Well, clearly yesterday was the day for the big announcements at the X.commerce Innovate Developer Conference in San Francisco (see yesterday’s post), but we have been hearing a lot about the X.commerce Pledge from Day 2 today…
As you all know, eBay is looking to make revolutionary changes to the way products are bought and sold online and they intend to do that through X.commerce. Over the past year, eBay has made a number of acquisitions that have indicated to all that they are shifting their focus to shopping (they haven’t been shy about it, either). X.commerce was announced a few months back, but was officially launched this week at Innovate. According to Naveed Anwar, the head of community for X.commerce, “we are at the center of a fundamental shift. In the past, eBay used to be about connecting buyers and sellers. eBay is now focusing on commerce.” X.commerce is the future of the way we do business, or that’s what eBay is hoping anyway. eBay is looking for developers to turn to X.commerce to work with small and medium-sized businesses that need assistance with the technical expertise required to sell products online.
The point behind X.commerce is that it is intended for developers and merchants both. For developers, X.commerce is the key to creating cutting-edge applications, tools, and extensions that will help consumers shop better, faster, and easier. For merchants, X.commerce is intended to be the all-around destination for selling the tools and solutions that will make the consumers keep coming back. Once you have the best tools available, getting merchants who want to buy them will be the easy part. The hard part will be getting all the best developers on board, so X.commerce provides a community section that offers free blogging space, a forum, profiles and directories, and a point reward system for a forthcoming Q&A project.
So, with that in mind, X.commerce Pledge is now offered: “In recognition of your early contributions to the X.commerce platform, you have been invited to take this pledge, and join this elite group of fellow pledge-takers.” Taking the pledge offers individuals and companies the ability to proudly display the X.commerce Pledge badge on their website, get exposure across the X.commerce ecosystem, and “express pride in being an early contributor to the X.commerce vision.”
The X.commerce Pledge is available to be read and taken here. We’ve also included the text of the pledge below because we like it that much:
The X.commerce Pledge
We believe that merchants should harness technology, not the other way around. Technology solutions should be future-proof and meet their needs, not enslave them with confusion and costs.
We believe that developers should have one place where they can plug in, get the latest and greatest tools they need to build killer apps and features, using proven code.
We believe in helping all merchants and developers compete, save time, share ideas, grow, and frankly just make more money—faster.
And we’re realists; we know we can’t do it alone. Things are changing constantly, new ideas and technologies crop up daily. The customer is in control. The notion of “build it and they will come” is dead. To win in the commerce game, we need to combine forces, roll up our sleeves, stay caffeinated, and shape the future of commerce.
We pledge to make this happen in an open, transparent, and collaborative way. After all, isn’t that the way it should be?
Join us. Opt in. Take a pledge to:
Actively participate in the X.commerce ecosystem by testing and building innovative commerce solutions;
Communicate regularly, thoughtfully, and honestly to the X.commerce community on what works, what inspires you, and what needs more (or less) attention;
Contribute to the ecosystem via ideas, technology, or solutions;
Think big, think about the customer. Think and ideate on a global and disruptive scale, while never losing sight of the needs of each customer.
In the words of Chamillionaire from his presentation at Innovate today with Spotify, “the cream of the crop will rise to the top.” We truly believe that. We took the pledge. Let us know if you’ve taken the X.commerce Pledge.
Make sure to check out the Orange Collar Media Facebook page for pictures from the X.commerce Innovate Developer Conference 2011, and Twitter (@orangecollar) for the most recent updates about the conference.
/ms
