Xobni

Xobni was a San Francisco-based software company that developed tools for organizing email, searching communications, and understanding professional contacts. Its name was derived from “inbox” spelled backward and was pronounced “ZOB-nee.” The company’s central product was an add-on for Microsoft Outlook that created a people-oriented layer over an email archive. Instead of treating the inbox as a chronological list, Xobni attempted to organize messages around the people communicating with the user, making it possible to search conversations, inspect contact details, review communication histories, and navigate relationships from a sidebar within Outlook. Adam Smith and Matt Brezina founded Xobni in March 2006. The business began in Smith’s dorm room in Cambridge, Massachusetts, while the founders were participating in Y Combinator’s summer program. Later in 2006, the company moved to San Francisco to be closer to the technology and venture-capital ecosystem of Silicon Valley. Its first product was announced for private beta testing at the TechCrunch 40 conference on September 18, 2007. Initially known as Xobni Insight, it was subsequently marketed as Xobni for Outlook, or simply Xobni. The product attracted attention because it addressed a widely recognized problem for heavy Outlook users: finding information in large, complicated mailboxes and reconstructing the context of professional relationships. Xobni’s early reception was mixed. Reviewers and technology publications generally recognized the usefulness of its search and contact-navigation concept, but early versions were criticized for slow performance, instability, high resource consumption, and difficulties handling large inboxes and Outlook data archives. Some users reported that the software was difficult to uninstall, interfered with normal Outlook functions, or was incorrectly flagged as malware by antivirus products. These complaints reflected the technical challenge of indexing data inside the varied and resource-intensive Microsoft Outlook environment. Later product reviews reported meaningful improvements in speed and reliability, and Xobni for Outlook received favorable evaluations from publications including CNET and PC Magazine. The company opened its beta product to the public on May 5, 2008. In February of that year, Jeff Bonforte joined as chief executive officer. Around the same time, Microsoft executive Bill Gates demonstrated Xobni at the Office Developers Conference, prompting reports that Microsoft might acquire the company. The reported possibility of a roughly $20 million deal did not result in an acquisition. Xobni instead pursued an independent product and financing strategy, raising approximately $4.26 million in 2007, $7 million in 2009, and about $10 million in 2012 from venture investors and strategic participants including Cisco Systems and BlackBerry Partners Fund. Xobni introduced a paid product, Xobni Plus, in July 2009. The premium version added advanced search, appointment search, support for searching multiple Outlook PST archives, removal of advertising, and one year of support. During 2010 the company expanded beyond its core Outlook plug-in by developing services for synchronizing Xobni data across devices, third-party gadgets for Outlook, an enterprise sales effort, reseller relationships, and a platform intended to allow developers to build gadgets for its Outlook sidebar. Localized Outlook products were announced for French- and German-language markets, and a BlackBerry product was introduced in March 2010. Xobni also pursued mobile and web-based contact products. In September 2011 it announced Smartr Inbox for Gmail and Smartr Contacts for Android. Smartr Contacts ranked contacts by importance rather than alphabetically and combined contact information with photographs, job and company details, communication history, mutual contacts, and selected social-network information. An iPhone version followed on January 24, 2012, extending the same contact-intelligence concept to Apple’s mobile platform and incorporating updates associated with Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. On July 3, 2013, Xobni announced that Yahoo had acquired the company for an undisclosed amount. Contemporary reports described the transaction as being worth more than $60 million, although no official purchase price was disclosed. Yahoo incorporated elements of Xobni’s technology and product thinking into Yahoo Mail, while Jeff Bonforte became a senior Yahoo executive overseeing communications products. Xobni’s standalone products did not remain independent for long: in July 2014, Yahoo announced that Xobni was among the products it would close as part of a wider effort to concentrate on its core experiences. The Xobni brand and original services are therefore discontinued.

