I suspect Hutson's success is largely due to the fact that (from what I can gleam by the TC article) his core offerings require no prison participation at all -

I suspect Hutson's success is largely due to the fact that (from what I can gleam by the TC article) his core offerings require no prison participation at all - and certainly no hardware distribution/installation. In fact, both core offerings have been around for quite a while as mainstream services. My family once used http://www.localphone.com http://www.localphone.com to make intl calls over VOIP via local numbers. And, of course, Shutterfly and others have existed for years to easily distribute a digital photo from your smartphone in print form. The beauty of Pigeon.ly is he's taken these relatively straightforward products and adapted them to the prison population (and their families) who may not have been as aware of more scrappy options. In my mind, it's more a brilliant marketing and hustle play - very well done.