Xmarks, a browser add-on that lets you synchronize your bookmarks, passwords and other data over several computers, is shutting down.
According to a lengthy blog post on the official Xmarks blog, today Xmarks will start sending notifications to users (I still haven’t received one) that the service will be shut down in 90 days. The reasons for the shutdown are explained in detail in the post, but it boils down to funds running out and Xmarks being unable to find a viable business model or a buyer.
Xmarks (originally called Foxmarks) started out with a very simple purpose: to let Firefox users sync their bookmarks on several computers. Later, the company changed the name to Xmarks (as it extended support for other browsers) and added more functionality, such as browsing recommendations and password syncing.
The interesting thing about Xmarks is this: If you ask me, or many people I know, what their favorite Firefox add-on is, we’d say it’s Xmarks. After drivers and Firefox, it’s the first piece of software I install on a new computer.
And I’m not the only one: Xmarks claims it serves some 2 million users across 5 million desktops, adding nearly 3,000 new accounts per day. Sounds like a successful service, but it obviously wasn’t enough. Normally, when you hear about a service shutting down, it’s usually due to lack of interest, but there’s no lack of interest in bookmark synchronization; users still need the feature, perhaps more than ever.
The problem is that Google, Opera and Mozilla have either added or are planning to add most of the features Xmarks offers, for free. The folks at Xmarks knew this, and you can’t blame them for lack of trying to extend their niche with additional features, but at the end of the day, users installed Xmarks for its core functionality, and that’s bookmark synchronization.
Here’s a quote from Xmarks CTO and Co-founder Todd Agulnick that sounds like a warning for many startups following a similar path: “For four years we have offered the synchronization service for no charge, predicated on the hypothesis that a business model would emerge to support the free service. With that investment thesis thwarted, there is no way to pay expenses, primarily salary and hosting costs. Without the resources to keep the service going, we must shut it down.”
Sometimes, you can fight the big guys, such as Google and Mozilla, and win. Sometimes you can join them. Most of the time, unfortunately, you lose.
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