Amiando users today have been alerted that the German event ticketing platform will be re-branding to Xing Events (note: the URL xing-events.com currently redirects to Amiando.com), after having been acquired by the “German LinkedIn” Xing almost three years ago. The announcement comes as both LinkedIn and Eventbrite, a chief competitor to Amiando in the global market, are making big efforts to push into Europe, namely Germany where Amiando & Xing have maintained decent market & mind share.
The new branding comes with a few new integrations with the Xing network – recommendations for event attendees, matchmaking and mobile event applications, etc. – most of which will push for Amiando clients to get on Xing, and likewise. Interestingly enough, it feels to me that Amiando, which has a much better presence outside of Germany, will likely be providing more value to Xing than Xing will be providing to Amiando.
While Xing’s control over the Germany market is arguably dwindling – the sentiment in Germany is quite mixed. While Xing may have been the top professional social network a few years ago, the internationally oriented tech ecosystem,
“I hear more and more from Germans that XING has become more and more a spamming ground for “experts” of some sort that wants to sell you something. It’s more frivolous than LinkedIn. I don’t think most Germans have realized the importance or difference of LinkedIn yet, but I do see my German contacts flowing in to LinkedIn in spurts since the last two years.” – Vidar Andersen, Principal, Andersen Dierick & Associates, Cologne, Germany
It’s not a given that this will make life harder for LinkedIn as they look to steal mindshare from Germany Xing-users; however, it will likely make Eventbrite’s life much harder, as they push to enter the German & French market. Perhaps tech users will get a taste of the upcoming Xing Events product changes at LeWeb Paris this year, as they have been faithful Amiando users for years.