When Vipps was launched in 2015, it became an overnight success: within a few days, tens of thousands of Norwegians had downloaded the app.
Three years later, a new verb was added to the dictionary. Currently Sends We don’t drive with Vipps anymore, we are swing.
There is no doubt that Vipps has been a huge success, but what is the recipe for that success?
An important factor for success in the tech industry is the right timing, and there Vipps hit the spot. But Vipps wasn’t the first Norwegian payment app, and in a market where tech giants like Facebook and Google are battling it out, it’s not enough just to be on time.
In the first episode of the “Flop or full hit” podcast we hear Vipps’ story. Ron Garburg, CEO of Vipps, joins in and talks about why he thinks the payment app has become such a success and what the plans are for the future.
New podcast: Flop or hit
“It’s normal to be a Norwegian to be good,” said puppy Harlem Brundtland. But aside from oil and fish farming (and a payment app), how good is Norway really at technology?
In the “Flop or full hit” podcast we follow the stories of tech projects in Norway from start to finish, through adversity and success. Students and journalists Vilde Alstad and Sara Engesvik try to learn about both the technology itself, what happened, and, not least, get a little closer to answering why some succeed while others fail.
Why do we make a podcast about the history of Norwegian technology?
These are exciting stories to tell, and they are about technology that has transformed people’s everyday lives and work lives, says Tor M. Nondal, editor at TU Media.
He says that many people probably know parts of the technology covered by the podcast, but few people have a comprehensive picture of the story behind it.
– This is an opportunity to learn about Norwegian technology and history, says Nundal.
“The Internet is a failure” – what is the recipe for success?
Why are some technologies floundering, while others become successful, almost overnight?
There is no simple recipe for success on how to create the next big technological “hit,” but one would prefer an invention to satisfy one’s needs. On the other hand, technology also creates new needs that we did not know existed.
People also tend to be suspicious of new technology. Liv Osfold’s 1996 statement that “the Internet is failing” is a prime example of this. Given where you are reading this article, it is not controversial to disagree with the statement.
Alstad and Engesvik interview both experts and players in the tech field, as they try to figure out what makes something work. The first season will deal with, among other things, why DAB radio is in Norway, what happened to Flexus in Oslo and what went wrong with the government app Smitestopp during the pandemic.
Episodes come out every Tuesday.
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