14 DAY TRIAL // Xmarks, the ill-fated bookmark sync service, seems to be getting a new lease on life. After announcing that the service will be shut down due to failing to generate revenue, the company came back and said that there may be hope yet, as users were adamant about not letting Xmarks die.
James Joaquin, CEO of Xmarks, is now saying that there are several offers on the table to acquire the service and that an announcement will be coming soon.
What's more, the freemium model which Xmarks is thinking about implementing, is getting positive signs from its users.
"Thanks to your passion, Xmarks now has multiple offers from companies ready and willing to take over the service and keep making browser sync better and better!," Joaquin announced.
"This is not a signed, sealed done deal yet. But with multiple offers on the table we’re pretty confident that Xmarks will continue on with no service interruption," he added.
The company has been remarkably up-front about the whole process. When it first made the announcement that it will no longer be able to continue offering the service, the company detailed what exactly went wrong and why it failed to build the business it wanted around the service.
Thanks to an outpour of support from its users, Xmarks started thinking about a premium, paid service, an option which it had not explored previously.
So far, 30,000 people have pledged to pay $10 or $20 per year for Xmarks. The service needs about 100,000 to keep it going.
"We don’t know for certain how 'Xmarks Premium' will play out, but early indications are that some basic Xmarks features will remain free with more advanced features reserved for Premium users," the CEO explained.
However, the positive response also got several companies interested in buying the service, Xmarks says. While the company as it has existed so far is done, Xmarks the service may live on.