Xobni emerged from the early-2000s wave of productivity software designed to improve the usability of large digital communication archives. Adam Smith and Matt Brezina founded the company in March 2006 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, while working from Smith’s dorm room and participating in Y Combinator’s summer founder program. The company relocated to San Francisco later that year, placing its operations closer to Silicon Valley’s technology companies, investors, and potential distribution partners. The founders’ initial insight was that email clients were organized primarily around messages and folders, while users often needed to think in terms of people and relationships. Xobni’s first product sought to add that missing layer to Microsoft Outlook. Announced for private beta at the TechCrunch 40 conference on September 18, 2007, the software indexed Outlook messages and presented search, contact profiles, and people-based navigation in an Outlook sidebar. The early product was called Xobni Insight before the company settled on Xobni for Outlook. Xobni gained substantial attention from technology media and professional users, but its development was technically difficult. Early versions could perform poorly on large inboxes, consume significant system resources, and create compatibility problems within Outlook’s broad and inconsistent deployment environment. Users and reviewers also raised concerns about installation and removal, possible interference with calendar functionality, archive handling, and antivirus warnings. These issues did not define all later versions: subsequent reviews described better performance and reliability, with CNET and PC Magazine giving the improved product favorable assessments. In February 2008, Xobni hired Jeff Bonforte as chief executive. Bonforte had previously been a Yahoo vice president and had founded I-drive. That same month, Bill Gates demonstrated Xobni at Microsoft’s Office Developers Conference. The demonstration generated speculation that Microsoft might purchase the company, with reports mentioning a possible offer of approximately $20 million. The reported transaction did not occur. Xobni instead opened its beta to the public on May 5, 2008, and received broad coverage from publications including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, CNET, BusinessWeek, CIO Magazine, and TechCrunch. The company financed continued development through venture investment. In March 2007 it raised approximately $4.26 million from Vinod Khosla, First Round Capital, Atomico, and angel investors including Ron Conway. A further $7 million financing round announced in January 2009 included Cisco Systems and BlackBerry Partners Fund. Xobni announced another financing round of approximately $10 million on February 27, 2012. These funds supported product refinement, expansion beyond Outlook, and efforts to establish a commercial business around premium services, enterprise sales, and a developer ecosystem. Xobni’s first major monetization move was Xobni Plus, launched in July 2009. The paid edition offered advanced search, appointment search, multiple-PST archive searching, an ad-free experience, and one year of support. With the release associated with version 1.8, multiple-archive indexing was removed from the free version for new users, although existing free users retained the capability. This change generated dissatisfaction among some users and illustrated the tension between Xobni’s free-product adoption strategy and the need to generate revenue. During 2010 the company broadened its scope. It developed a service for sharing Xobni information across devices, introduced gadgets that brought third-party data into Outlook, promoted enterprise sales through direct and reseller channels, and proposed a platform for developers to create gadgets for the Xobni sidebar. It also announced localized versions for French- and German-language markets and released a product for BlackBerry users in March 2010. Xobni subsequently moved toward mobile and web-based contact intelligence. In September 2011 it announced Smartr Inbox for Gmail and Smartr Contacts for Android. Rather than presenting an alphabetical address book, Smartr Contacts ranked people by relevance and combined photographs, job titles, company information, communication history, common contacts, and social-network information. The iPhone release followed on January 24, 2012, with comparable contact discovery and communication-context features. Review coverage was generally favorable, and Lifehacker named the Android and iPhone products among its preferred address-book applications. On July 3, 2013, Xobni announced that Yahoo had acquired it. The official purchase price was undisclosed, although contemporary reporting characterized the value as more than $60 million. Yahoo incorporated aspects of Xobni’s technology into Yahoo Mail, and Jeff Bonforte moved into a senior role under Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer, overseeing communications products. The independent Xobni brand and services were short-lived after the acquisition. In July 2014, Yahoo included Xobni among a series of products it shut down while concentrating investment on its core experiences. Xobni is consequently a defunct software brand whose principal historical contribution was to demonstrate a people-centered approach to email search and contact management.

• 2014

  Standalone services discontinued

  [1]Xobnien.wikipedia.org

  Yahoo shut down Xobni as part of a broader effort to focus on its core products.

• 2013

  Acquisition by Yahoo

  [1]Xobnien.wikipedia.org

  Yahoo acquired Xobni for an undisclosed amount and incorporated elements of its technology into Yahoo Mail.

• 2011

  Expansion to Gmail and Android

  [1]Xobnien.wikipedia.org

  Xobni announced Smartr Inbox for Gmail and Smartr Contacts for Android.

• 2009

  Xobni Plus launches

  [1]Xobnien.wikipedia.org

  The company introduced a paid edition with enhanced search, archive support, advertising removal, and customer support.

• 2008

  Public beta and executive transition

  [1]Xobnien.wikipedia.org

  Jeff Bonforte became chief executive, and Xobni opened its Outlook beta to the public.

• 2007

  Private beta announced

  [1]Xobnien.wikipedia.org

  Xobni presented its early Outlook email-search and contact-navigation software for private beta testing at TechCrunch 40.

