stolen real estate. For the average user, are there enough use cases during the span of 1 month? Will the average user have Hyperlapse on their iPhone 3 months from now??
I’m very curious what it’s engagements metrics will be a year from now. Will it sustain itself or should Instagram just have integrated it with their main app? Like I said at the beginning of this post. Only time will tell but I’m going to say Hyperlapse should of been just a new sparkly feature in their existing app.
Be that as it may, kudos to Instagram for constantly innovating.