Sequoia has invested $5million in ideacts, an interesting media venture that aims to capture the desktop screens of cybercafes and deliver ads.
ideacts has built a desktop client (called Clinck )that can be installed on cybercafes across the country. The desktop client will serve as an ad delivery channel for ideacts, which will deliver ads to cybercafes (geo-targeted etc).
ideacts will pay cybercafes a fixed amount of money per month (no revenue sharing). They have already roped in MSN, Dell, Radio Mirchi, ICICI and Y! India, Google, MingleBox,Guruji as advertisers.
There are 1.5Lakh cybercafes in India and is expected to grow to 2.6L by 2010.
Cybercafes are becoming the next battlefield for advertisers and even gaming companies are ready to pay a good amount of money to cybercafes (after all, they are the entry point, 47% of Internet surfing happens from cybercafes).
The worst problem that anyone can guess is that.. this Clinck totally removes the conventional desktop. Such a new interface, which is not in the usual habit of users, would make them really uncomfortable. You can’t even refresh this new ‘desktop’ or even click on it, otherwise it will unintentionally open some link of an advertisement.
The cafe owners just go for it because of some ‘extra’ money but they don’t understand that this will seriously affect their own service.
I DOwnloaded this interface…
It eats a lot of RAM, more than internet explorer, slowing down the system..
The desktop itself is very unfamiliar.. and a lot of mess with Ads. I cant directly access my desktop files and other icons.. which is the very first purpose of a windows desktop.
Unless they improve the application.. cafe owners will have to think twice. They can give an option to minimize/maximize this new destop with an attractive icon on the desktop.
The worst problem that anyone can guess is that.. this Clinck totally removes the conventional desktop. Such a new interface, which is not in the usual habit of users, would make them really uncomfortable. You can’t even refresh this new ‘desktop’ or even click on it, otherwise it will unintentionally open some link of an advertisement.
The cafe owners just go for it because of some ‘extra’ money but they don’t understand that this will seriously affect their own service..