1. Startup

Following global layoff, Yahoo! is shutting down location-based app Koprol

Three months ago, Yahoo! laid off pretty much 80% of its technical development team in Indonesia. It was a devastating moment especially for Koprol, a location-based social networking startup Yahoo! acquired in 2009. The future of the once great startup is grim, and today Koprol announced that Yahoo will be shutting it down on August 28, 2012.

Koprol was gaining quite a traction from users, with a big community event they even planned a new revamped version Koprol 2.0 before the team was laid off two weeks before the supposed launch date. The founders, Satya Witoelar, Fajar Budiprasetyo and Daniel Armanto are officially leaving their respective posts at Yahoo! Indonesia and already set for their new adventures. It's unclear as to what their next project would be, so it's going to be interesting to see their next startup with all the experiences they had with Yahoo! Koprol.

As for the service itself, Koprol users can export their profiles, posts, reviews, check-ins and images by going to 'Export Data' at m.koprol.com/export. Koprol Business users can save their profiles, posts and images uploaded, directly onto their computers.

So long Koprol, thank you for being one of the first high-profile tech exit in Indonesia. Although it's not as sexy a story as it used to be, it's still a good story to tell.

Note from Koprol team about the shut down :

Dear Koprollers, The time has come to say goodbye to Yahoo! Koprol. In line with Yahoo!’s focus on more quickly innovating with our core products and properties, over the coming quarters, we are shutting down or transitioning a number of products that did not meaningfully drive revenue or engagement. After carefully reviewing its product portfolio, Yahoo! has decided to discontinue Koprol effective 28th August, 2012. You can export your profile, all your original posts, reviews, check-ins and images you have uploaded by going to 'Export Data' at m.koprol.com/export. You may export your online data any time before August 28, 2012, however please note that you may only do so once. Once you have exported your data, any updates to your profile, original posts, reviews, checkins and images you upload onto Koprol thereafter cannot be exported. For users who have created a Koprol Business Profile, you can save your profile, all your original posts and images you have uploaded previously, directly onto your computer. Your Yahoo! account remains unaffected. We thank all users that were a part of this community and hope that you will continue using our other leading edge Yahoo! products. Sincerely, Yahoo! Koprol team