uboot.com
uboot.com was an internet-based social network that existed from 1999 to 2013. After it was founded, uboot.com was at times one of the fastest growing youth communities and, according to its own account, had up to 6 million registered users in Germany , Austria , Great Britain and Switzerland .
In the last few years before it was discontinued, uboot.com increasingly lost its importance in the German-speaking world compared to other social networks . The number of users dropped significantly and the service was finally discontinued in December 2013.
history
Original concept (1999-2011)
The website included user pages with guest books, friends lists and contact options, photo and video albums, blog , chat , discussion forums and the sending of SMS (later paid for) .
Modified concept (2011-2013)
In 2011, attempts were unsuccessful to counteract a considerable decline in the number of participants and increasing competition from other social networks by changing the concept. The purpose of the platform was unclear. Bets were offered on the main page . The discussion forums have been closed. The possibility of sending SMS was no longer offered. The publicly accessible forum was initially only used sporadically and was later discontinued.
Hiring (2013)
On December 15, 2013, uboot.com stopped its offer. Any credit remaining on the user account at this point in time will expire on that day without the option of a refund being offered.
Companies
uboot.com was designed as a "mobile youth platform" by the Austrian company ucp.ag (Universal Communication Platform AG) founded in 1999 . The company ucp.ag, founded in August 1999 by Christian Lutz and Marwan Saba together with four software developers, recorded a considerable rise in the following years. With the launch of the website uboot.com on February 14, 2000, supported by well-known investors, the establishment of a rapidly growing Austrian youth portal in the non-voice wireless area (free SMS) and market entry in Germany, England and Switzerland succeeded.
The target group of this platform of social software were people who on the one hand want to have an individual web presence with various additional functions quickly and easily, and on the other hand are interested in the colorful exchange with members of an open community .
In the summer of 2002 the uboot.com locations in Austria ( Vienna ), Germany ( Berlin ) and England ( London ) became 100% subsidiaries of ucp.ag. At the end of 2003, uboot.com was sold to the Swiss company penuntia.ag under the management of Marwan Saba and Thomas Lang. Penuntia.ag holds 100% of the Vienna-based uboot.com mobile internet services GmbH.
uboot.com mobile internet services GmbH operated in addition to the website uboot.com the side schwarzfunk.com (a prepaid -Mobilfunktarif). Schwarzfunk ran under the Weissfunk brand in Germany and was spun off as an independent company. Schwarzfunk was discontinued in 2008, Weissfunk apparently in 2011.
Functionality and user functions
Registered users could choose a nickname of their choice when registering , provided it was not already assigned. The main focus of the platform was on the individual user page ( nickpage ), which could be designed and expanded in a variety of ways (blogs, photo and video albums, various contact options). The free mail supported incoming and outgoing e-mails with the address nickname @ uboot.com until 2009 . From 2009 only internal contact was possible. A special feature of the service was the receipt of SMS . When sending SMS, the full number of 160 characters was available.
Registration and use of most functions was free for users. In 2002 uboot.com stopped sending SMS free of charge.
criticism
Like many websites, uboot.com appeared to be sponsored by advertising. In the General Terms and Conditions under point 17, it was pointed out that data can also be passed on to partner and third-party companies for the purpose of advertising after a confidentiality agreement has been concluded. The user could revoke this by sending an email to uboot, by using an opt-out function in the corresponding advertising message or by post to uboot.
Footnotes
- ↑ Michaela Schwab: Austrian start-up uboot comes to Germany in October: online community wants to benefit from cell phone mania handelsblatt.com, September 28, 2000, accessed July 24, 2019.
- ↑ a b pts: Press text June 6, 2000, no longer reached on July 24, 2019.
- ↑ https://www.nachrichten.at/nachrichten/wirtschaft/uboot-com-will-wieder-auftauchen;art15,686610
- ↑ https://futurezone.at/digital-life/uboot-com-neustart-als-facebook-alternative/24.560.389
- ↑ http://futurezone.at/b2b/aus-der-traum-wenn-start-ups-scheitern/41.756.697
- ↑ pts: September 28, 2000
- ↑ http://www.mobilfunk-talk.de/51600-ist-mit-weissfunk-los.html