Where’s The Money? Episode #1: Can Kevin Rose’s OINK make a buck (or two)?

Where's the money

Welcome to our NEW newest show: “Where’s The Money?”. It is here we try to decipher the way some of the more popular mobile applications and services will generate cold hard cash. The industry is full of promise but only a handful of companies will crack the buck. “Where’s The Money” is where we put them to the test.

This week we talk Kevin Rose’s OINK.

Episode #1

Recorded: January 31, 2012
Hosts: Rob Woodbridge & Douglas Soltys


This episode is brought to you by:

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  • http://caspan.com Caspan

    Great show guys,

    I use to watch Diggnation and even when Kevin described this app I just have to say “Do people really like this kind of crap?” When I hear people talk about really neat applications they seem to have this “Hey I wanna install that app too” feel to them. Unless I can find someone that has the exact same taste as me I don’t care what they like at a restaurant. I think that it is neat to see what people believe is the best item on the menu but that does not mean I would like it. I just feel like this application is another way to steal information about what I do so someone else can sell it. It seems like everyone is trying to be a small Google and they suck at it. 
    Personally I would never install that application ever or anything like it but again that is only 1 persons opinion and I don’t represent the mass, but also that comes from a guy that thinks Twitter is the most useless application in the world being in 2012 and people acting like they would be lost without a restrictive system. 

  • http://about.me/kylemcinnes Kyle McInnes

    It seems like Oink is going to go the way of foursquare and it’s going to take far too long for this to start making money. As you guys said, foursquare took forever to have any value in smaller cities outside of New York and the business is probably still very far from profitable. Even foursquare is dancing around monetization with companies paying for badges or promotions.

    If, by some miracle of the Internet, Oink becomes popular in cities around the world, then monetizing still probably requires all these businesses to sign up to run deals and promotions. 

    Just like users get check-in fatigue, I get the feeling businesses are going to get “promotion fatigue”. They’re bombarded with Groupon, LivingSocial, foursquare and now Oink. Not to mention all the other online expectations of a brick and mortar business these days like twitter, facebook and blogging.

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  • http://blogs.blackberry.com Douglas tr0n Soltys

    Ha, Caspan you do kind typify the ‘curmudgeon’ archetype, but I think you’re right with Oink (not Twitter =P). Why would I ever use an app that feels like work, and provides no real immediate benefit?

  • http://blogs.blackberry.com Douglas tr0n Soltys

    I think that if Oink had the user base of Foursquare, they’d be having a much easier time monetizing. The problem is getting there. Kyle, you were one of the people that got me started using foursquare because a) it was fun b) it allowed me to see where my friends were and tell them where I was. I don’t have any real impetus to use Oink in that way; none of my friends are banging down my door getting me to try it.

  • http://untether.tv Rob Woodbridge

    I’ll chime in here as well and say that the idea of Oink is too broad. I mean, I’m really not sure what I’m supposed to do with it – how can someone build one app for everything? If they want to it work, they can make it work for rating everything but market it as a beer rating system or a tea rating system and let everyone else use it the way they want to – they need to give people a starting point.

  • http://caspan.com Caspan

    Also is it just me but how often do people go out to eat? Kevin makes it seem like people are rich and go out 30 times a month, I maybe go out once a month where I want to find a new restaurant. But how often do people go out that they need a dedicated app for it? 

  • http://caspan.com Caspan

    I like your comment Rob because I think that every one is trying to make 50 apps in 1 and I think developers have lost site of the old motto of “Do one thing and do it right” 

    I personally have ditched my messaging clients for a single one called Miranda IM because it is small and it just does what I need and nothing else. Short simple to the point! I also use FooBar2000 for my music because everyone want to build an iTunes application instead of just making a music player. Why do developers keep trying to cram so much crap in to an application? Just make it do one thing and be the best at it please!

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