Deets For iOS Keeps Contacts Up To Date Automatically, Lets You Share Files, Photos & More
Deets is a newly launched mobile app that lets you organize your contacts and keep everyone’s information up-to-date automatically, but that description alone sells it a bit short. This new iOS app is a little bit of everything – it’s a communication hub, a contact synchronization utility and even social networking service. The idea is somewhat similar to the concept of Google+ Circles in the sense that it allows you more control over what info you share and who you share with, but it does so by having you create different personal profiles for each group of contacts. Your “family” group might get your home address and cell number, for example, while your “client” group only sees the office address and phone.
In addition to contact sharing, Deets will also allow users to share photos, files, and calendar appointments with each other, too.
The company was founded by Linda Miller and Luke Scott, who spun the idea out of an earlier startup called StyleCard. Online sometime just before the iPhone’s launch, StyleCard was something like today’s Moo.com as it allowed users to order customized business cards online. What they saw, however, was that customers were ordering different sets of cards for their different “identities,” so to speak. They would order professional cards for work, others for friends, etc. Some would order as many as four different sets for their various “profiles.”
Miller, whose experience at startups dates back to the dotcom days when she was employee #20 at Priceline.com and later led the development of Hotwire’s hotel product before leaving back in 2005, has been thinking about profiles and identity for a long time. After leaving Hotwire, she didn’t have a business card anymore, and she said it was like she lost her identity as well. This inspired her to start StyleCard originally, but after the iPhone came out, she realized that she could more. “We said, let’s regroup, let’s do it digitally, and do it mobiley.”
On the social front, it’s more like a Everyme, Circle, or – yep – it even resembles Google+. “We did this before Google+ came out and we were like, ‘are you kidding me?’,” laughs Miller, “‘that’s what we want to do!’ We were busy working on the technology and had to stay really relevant to keep up with the space, because the space it definitely heating up.” She says that Deets’ focus on privacy, mobile communication and synchronization are what make it stand out from the crowd. And the Deets homescreen dashboard (see top screenshot) is handy for seeing at-a-glance, which groups have new updates.
The Deets business model is different from many social networks – instead of advertising or mining customer data, the service will eventually go the SaaS route by charging for premium features.
As it goes to launch, Deets is free as its subscription pricing is still being worked out. The Android version is expected by January, but the web and mobile web version are available now. Deets has $1.5 million in funding, $500,000 of which comes from Connecticut Innovations, and the rest from angel investors. Deets has its tech team in Connecticut, but COO Art Goldberg is based in Silicon Valley.