LinkedIn to retire Slidecast, iOS email app Intro

Less than four months after LinkedIn launched its iOS email app, "Intro" is being retired.

Intro, introduced in October, occupied the top slot of the Apple Mail client and included an abbreviated profile bar to show a sender's picture and brief professional bio.

Tapping the contact revealed a more comprehensive profile, that included work history, other users' recommendations, and personal connections.

Touted as a simple way to identify spam as against real potential business connections, Intro supported Gmail, Google Apps, Yahoo Mail, AOL Mail, and iCloud.

An Android version was also in the works, though the app drew a barrage adverse comments for its questionable security methods.

LinkedIn said the demise of Intro, scheduled for 7 March, was due to the company's shift towards a focus on long-term projects, which inevitably meant the scrapping of smaller, less-impactful ventures.

"While Intro is going away, we will continue to work on bringing the power of LinkedIn to wherever our members work," according to a blog post by Deep Nishar, senior vice president of products and user experience.

In addition to Intro, LinkedIn would also pull the plug on Slidecast, which enabled SlideShare members to upload presentations with audio.

The function would shut down 30 April, leaving users more than two months to download their Slidecasts.

''We strive to deliver product experiences that delight our members and add value to their professional lives,'' read an email sent to LinkedIn user Nicholas Shulman according to TechCrunch. ''This sometimes means shutting down certain products or features to focus on the most relevant offerings for our members.''

The professional network had also posed a blog about shutting down the feature.

TechCrunch quoted a LinkedIn spokesperson as saying that the company was making large, long-term investments on a few big bets, and in order to make them successful, the company needed to concentrate on fewer things.

The spokesperson went on to add that with that in mind, the company had taken a look at its product offerings and made the decision to shut down Intro, Slidecast as also older versions of its iPad and iPhone apps.