24 november 2009
Interview Roy Rubin: the future of Magento
Magento open source software has gained significantly in popularity since its introduction in 2008. But what will the future bring? We asked Roy Rubin, the man behind Magento and CEO of Varien.
Earlier this year you launched the Magento Enterprise Edition. Can you say something about the differences between the Enterprise edition and the community edition? And has the acceptance of the Enterprise Edition been what you expected?
The Magento Enterprise Edition is the professional grade Magento solution offering complete product support, enterprise-exclusive features, and product guarantees. With features such as the Rich Merchandizing Suite, Content Staging, and Private Sales merchant can transact in a variety of business models while reducing operational costs and increasing the average-order-value. In short, The Magento Enterprise Edition provides merchants the ability to transact more while working less.
Since launch in April of 2009, the Magento Enterprise Edition has been an overwhelming success. Clients include Lenovo, The North Face, Nespresso, and hundreds more.
How will these versions develop in the future? And are there any plans for other releases?
We’ve recently formed a Community Advisory Board made of leading figures within the Magento Community to help lead and provide vision for the Magento Community Edition. We are working alongside the community to determine priorities and efforts around the Magento CE product. We are fully committed to the community offering and will continue to advance its’ capabilities.
The Magento Enterprise Edition continues to be developed and improved. Our customers and partners have been instrumental in helping us shape the product to be a best-in-class offering in the market. We expect multiple releases a year bringing innovative features and functionality to our merchant base.
A very popular part of Magento and perhaps one of the reasons for it’s success is Magento Connect. What can we expect from Magento Connect in the future? Is it going to grown into something like the Apple app store?
Magento Connect is indeed one of the most exciting elements within the Magento ecosystem. We plan on furthering the functionality to spotlight the absolute best extensions and developers in the community. Additionally, with Magento Connect 2.0, we plan on introducing better search and discovery for extensions, moderated reviews, and the ability to purchase extensions right from MagentoCommerce.com
Do you see any differences in the European E-commerce market as opposed to the US market?
The European ecommerce market continues to be exciting and important for our business. We’ve seen creative business models emerge from within these markets that have had a significant impact on the market as a whole. Overall, the European online merchants have embraced open source and Magento and we continue to build and foster relationships to learn about the specific needs of the European merchant.
It seems like every year analists predict that this year will be the breakthrough year for mobile e-commerce. How do you see the future for the mobile channel? And what plans does Magento have in this area?
With the emergence of the iPhone and Android it’s clear that mobile commerce is getting closer to reality. As the mobile phone market continues to mature with more sophisticated devices and operating systems, it is safe to assume that we are about to turn the corner on mobile commerce. Magento is one the first platforms in the market to have offered a iPhone compatible theme to optimize the user experience for customers browsing on the apple device. Magento merchants can install the theme and have a mobile version of their site, ready to go with very little effort.
We continue to explore this space and look forward to innovating further in the months ahead.
The Magento community has grown exponentially since its launch. How does Magento use the enormous amount of feedback you must receive from end-users and integrators alike to improve upcoming versions of Magento. And can you give an example of changes or additions you made to the software because of community feedback?
The Magento Community has been active and vocal in providing feedback. We are using tools like UserVoice to collect and prioritize the comments by allowing members to vote on the most important features. Given such feedback and the CAB (Community Advisory Board) perspective, we continue to set the vision and leadership to take the product forward.
An example of a community requested change is the European taxation. We rewrote the tax module to give European merchants greater flexibility in managing taxes and compliance. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and Magento now includes the most flexible tax module in the market that can be used in virtually all markets across the world.
Finally, what can we expect from Magento in 2010?
We have many plans for 2010. Magento Connect is a big focus and we plan on investing significant resources to make our app store even better. Getting knowledge in the hands of our users continue to be a priority and we plan on introducing better tools and documentation to our developer community. From a product standpoint, we have a long list of improvements and innovative features we’d like to bring to market and the fruits of such efforts will unfold throughout the year.
