FotoFlexer Attracts One Million Users In Less Than Two Months, Announces Support of New OpenSocial APIs

November 2, 2007; 08:26 AM

Berkeley, CA (PRWEB) November 2, 2007 -- FotoFlexer, the world's most advanced Web-based image editing solution, today announced that it is one of the first applications to have already implemented the new OpenSocial APIs -- launched today by Google -- as a fundamental step toward making the Web more social. FotoFlexer also announced today that it has surpassed one million users -- reaching 1.3 million users in just two months since its launch. Additionally, Silicon Valley veteran Sharam Shirazi, initially an advisor to the company, has joined FotoFlexer as the CEO to help lead the explosive growth the company is experiencing and will continue to experience as an early adopter of the OpenSocial APIs.

''To surpass over 1.3 million registered users in the first two months of operations is truly an achievement for any company,'' said Sharam Shirazi, the new CEO of FotoFlexer. "And now that we have adopted the OpenSocial APIs announced by Google, FotoFlexer is even more open and social, enabling users to enjoy FotoFlexer regardless of the websites, web applications, or social networks they use."

What is OpenSocial, and How Does it Benefit FotoFlexer
OpenSocial is a set of common APIs, launched today by Google, for building social applications on the web. Common APIs mean that developers only have to learn once in order to start building social applications for multiple websites, and any website will be able to implement OpenSocial and host social applications. OpenSocial will bring more powerful and pervasive social capabilities to the web because developers will be able to develop and distribute their applications more easily. Users will be able to enjoy new social features faster and in more of the websites, web applications, and social networks they use. More information is available at code.google.com

By developing on the OpenSocial APIs, FotoFlexer has maximized its ability to be used far and wide as the de facto image editing solution across social websites. Though FotoFlexer already integrates with Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, Photobucket, Picassa, Yahoo! Search and other online image repositories -- OpenSocial enables FotoFlexer with even deeper penetration into the "social graph." FotoFlexer users are now able to express themselves through their images to an even broader (and continuously growing) distribution.

How is FotoFlexer Involved in OpenSocial
FotoFlexer has been very involved with OpenSocial, participating in OpenSocial hackathons and providing feedback on early iterations of the APIs. As a result, FotoFlexer is among the first applications now running in the OpenSocial developer sandbox provided on Orkut.

FotoFlexer was included in a demo given by Orkut last night at the Google-hosted "Developer Campfire." The entire event was taped by Google, and you will be able to view the complete demo of FotoFlexer's online image editing solution when it is posted to YouTube this afternoon.

A Broader Distribution for an Already-Booming Solution
Since launching its unique image editing solution, which combines advanced imaging with artificial intelligence (AI) technology, FotoFlexer has experienced explosive growth. And while these numbers continue to grow hourly, as of today FotoFlexer has gained over 1.3 million registered users between the FotoFlexer site, FotoFlexer's Facebook application, and a number of FotoFlexer Mini-Apps (including Cartoonify Me, Cartoonify Friends, Warhol Me, and many more).

The growth that FotoFlexer has experienced is credited to the support of its users, who have helped spread the word about FotoFlexer quickly. Not only are people registering for FotoFlexer and then recruiting their friends to join, but they are spending a great deal of time on the site. The average user spends 15-20 minutes on the FotoFlexer site each visit.

Shirazi Joins FotoFlexer as CEO
Sharam Shirazi has joined Arbor Labs, the parent company of FotoFlexer, as CEO. With over 25 years of Silicon Valley experience, Sharam brings a ton of relevant experience to his leadership of FotoFlexer. Previously, Sharam served as CEO of Empact Software Solutions, CEO of University Planet, CEO of Hyperstone Electronics USA, and CEO & Chairman of Teknekron Systems.

At Teknekron, Sharam led a 100-plus person organization with a very similar mission to Arbor Labs, where he recruited top-notch academic engineering talent from within universities, and rapidly developed world-class products. Earlier in his career he served as Director of Alliances at Zilog and he was also a Consultant at Bain & Co. in Menlo Park. He began his career with Fairchild Corporation as an electrical engineer.

Sharam earned a BS in Electrical Engineering and an MS in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He also earned an MBA from Stanford University.

You've Got Lots of Images. Personalize All of Them.
FotoFlexer gives users the most flexibility of any image editing system, enabling them to edit their digital photos, online images and even apply real-time Webcam effects. FotoFlexer already integrates with Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, Photobucket, Picassa, Yahoo! Search and other online image repositories, and now with the adoption of OpenSocial, FotoFlexer continues to lead the online image editing market as the most open solution available. So, wherever your images reside, FotoFlexer enables you to edit, personalize and express yourself through them.

Talk to Us.
Don't worry -- the numbers aren't going to our head. We know that you, our users, are primarily responsible for our success -- not only based on your support for and use of our solution, but the feedback you've provided that enables us to continually improve. So please, continue to let us know what you love best, what you'd love to see next, and what you think we can be doing better. If you want the inside scoop on what we're up to, and want to give us some feedback, join us on our blog at http://blog.fotoflexer.com/.

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