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Small India-Based Social Shopping Site Storrz Starts Thinking BigAugust 16th, 2008 at 1:35 pmSource:Mashable! While Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch platform(s) are being taken further and further into the gaming sphere, the Nintendo fanbase is playing with developments - much of them “homebrew” - to extend the powers of the DS past its core gameplay design. And one such item comes by way of an individual known as Jorge S. In short, Jorge has put Twitter in the hands of DS owners everywhere. Well, not everywhere. Lots of places, though. Over what appears to be term of just a few months, Jorge has put to the public a design he calls DSTwitter. It has gone through iterations 1.0, 1.1, and 1.2, before arriving this week at 1.3, which the creator has released under the GPLv3 designation. The invention has only been noticed by a select few news outlets. Shiny Media’s Tech Digest being one of them. But the limited review is understandable. Why? Installation takes some effort. For starters, DSTwitter is an inherently a Spanish launch. Lest you be fluent in the language, it can be a little tough to determine what it is you need to do in order to start microblogging from your DS. Fortunately, Google Translate can rough it out per your convenience. Here’s the 1-2-3: Prepare a memory card (R4DS) and the DS’s WiFi connection. Register to the Scene Beta website. Username and email required. Download the DSTwitter 1.3 .RAR file. Extract the contents “in the root of the memory card.” Input Twitter login. Run the program. A bit more convoluted than some might wish. But if it’s your DS that you keep on your person most often, this little experiment won’t cost a nickel. That is if you already hold a DS-friendly memory box, anyway. It bears noting that in addition to DSTwitter’s Spanish support, the download also complies with English, German, French and Italian. —Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:Twitter Mobile InterfaceQuick Fix For Twitter TroublesDon’t Send Bac’n: Use TwitterSearchMosio Uses Twitter For Mobile Q&ATwitter Adds GMail Contacts ImportHow Messed Up Is Twitter For You Right Now? [Poll]30Boxes Brings Us Power Twitter
The concept of social shopping on the Web has been tailored in various ways by many outfits already. Sites launched for that very purpose have been coming on steady for several seasons now, some to greater effect than others. But more are on their way. Or, alternately, those playing the community-based commerce game are expanding. Such is the case for Storrz. Based in the city of Bangalore, India, Storrz has built itself from a root focus of shopping into something it feels comfortably in calling a “social shopping mall.” This label is quite new, however. It first established itself as a general commerce destination. (It is self-titled as “India’s only marketplace to offer groceries online.”) Featured in a number of Indian Internet publications - it was given momentary mention by various sites with an eye toward the Proto.in conference this year, a startup event held in Delhi last month - Storrz might have a shot going into the final quarter of 2008 and beyond with a good name. The size of its audience makes for a tough road, though. It is anything but extraordinary. Budding is more like it. The company’s director, Chandan Maruthi, touts a team of 6 individuals comprising technology, sales, and operations responsibilities, and he notes Storrz’s connections with “65+ merchants selling 6500+ products across 130 categories.” Yes, Storrz is small name. It will need to bring more of everything across its servers - sellers, goods, and buyers - to boost its financial health. A user-friendly design, no matter how simple, has little value if it isn’t matched with a generous supply of content or product. Seeing as how India’s e-commerce engine is fast-expanding along with the rest of the world’s, Storrz would definitely do well to grow itself fast at this time. But its design, which seems to have a fairly good balance of social interaction and product search, makes it seem like it may just be a worthwhile place to go. At the foundation it is something to keep an eye on, I think. Curious to know how Storrz intends to make itself sustainable? It operates on a two-part business model of commissions as well as targeted advertising based on user activity and profile data. Basic enough, and in line with general trends in the industry. But it may be a bit too eager on the commission front. 10-25% of the sale price, is its claim for success.
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