Silicon Prairie News

What was launched last year as a project dubbed "#MysteriosDottie" has now come to fruition. Completely under wraps until today, the project of Gabe Kangas was released in the iPhone app store as Hollrback, a "context-specific cloud based contacts management service." Or in simpler terms: a free iPhone app that allows its users to create and exchange multiple business/contact cards and when doing so adds location and event tags to the acquired cards.

(Left: Screenshots of the Hollrback app, from itunes.apple.com)

 On their Facebook page, Hollrback describes their target market and focus:

You’re a person who meets people all the time: at work, at a conference, or at a restaurant. You never know who you’re going to meet.

Like most people, you’re not defined by just one job or hobby. You’re an interesting person, meeting other interesting people for a variety of reasons.

But how do you remember who you met and why?

This is the focus of Hollrback: knowing that context is everything. Who you meet is just as important as where you meet them and what they mean to you. With Hollrback, it’s like a good first and second impression.

A user's "business card" within Hollrback is transferred through the scanning of his or her card's QR code. To do this, one user brings their Hollrback card up on their screen and another user scans the QR code with either the Hollrback app or another QR code reader app. Currently, there is no limit to how many cards a user can create. Once cards are collected, a user can then manage his or her contacts' Hollrback cards in the iPhone app or on the website, hollrback.com.

Here's an example list of possible Hollrback cards (from hollrback.com/help):

• You may want a "Twitter only" card that only has your Twitter account for social network functions.
• You may want a "Work" card that has your work phone, work email, and work mailing address.
• You may want a "Personal" card that has your Facebook, Gmail address, and cell phone.

(Left: Example of a Hollrback card, that of creator Gabe Kangas. Image from hollrback.com/help.)

The contact management app space Hollrback is entering is one that continues to get crowded with competitors. For examples, just last week we highlighted a startup out of New York, Hashable, that's integrating Twitter into its app (See: "Tools for the Trade: Hashable helps users build and track relationships"). There's also the popular Bump app, which in addition to exchanging contact information between users can exchange files, such as photos.

Hollrback's edge, however, may prove to be their "event" feature, which is described as a "container" where a user stores all of his or her contacts that were collected at a point in time. "These are created so Hollrback users can share the same event," states the Hollrback help page. "It allows you to know how many people have your Hollrback card from that place and time, as well as how many people you collected. To enable this an event is geo-tagged when it's created so others in the physical area can select it."

Regarding its competition, Hollrback takes a little jab at Bump on its sign up page:

With Hollrback, you choose how you want someone to contact you. They scan your card, and you’re done. You can make multiple cards in advance, or do it on the fly. No paper, no pens, no frantic typing. Click, scan, and keep talking.

Stop asking people, “where do I know you from?” Stop letting business cards pile up on your desk. And stop fist-bumping total strangers.

Screenshots of Hollrback iPhone app, from itunes.apple.com

Hollrback is currently in private beta. When signing up, the site states "Required beta code. Don't know it? Ask around." Unfortunately, we don't have any codes to share and Kangas was unavailable for comments on this post. If you're ambitious though, we have, however, discovered a backdoor into the private beta: download the Hollrback iPhone app and register on the app, no beta code is needed.

Hollrback is only available for the iPhone but its website states it will be coming soon on Blackberry and Android.

To learn more about Hollrback, visit hollrback.com and hollrback.com/help.