Apple Spin-Off Lets You Shoot and Share

"Color" launches with a VC bang

Does the world need another photo sharing site?  Some former Apple employees -- and several venture capitalists -- seem to think so.

And, to be fair,  this one seems different. It's called "Color," and it comes from the team that brought you Lala.com.

Don't remember Lala?  it was a very cool music-sharing service, based in Palo Alto, and eventually bought by Apple.

Now, from music, the Lala team, led by entrepreneur Bill Nguyen, goes for another kind of sharing, and for this, you don't have to do anything but snap a photo.

Color lets you share photos instantly, with people near you.  If they're on the app while you're snapping away, the Color app will detect them, and offer up your pics.

Imagine this at a concert or birthday party.  Even before you post the pictures on your Facebook or Flickr sites, you can share photos as you go.  The app actually detects people who are near you based on things like aiming their cameras in the same direction that you are -- like at a concert.

Color tips its hat to the super-sharing culture we've become.  It will store a gallery of photos you've shared and taken on your app, and unless you continue to have some sort of sharing relationship with people you're swapping photos with, they will go away, replaced by other shutterbugs.

It's also a big hit with the VCs already, hauling in a staggering $41 million dollars even before it launched.  That's pressure, but it's also a big vote of confidence.

Nguyen's previous company Lala really made it easy and fun to share music and your favorite bands.  Apple may be continuing a bit of that spirit with its "Ping" social network, but Nguyen himself has moved on, singing a different tune, in pictures.

Can it justify that initial investment?  The Color team is coming out swinging, inviting you to take a shot.

You can find Scott on Twitter: @scottbudman
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