Marcin, CEO of UXPin, here. Thanks for posting the news. We're very excited about the investment and having Jeff on board! Now back to work. Time to make design collaboration easy! :)
OK than. Couple of reasons - Windows Mobile was a single worse case of Fits Law violation. Small interface elements hard to reach even with stylus. I remember that one of my test devices was HTC Diamond. I don't recall slower, uglier mobile device. Apart from that UI guidelines were a joke. Microsoft tried to fit Windows into a mobile device and failed. Phone 8 is a completely new approach. Just try to compare them.
Google Wave failed to address one particular useful 'use case'. The interface was a mess and people didn't know what to do with it.
Sony Remote? It was actually canceled and changed because of problems with usability. Lots of buttons with lack of clear information architecture - straight way to design hell.
Each and one of mentioned devices could be throughly analyzed. I just thought it will be more fun to list them :).
Right now Opera has 1.6% of market share. Safari - 4.1%. Back in 2011 - Opera had 2.5% and Safari 4.0%. You can actually see that Opera is in bad shape. And probably you're right - Opera might be popular in some communities. Globally though - it doesn't matter and its market share is actually shrinking.
15 releases and still almost nobody uses it. Couple of years ago Opera was a solid browser and a great hope. Today it's on the verge of being forgotten.
Words of wisdom. Besides, I'm the one to blame. If I would try to built an honest relationship with Dave and his network during past 12 months I wouldn't need to stalk him at the Launch Festival. My point is that cold-pitching people is risky and almost disrespectful to both parties (!). Just as investors should be respected as human beings and they deserve to be treated as humans (not wallets), entrepreneurs shouldn't knee before investors and almost beg for money with their pitch- we're the one building amazing companies after all.
First of all I really respect what Peldi and Balsamiq did. Balsamiq is a decent (to say the least) wireframing tool with an amazing marketing. They deserve the number of customers they've got.
UXPin is a different tool. We're a young company established by UX Designers and backed up with VC money, aiming at one goal: creation of The UX Design App.
UX Design is much more than mere wireframing and we're here to provide full, well designed, solution for any web, mobile and software team, that cares for stunning user experience.
If you feel that you match this description, I'm sure, pretty soon, you'll find no excuses not to join UXPin :).
We're improving our tool every day and step by step we're getting closer to the ultimate goal.
The trial time is extendable to 30 days (click on 'extend trial' on the top of your dashboard). What's more you can always ping us and we'll be glad to give you further time to work with UXPin.