• 2006

  Xobni is founded and moves to San Francisco

  [1]Xobnien.wikipedia.org

  Adam Smith and Matt Brezina founded Xobni in Cambridge during Y Combinator’s summer program and relocated the company to San Francisco later that year.

Email productivity and relationship intelligence for professionals, centered on search, contact discovery, and communication history across desktop, web, and mobile platforms.

• Email productivity add-in · 2007

  Xobni for Outlook

  Xobni’s principal product was an add-in for Microsoft Outlook that indexed email archives and added people-centered navigation to the desktop email client. It provided enhanced search, contact profiles, communication histories, and a sidebar interface intended to help users understand their relationships rather than merely browse messages chronologically. Earlier versions were known as Xobni Insight. The product’s early releases attracted criticism for performance, stability, resource consumption, and installation or removal problems, while later reviews reported improved reliability.

• Paid email productivity software · 2009

  Xobni Plus

  Xobni Plus was the paid version of the Outlook product, introduced as part of the company’s attempt to monetize a broadly distributed free application. Its additional capabilities included advanced search, appointment search, support for searching multiple Outlook PST archives, removal of advertising, and one year of product support. The product represented Xobni’s freemium strategy, although changes to archive indexing in the free edition caused dissatisfaction among some users.

• Mobile contact-management application · 2011

  Smartr Contacts

  Smartr Contacts was a mobile address-book application for Android and iPhone. It ranked contacts by importance and relevance instead of displaying them only alphabetically, and combined names with photographs, job titles, company details, email history, mutual contacts, and selected social-network information. The application was designed to surface the context surrounding a relationship and could be accessed through an app, widgets, or device search features.

• Web email productivity application · 2011

  Smartr Inbox

  Smartr Inbox was Xobni’s Gmail-oriented product, announced alongside Smartr Contacts for Android in 2011. It extended the company’s people-centered organization and search concept beyond Microsoft Outlook and into webmail. The service formed part of Xobni’s broader effort to support email and contact workflows across multiple platforms before the company was acquired by Yahoo.

• 2014

  Shut down the Xobni product lineStrategy

  Background

  Yahoo was reducing the number of standalone products it operated in order to concentrate resources on core experiences.

  Action taken

  Yahoo discontinued Xobni among a wider group of product closures.

  Aftermath

  The standalone Xobni brand and services ceased operating approximately one year after the acquisition.

  Source

• 2013

  Accept acquisition by YahooM&A

  Background

  Xobni had developed a portfolio spanning Outlook, Gmail, Android, iPhone, and contact-related services, while Yahoo was seeking technology and talent for communications products.

  Action taken

  Xobni announced its acquisition by Yahoo on July 3, 2013. The official consideration was not disclosed.

  Aftermath

  Yahoo incorporated elements of Xobni into Yahoo Mail, and Jeff Bonforte assumed a senior communications-product role at Yahoo. Yahoo later closed the Xobni products in 2014.

  Reported acquisition value. More than US$60 million reported by contemporary accounts; official price undisclosed (July 2013)

  Source

• 2011

  Move into Gmail and mobile contact intelligenceProduct launch

  Background

  Email and contact management were increasingly distributed across webmail and smartphones rather than concentrated in desktop Outlook.

  Action taken

  Xobni announced Smartr Inbox for Gmail and Smartr Contacts for Android, followed by an iPhone release in 2012.

  Aftermath

  The move extended Xobni’s people-centered product concept to additional platforms before the Yahoo acquisition.

  Source

• 2010

  Expand beyond the Outlook plug-inStrategy

  Background

  Xobni sought additional revenue and distribution opportunities beyond a single desktop email client.

  Action taken

  It developed cross-device data services, third-party Outlook gadgets, an enterprise and reseller channel, and a developer platform, while adding localized products and BlackBerry support.

  Aftermath

  The expansion broadened Xobni’s product scope but did not prevent the company from ultimately being acquired by Yahoo.

  Source

• 2009

  Introduce a paid tier through Xobni PlusPrice change

  Background

  Xobni needed a revenue model for a product that had initially been distributed in free beta form and was expensive to develop and support.

  Action taken

  The company launched Xobni Plus with advanced search, appointment search, multiple-PST archive support, no advertising, and one year of support.

  Aftermath

  The paid tier established a freemium model, while later removal of multiple-archive indexing from the free version caused dissatisfaction among some users.

  Source

1. 1Xobnien.wikipedia.org