Eric Schimdt, CEO of Google, recently spoke about the scarcity of Google Wave invites and the timeline for further rollout. Less than one week ago, he said, “[Google's Wave team is] getting ready for a much broader distribution. Ready means very soon. Very soon is like weeks not years.”
Many people are still actively seeking access to Google Wave, the next generation e-mail, instant messaging and collaboration service. A quick search on Twitter for “Google Wave” shows that the vast majority of chatter is still about access. What can you do to get a Google Wave invite now?
Some suggestions:
1. Twitter. I hate to break the news but whining on Twitter may no longer work. Be mindful of the fact that the initial distribution was, according to some reports, around 100,000 to the general public. Those in the initial distribution were permitted to nominate up to eight e-mail addresses for additional invitations. Those in the second wave of invitations were not permitted to nominate people. There may be as few as 900,000 public invitations in distribution. I suspect the number is much higher because that may not include developers who had access to the “sandbox” accounts and I am sure the Friends of Google also received some.
2. Networking. Ask friends or colleagues who were in the second wave to keep you in mind for the third wave of invitations. This is more of a Facebook, phone call and face-to-face process than tweeting.
3. Don’t Forget to Sign Up. Sign up on the Google page for a Google Wave invitation. It is unclear whether the next round will be friends of friends of friends or directly from Google to consumer.
4. Buying/Sell/Barter. The asking price on eBay appears to be around $5.50 for a Google Wave invitation. It is a gamble whether you are transacting with an honest person particularly when it comes to intangibles like invites. Unless you run in a crowd with other Google Wavers, then spending money to communicate with nobody you know may be a poor choice.
5. Avoid Scams. The websites that are plastered with advertisements that ask you to donate your e-mail address are very unlikely to yield an invitation. For a brief while people were tweeting that that received their invitations from those sources but, according to some of the sites I visited, those tweets were actually prerequisites for receiving an invitations. I doubt a significant number of people received invitations through these websites.
Any other tried and true methods for obtaining an invitation? One of the best textsfromlastnight.com is: “(248): I can’t believe I wasted a google wave invite on her.”
P.S. In the event that we obtain some spare invitations, they will be distributed to our commenters and @techbottle twitter followers.
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