Company also launches its first premium product, Plaxo VIP Support
December 17, 2003 (MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.) � Plaxo, Inc. announced today that is has surpassed 1,000,000 registered users of Plaxo Contacts in only 7 months of operation, beating the company�s own aggressive goals for user growth. Plaxo Contacts, which provides a simple and secure way to keep individuals' contact information up-to-date and complete, is now growing at more than 50 percent per month. More than 15 million individuals have used the Plaxo Contacts service to update their information, having also discovered that Plaxo takes the hassle out of keeping in touch with others around the block or around the world.
Plaxo has also launched Plaxo VIP Support, which provides members with upgraded services over standard support. With a one-year membership, Plaxo VIP Support customers will receive dedicated phone support from Plaxo�s customer care professionals, and priority email support through an enhanced interface, to facilitate quick feedback. VIP responses will take one business day or less. The cost for the service is $19.95 per year.
�As Plaxo Contacts becomes the standard for contact management, many of our �power-users� have asked for an enhanced level of service,� said Rikk Carey, vice president of Product Development. �We�re happy to provide a suite of services that meets the needs of our business users.�
Plaxo Contacts, which seamlessly integrates with Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express and devices such as PDAs using the Outlook platform, works by enabling members to choose people from whom they want to get updated contact information. It then sends a simple email message on the person's behalf, allowing the contact to reply either by email or via a secure website. Plaxo Contacts processes the replies and integrates updated information into the person's address book. If the contact becomes a member of the Plaxo Contacts service, they are connected and their address book is automatically updated whenever contact information changes. At all times, members of the Plaxo Contacts service control how their information is used and with whom it is shared. Plaxo Contacts also provides web-based access to an individual's address book information, as well as synchronization and backup.
Plaxo uses state-of-the-art, financial-strength technologies and systems to protect members' information and does not share that information with anyone without permission. To download a free copy of Plaxo Contacts, review the privacy and security policy or take a tour, visit http://www.plaxo.com
Plaxo 1.4 Released
Today we have officially released the version 1.4 of Plaxo Contacts. You can download it from www.plaxo.com/downloads, or if you are an existing user, you will be updated early next year. I'm very excited about this release as it fixes a number of long standing bugs in our synchronization engine. I'm proud to say that the most sophisticated sync product on the Internet is now even better! Specifically, we've made the following improvements:
Folder Support - Plaxo now allows you to upload/manage your contacts on a folder basis. This means that you can ignore folders, change the mappings between local folders and server folders, and basically have more control over what Plaxo is doing. Before 1.4, Plaxo stored your contacts in a flat list, which isn't a sophisticated enough model to allow for good computer-to-computer sync.
New Sync Architecture - Most of the synchronization code has been rewritten, so Plaxo is now much more precise about the way it handles contacts. Pre-1.4, there was a lot of indeterminism about when Plaxo would notice changes and how those changes would get to the server.
Merge - Merge has been completely rewritten in 1.4. You should (almost never) see the dreaded merge dialog, which could result in all sorts of havoc.
These are just the big things. There are a number of minor bug fixes and little features here and there. If you have tried Plaxo in the past to synchronize multiple computers, or as your web address book, you should see remarkable improvements in 1.4. Please try it out and let us know what you think.