All in all, Magento will continue to grow. It is after all, the Platform for Growth.
Earlier this year you launched the Magento Enterprise Edition. Can you say something about the differences between the Enterprise edition and the community edition? And has the acceptance of the Enterprise Edition been what you expected?
The Magento Enterprise Edition is the professional grade Magento solution offering complete product support, enterprise-exclusive features, and product guarantees. With features such as the Rich Merchandizing Suite, Content Staging, and Private Sales merchant can transact in a variety of business models while reducing operational costs and increasing the average-order-value. In short, The Magento Enterprise Edition provides merchants the ability to transact more while working less.
Since launch in April of 2009, the Magento Enterprise Edition has been an overwhelming success. Clients include Lenovo, The North Face, Nespresso, and hundreds more.
We’ve recently formed a Community Advisory Board made of leading figures within the Magento Community to help lead and provide vision for the Magento Community Edition. We are working alongside the community to determine priorities and efforts around the Magento CE product. We are fully committed to the community offering and will continue to advance its’ capabilities.
The Magento Enterprise Edition continues to be developed and improved. Our customers and partners have been instrumental in helping us shape the product to be a best-in-class offering in the market. We expect multiple releases a year bringing innovative features and functionality to our merchant base.
A very popular part of Magento and perhaps one of the reasons for it’s success is Magento Connect. What can we expect from Magento Connect in the future? Is it going to grown into something like the Apple app store?
Magento Connect is indeed one of the most exciting elements within the Magento ecosystem. We plan on furthering the functionality to spotlight the absolute best extensions and developers in the community. Additionally, with Magento Connect 2.0, we plan on introducing better search and discovery for extensions, moderated reviews, and the ability to purchase extensions right from MagentoCommerce.com
Do you see any differences in the European E-commerce market as opposed to the US market?
The European ecommerce market continues to be exciting and important for our business. We’ve seen creative business models emerge from within these markets that have had a significant impact on the market as a whole. Overall, the European online merchants have embraced open source and Magento and we continue to build and foster relationships to learn about the specific needs of the European merchant.
It seems like every year analists predict that this year will be the breakthrough year for mobile e-commerce. How do you see the future for the mobile channel? And what plans does Magento have in this area?
With the emergence of the iPhone and Android it’s clear that mobile commerce is getting closer to reality. As the mobile phone market continues to mature with more sophisticated devices and operating systems, it is safe to assume that we are about to turn the corner on mobile commerce. Magento is one the first platforms in the market to have offered a iPhone compatible theme to optimize the user experience for customers browsing on the apple device. Magento merchants can install the theme and have a mobile version of their site, ready to go with very little effort.
We continue to explore this space and look forward to innovating further in the months ahead.
The Magento community has grown exponentially since its launch. How does Magento use the enormous amount of feedback you must receive from end-users and integrators alike to improve upcoming versions of Magento. And can you give an example of changes or additions you made to the software because of community feedback?
The Magento Community has been active and vocal in providing feedback. We are using tools like UserVoice to collect and prioritize the comments by allowing members to vote on the most important features. Given such feedback and the CAB (Community Advisory Board) perspective, we continue to set the vision and leadership to take the product forward.
An example of a community requested change is the European taxation. We rewrote the tax module to give European merchants greater flexibility in managing taxes and compliance. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and Magento now includes the most flexible tax module in the market that can be used in virtually all markets across the world.
Finally, what can we expect from Magento in 2010?
We have many plans for 2010. Magento Connect is a big focus and we plan on investing significant resources to make our app store even better. Getting knowledge in the hands of our users continue to be a priority and we plan on introducing better tools and documentation to our developer community. From a product standpoint, we have a long list of improvements and innovative features we’d like to bring to market and the fruits of such efforts will unfold throughout the year.
All in all, Magento will continue to grow. It is after all, the Platform for Growth.
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