Teliportme, Maker of 360 Panorama App, Looks at the Bigger Picture

Teliportme is the Indian start-up that’s the maker of one of Android’s most awesome apps: 360, the panorama photo maker. The free app’s clever panorama stitching feature was made with input from Teliportme’s advisor, the entrepreneur Bala S. Manian, who has an Academy Awards certificate for technical merit for his work on Star Wars.

Penn Olson chatted with Teliportme’s PR man, Sushant Ghargi, to hear how the company is rebranding itself from Phototour.in – which was its name when CEO Vineet Devaiah sat down to chat with TechCrunch last year – and where the start-up is heading.

The rebranding was necessitated, Sushant explains, because “we were facing some trademark issues with the Phototour brandname.” The new Teliport.me site will launch pretty soon, and bring back the element of a sort of crowd-sourced streetview – à la Google’s Streetview – to accompany the 360 panorama app.

The company’s focus, meanwhile, remains the same. And although it’s a photo app with social media integration, the Teliportme crosshairs are not really aimed at Instagram or Picplz. Sushant adds:

We are more focused on providing a better panorama application with social features. Our bet is that people will want more than normal photos – and we want to be that app.

The 360 app is Android-only for the time being, which is perhaps a good way to generate waves – rather than jumping into the crowded pool that is iOS. But Sushant confirms that there are definite plans for an iOS version of 360 for those of you rocking an iPhone or iPad.

Most tantalisingly, this small start-up from India has caught the eye of one major western web company, and Sushant teases us with news that Teliportme is “in talks” to work with a big-name tech firm, but cannot reveal any more.

Panoramas you make in the 360 Android app are viewable in the browser on your profile at 360.vtcreator.com.

I tested out the app, and found its smart panoramic stitching very impressive. All it takes is for you to slowly and smoothly spin the phone in a full circle, and the app will piece it together and quickly give you the finished article. Panoramas are viewable in the mobile app – as are other user’s handiwork too – and can be uploaded and shared with your friends on Facebook and Twitter. Back on a desktop or laptop, you can view your panorama in the browser, where you can also take it fullscreen.

The app works on hundreds of different Android devices – even ones that lack much processing power – so there’s little fear of being excluded from what it is potentially the next mobile photographic craze.

Since my own panorama of the under-construction skyscrapers on my street on a grey and wet day is not exactly amazing eye-candy (see for yourself), you might like to check out a top-rated photo from a user in Germany instead by clicking this link (see above photo for screenshot).