Mobiletech from Red Canary

MySpace and RIM shatter download records

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 17:16:55 GMT

MySpace, the world's premier social network, and Research In Motion (RIM) (Nasdaq: RIMM; TSX: RIM), a global leader in wireless innovation, today announced record download numbers of the MySpace for BlackBerry® smartphones application in its first week of availability.

Since the application's launch on November 13, 2008 there have been more than 400,000 downloads which represents an all-time high for both MySpace and RIM in terms of first week application downloads. Through the MySpace for BlackBerry® smartphones application, users collectively sent and received more than 15 million messages and updated their mood and status over two million times in the first week.

"We established an innovative and collaborative partnership with RIM to address a key desire of consumers to have greater mobile connectivity and interaction with their friends and the global community at large," said Chris DeWolfe, co-founder and chief executive officer of MySpace.

"This record shows just how much of a force in the mobile consumer space RIM and MySpace have become."

"This rapid adoption is a reflection of an evolving consumer lfestyle where social connectivity and information access are more important than ever," said Jim Balsillie, Co-Chief Executive Officer at Research In Motion. "This powerful new mobile application combines social networking and mobility in a highly personalized and empowering manner and we are very excited to see such a positive response in the first week."

The MySpace for BlackBerry smartphones application is fully optimized to deliver rich content and data to users on the go. MySpace for BlackBerry smartphones integrates MySpace's primary social networking components with the BlackBerry platform to provide instant, push-based messaging to users.

It is available for download at www.blackberry.com/myspace or m.myspace.com from your BlackBerry® Browser. The application is available for a wide variety of BlackBerry smartphones, including the BlackBerry® BoldTM, BlackBerry® CurveTM, BlackBerry® PearlTM and BlackBerry® 8800TM Series, and will be available to BlackBerry® StormTM users beginning November 24, 2008.

BlackBerry Application Store in the works

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 14:57:04 GMT

Blackberry and RIM are keeping up with the Jobs'es, or at least trying to. At the first-ever BlackBerry developer conference in Santa Clara, co-CEO Mike Lazaridis announced an online store of third-party BlackBerry applications. Lazardis emphasized 'Bandwidth, Capacity, Performance and Battery Life' to the 700 or so gathered developers, many of whom are interested in bringing mobile apps to the 20 million estimated BlackBerry users worldwide.

Launching in Q1, 2009

The store's tentative date is March 2009. Developers can submit applications as early as December. Developers and authors will keep 80 per cent of the proceeds, RIM said in a statement. With touch-screen products like the BlackBerry Storm a few weeks away, demand for third-party apps may be high. At issue, of course, is the business-leaning nature of BlackBerry's core market. The company's success was built partly on its ability to offer robust security and administrative control. Consumer oriented applications could put pressure on the company to ease those restrictions.

BlackBerry gets a browser upgrade

Mobile apps will need to interact with the Internet, and that means changes for RIM's web browsers. The version 4.6 browser packaged in the BlackBerry Bold, for instance, will operate much more like a desktop browser, with greater support for CSS, Ajax, HTML, XHTML, and DOM L2 code.

Nokia to acquire OZ Communications

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:27:16 GMT

Espoo, Finland and Montreal, Canada - September 30, 2008 – Nokia and OZ Communications today announced that Nokia is to acquire OZ, a privately held company with approximately 220 employees and headquartered in Montreal, Canada. OZ, the leading consumer mobile messaging solution provider, delivers access to popular instant messaging and email services on consumer mobile devices.

"With OZ, Nokia is renewing its mission of Connecting People by enabling consumers to easily connect and communicate using their favorite Internet communities," said Niklas Savander, Head of Nokia Services & Software. "OZ's team and technology will help Nokia to address the fast growing consumer messaging market.”

By acquiring OZ, Nokia will enable easy-to-use, fast access to leading instant messaging and email services, including AOL®, Gmail, ICQ®, Windows Live™ Hotmail, Windows Live™ Messenger and Yahoo!®. With more than 5.5 million monthly paid users, OZ’s solutions have been deployed by leading mobile operators on a wide array of mobile device platforms.

“OZ has been working closely with Nokia since 2003 - joining forces at this point is a natural extension of our partnership,” said Jim Knapik, President and CEO of OZ. “We are excited about taking OZ’s solutions to consumers worldwide by leveraging Nokia’s devices and distribution scale.”

The expertise and technology Nokia acquires through OZ is complementary to Nokia’s existing portfolio of messaging solutions and will provide a complete portfolio of mobile messaging solutions for Series 40 and S60 devices. Nokia will continue to work closely with OZ’s existing original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and mobile operator customers.

The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter 2008. After the closing, OZ will become part of Nokia’s Services & Software operative unit.

About Nokia

Nokia is the world leader in mobility, driving the transformation and growth of the converging Internet and communications industries. We make a wide range of mobile devices with services and software that enable people to experience music, navigation, video, television, imaging, games, business mobility and more. Developing and growing our offering of consumer Internet services, as well as our enterprise solutions and software, is a key area of focus. We also provide equipment, solutions and services for communications networks through Nokia Siemens Networks.

About OZ

OZ empowers consumers to stay connected with the most popular messaging and Internet services, including IM, email and online communities, through their mobile phones. Working with the leading mobile operators, handset manufacturers, portals and online communities, OZ delivers innovative and standards-based solutions that provide rich and fully integrated messaging experiences on millions of mobile devices.

Leading companies that are Powered by OZ™ include: 3 Scandinavia, Alltel, AOL®, Bell Mobility, Boost Mobile, AT&T, Dobson, ICQ, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia, Palm, Pantech & Curitel, Rogers Wireless, Samsung, SonyEricsson, Sprint, TCL & Alcatel Mobile Phones, Telefónica Móviles España, Telenor Group, TeliaSonera, Telus Mobility, T-Mobile USA®, Verizon Wireless, Virgin Mobile USA and Yahoo!®.

OZ is a privately held company headquartered in Montreal, Canada, with regional offices in the United States, Europe and India. For more information, visit the OZ website at www.oz.com.

Deloitte Tech Fast 50 Interactive

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:04:24 GMT

The 2008 Fast 50 is available to you here in an interactive format.

