Pownce: An Alpha Makes Its Debut

How does one pronounce the alpha? “Poance?” “Pounce?” I hope it’s the latter, though I don’t quite know why I hope so. Maybe because “poance” just doesn’t sound good. The other option doesn’t make much obvious sense anyhow, though, so….

Anyway, it is what it is. What is it? Pownce is what it is. (Apologies for the gibberish. Presently low on caffeine here.) Yes, so, Pownce. It’s the project kept hush-hush for a good while by a quartet of folk. Who exactly? Leah Culver, Daniel Burka, Kevin Rose (who’s he?), and Shawn Allen. Know any of them? Not I. Personally, at least. Or professionally.

Before I go any further, I think it’s fitting to ask whether anyone else, other than myself, would like to de-throne Mr Rose from his apparent default status as the preeminent head of this alpha? A TechCrunch piece by none other than Michael Arrington himself was titled: “Kevin Rose’s New Startup: Pownce". And over at Webware, Rafe Needleman opens his post with: “Kevin Rose, of Digg and Revision 3 fame, just launched an invite-only alpha of his latest project….” Arrington at least gives the other three involved in the project in the second paragraph of his piece. Needleman doesn’t allude to it being a group effort in the least. For shame. For shame.

And here I am under the impression that the world is getting flatter.

I won’t go into very much detail about what the product is comprised of because, well, frankly, if you only pay a short visit to the site in profile you’ll find all you need to know. To list the stuff here would be to waste your time, and I’d really, really, really, really, really hate to do that.

In short, Pownce operates on the Web with the help of Python, Apache and so forth; it can also be enjoyed in desktop app form thanks to an Adobe product (Flex) and an Adobe platform (AIR, formerly known as Apollo.) It lets you send messages quickly (a.k.a., IM) to individuals, groups, or everyone on your Pownce list, as well as “files, links, and events.” Users that choose the zero-cost edition are shown advertisements and a file size limit is imposed. Pay $20 for a 1-year license/subscription and you’ll experience Pownce ad-free and will have the option of uploading much, much larger files. For small businesses or any individual with a paying job, I suspect $20 isn’t too harsh a number to chew.

At the moment, Pownce is only available to those given invites. You can request one for yourself at Pownce.com.

In closing, I figure I should tell you that Pownce is merely the name of the product, not a company. It is the debut product to come from a company established by the four individuals mentioned above. They call it Megatechtronium. Nothing much I can tell you about why it bears that title. I must say though that I like it a hell of a lot more than “Pownce.”