Skip to main content

Audio app Airchat probably isn't worth the hype

By
The Airchat logo surrounded by positive headlines from online publications.

There's a new app in town, according to Wired and Bloomberg, if you consider Silicon Valley a town. A by-invitation-only audio-based app called Airchat is reportedly being "hyped in tech circles," with invites making the rounds among the Valley's top brass.

The app combines elements of X (formerly Twitter) and voice notes, with a main feed populated by text transcripts of voice notes from other users, which you can play, heart, or repost.

SEE ALSO: BeReal has 10 months left before it runs out of money

The "hype" for AirChat has been magnified by reports from Business Insider and a contributor at Forbes, who declared that you'd have to have been "under a rock" to have avoided an invite to the app. And it's no coincidence that Airchat cofounders Naval Ravikant (co-creator of AngelList) and Brian Norgard (former chief product officer at Tinder) are tech insiders themselves, or that investors include the likes of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who "threw in a check, kind of blindly," according to Ravikant.

But the numbers may tell a different story. Both Bloomberg and Business Insider cite data from Sensor Tower that claims Airchat has been downloaded just over 45,000 times since launching in mid-2023, with 30,000 of those downloads occurring only after a relaunch this month. That lackluster showing could be chalked up to the app's current exclusivity, but Airchat is also losing steam fast. Bloomberg reported that the app was ranked no. 29 in the App Store's ranking of top social networking apps just yesterday. As of publishing today, the app has fallen to no. 42.

If the term "social audio app" rings a bell, you may be remembering Clubhouse, which shot to fame in 2020 and 2021 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and was valued at $4 billion. But Clubhouse gained popularity at a lonely time, when most people were sheltering inside and desperate for human interaction, and last year, the app laid off half of its staff.

Perhaps Airchat can do what Clubhouse could not. For now, it seems like just another place tech execs can hear themselves talk.



from Mashable https://ift.tt/CrF6gwq
via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Instagram accidentally reinstated Pornhub’s banned account

By
After years of on-and-off temporary suspensions, Instagram permanently banned Pornhub’s account in September. Then, for a short period of time this weekend, the account was reinstated. By Tuesday, it was permanently banned again. “This was done in error,” an Instagram spokesperson told TechCrunch. “As we’ve said previously, we permanently disabled this Instagram account for repeatedly violating our policies.” Instagram’s content guidelines prohibit  nudity and sexual solicitation . A Pornhub spokesperson told TechCrunch, though, that they believe the adult streaming platform’s account did not violate any guidelines. Instagram has not commented on the exact reasoning for the ban, or which policies the account violated. It’s worrying from a moderation perspective if a permanently banned Instagram account can accidentally get switched back on. Pornhub told TechCrunch that its account even received a notice from Instagram, stating that its ban had been a mistake (that message itself w
Post a Comment
Read more

Colorado police identified the serial killer who murdered 4 women 40 years ago after exhuming his body to analyze a DNA sample

By
A scientist examines computer images of DNA models. Getty Images Police in Colorado have cracked the cold cases of four women killed 40 years ago. Denver PD said genetic genealogy and DNA analysis helped them identify the serial killer. He had died by suicide in jail in 1981. DNA from his exhumed body matched evidence from the murders. Police in Colorado have cracked the code on four murder cases that went unsolved for 40 years, using DNA from the killer's exhumed body. The cases pertain to four women killed in the Denver metro area between 1978 and 1981. They were 33-year-old Madeleine Furey-Livaudais, 53-year-old Dolores Barajas, 27-year-old Gwendolyn Harris, and 17-year-old Antoinette Parks. The four women were stabbed to death. Denver Police Commander Matt Clark said in a press conference Friday that there was an "underlying sexual component" to the murders but didn't elaborate further. In 2009, a detective reviewed Parks' case and picked several p
Post a Comment
Read more

Axeleo Capital raises $51 million fund

By
Axeleo Capital has raised a $51 million fund (€45 million). Axeleo first started with an accelerator focused on enterprise startups. The firm is now all grown up with an acceleration program and a full-fledged VC fund. The accelerator is now called Axeleo Scale , while the fund is called Axeleo Capital . And it’s important to mention both parts of the business as they work hand in hand. Axeleo picks up around 10 startups per year and help them reach the Series A stage. If they’re doing well over the 12 to 18 months of the program, Axeleo funds those startups using its VC fund. Limited partners behind the company’s first fund include Bpifrance through the French Tech Accélération program, the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Vinci Energies, Crédit Agricole, BNP Paribas, Caisse d’Épargne Rhône-Alpes as well as various business angels and family offices. The firm is also partnering with Hi Inov, the holding company of the Dentressangle family. Axeleo will take care of the early stage in
Post a Comment
Read more