Deloitte & Touche: Growth Rates of Canadian Technology Companies Falling After a Decade of Remarkable Gains

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 16:59:56 GMT

See the ranking and results here Or play with our interactive data. See which cities and sectors are growing fastest.

"The hyper-growth of Canadian technology companies may be a thing of the past"

TORONTO, ONTARIO, Sep 25, 2008 MARKET WIRE via COMTEX Today's announcement of the 2008 Deloitte Technology Fast 50(TM) winners highlights a dramatic slowdown in growth rates after a decade of remarkable expansion. The Deloitte Technology Fast 50(TM), the country's leading technology awards, ranks companies based on their five year revenue growth rates. Other categories include: Leadership; Companies-to-Watch and the Technology Green 15(TM). Markham, Ontario-based Nightingale Informatix Corporation, a healthcare service and software company, took the top spot with a 23,078% five year revenue growth. This is down sharply from last year's winner, Sandvine who topped the list with a blistering 42,120% five-year revenue growth rate. "The hyper-growth of Canadian technology companies may be a thing of the past," warns John Ruffolo, National Leader, Technology, Media & Telecommunications Industry Group, Deloitte.

Only a third (36%) of companies who made the list are VC financed and almost as many (32%) are backed by debt as by equity.

"In fact, our annual survey of Deloitte Technology Fast 50(TM) CEOs found that tech executives are predicting little growth in this sector, not only because of looming concerns about an economic downturn in Canada or the strong Canadian dollar, but also because of the weakness in Canada's venture capital industry and a tight credit market. This should be a rallying cry to find immediate solutions that will help this industry - often referred to as the industry critical to the success of Canada's economy into the future," explained Ruffolo.

Average growth rate down 1,276% compared to last year

Combined, this year's winning companies posted an average growth rate of 2,457%, down 1,276% from last year's average growth rate of 3,732%. "These are still great companies with an optimistic view of the future, but they have been hampered recently due to a lack of venture capital (VC) funding and a slowing worldwide economy," explains Duncan Stewart, Director of Deloitte Canada Research. "The private equity market has almost vanished and the IPO window is practically closed. Canada is home to the brightest minds in the business, but without financial assistance, we are going to lose out to more aggressive countries who know the true value of tech sector growth." Right behind top-ranked Nightingale Informatix Corporation, is Toronto-based PlateSpin (22,390%) a developer of data centre automation software, placing second two years in a row. Ottawa-based Level Platforms, which develops remote monitoring and management software ranked third (19,890%). Rounding out the top five are Toronto-based MyThum Interactive (see Red Canary profile) a mobile interactive media technology-provider (6,840% for fourth place two years running), and Vision Critical (5,298%), a Vancouver-based software company that develops interactive research.

U.S. and global economic weakness taking a toll

71% of CEOs surveyed said that tight credit markets are affecting their growth plans and 46% said they are changing or reviewing their strategies as a result of a downturn in the global economy. Interestingly, Deloitte Technology Fast 50(TM) CEOs remain optimistic and confident about their own companies but 57% of them see the broader industry slowing down.

Changing trends in financing

Only a third (36%) of companies who made the list are VC financed and almost as many (32%) are backed by debt as by equity. This is a surprising trend when compared to 10 years ago when technology entrepreneurs could only rely on VCs to fund them. Due to the lack of venture capital today, more companies are accessing the debt market and using their own cash to grow. Furthermore, even when they do receive VC funding, they are not getting it from Canada, but from the U.S. and Europe. This contrasts dramatically from 1998 when only 3% of VC funding originated from foreign sources.

Rise in commodity/energy prices providing new opportunities

Most Deloitte Technology Fast 50(TM) companies are not being negatively affected by a rise in commodity/energy prices, but 42% are taking advantage of the trend to develop and sell new technologies that are energy efficient. Over a third (38%) of CEOs surveyed said they had created new opportunities or growth markets for their businesses due to rising energy and commodity prices.

GreenTech and CleanTech on the rise

A continuing bright spot in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50(TM) program is the increased quality and size of Technology Green 15(TM) winners. They have been able to attract venture capital and IPO attention. It appears as if any company that allows you to do more with less - conserve energy, produce more oil and gas, use coal more responsibly - will be the winners in the years to come. However, while other industries are working on their environmental practices, technology companies themselves appear to be laggards in this area. Less than half (37%) are implementing energy conservation techniques and the use of environmentally friendly energy sources for their own companies, while 52% are implementing waste reduction measures. Despite these figures, a full 92% say going green "is the right thing to do."

The wireless sector continues to thrive

The market for wireless products, applications and services continues to move forward with great promise. 58% of tech executives see wireless applications, services and solutions becoming a larger part of their company's business in future. Of course, this is a sector where Canada is truly a leader through the efforts of companies like Research In Motion, which has made the Deloitte Technology Fast 50(TM) ranking every year for 11 years running - earning it the exclusive "Hall of Fame" honour.

Federal government getting too involved in the wrong ways

When asked if the current Canadian tax and regulatory environment is a barrier to their ability to remain competitive and grow, 54% said "yes". In addition, 17% said the federal government keeps getting involved in the industry, changing the rules of the game and restricting growth with too many regulations. The same number cited a lack of federal and provincial government harmonization. "Working together, government agencies could do more to help technology companies grow, raise capital, reduce their tax burden and help them expand into international markets," explained Ruffolo.

Regional representation of Canada's technology hotspots

While the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), Ottawa, and companies from Southwestern Ontario combine to produce more than half of Deloitte Technology Fast 50(TM) winning companies (27), other regions also show strength. The Greater Vancouver Area has seven, four hail from Alberta and Atlantic Canada has one winner. Quebec boasts 11 winners (up from 9 last year), likely due to a more favourable VC climate.

Ottawa has an almost even mix of both Deloitte Technology Fast 50 winners and Companies-to-Watch that could graduate to the Deloitte Technology Fast 50(TM) ranking in years to come

In fact, Quebec's winners say they enjoyed more VC funding than those in any other province. It is also interesting to note that Ottawa has an almost even mix of both Deloitte Technology Fast 50 winners and Companies-to-Watch that could graduate to the Deloitte Technology Fast 50(TM) ranking in years to come. While the Ottawa region has long been known for its established tech industry, it's encouraging to see that innovation continues to thrive there.

