bluestring
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Bluestring was a collaborative multimedia storytelling service acquired and launched by AOL in 2007. Built as a Flex application, it let users pull images, video and audio from across the web and mix them into multimedia slideshow presentations that could be embedded, shared, and collaboratively edited by friends. Each user received 5GB of online storage, powered by AOL's Xdrive, with a premium 50GB option for $99 per year. The service debuted in beta at a 2007 startup conference in September 2007 and was shut down by AOL in late 2008.
02 / bluestring FAILURE REASONS
Failure factors supported by the current evidence
AOL EVP Kevin Conroy’s 14 Jul 2008 staff email, published in full by TechCrunch, said Bluestring would be sunset because the consumer storage products had not gained sufficient marketplace traction or the monetization needed to offset high operating cost.
Conroy: Bluestring/Xdrive/AOL Pictures hadn’t gained sufficient traction in the marketplace.
Products lacked monetization levels necessary to offset the high cost of their operation.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Acquired and launched by AOL
AOL acquired Bluestring and launched it in beta on September 17, 2007 at a startup conference, offering 5GB of free online storage for mixing personal media into collaborative slideshow presentations.
- Sunset by AOL
In July 2008 AOL announced the termination of Bluestring along with AOL Pictures, Xdrive and MyMobile, saying the services had not gained sufficient traction or monetization to offset their high operating costs; the services entered a sunset phase and went dark by the end of 2008.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
Bluestring was acquired by AOL in 2007 and launched in public beta in September 2007 with 5GB of free storage per user, backed by AOL's Xdrive infrastructure.
- 02
In July 2008 AOL announced it would terminate Bluestring, AOL Pictures, Xdrive and MyMobile, stating the services had not gained sufficient marketplace traction or monetization to offset their high operating costs.
- 03
The services entered a sunset phase and went dark by the end of 2008; users could order DVDs of their files or download their content.
- 04
No reliable realized loss figure with clear subject, period and basis has been disclosed.