Tuesday, May 30, 2006

CNET’s AllYouCanUpload Is Disruptive

TechCrunch blogged CNET very quietly launched a simple new photo uploading site called AllYouCanUpload last week. At first glance it doesn’t appear to be very special or disruptive. But it is. By launching AllYouCanUpload, CNET just pulled the rug out from under at least two startups (photobucket and imageshack) that focus on providing image hosting for users who want to display those images on other websites, like Myspace, eBay and others. This is a big business - a lot of traffic flows through photobucket today, and it is a profitable and well funded company.

Why does offerring one free service disrupt other free services. Can't people decide which they prefer to use?
AllYouCanUpload is a site that makes uploading photos as easy as it can possibly get. They’ve removed all of the friction. You do not need to register for an account. You just use the uploading tool and you are shown the image along with codes to post the photo on sites like Myspace, ebay and others (I’d also like an option to have the image links emailed to me). Unlike Photobucket and Imageshack, AllYouCanUpload is completely free, and no advertisements appear on the uploading areas of the site (there are ads on the hosted part of the site, which you see if you click on a hosted image). There is no limit to the number of photos that can be uploaded or the total amount of storage that may be consumed. There is no limit on the size of an image, and images are not resized unless you request it. And possibly most importantly, there are absolutely no bandwidth restraints.

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