Leadership Awards

Leadership Awards single out companies that are the elite members of the Canadian technology industry, whose ability to create a distinct competitive advantage in a high-growth market allows them to dominate their sector and quickly join the ranks of other Canadian global leaders. This year's four Leadership Awards recipients are: PlateSpin (recently acquired by Novell), a developer of data center management solutions; RuggedCom Inc., which makes rugged communications equipment; Evertz Technologies Limited, a developer of HDTV and IPTV equipment; and Westport Innovations Inc., an engine developer and manufacturer.

Companies-to-Watch Awards

Based on the same criteria as the Deloitte Technology Fast 50(TM), the Companies-to-Watch (CTW) Awards honour early-stage Canadian technology companies in business less than five years, with the potential to be future Deloitte Technology Fast 50(TM) candidates. In this category, lack of financing is once again a critical factor. In the past, CTW have succeeded by developing solutions based on existing technologies but better, faster and more efficient. With the 2008 CTW Award-winners, the reverse is true. The majority are creating businesses in spaces that didn't even exist a year or two ago and are creating truly cutting-edge new markets. Ten companies are recognized as CTW this year: Blueprint, Embotics Corporation, Enablence Technologies Inc., Geminare Incorporated, In Motion Technology, OmniGlobe Networks, Paymentus Corporation, Planeteye, Sidense, and Storage Appliance. Impressively, one CTW winner from 2007, Brandimensions Inc., rose to the upper echelon of the 2008 Deloitte Technology Fast 50(TM), ranking ninth this year.

Deloitte Technology Green 15(TM) Awards

These awards recognize Canada's leading GreenTech companies that promote a more efficient use and re-use of the earth's resources in industrial production and consumption. In doing so, they use new, innovative technologies to create products and services that compete with existing products and services on price and performance while reducing our impact on the environment. The 15 winners are: 6N Silicon Inc., Alter NRG, Aqua-Pure Ventures Inc., ARISE, Distech Controls, EnviroTower, GEEP Inc., Ground Effects, Hemisphere GPS, ProSep Inc., Questair, Sempa Power Systems, Sustainable Energy Technologies, Timminco, and Westport Innovations Inc. Of these companies, 33% are involved in the energy industry, 20% in remediation and 20% in smart building technologies with almost half based in Western Canada. In addition, there are more public Technology Green 15(TM) companies than private as the investment community is more accepting of early stage GreenTech companies than other types of technology firms.

About the Deloitte Technology Fast 50(TM)

The Deloitte Technology Fast 50(TM) program is Canada's pre-eminent technology awards program. Celebrating business growth, innovation and entrepreneurship, the program features four distinct categories including the Deloitte Technology Fast 50(TM) Ranking, Companies-to-Watch Awards (early-stage Canadian tech companies in business less than five years, with the potential to be a future Deloitte Technology Fast 50(TM) candidate,) Leadership Awards (companies that demonstrate technological leadership in four industry subcategories: hardware/semiconductor, software, telecommunications and emerging technologies) and the Deloitte Technology Green 15(TM) Awards (Canada's leading GreenTech companies that promote a more efficient use and re-use of the earth's resources in industrial production and consumption.) Program sponsors include Deloitte, Gowlings, GrowthWorks, RBC Capital Markets, Wellington Financial, Stonewood Group, CATAAlliance and IGLOO. For further information, visit www.fast50.ca.

PROFILE: Impact Mobile

Scott Valentine — Tue, 20 May 2008 20:02:00 GMT

Advertisers love the idea of mobile as a new marketing channel. "That's crap," says Impact Mobile founder Gary Schwartz. "Mobile is not a channel, it's something you add to make things better. We're focused on turning the phone into a mobile mouse."

By Scott Valentine Can you put success on speed dial? Toronto's Impact Mobile is trying to do just that with a platform that helps advertisers and retailers connect to mobile consumers. The private company was founded by Gary Schwartz in 2002. Schwartz, a self-confessed serial entrepreneur, has a long track record of successful mobile initiatives both domestically and abroad. "Five years ago, I was in a weak b2b market," he says. "It seemed at the time that the carriers were starting to get together and play nicely and I decided there was a good chance for a b2c mobile play in Canada."

Build once. Sell forever.

While SMS marketing has been around for a decade, Impact's approach is to offer a turn-key, end-to-end platform that focuses on technology that complements a business plan, rather than content creation.

As a brand manager, all that's demanded of you is numbers performance," says Schwartz. "Mobile guys love to talk about innovation but it's got to be more than cool. It has to be quantifiable and make the cash register go Ka-ching.

"There's no money in running campaigns," says Schwartz. "If you do that, you turn into an agency because you're focused on professional services rather than building a scalable business." Instead, Impact focused on building a suite of products that was scalable and 'self-serve', and selling their toolkit to a broad range of customers. "Like any company that wants to be successful, you have to build once and sell many times," says Schwartz. "With that idea as the holy grail, we've focused on becoming a tech that allows clients to use our platform and our pipe to run their own service."

Clickable, measurable and interactive

Most of Impact's competitors are focused on monetizing mobile media. "God bless'em," says Schwartz. "I make a lot of money creating revenue too, but it's a commodity business," he says. "What's not a commodity business is building out an interactive facility for these offline guys to make their media interactive." It's true that the Canadian mobile media scene is getting a little crowded these days, but Schwartz isn't trying to own the entire wireless landscape. Just the space between a client's brand and your mobile device. "We call it the lost mile," he says. "Taking people from Point A to Point B and turning that SMS message into a phone number . . . driving the interaction to point-of-sale." JumpTXT Live - Impact's core product offering - is an in event SMS toolkit for video screen integration. The JumpTXT solution provides a near real-time ability for delivering branded messaging and interaction opportunities; especially effective within closed environments. Let's say you're sitting in your seat at the Leafs (better make that Red Wings) next playoff game. On the Jumbotron is live video of a bunch of toothless players covered with scruffy whiskers. A moment later, you get hit on the hip with a sponsor-branded poll: Which player has the best playoff beard? By interacting, you're pushed a mobile coupon for a dollar off a slice of pizza at the stadium's concession stands. Entertainment, action, commercialization. "We've become the standard for the sports and music sectors," says Schwartz, rattling off an extensive list of clients, including 150 U.S. stadiums and arenas. "Raptors, Jays, The Staples Centre, The Galaxy . . . we have 93 per cent of the music market (through clients like House of Blues and Signatures Network)"

