3 ms·

SimpleGeo building an innovative service and then abandoning its paying users well, that's what companies do when they fail, go out of business, or are acquihi

by earl 15y ago

SimpleGeo building an innovative service and then abandoning its paying users well, that's what companies do when they fail, go out of business, or are acquihired, ie a business failure by another name

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
runako 15y ago
No, that's what Urban Airship decided to do with the service they bought. We're dealing with the only continuing entity in the equation here, Urban Airship, which is not going out of business. Urban Airship is making the decision to abandon their customers (they bought them) in a crappy manner. Without working at Urban Airship or SimpleGeo (or being close to someone who does), how would one know that when Urban Airship said they were excited to acquire SimpleGeo to continue improving the service that it was BS, and that the search for a replacement should have been started? More to the point, a more trustworthy company would comport in such a way that its paying customers don't need to know the difference. In this case, that might mean open sourcing components or giving enough notice that their customers could reasonably transition. A link to the R-Tree wikipedia page is not what I'd expect from a reliable vendor.
- lurker17 15y ago
  > how would one know that when Urban Airship said they were excited to acquire SimpleGeo to continue improving the service that it was BS, and that the search for a replacement should have been started? As a reader of HN, one would expect that acquired products are almost always shuttered within a year. Customers that didn't have year-ahead contracts are exposed to that high-probability risk.
- foobarbazetc 15y ago
  Urban Airship "bought" SimpleGeo, a failed service. Where "bought" means forcibly swallowed it based on VC pressure. Anyone with half a clue could have seen this coming a mile away. Why would you spend time and effort developing a failed product you didn't create when your highly successful product is your main focus? Move along, nothing to see here.
  - Klinky 15y ago
    People probably developed for the API before SimpleGeo was in trouble. Those who already invested in the API hoped that UrbanAirship would continue the SimpleGeo brand, perhaps with better management. It would appear that UrbanAirship spent a couple million just to try & snag customers. Essentially they've punched a hole in the SimpleGeo life raft & are offering parachutes & life raft building instructions to the now drowning customers. Some will be hostile to these actions.
- mmalone 15y ago
  @foobarbazetc: you seem to know an awful lot about the SimpleGeo acquisition. Which VCs were forcing Urban Airship to do the deal?

by earl 15y ago

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

runako 15y ago

No, that's what Urban Airship decided to do with the service they bought. We're dealing with the only continuing entity in the equation here, Urban Airship, which is not going out of business. Urban Airship is making the decision to abandon their customers (they bought them) in a crappy manner. Without working at Urban Airship or SimpleGeo (or being close to someone who does), how would one know that when Urban Airship said they were excited to acquire SimpleGeo to continue improving the service that it was BS, and that the search for a replacement should have been started? More to the point, a more trustworthy company would comport in such a way that its paying customers don't need to know the difference. In this case, that might mean open sourcing components or giving enough notice that their customers could reasonably transition. A link to the R-Tree wikipedia page is not what I'd expect from a reliable vendor.

lurker17 15y ago
> how would one know that when Urban Airship said they were excited to acquire SimpleGeo to continue improving the service that it was BS, and that the search for a replacement should have been started? As a reader of HN, one would expect that acquired products are almost always shuttered within a year. Customers that didn't have year-ahead contracts are exposed to that high-probability risk.
foobarbazetc 15y ago
Urban Airship "bought" SimpleGeo, a failed service. Where "bought" means forcibly swallowed it based on VC pressure. Anyone with half a clue could have seen this coming a mile away. Why would you spend time and effort developing a failed product you didn't create when your highly successful product is your main focus? Move along, nothing to see here.
- Klinky 15y ago
  People probably developed for the API before SimpleGeo was in trouble. Those who already invested in the API hoped that UrbanAirship would continue the SimpleGeo brand, perhaps with better management. It would appear that UrbanAirship spent a couple million just to try & snag customers. Essentially they've punched a hole in the SimpleGeo life raft & are offering parachutes & life raft building instructions to the now drowning customers. Some will be hostile to these actions.
mmalone 15y ago
@foobarbazetc: you seem to know an awful lot about the SimpleGeo acquisition. Which VCs were forcing Urban Airship to do the deal?