If you have ever worked with GPS you would know that it is terrible in near-field applications. for eg. you can't pin a user to an exact location, let alone which floor of a building they are on. Color's attempt to solve this problem by using bluetooth, image recognition, the microphone etc. is very important.

That alone could be a killer application.

Thinking back at the Color launch, I don't know what they could have done different. They had a lot of coverage, but the lead story was criticism over the amount of money raised.

This leads me to think that the startup and tech audience today is a lot more pessimistic when fundraising is involved. Only a few years ago raising $41M from Sequoia would get a lot of positive attention. It would be something that every entrepreneur would loved to shout from the rooftops. The lead story would be 'there must be something interesting here' as opposed to 'wtf are they smoking'.

The attitude may have changed because of the financial crisis, or general pessimism, or because the audience is expecting every startup now to be bootstrapped and funded with $10k.

Color did find themselves in a tough situation with a reaction that they likely didn't foresee. I wish some of the initial coverage was in-depth and analytical as some of the follow-up coverage has been. The entire point of pre-briefing and embargo's is supposed to be to avoid the rash quick judgement.