tungle.me
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Tungle.me was the scheduling service of Montreal-based startup Tungle, which made finding meeting times effortless. Launched in 2009 (the company began in 2006), its scheduling pages synced with every major calendar — Outlook, Google Calendar, Apple iCal, Yahoo, Lotus Notes and BlackBerry — letting users propose times that populated any invitee's calendar without compatibility headaches. It caught on fast: users included 40% of Fortune 1000 companies, people in 150 countries, and 800 universities. Backed by $6.36 million from Commonwealth Capital Ventures, JLA Ventures and Desjardins Venture Capital, the 23-person team was acquired by Research in Motion in April 2011 to build BlackBerry's calendar apps. On December 3, 2012, RIM shut down the standalone Tungle.me service as the team focused on BlackBerry 10.
02 / tungle.me FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
After the acquisition, its team focused on BlackBerry calendar and other applications, leaving insufficient resources for the standalone scheduling service. Its owner therefore discontinued Tungle.me.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Began
Tungle begins in 2006 in Montreal with a mission to make finding meeting times quick and easy.
- Launched
Tungle.me launches in 2009 at the forefront of the social calendaring trend.
- Acquired
In April 2011 Research in Motion acquires Tungle; the team builds the BlackBerry PlayBook calendar app.
- Shut down
On December 3, 2012 RIM shuts down the standalone Tungle.me service as the team focuses on the BlackBerry 10 calendar.
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
In April 2011 Tungle was acquired by Research in Motion and the team was reassigned to build BlackBerry's PlayBook and BlackBerry 10 calendar apps.
- 02
With the team focused on BlackBerry 10, the standalone Tungle.me service was shut down on December 3, 2012; users were pointed to alternatives like Doodle.