Email itself was the main problem. We all interact with email differently, and have very entrenched behaviors with how we manage it. But mostly, people are simply overwhelmed by the amount of content they receive – which is no longer just long, letter-like email – and it has become increasingly difficult to consume it all. The devices that we use have also changed. We’re no longer just using desktop machines, but also gesture friendly and visually oriented iPads. And yet, email applications are designed for desktops, where creation of content is more important than its viewing.

Because the nature of the devices we use has changed and the type of content we consume is so diverse, we threw out the standards of how email should be. We started with the Inbox and created a horizontal navigation that works more like reading a magazine or book (left to right, right to left). We prioritized “unpacking the content” to show visuals and give people a quick glance at what their messages contain. Ultimately we made every design decision by asking people if we were giving them a “birds-eye view,” and if we were creating a more anxiety-reducing experience.

It is still early in the product’s life, but the initial interest has been better than most apps. We have had 25,000 downloads in two months time with 25% growth rate week over week. The growing number of new users plus the high level of active users staying with the app gives us a lot of excitement about its market potential.