In our post entitled Webified Desktop Apps vs Browser-based Apps, Sharpcast CEO Gibu Thomas left a comment saying that his company fulfils the ‘webified desktop’ vision:
“At Sharpcast, we believe the right user experience is something closer to how in a corporate Exchange server environment, Microsoft Outlook works seamlessly with Outlook Web Access on any browser and a Blackberry mobile device. The user has the choice of interacting with his data in the most optimal way depending on whether he is connected or offline, which one of his devices he is on and so on.
We decided that every application should work like that for consumers and Sharpcast Photos is the first application that demonstrates this user experience.”
In a nutshell Sharpcast enables you to synch your data across the Web, multiple PCs and your mobile phone. It’s a real-time synchronisation engine and photos is just the first application of this – soon Sharpcast will be extended to all types of files. Indeed the platform was always intended to go well beyond photos.
Sharpcast recently demoed their product at the Wall Street Journal D conference. Although the video is not yet available for public consumption, I got the chance to check it out. Gibu demonstrated Sharpcast synching across a couple of Windows laptops, a Mac laptop and a Windows Treo phone. This was done using the Sharpcast platform and protocols. He also discussed how Sharpcast automatically backs up files for users.
Sharpcast has already garnered a lot of praise and awards. Oliver Starr has a good round-up of the product and I remember seeing it myself at the Supernova conference earlier this year. The real test will be how it works for non-photo applications. At the D conference Gibu showed how entering a new contact in his (PC) Outlook instantly synchs with his Mac email contacts and Treo too – giving a single view of contacts data.
Sharpcast’s synching functionality will be offered as tiered service plans and they are also going to pre-bundle Sharpcast data synch on carriers. Perhaps the most exciting thing is that Sharpcast will open up APIs, so that other apps can utilize their synch platform. This is a webified desktop product to keep an eye on!
Originally published on ReadWriteWeb (archived copy)