Some people have a hard time with technology. Others, well, they have a hard time with technology too, but on a more newbish level. While most of today’s generation heads to Google to find solutions to their problems, others wander around asking absolutely everyone with the slightest bit of tech knowledge how to use their applications and devices. Colorado based Openspace has opened a store to combat the latter, and their goal is to address the problem of apprehension that seems to persist throughout society.
Robert Reich, the founder of Openspace, is hoping that people will start turning to his company for help with their applications as well as to get recommendations on which applications are better than others.
From Mobiledia:
If your iPhone has a problem, you take it to Apple. If your Android tablet has a problem, you take it to Verizon, AT&T or Best Buy … But if you have a question about which camera app would be great for taking pictures this weekend on the slopes, where can you turn?
I’m not sure if this is a genius idea, or not. On the one hand, I know full well that there are a lot of people out there who do not turn to the web to find out the kind of information that Reich is hoping to provide the public. But, on the other hand, the number of those people has to be in decline, right? Also, the original article suggests that Reich is hoping people who aren’t in Boulder, Colorado, will actual turn to their website for advice. That same Internet that has a bazillion tech websites that offer help to the general public for help. If someone needs in person help from some app guru, will a website actually help them?
Also, here’s the kicker. It sounds, at least from the Mobiledia article, like Reich is also looking into getting commission from developers for spreading the word about their applications. It leaves me wondering if this help is actually just another way to advertise particular applications over others, without genuinely providing advice on the best applications available to a consumer.
Interesting approach, but it kinda feels like it’s a decade, or two, too late.
This isn’t the first time Openspace has made the news either. The Openspace app store made the rounds earlier this spring when they announced that they would be focusing on an open and universal app store that lets users purchase apps once, then take their apps with them to any platform they switch to in the future, instead of having to buy them a second or even third time.