CPM: An old solution to a new problem

The fast-and-friendly nature of Impact's plug-and-play toolkit, no more complex to deploy than an API, provides solutions for a whole spectrum of interactive mobile methods. Previously, clients have used the JumpTXT platform for quick deployment of everything from fan polls to mobile coupons, in-event media, and pushes to point-of-sale systems. Much of Impact's BI and reach into the North American market is due to the company's push to develop standards for the mobile industry, including a lead role with the Internet Advertising Bureau's Mobile Advertising Committee, of which Schwartz is chair. "I was thrown in a room with Google and Yahoo and Microsoft and they said, 'It's not marketing Gary. Mobile is about buying inventory and getting clicks,'" says Schwartz. "That part of the world is fixated on buying inventory that way because it's easy to do."

We're taking the business-as-usual Cost Per Thousand model that companies are used to buying with and turning it into a mobile mouse," he says. "That drives value and bridges the gap to where the brand wants to be".

JumpTXT gets creative

Audience polling, interactive chat, content-pushing, live flirting with that cutie in Row 6 . . . if there's an idea Impact's clients have for how to use mobile in the context of their media, Shcwartz is happy to oblige. "As a brand manager, all that's demanded of you is numbers performance," says Schwartz. "Mobile guys love to talk about innovation but it's got to be more than cool. It has to be quantifiable and make the cash register go Ka-ching." Low-tech bling, high-end Ka-ching! Compared to other Canadian mobiles such as MyThum, which builds mobile media, Extend, which wants to commercialize it, or Tira, which wants to make applications work on a range of devices, Impact's solutions are decidedly low-tech. But that's the genius of the company. Impact sits at number five on the 2007 Deloitte and Touche Canadian Technology Fast 50 with 10,455 per cent revenue growth since 2002. Also, though Schwartz claims Impact has been "profitable since Day One," Impact just accepted two million in debt financing from Wellington Financial. "It's a ramp, a way to a business extension," says Schwartz. "If we're borrowing, that means we can pay it back."

Cashing in on mobile clicks

Impact seems well-situated to capitalize on its central position as both a front-of-mind mobile technology platform and as a key figure in establishing industry standards within the rich U.S. marketplace. Long term, Impact may end-up as a smaller piece of a much larger end-to-end mobile media commercialization solution. But for right now, Schwartz is in an excellent place to ride the wireless wave into the future on a very old-school board. "I know it sounds very boring but SMS is the mobile 'click. It's the first button and it's the best . . . the only ubiquitous wireless standard," he says. "If you don't get the click first, there's not going to be any ROI." And for those looking to incorporate mobile into their approach, Impact Mobile is all about making cash register and cellphones ring the same tune.

iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android

Tim T — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 20:06:49 GMT

"We are witnessing history. That’s the launching of the (iPhone) SDK. The creation of the 3rd great platform. The iPhone. In your pocket, you have something that's broadband and connected all the time. It's personal. It knows who you are and where you are. That's a big deal, a really big deal. It's bigger than the personal computer." – John Doerr, KPCB Doerr was referring to the iPhone during Apple’s recent town hall meeting for the iPhone Software Roadmap in Cupertino, CA. Doerr and KPCB had previously invested $8M to start Amazon and $24M to start Google. On this visit, Doerr announced the KPCB venture capital firm will allocate $100M for entrepreneurs developing software on the iPhone platform. Two months earlier, Google had announced the Android Developer Challenge with $10M in prizes for winning applications on the Android mobile phone platform. Around the same time, RIM and O2 announced the launch of the BlackBerry Pearl in Germany. What does this all mean? What is the future wireless landscape?

Bill (Gates) built the first software company in the industry before anybody really knew what a software company was. The business model they ended up pursuing turned out to be the one that worked really well for the industry. Bill really focused on software before almost anybody else had a clue that it was really the software. That’s the high order bit. If you look at the reasons that the iPods exists and that Apple is in that market space, it’s because these really great Japanese consumer electronics companies who own the portable music market - invented it and owned it - couldn’t implement the appropriate software. iPod is really just software. Software in the iPod itself. Software on the PC or Mac. Software in the cloud for the store. It’s in a beautiful box, but it’s software. If you look at what a Mac is, it’s OS X. If you look at what the iPhone will hopefully be, it’s software. Apple views itself as a software company. People that love software want to do their own hardware. --Steve Jobs

