Instagrille Reborn As Pixsta

Do you remember way back in 1990 when the chocolate bar Marathon was renamed Snickers?  Marathon was renamed after the manufacturer, Mars, decided to scrap the British brand and bring it into line with its global operation.  Underneath the packaging everything about the tasty treat remained the same.

Third-party desktop client Instagrille is in the same boat, as it has had to rename itself Pixsta, because Instagram has started to focus on business.  The most popular Instagram application for Windows desktops has been rebranded as Pixsta and comes with video support upgrades.  The changes come after the Instagrille app accumulated more than 10 million downloads, but attracted the attention of Instagram parent company Facebook and not in a good way.  Pixsta is the product of SweetLabs, the startup company that runs the Pokki application marketplace for PCs. The 2-year-old application was acquired by SweetLabs last year after people were wanting to have the Instagram experience on their desktop as well as their mobile.

In August 2013, Instagram began enforcing a policy that put similarly named apps like Instagrille in an unstable situation. The Facebook-owned company said applications could no longer “combine any part of the Instagram brand with your name, marks, designs or generic terms.” All of a sudden Instagrille was guilty of breach of that policy. Fast forward two months and Pixsta is now the new Instagrille.  The desktop app will look familiar to its current users, as the interface is very similar; however the name, logo, and some of the design elements are new.  Otherwise users will find that they can search, view, share and download their favourite Instagram photos as usual. Pixsta also now has support for Instagram video, a feature which is not readily available in other PC clients.

A different name, a new look and a new feature, but underneath it’s still the same.

[Image via: hicomm]

SOURCE:http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57607481-93/insta-named-app-rebrands-to-avoid-facebook-fallout/