A long, long time ago (near the beginning of blog time) Movable Type was born.
Unlike many previous rivals (i.e. Blogger and LiveJournal), Movable Type allowed bloggers to host the software upon their own servers, eliminating the need to rely on corporate hosting without breaking the bank.
In order to feed their families, the Movable Type monks charged businesses a fee to use their software while allowing individuals to use Movable Type for free.
But that was before the dark times, before the rise of the WordPress empire. Fast forward to today and Movable Type has (more or less) fallen out of the lime light.
While Blogger and WordPress have become house hold names (at least among my less than tech savvy non-geek friends), Movable Type has diminished in popularity as evidenced by the rise of Tumblr.
But all is not lost my Movable Type lovin’ friends, as their is still hope for Six Apart’s favorite child to regain its former glory by adapting to times (aka make Movable Type relevant for the new millennium).
Go Thematic
If there is one thing that appeals to the masses its quality themes. Blogger has them, Tumblr sells them and WordPress offers them in both flavors (provided they adhere to the GPL gospel).
Although Movable Type also has many themes, its arsenal is anemic compared to its rivals, something Six Apart is attempting to remedy via a little competition.
While the competition is a good start, in order for Six Apart to attract the masses (plus receive overdue attention from the geekverse), they need to up the ante a little bit by offering white iPhone 4’s (32 GB and 16 GB) instead for 1st and 2nd place.
Although securing one (let alone two) white iPhone 4’s is easier said than done, doing this would attract the attention of not only theme designers, but media outlets as well.
Mobile Is The Future
When Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone to the world, one of the very first blogging apps available was Typepad. While the app was incredible at its premier, overall it has stagnated over time.
Instead of relying upon BlogPress to fill a hole, Six Apart needs to redo their Typepad app and make it not only Movable Type compatible, but elegant as well.
If Six Apart gave iPhone lovers the ability to moderate comments, easily upload media (images, videos and audio files) as well as edit and create pages, its followers would sing Six Apart’s praises.
It also wouldn’t hurt to create a decent Android app as well.
It’s All About The Backups Baby!
The fact that Automattic is providing a premium backup service for WordPress fans may convince those new to the blogging faith to pick WP over MT.
In order to counter this, Movable Type needs to offer their own premium backup service as a service for their users (especially the commercial ones).
Movabletype could utilize Amazon’s S3 servers, as well as partner with third party companies (like Mozy or Carbonite) in order to quickly make this a reality.
While they will have to figure out the name for themselves (as “Vault Type” doesn’t have the same ring as VaultPress), launching a service could help add some extra revenue to Six Apart’s coffers.
Any Other Suggestions?
Do you use Movabletype? If so, what else can Six Apart do to make the site more appealing? (and if you have previously blogged about it, feel free to share your thoughts below)
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