THE iPHONE ROADMAP There are three important takeaway items from Apple’s iPhone software roadmap event in early March. At the top, Apple will release a firmware update before July that supports pushed e-mail through Microsoft Exchange Server ActiveSync. ActiveSync is a communication protocol that enables “over-the-air” access to your e-mail messages, schedules, contacts, and other Exchange Server data. For the second takeaway item, Apple will have the same touch API and internal tools made available to 3rd party developers. In other words, 3rd party developers can build native iPhone applications using the same SDK as an Apple engineer. Not only will this API grant access to the media layer of an iPod, but also it will give way to more location-aware applications that triangulate end-user location through cell tower information and Wi-Fi hotspots. Finally, Apple will launch the App Store, the exclusive way to distribute applications for the iPhone. Developers will set the price and receive 70% of the revenues on a monthly basis; Apple keeps 30%. There will be no credit card fees, hosting fees, or marketing fees. Free apps will stay free to end-users. Streaming and other bandwidth intensive applications will be prohibited. MAKING SENSE OF THE iPHONE ROADMAP Apple’s roadmap and architecture makes three design trade-offs: battery, bandwidth and security. To put this roadmap in context, consider RIM’s pushed-email solution. In RIM’s solution, a corporate e-mail server first forwards the e-mails it receives to the BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES). BES then compresses and encrypts the packet at the transport layer with a Triple DES algorithm. The packet then digs a tunnel to one of RIM’s Network Operation Centres (NOC), which also manage relationships with wireless carriers like Rogers Communication. The NOC tracks the BlackBerry PIN as it hops between wireless cells and carriers; hence, reducing power and bandwidth usage during packet delivery. Upon arriving in the NOC, the packets undergo user authentication and is then forwarded to the intended device through its network of carriers according to the BlackBerry PIN and routing table. The NOC also stores incoming messages when someone is out of wireless coverage. A large part of the NTP v. RIM patent trial in Richmond, Virginia hinges on e-mails being temporarily stored at the NOC. RIM’s contingency plan with the original workaround effectively removes some of the redundancy functions provided by the NOC. This means unsent e-mails would be routed and stored elsewhere. Having reached a settlement with a lump sum of $612.5M two years ago, the NOC is a strategic value-adding core which differentiates RIM’s solution from competing solution such as the Microsoft Exchange Server ActiveSync. In short, this solution enables the inbound firewall port on the BlackBerry to be closed until necessary. This translates to added security and longer battery life. Apple’s solution, on the other hand, has neither a NOC nor the equivalent of a BES. iPhone and Windows Mobile handsets keep the inbound firewall port open and constantly ping the network in order to maintain the device’s IP address. This replicates a push-like experience without a NOC. The cost advantage is eliminating middleware such as the BES and service fees to wireless carriers such as Rogers Communications. The disadvantage is the inefficient use of the network resource and bandwidth, which in turn translates to shorter battery life – less video, music and game time. Analysts from the American Technology Research estimates bandwidth utilisation could be more than two times RIM's solution. A converged handset like the iPhone also mean power will be drawn from the same inaccessible battery. The fastest way to drain an iPhone battery is browsing the Internet while the pushed e-mail function auto-check multiple accounts at a short refresh cycle – the way customers want to use it. An attempt to break the seal and replace the battery would void the warranty. ANALYSIS Nokia is “Connecting People”. It is the world’s largest manufacturer of mobile telephone because it commercialised pushed voice. RIM is a wireless solutions company meeting global communication needs. RIM is able to carve out a market because it has commercialised pushed text. Both companies are in the access business. Apple, on the other hand, is a lifestyle, software business. Most of RIM’s marketing shows people in business attire just like “PC” in “Hello, I am Mac” television ads. The difference between Apple and RIM in terms of identity, value, and scope cannot be understated. A fitting strategy depends on the state of the industry, business, and business model. Apple and RIM have different strategies and their M&A histories reflect this. With its software and digital hub strategy, Apple acquires SoundJam MP in 2000 and releases it as iTunes in 2001 – before the launch of the iPod. With its network and battery efficiency strategy, RIM acquires Slipstream Data for its data compression and network optimisation technology in 2006. Recognising but not fully understanding how to leverage software in the mobile business, Nokia acquires Trolltech, a software platform and frameworks company, earlier this year. However, Nokia has time to restructure. Economies of scale, cost saving and growing international channels will compensate for slower handset growth in the short to medium term. In addition to the RIM 8 manufacturing plant at 455 Phillip Street in Waterloo, RIM has outsourced production to Mexico and Hungary. Now it is exploring the feasibility of manufacturing hubs in India and China.

We have been very lucky to have brought a few revolutionary user interfaces to the market - the mouse, the click wheel, and now multi-touch. Each has made possible a revolutionary product, the Mac, the iPod, and now the iPhone. We're going to build on top of that with software. Software on mobile phones is like baby-software. Today we're going to show you a software breakthrough. Software that's 5-years ahead of what's on any other phone. -- Steve Jobs on user-interface and software

