I agree. I have a small app that has about 1,200 users and I make $30 per day in iAd revenue. Assuming similar numbers, Instagram could easily have $25k per day in revenue.
> We decided that if we were going to build a company, we wanted to focus on being really good at one thing. We saw mobile photos as an awesome opportunity to try out some new ideas. We spent 1 week prototyping a version that focused solely on photos. It was pretty awful. So we went back to creating a native version of Burbn. We actually got an entire version of Burbn done as an iPhone app, but it felt cluttered, and overrun with features. It was really difficult to decide to start from scratch, but we went out on a limb, and basically cut everything in the Burbn app except for its photo, comment, and like capabilities. What remained was Instagram. (We renamed because we felt it better captured what you were doing -- an instant telegram of sorts. It also sounded camera-y)
Maybe it's because I don't have an iPhone, or a smart phone, but I seriously don't understand instagram's insane adoption/appeal.
It seems bizarre and not novel in any way. Mobile sharing has been around forever, and even my 2005 feature phone has filters built into it. Someone enlighten me.
I love the app, but they should publish active user count - if any number at all. It really matters for an app with no little web presence and little content persistence.
How on earth is this name not copyright infringement? Either against Polaroid itself or against the Poladroid software package (http://www.poladroid.net/). That said it's a pretty cute pun; I hope they get away with it.
Release some filter packs for 99 cents each and hopefully benefit from the 10-30% of your user base that will purchases some.
After the initial rush AOL will buy you for 40 million.