Quip Is A Beautiful New Mobile-First Word Processor From Ex-Facebook CTO

30 years later and our term handling application has not progressed, not even to evolve to cellular. That changes this evening with the release of Quip, a freemium new term handling app from former Facebook or myspace CTO Bret Taylor’s new start-up. Quip performs on desktop pc but is developed for cellular. It instantly types records to the dimension your display, provides in-app cooperation and texting, and even performs off-line.

macwrite“Quip is a contemporary term processer enhanced for the era of pills and phones”, Taylor informs me. We’re in the center of a conversion away from the pc, yet term processer chips have gone stale. For impressive impact, Taylor decreased a screen shot of MacWrite (shown to the right) into the Quip release publish, and informed me “It’s humorous how identical that looks to what we use these days.”

The move to cellular is so seismic that it beats the significance of all the heritage term handling functions and “gives us an probability to modify this software”, Taylor says.

That’s an chance Microsof organization was ridiculous to keep out so long to deal with. It’s only just getting a real edition of cellular Office out there. While complete presented, it’s charged as a cellular partner to Office for desktop pc rather than truly mobile-first, and on iOS it’s only for Office 365 members. Quip’s freemium design has a lot of driveway when you think about how extensive the need for papers modifying is.

Quip looks refined, which seems sensible considering Taylor particularly remaining Facebook or myspace in July 2012 to begin the organization with Kevin Gibbs, the dad of Search engines Programs Motor. Taylor rerouted his backchannel.org site to Quip.com in Dec 2012, exposing the startup’s name to the world. While no information were launched, our own Ingrid Lunden sniffed out that it might be a collaborative composing app in accordance with the pen in the app’s symbol and a certain for reasoning cooperation granted to the start-up.

Quip-iPhone-InboxFirst it adjusts records to whatever dimension or form display you will work on. If you are on an iPhone, an included picture could appear full-width, but on an iPad it would appear on the right enclosed by written text.

The cooperation resources might be the most interesting part. You can discuss any papers with another customer, and when they first start it you will get a notice. Taylor says this allows you leap in and stroll them through the doc using Quip’s inner texting system. “It seems like seated at a table with someone around a item of paper” Taylor informs me.

All your collaborative modifications and information are transformed into a chat-like line you can adhere to. To find your upcoming co-writers, Quip requests you to indication in with Search engines and let it accessibility your connections. That might seem like a snub to Facebook or myspace, but really it just signifies that Quip is developed for serious organization, not just enjoying around with your buddies.

On the iPad you will see the interaction flow right next to your papers, whereas you glide it out on iPhone. You can @ discuss individuals to contact their interest within records, easily add pictures, weblink out to other Quip documents or files, and use design resources to add your own design. I really like the “Use most latest photo” choice together with the conventional “Take with camera” and “Select from Photos”, though its a pity that is only for Quip texting and not papers modifying.

From the Quip “desktop” webpage of the app you can see all your present records and examine your mailbox for new up-dates and information. If your relationship falls while you are composing, no sweating. Quip will connect your records returning to the reasoning when you get your relationship returning. Taylor says he likes how smooth this performs while he driving times on San Francisco’s BART train which has irregular cellular wedding celebration.

The hippo in the space is how Quip performs with Microsof organization Word. Right now there is no unique way to transfer documents from Word or trade them to the old lady. Quip only spits out .PDFs. However, Taylor says his group proved helpful difficult on perfect duplicate. Quip will protect design when you duplicate written text to or from Word.

Quip is free for personal use, but expenses $12 monthly per customer for a organization certificate that allows you work together with more individuals. It’s available now for iPhone, iPad, and desktop pc, and Taylor says an Android operating system app is in the performs. Writing resources were a profitable organization for Microsof organization on the desktop pc. That chance in cellular let Quip increase $15 thousand in Sequence A financing led by Chris Fenton at Standard Investment, which will pay for its 12-person group. This is not Taylor’s first start-up rodeo, fortunately. After co-creating Search engines Charts, he developed FriendFeed which later marketed to Facebook or myspace.

Quip will have to dislodge the now-misinformed concept that term handling is best done on the desktop pc. The other composing apps it will encounter off with consist of Apple’s own Webpages, removed down but inexpensive apps like iA Author, and more innovative but expensive choices like Textilus.

Quip does have a bit of a studying bend. Not actually because there is much incorrect with the design, but because you have to unlearn a life-time of Microsof organization Clippy-instilled routines. There are a few uncomfortable actions in Quip for iPhone. You take down from the top to expose your desktop pc, but I discovered myself unintentionally starting the iOS notice plate.

Once you get the keep of Quip, though, it seems like it could lastly let you show your inner wordsmith from your sofa, travel, or java identify.

Quip might be a term handling app now, but its dreams could be much larger. It brings together functions of some of the top efficiency, cooperation, and workplace interaction apps. It may be able to grab time away from Search engines Docs, Hangouts (Gchat), Asana, Yammer, and Skype. Today it only changes those resources for projects around written text papers modifying. But think about if once Quip gets term handling categorized, it goes after excel spreadsheets, or demonstrations.

Quip has the group and financing to go difficult at this large area. I would not be amazed if it became an hot purchase focus on. The only issue is Taylor and Gibbs have gained their home egg already, and might be able to keep out and see this through

The applying a interaction and cooperation system are wide. If no one else develops this mobile-first, and Quip claws the consumer encounter, we could be looking at the begin of a big organization.