In this light, RIM will face a different set of challenges than Apple such as logistics and handset design – a la Nokia and Motorola. For a time with the RAZR, Motorola is the quintessential example of innovative product design with recognition from Fast Company, Forbes and the like. With no other moves in play, Motorola cuts price in order to maintain the growth in market share as the handset matures into later stages of its adoption curve. Although this tactic propels Motorola into the #2 spot behind Nokia, its margin plummets sharply as the market becomes more and more saturated. This is just three years ago. Last quarter, Motorola’s handset division posts an operating loss of $1.2B comparing to an operating profit of $2.7B in the previous year. The same rollercoaster awaits Apple and RIM if they are consumer electronics companies, which they are not. This is the differentiating and strategic importance of Apple’s iTunes and RIM’s NOC-BES. BEYOND THE TECHNOLOGY The product differentiation is in the software; the monetisation is in the hardware. SDKs and mobile phone platforms are nothing new. Nokia has Trolltech Qtopia. Microsoft has Windows Mobile 6 SDK. RIM has BlackBerry MDS Studio and JDE with a BlackBerry Developer Program. The last entrant before the iPhone platform is the Android from the Open Handset Alliance (OHA), which is led by Google. Google’s mission is to organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. The creation of OHA is a logical step to have the crawled text more accessible beyond the desktop. The challenges will be developer traction and platform adoption. To kick-start development on the Android platform, Google announces $10M in awards for submission. Apple follows suit and partners with Venture Capital KPCB. RIM is not in the software business and so does not follow suit. Open standards and decentralisation will bring more success to the OHA consortium. One of the success factors for both OHA and Apple will be distribution of value-adding applications. Many questions remain. What sustainable incentives will drive the need to develop for each platform? Will these applications in turn drive handset sales? If so, how many units? As strategic a role as software may be, its purpose in some business models is to drive hardware sales. More than 70% of RIM’s current revenue is from selling handsets. Only 30% of RIM’s current revenue consists of services (NOC) and software (BES). Similar ratios apply to Apple’s 2007 revenue in portable music: 75% from iPod handsets, 25% from iTunes and related products. Before anti-competition from Microsoft in the first browser war, Netscape Communications’ original business model is to drive user adoption with a free browser, then monetise on servers and related web server software. The rules change for software when a vendor has virtual monopoly like Microsoft. This is why the most impactful news from the roadmap event is not the software update for pushed e-mail, but rather it is the Apple App Store. This could be the way new applications will be distributed and monetised on mobile platforms. Distribution and the monetisation of software have always been problems for entrepreneurs. Microsoft has monetised Windows and Office at the OEM level before the consumer point-of-sales - a model immune to the Internet. If Apple could scale up and build a subscriber base to the point of virtual monopoly, it will not be long before they could demand 30% of the revenue from applications such as Microsoft Office, or its equivalent, on the iPhone platform. This channel-monopoly business model is as new as ship and freight. Using this model, Nintendo has monetised its older game titles for almost two years with the Nintendo Wii. The strength of this model is simplicity. Its weakness is scalability due to the inability of quality to scale. Jobs does not believe the App Store will drive significant revenue for Apple. This is the wildcard to watch as the 70/30 revenue concept ripples through the developer community. CLOSING DEALS Closing deals and signing large contracts take more than just technology. It is in Apple’s corporate DNA to engineer products; not chase contracts. To date, RIM is the only vendor receiving government security accreditations. RIM has worked with the NSA to win US contracts from the Department of Defence and the Department of Homeland Security. Yet, Good Technology, whom RIM has a patent dispute in 2003, has also won US government contracts. Aside from reduced security, IT managers deploying the iPhone solution will face additional support issues. The iPhone architecture involves Microsoft Exchange, Apple iPhone, and wireless carrier. The BlackBerry architecture has one support number to call in the event of a failure. This plays in RIM’s favour in the enterprise and government segment. In the end, however, all this makes a difference only for people in the know. Technical jargons and design trade-offs such as security and bandwidth do not channel well on television, radio or print. RIM may try to quantify the intangible, but the average, non-technical consumer, which makes up the majority of the mainstream, will be indifferent to the argument if the image is sharp and quality is sufficient. Customer service and advertising will be the determining factors in the consumer market. This plays in Apple’s favour: Apple Stores, Mac v. PC ads, and future iPhone v. BlackBerry ads? On the other hand, RIM does not have to play Apple’s game, nor should it. The media will work up frenzy and announce a winner when there are many segments and performance metrics. RIM and Apple are different companies with different assets and different scope. There are more niche markets in the consumer market than the enterprise and government market. A combination of long battery life through word-of-mouth, ease of deployment for SMEs, and the penetration of the Chinese market with China Mobile may be enough to satisfy Wall Street and Bay Street. In Canada, the iPhone remains a distant threat beyond the border horizon as the trademark dispute continues between Apple and the Toronto-based Comwave with its VOIP “iPhone”. SUMMARY What’s the next paradigm shift that would allow an entry? We made this bet that the paradigm shift would be the graphical interface and that the Mac would make this happen. We really bet our future on the Macintosh being successful, then the graphical interface in general being successful. The big debate wasn’t Mac vs. Windows. The big debate was character mode interface versus graphics mode interface. When the 386 came and we got more memory. The speed was adequate. Some development tools came along. That paradigm bet on GUI paid off for everybody who got in early and said this is the way. -- Bill Gates The big debate is not iPhone v. BlackBerry or Android. The big debate is single-touch interface v. multi-touch interface. We could be witnessing history in the making. The final fight is in software. Apple is experimenting with a new business model. It could be disruptive and change how applications on the mobile platform will be distributed and monetised. The iPhone will become a richer client over time. This is not a RIM knockout. RIM remains rock solid in the enterprise and government space. The fight for them will be growth in the consumer and small business segment. The Android will have niche community support but not mainstream adoption due to less convenient software updates and less post-sale application support. In the medium term, Android, BlackBerry, and iPhone will co-exist as each platform serves different segments with different needs. There will be different winners depending on the performance metrics. Unexpected beneficiaries may include backend dataset providers like Navteq and remote on-demand cloud computing service providers like the Amazon Web Services. The Apple App Store will further flatten the world. Competition will intensify from overseas entrepreneurs. With the recent wireless auction in Ottawa, market forces will drive costs further down for pushed e-mail and mobile Internet services. A virtual land rush may be coming for developers. There may even be a new Conrad Hilton.

Why IT Hates the iPhone (and why that may not matter)

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 21:22:29 GMT
(Editor's note: apologies for this US-centric piece, but while we may not have iPhones in Canada, this is still relevant in terms of how consumer-driven technology choices (in this case, software trumping hardware) may change the course of enterprise business decisions. Read the full article at the Wall Street Journal Designed with the consumer in mind, the iPhone is less secure than business-oriented smart phones such as those from Nokia Corp. or Research In Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry, according to IT professionals. But that isn't stopping people from using the device for work-related tasks such as checking email, managing sales contacts and getting information about prospective clients. In fact, market researcher Nielsen Co. estimates that one-quarter of iPhone owners over the age of 18 pass their phone bills on to their employer, suggesting significant use of the device for business. Many IT groups have banned the iPhone from their workplaces, complaining that there is no way to force employees to protect their iPhones with passwords and that they can't erase sensitive corporate data from remote locations if the device is stolen or lost. Additionally, they say the iPhone doesn't support the software many businesses use and that it only works on one cellular carrier's network. But keeping the iPhone out of the office may be a losing battle. As a result, some technology experts say the iPhone could usher in a change in the way businesses adopt new technologies. Read the full article at the Wall Street Journal

