Online photo printing comes to Malaysia – why not harness the Flickr API?
Found a cool Malaysian company, eoe. They apparently have physical stores, but what’s cool about them is online printing of photos — something which I believe is totally new in Malaysia.
They’re cheap – RM0.30/4R print. They’re even trying the viral marketing thing – get bloggers to write about them (no, I am not participating) in exchange for free photos.
I might try there services at some stage, but not today. Why? Because I have to upload photos through my browser. Their “Easy Upload” app displays a silly message saying they don’t support Firefox (so I don’t get the fancy pants editing of images, et al.).
<free advice>If they want to be a smarter Malaysian company, they would partner with Flickr, and harness the Flickr API, so that people can make easy prints from Flickr. After all, advertising for Flickr is already done for free, thanks to Maxis (they love advertising Flickr and how easy it is to use on their phone network). Printing images that are already there, rather than re-uploading (with slow, unreliable Streamyx) will make a whole lot more sense. Besides, each photo coming out of my camera, is probably 5MB in size — so I’ll pass.</free advice>
Here’s wishing Eoe much success, and hope they partner with the likes of Flickr, or just harness their darned API, for easy printing.
Talk about not moving with the times. No Firefox support? Not smart.
EOE eh.. RM0.30 for 4R print? Hmm.. that’s neither expensive nor cheap. I get those sort of prices where I go print as well.
so…
@Carolyn it seems like a big MS shop of some sort. The app is architected against that platform
@lotso but oh, the convenience of not having to leave your house. Its interesting if they harness their printing technology with the Flickr API. today, otherwise, its not so interesting… especially if its faster to burn a CD with a bajillion photos, and take it to the photo shop and get it for rm0.30/4r print
BTW, where do you do your prints? I’m obviously looking for a new print shop clearly
The IE only for EasyUpload(ActiveX) could be a minus point, but you still have the choice to do a one by one upload, just like picasa, facebook, flickr without any plugin installation.
The Flickr integration is really a cool suggestion without question, but how many Malaysians company are up to it yet? It seems far-reached although not impossible with the rate of business in Malaysia embracing latest technology.
Btw, I’m not from eoe but I did join their blogger review :) Honestly, I’m quite satisfied with their service and system and it’s a good sign that Malaysian companies are starting to venture their brick-and-mortar biz to go online, I’m just hoping we can get to see more of these services from Malaysian companies.
Hi Marvin,
Yes, a one-by-one upload for a lot of pictures, is kind of a pain. I have no Windows boxes lying around, and seeing ActiveX is an ultimate turn-off. Heck, look at Flickr Uploadr – they use XULRunner and you can find an Uploadr for Linux or MacOSX with no problem.
There are no Malaysian companies using Flickr integration that I know of. However, there are also no online printing companies in Malaysia that I know of, that are doing photo printing – getting photo printers aren’t cheap, and the logistics of accepting payments and shipping stuff (trusting POS Malaysia!) is quite burdensome. Otherwise, if the barrier to entry was lower (i.e. dirt cheap printers), I might also be in business :-)
So, I’d like eoe to be a pioneer. They already have the hard stuff. Why not just hook up to the API, and not make me re-upload stuff?
EOE is a perfect example of brick and mortar going online yes. But they are also the e-commerce people talked about in 1996. Its 2009 now. Move with the times.
Kudos to making the service available online. But as Ow/lotso says, its no better deal now. I might as well burn a CD, and take it over to the store. No savings in cost, no ease, etc…
Will they implement my suggestion? Who knows. Maybe you’ll tell them. Or maybe they’ll read this…
Heck, maybe I’ll get into the photo/art printing business, logistics, warts and all :-)
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Great article about online business. I hope there is a follow up post