The Swedish-designed app is perfect for average iPhone photographers who want to monetize their snapshots. Users upload raw photos (meaning no Instagram filters), tag them (the more the better) and wait for approval. Once cleared, the photos go on the Foap Market for $10 each.
It's a fifty-fifty split: $5 goes to the developers, and the other half goes to the user.
Foap's founders -- formerly in the travel industry -- were frustrated with the quality of stock images they had to use. They needed a way to find authentic, engaging and usable photos that would actually sell things and drive traffic. In the spirit of disruption and crowd-sourcing, they started Foap with angel funding and a grant from the Swedish government.
It launched less than a month ago in the Nordic countries. So far the app has had more than 10,000 downloads and more than 40,000 images uploaded.
The Foap market is open to any user looking to buy stock photos. It has system of credits for frequent buyers to save when buying in bulk. For buyers who can't find what they're looking for, Foap hosts requests, or "missions."
Buyers in need of a very specific shot -- say, of that Steve Jobs photo on Bond Street -- can ask the Foap community to submit photos.
With advances in cameraphone technology, Foap is on its way to disrupting the stock photography market with crowdsourcing that rewards both buyers and creators.