The recent Backpack update has been a huge success. Here's a look at the first 24 hours of the updated app's signups, upgrades, and financial performance.
And here's some of the blogosphere's reaction to the new Backpack...
Web Worker Daily: Equipping your Virtual Office with a Multiuser Backpack
Backpack, 37signals lightweight online information organizer has just morphed into a very handy intranet for web worker online businesses with the addition of multiuser page, calendar, messaging and reminder functions.
“The concept of an intranet has been perverted over the years to be a bunch of different things,” said Jason Fried, CEO of Chicago-based 37signals. "Our idea of what an intranet needs is what we have encountered over and over and over when we used to do client work. People just need a place to share common information. They need a place to keep track of very simple calendar items - when a meeting is, when something is going on. And they need a way to share documents. So we see Backpack as a new breed of intranet - returning to the original promise of the intranet: a closed system for people within an company to share information.”
Deep Jive Interests: 37Signals’ Backpack Evolves Into Intranet 2.0?
This upgrade is fairly substantial, as it allows multiple users for any given account, mimicking, in effect, a remotely-hosted “intranet”; a gathering place where you can organize notes, files, calendars, and messages. In a way, its almost like Basecamp “lite”, although it clearly does not have the heavy lifting that Basecamp has, with respect to specific project management.
Brian Bailey: Backpack is more fun with friends
I've always been a big fan of Backpack, but this is a whole new thing. If you're part of organization that has always wanted a single place where staff and volunteers could share information, calendars, even reminders (including SMS), definitely give Backpack a try. I can't think of better option, especially for churches and non-profits.
Kaylow: Backpack updates are live
Backpack is the one application that I absolutely love with my whole heart. I want a stronger synonym for “useful” to describe Backpack, but for now that’s how I’ll describe it: Usefulness perfected. I love it.
Patrick Rhone: Backpack Gets Down To Business
Backpack, the personal organization tool from 37 Signals, got a lot less, well, personal today. They have rolled out a new multiuser version that makes it easier for small teams to organize and exchange information. As stated on their product blog “Backpack brings the promise of the intranet back and delivers real value by keeping things simple”. Indeed!...If you have a small team and are looking for simple and straight forward way to collaborate, share task lists, share appointments, etc., Backpack is now a fantastic solution.
ReadWriteWeb: Backpack Upgrade - Maybe Not So Out of Focus
It seems likely that multiuser support, and the other features added to Backpack yesterday were things that current users of the app were asking for. As they wrote in their book, if a feature is worth adding, your customers will keep bugging you about it. "If it's really worth remembering, they'll remind you until you can't forget."Changes as big as the ones 37Signals launched this week are not done on a whim. My guess is that these are mostly things customers had asked for -- and not just once, but a lot, over a long period of time.
Laughing Giant: Backpack Grows into a Good Small-Business Intranet
Basecamp is often too cumbersome for simpler projects, or projects with fewer than four or five users. So 37signals just rolled out a major upgrade to Backpack and changed its pricing plans to make it more of a group tool, rather than an individual tool...It’s clear that Backpack is moving into the project management space that Basecamp has clearly owned for so long, but Backpack does have more of the small-business intranet features, as they state.
Try the new Backpack to see what all the fuss is about.
We're looking top publish some case studies on how customers are using the new Backpack. If you've got a good example or story, let us know (attach a screenshot too).
