The Web has seen its share of "Evite killers" come and go over the years, but it's been tough to upset this entrenched company. Evite has been around for years, and despite some early struggles, the online invitation service has built up a huge base of loyal users and has a business model based on advertising and sponsorships. Nevertheless, Evite is regarded as a "Web 1.0 plowhorse," and several companies see an opportunity to take Evite's mantle.
The newest challenger to Evite is Anyvite, a YCombinator-funded startup that launched last month. The basic service -- setting up invitations for events, and inviting friends to come -- is the same as what Evite and competitors offer, but there are a few twists: SMS and mobile functionality has been built into the Anyvite application from the start, the service has integration with Plaxo and other third-party services, and the UI is very clean and intuitive -- a welcome change from the clutter and advertisements that Evite is known for. And, unlike Evite, recipients of Anyvites don't need to click out of their email client to respond.
However, a clean UI, user-friendly attitude, and a lack of advertising can only go so far. How will Anyvite make money? When I asked founders Jeff and Dan Morin this question, they said they are still developing a business plan. The brothers indicated that they want to avoid flash-based advertising, which they feel ruins the user experience. One possibility: Location-based sponsorships around event planning.
Will that generate enough revenue to grow the service? I think it will be difficult. Still, there are definitely some chinks in Evite's armor, and Anyvite is exploiting some of the more obvious ones, especially in the mobile realm.
More information about Anyvite's features can be found on the Anyvite FAQ and blog, and the mobile service can be accessed at m.anyvite.com.
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