Tuhee..a ’smart’ RIA for creating eCards

Tuhee is an eCards website that allows users to create personalized e-cards in a jiffy. The site is not a commercial venture at this stage and can best be described as a ‘proof of concept’ for a future product. It is essentially a Rich Internet Application built on Open Laszlo, that publishes the ubiquitous SWF format. I checked out the site and was able to create this sample card in less than two minutes. I am driven to profiling this ‘work-in-progress’ product, because I find Tuhee a wonderful exposition of that big promise of rich internet application, i.e., single page interactivity, with minimal server side interaction. The site has been built by a three member team, two of who are US based and the third is in Hyderabad. They wanted their application to offer the much needed personalized touch, as compared to other e-cards websites, which typically use prefabricated templates. That apart, you don’t need an account to create a card. Which means that you can land on the site and create a card in no time. It can then be forwarded via email.

Tuhee’s creators do not have a business plan at this stage. They are experimenting with the idea and will take it on, if it evolves from here. If that happens, monetization could take the form of contextual advertising, PPC etc. Or they could license/sell it in the form of a widget or source code for others to embed in their application or website. Potential buyers could be wikis, other card sites, social networking setups, etc.

I feel the widget route is the one that has a lot of promise (don’t ask me why). In spite of every VC telling you that features (or widgets) do not make a company, look at the crazy funding valuations that startups like Slide, RockYou etc are drumming up. Their claim to fame is offering a widget, that can be created in double quick time (without creating an account) and dropping it into a MySpace or Bebo blog (or comment box). Tuhee could easily be converted into a widget company on those lines. Maybe for dropping into the profiles of Indian users in the numerous social networking sites that have sprung up. And to answer the question whether a business model is possible for a widgets company or not, the best of what I can write, will not be able to match the arguments put forth in this blog post.