INTERVIEW: Matt Golden, co-founder Tira Wireless

Scott Valentine — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 16:07:34 GMT
Tira Wireless is a Toronto-based solutions provider in the mobile applications space. Ranked third on the 2008 Deloitte Technology Fast 50, Tira offers a device-agnostic platform to wireless application developers and content publishers. Matt Golden, Tira's co-founder and senior vice-president of corporate development, began his career as a lawyer, working on some of Canada's largest mergers and acquisition deals. From there, Golden moved in to the venture capital space where he focused on building financial networks, striking alliances and forming partnerships. It was during this time that he developed a strong focus on the emerging J2ME technologies market, and was exposed to the unique opportunities and challenges of mobile applications. Tira Wireless was launched in 2001. Under Golden's direction, Tira Wireless has raised some $31 million in financing, and grown sales revenues more than 16,000 per cent in the last five years, becoming a standout in the very successful Canadian mobile tech cluster. What's your management style? Day-to-day, I'm very high energy . . . lots of drive and enthusiasm. I'm a firm believer that you have to be in front of people to reach them and - to a large degree - I think that's how you build up a great customer base. I've always promoted that idea among sales and business development teams. What kind of people do you like to surround yourself with? It's a typical management flaw to look for people with the same characteristics as you because that confirms that you're great (laughs). I think there are certain skill sets required that are fundamental to being successful and I like to round out teams with people that deliver those things. Also, you want leaders who are charismatic. I mean, I'm not concerned if the CFO is charismatic but I am concerned if the head of marketing isn't. What is the biggest deal you've been involved with? Well, I was a mergers and acquisitions lawyer, so there were a bunch. When I was with Osler we did a 500 million-dollar real estate deal for Marathon. But I was pretty junior then, so I was probably supervising photocopying or something. What was the 'A-ha' moment that led you down the path to co-founding Tira Wireless? Some partners and I were into a company out of Ottawa called Zucotto that was working on Java applications for mobile. It was a small investment but it came with a board position, which provided a lot of visibility in to the mobile space. We realized then that java apps weren't even running on multiple phones within the same product line, so how were they going to work across all these different device manufacturers and protocols? It was obvious that there was going to be a huge fragmentation problem. When is there a major disruption coming for mobile tech, or are we already there? We're already in a multicore type conundrum with mobile. Characterizing all the idiosyncricies and automating the constants between devices that can be re-used across the community is a nightmare. Mobile developers probably spend 50 per cent of their time re-doing code (to work on different devices). Tira's Jumplets tackle that problem by making working mobile apps available throughout an organization or community. So, from a Web2.0 perspective, mobile apps could be used to share information, target advertising, or build-out a whole ecosystem associated with the platform, without worrying about what devices the application is going to run on. Has growth changed the way you do business at Tira? From a product perspective, we have our architecture to the point where it's gone from three weeks on-site training to download-and-go. On the services side, we have to some degree shifted to life style players - mapping, major media brands - that are looking to launch web 2.0 apps or games for mobile. The things we look for in people are still the same . . . the ability to communicate with clients and adjust-on-the-fly always have been, and always will be, important for us. What do you think about the wireless spectrum auction? It's hard not to look a little further south and see what's happening there with Verizon and how they're opening things up. Opening the spectrum is great from the perspective that it will bring more competition to the industry, which is healthy, but, by the same token, I think what Google is doing by introducing the Android open-standard paves the way for an environment more like the Internet (where anyone can contribute). Because of carriers opening up and because of companies like Tira that are increasing the capacity for creating mobile content, we're starting to see really compelling apps on mobile devices. Innovators need to have that path to contribute and I think that's the way things are going in Canada. Thanks Matt.

Profile: Tira Wireless

Scott Valentine — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 16:46:00 GMT
EDIT: Tira Wireless is dead. Go here for more information: http://www.fiercemobilecontent.com/story/tira-wireless-shuts-down/2008-09-08?utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss&cmp-id=OTC-RSS-FMC0
By Scott Valentine Today’s mobile applications are built on a variety of platforms, for a plethora of wireless devices, to satisfy an infinite number of business and consumer requirements. Platforms x Devices x Requirements = mobile application quagmire. Toronto’s Tira Wireless simplifies that equation by offering a coding, planning and device-agnostic deployment platform.

Matt Golden, SVP, Corporate Development
"By the time you launch a single application worldwide across five languages, you’re looking at thousands of versions. If you’re a content publisher that wants to put out nine games a year, that’s about 100,000 versions of software," says Matt Golden, Tira’s co-founder and SVP, Corporate Development’
Tira Wireless gets a ‘Jump’ on consistent user experience
For a mobile application to approach the quality level of a wired user experience, it first needs to be available to the user consistently regardless of network, device or communication protocol. "If an application doesn’t work on sister phones – like two different Motorola handsets – then making it work on Samsung, or LG or whatever is going to be a huge problem," says Golden.

Jump, Tira’s signature product, takes mobile deployment from cradle-to-grave by developing, distributing and supporting mobile Java apps. It’s available in both enterprise and freebie versions.

Jump provides mobile developers from neophyte to multinational with a single tool for programming mobile.

That creates both an innovator’s entry point and the opportunity for creativity: two things developers love.

"What that means is that anyone looking to create a rich mobile app and get it to market can do so," says Golden. "Either you contract with us to help you do the work, or you license or download our platform. Tira’s value proposition is to reduce complexity".

Phone a friend
To keep mobile apps in the fast-lane of interactive experience, Tira uses "Jumplets"a living repository and organic ‘rulebook’ that manages application delivery across common mobile device characteristics.
In plain English: You can put a Java application on pretty much any mobile device, anywhere. Which means that a lot of developers (and the people that pay for their Red Bull) can spend less time on porting software, keeping up on requirements and managing the process. That means more time and resources are spent on profitable applications.
"It’s only a matter of time before people start populating their mobile devices with stuff that increases productivity or improves lifestyle," says Golden "(Then) you can extend brands, Web 2.0 apps, whatever."
As a result, mobile networks are going to get busier. Their owners aren’t sure how all those new applications are going to affect the security of their network, and who will feast on what piece of the rich mobile pie.
"Give the carriers credit. They are starting to understand that there needs to be a path for launching mobile apps," says Golden. "There is money to go around, and the carriers need to control it is being reduced. As that’s happening we’re heading towards a more innovative environment in Canada," he says, adding "As the world’s community of developers goes mobile, Tira is probably their best solution to work in a code environment they like.
Tira finds Success in Failure
In September 2000, while the dust of dot-bomb was still settling over Canadian venture capital markets, Matt Golden and some partners decided to make a cash investment in an Ottawa-area mobile tech called Zucotto Wireless and its key product, Xpresso.
"Everyone stopped investing so we started." says Golden. "It was small investment, but it came with a seat on the board. That gave us some visibility into mobile."
Zucatto didn’t make it. But the time spent playing in the mobile applications space provided Golden and his co-founders one crystal-clear challenge:
Build a ‘one-code-fits-all’ platform. And so Tira Wireless was born.
Golden has helped lead Tira through three rounds of venture financing totaling $31.5 million from the likes of Lehman Brothers, EDC and Golden’s former employer and current investor Brightspark. Tira is partnered with mobile operators, content publishers and device manufacturers around the globe.
Tira puts Profit on Speed Dial

Mobile operators are maturing in their understanding of mobile apps and are (slowly) adopting more flexible revenue sharing models in the complex ecosystem of the mobile jungle.
Driving that change has helped Tira Wireless find success, with 5-year sales growth of more than 16,000 per cent, happy investors, and analyst acclaim.
"We’re almost into a higher market of consultative types of services," says Golden "These days, it’s more ‘How do I do this?’"
Assuming major players in the worlds of mobile technology and content publishing continue asking for a little help, Tira seems well-positioned to be both central to the next generation of mobile solutions, and front-of-mind to the market.
"The world is changing very quickly," says Golden. "We’ve gone from not knowing how to put content on sister devices, to where [one customer] can accomplish everything from development to deployment of mobile apps.
"That’s a huge change in the value chain."
And a huge kick for the future of mobile technology.

