When I first discovered PowerInbox I was hugely impressed by the ability of the app to turn email into a collaborative platform, where applications can be integrated directly into an email that works on almost any platform. Since then the company launched its PowerApp API in March to nearly reinvent what email could do. Today, the company is taking things one step further by offering a full API, called Connect, so that users can have interactive email without installing anything else.
The final result? It looks something like this, where the entire email turns into a full-blown application inside of the inbox:
With the launch, PowerInbox is also releasing more apps. Instagram, PivotalTracker (for details inside notification emails) and Boloco (a burrito company that does crazy videos in their emails). The company is also bringing in three partners for the Connect API launch — Fuser, Unified Inbox and Smak.
When you’re talking about the things that are pushing technology forward, email keeps coming up time and again as the solution that we already have, which just needs to be better. PowerInbox has been edging itself ahead of the pack since its release, and the Connect API is another great step in that direction.
CEO Matt Thazhmon tells me that the company is focusing on external email products right now:
” Basically, we are focused on email clients that have captured the early adopter community such as Thunderbird, Sparrow, PostBox, ShortMail and MailMate. Users of these third party email clients are usually early adopters who are looking for a better experience than the default clients and so they would appreciate the productivity gains from better interactive emails in their inbox.”
For those wanting to integrate with the new API, things look to be easy. Fuser President Frank Brown says that it took their developers “less than a couple of hours”, and that’s an important fact. Companies don’t have time to spend making sure that things just work as they’re supposed to when using outside resources. In order for an API to be useful, it has to be every bit as simple as it is powerful. With PowerInbox and the Connect API, apps can now run in email clients without any other downloads necessary. That’s serious power.
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