Zippie Monthly Update — May 2018
Time sure flies when you’re working hard and, unbelievably, summer is already here. Apart from the GDPR now putting noticeable pressure on how personal data of EU residents is used, it’s, well, nice to be outside. But do yourself a favour: when you stroll around the world in your shorts and sandals (with or without socks, we’re not judging), think about how much you’re doing with that constantly-connected internet device you carry around everywhere. Then imagine a world where your smartphone truly worked for your benefit, letting you control your data and finances.
Sound good? If so you’ll be interested to hear what we’ve been up to in the last month or so.
Product news
May was a very busy month on the product front. We released the Alpha version at the end of April and fixed lots of bugs. We also added multi-device support and the possibility to import contacts using the Zippie ID’s QR code.
We also had a good old face-to-face team meeting. It was great to gather the whole team together for the first time and brainstorm the product and go-to market-plans for three full days.
During the meeting, we decided upon the next steps for product:
1. Move the Alpha version from the test net to the main net
2. Implement software for Zippie Card
3. Improve the UX
To reach the first goal, we already have a working prototype of the personal multisig feature. In a nutshell, it means that Zippie users can send cryptocurrency to anyone via link. All you need to do is to define an amount and a currency you want to send and then send the link via sharing. All the recipient needs to do is to open the link, perform a 20 second Zippie signup and then money is in the Zippie Wallet.
Personal multisig is one of the fundamental building blocks for us to make it really easy for users to enter to the blockchain and cryptocurrency world.
The Zippie card software is nearly done now and should be ready to shipped to the factory during this week. Zippie card can be used to confirm large payments and for easily recovering your Zippie ID. We think the card looks awesome and we can’t wait to send them to you! If you want to know more about Zippie card, check our the Zippie ID and Card post written by our CTO Carsten Munk.
Happily, we’ve also taken some big leaps forward in the UX design side. We’ve made several options for the design and now have nailed it down. One core goal for us is to provide a great UX with very simple and easy to understand design. This means avoiding any crypto jargon within the design and make it feel familiar for non-crypto-people. We also took different lighting conditions, ,both indoor and outdoor, as well as display sizes into account. We then did some field testing and here’s how the new design looks.
As for the wallet design, this is still a work in progress but these mockups give you good picture of the direction we’re heading to. We’ve now found a nice pattern, which we can apply to most of the views such as identity, wallet and security.
Hopefully we’ll have the next version available for our Alpha testers in a week or two. So, be sure stay tuned for new product news.
Our latest partnership is a big deal
In the past month, we announced a partnership with a big, publicly traded company: Borqs. This is not random or small potatoes. Borqs is one of the leading IoT & smartphone manufacturers.
If you haven’t heard of them, it might be because you don’t live in their primary market, China, or you’ve seen products sold under other names. Being a trusted partner of companies such as Intel, Huawei and China Mobile, the largest mobile carrier in the world, you could be excused for their name flying under your radar. However, Borqs is also a partner of Google’s well-known program for making products for Western sensibilities, including Android smartphones and wearables.
Together with Borqs, Zippie will be able to offer ready-to-go blockchain-powered mobile products to device brands such as our partner Blacture. We believe “blockchain smartphone” is an early-days misnomer: every smartphone should be built with capabilities for running dApps, and with Borqs we’re at the forefront of making that happen.
Marketing & community updates
New York Blockchain Week
For many following the blockchain space, May 2018 was a hectic time, and one to remember. New York Blockchain Week went big, with unprecedented interest in decentralized platforms. New and big money, as well as traditional investors, mingled with developers and enthusiasts like never before in this scene. It was a change from earlier years, but the message is clear: the race is on for building mainstream success for decentralized platforms.
Our main event at the blockchain week was the Ethereum Foundation and Cosmos hosted event. Zippie was one of the main sponsors and filmed a panel discussion which you can see here. We also shared our identity solution with participants and their feedback confirmed our belief that dApps and other decentralized services really can benefit from our “20-second onboarding to blockchain” solution.
We talked to several people and conducted a few interviews for our YouTube channel, which left us with the conclusion that we’re on the right track. To paraphrase the popular sentiment: the future mainstream adoption of cryptocurrency might as well be built around people earning tokens with their smartphones. Sound familiar? Well, this is what our partnership (in cooperation with Borqs) with Pras Michel’s Blacture company is all about, as CNBC viewers in the US now know.
Bangkok
The team also visited Bangkok a few days ago. We have very strong Thai community partners who have a total following of over 100,000 local crypto enthusiasts. They are helping us to develop the Zippie Thailand community, and setting up our first community meetup in Bangkok in a few weeks. You can check out a local Facebook influencer interviewing our CEO Antti here. The local community also tried our Alpha identity signup with very positive feedback.
We also got the chance to do a video interview with Jarrad from Status — follow our YouTube channel to view it soon.
What’s more, we helped to arrange a live streaming of the first Ethereum Bangkok Community Meetup organized by our friends at OmiseGO. You can check out the recording here.
Team news
We’re continuing to build up our team to ramp up our sales and marketing efforts. Our aim is always to hire smart, independent-thinking people with a passion for decentralized future. If you’re curious about what it takes to work for us, check out our Meet the Team series on our YouTube channel and ping us on Telegram.
Phew! So, that’s it for now. Enjoy the start of summer and rest assured that we’ll be hard at work making yours, and our, decentralized dreams come true. In the meantime, be sure to follow us on Twitter, YouTube, Telegram and Reddit.
