the video shows it takes about 15 seconds to launch the app, tap the button, and exchange data. now add in time to pull your phone out and unlock it (possibly with a pin). i just timed myself and it took 10 seconds to take the phone out of my pocket, slide the unlock bar, put in my pin, push the home button to get out of the last app i was in, and scroll to the home screen of apps.
so 25 seconds may not seem like a long time, but realistically, standing in front of someone for 25 seconds doing nothing is pretty awkward. really, try it. go up to someone and stand there counting to 25 in your head. now consider doing that in front of someone you don't really know (otherwise why would you be exchanging information?)
now consider pulling a business card out of that same pocket and handing it to the person. they can say thanks and put it in their pocket without even looking at it, then process it later.
Thanks for that, it didn't even occur to me. :) Yeah, the social awkwardness factor kinda blows it in some instances, doesn't it?
If you could run it as a background service on the iPhone (which you can't without jailbreak), you could cut 15 seconds off that time.
Maybe given the current technical limitations it'll work better in some social settings than others. Informal ones where time isn't pressed, like hanging out with a group of people. Or at a convention. If you're sitting in a booth you could have an iPhone sitting on the table with the app open and ready to go. A passer-by might want to shoot you an email later, so they pull out their iPhone, bump yours, and away they go...
I guess thinking about it more it probably works in some situations better than others. It's niched though, and that's the stuff of entrepreneurial gold. ;)
I don't think it would be socially awkward, because the 2 people involved are not just standing around doing nothing for the 25 seconds; they are both busy tapping their phones.
You'll probably be able to cut that time down if you don't use a pin code (I don't), and if you put the app in the bottom row of apps.
Business cards are a pain if you ever want to use the information. Most people don't type them up so if you ever need the information you have to scramble to find the card so you can call/email the person. Once you factor in the time it takes to store the information on a business card Bump is more competitive time wise (but of course I am biased).
At most of the business mixers that I've gone to people later add the contacts to LinkedIn, at which point they can grab a vCard if they need to import it elsewhere. It might be worth looking into the LinkedIn API to see if you can try to get a similar workflow with Bump.
so 25 seconds may not seem like a long time, but realistically, standing in front of someone for 25 seconds doing nothing is pretty awkward. really, try it. go up to someone and stand there counting to 25 in your head. now consider doing that in front of someone you don't really know (otherwise why would you be exchanging information?)
now consider pulling a business card out of that same pocket and handing it to the person. they can say thanks and put it in their pocket without even looking at it, then process it later.