Profile: MyThum Interactive

Scott Valentine — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 16:38:19 GMT
MyThum Interactive builds relationships between marketers and mobile audiences using technology, but it would be a mistake to characterize the Toronto-based MyThum as a tech company, says Michael Carter, president and CEO. “We’re not a mobile company or a technology company,” he says. “We’re a media company.”

Michael Carter
Founded in 2002, MyThum has been bootstrapped from day one, acquiring its clients and operating partners via relationship building. “We get accused of doing it the Canadian way,” says Carter. “We never went out and raised a bunch of venture capital dollars. We tried to respond to our customer’s demands and grow organically.” Along the way, MyThum has introduced a number of firsts in the Canadian mobile media space. In 2003, MyThum was part of the first cross-carrier premium SMS initiative in North America. In 2004, MyThum introduced the first integrated television solution (live text-to-screen) for Rogers Sportsnet, and the first mCommerce initiative in Canada. And in 2006, MyThum provided the solution that powered the first live event ticketed using scannable bar codes to a mobile device. At a basic level, MyThum takes products and services that marketers want to mobilize, injects creativity, and delivers those products or services to subscribers. MyThum’s range of mobile solutions include: SMS, interactive television, downloadable content, mobile coupons, interactive voice response (IVR) and mobile commerce solutions. MyThum offers both content creation and a delivery platform. “We’re a hybrid,” says Carter. “We don’t sell platforms and applications, we sell solutions. At the front end there’s an agency element to what we do, generating creative ideas for clients,” he says. “At the mid-stream there are service delivery, integration and execution components to what we do. And on the back end, there is some hardcore technology that we bring to bear in order to make things happen.”
Part of MyThum’s challenge is coping with the fog surrounding license rights, particularly in the Canadian market. “It tends to be on the side of our broadcasters,” says Carter. “A lot of the shows here are bought in American shops. The question is: have they negotiated the rights to deliver the show [over] mobile applications?” User generated content MyThum helps content cross a technology threshold. “It’s people picking up their mobile and sending a message,” Carter says.” We haven’t had the intelligence to know what the intent of that message was, or what the transactional value or business rules of that message may [have been].” But end users don’t want to know about mobile applications and gateway protocols, they just want to watch a video. So how does MyThum make the whole handling and exchange process invisible to mobile users? “There is the intelligence on our platform to be able to route a message, But there’s also the intelligence to know what to do with that message,” says Carter. “Does it trigger a billing event, is it a polling application we need to gather or expose in real-time? Or do we need to hold on to a permission that we’ve been given to communicate again in the future?” In 2005, MyThum created a solution for Global TV’s airing of the Grammys that targeted young adults. Viewers were encouraged to text the word GRAMMY, which automatically enrolled them for a chance to win a trip to the live show. When they entered the contest, viewers were sent a thank you message and asked to vote for the Best New Artist. MyThum’s solution helped Global reach out to a key demographic, generate ancillary revenue and build a database of viewers willing to engage media through their mobile. The solution seems elegantly simple. But the truth is that even a simple text message may have to manoveur through several different platforms and gateways to reach its destination. “When the carriers hand a message off to us, they don’t have a clue what we do with it,” says Carter. “All the intelligence happens on our end.” Which can create a problem. Because, to the end user, everything looks like it happens on their end, right over their wireless carrier’s network. So guess who gets the calls if there’s a problem. “There is a sensitivity among wireless carriers towards making sure the applications on their network are approved,” says Carter. “Otherwise, they’re going to end up wearing out their customer service department.” Unlike others in the mobile media space, Carter thinks his customers are likely to stick with the hosted solutions that have proven popular with early adopters. “Even in Europe – where adoption is way ahead – companies are leaving the hosting outside, because it’s not their business,” Carter says. “They can leverage our platform and spread costs across more customers . . . It just makes good economic sense to keep the business separate.” In the same way it makes sense for clients to host their mobile applications with MyThum, it makes sense for MyThum to safeguard the user data they capture on behalf of clients. “Anybody that’s ever interacted with any of our mobile applications, I’ve got that mobile phone number,” says Carter. “But the carriers have really done a good job establishing a code of conduct for what you can and can’t use that information for. “If we ever did anything to violate that trust, the carriers would drop our link in a heart beat,” he says. “We have a vested interest in everyone – end users and carriers – having trust in mobile technology.”
A changing mobile marketplace Traditional market IQ is that the target mobile end user is about 12 to 25-years-old. That belief has driven a lot of the early applications for mobile media, such as OMNI’s introduction of integrated messaging to some of its weeknight programming of shows like Elimidate. The shows viewers can text live-to-screen with comments and engage in interactive chat. But Carter says MyThum’s experience is that mobile user demographics are spreading. “We have a lot of success in the cartoon space, which wasn’t what we once thought of as a target demographic,” says Carter. “But like a lot of companies, we’re seeing the whole youth demographic as a big driver of business now.” MyThum’s interest in the youth market is acute enough to drive it participation in Understanding Youth, a conference that that helps marketers connect with tweens, teens and young adults. Charity begins at Phone But the end game is not all about profit, the company has been at the front of the mobilization of fundraising activities for non-profits like the Children's Miracle Network. “If you look at markets around the world, mobile is one of the dominant platforms for fundraising,” says Carter. “It’s continuous, it’s easy and you catch people at the point of emotion. You could see a banner for Sick Kids Hospital and text message the word SICK and a pledge amount, and it’ll appear on your regular wireless bill.” “The carriers haven’t opened that up yet in Canada,” Carter says. “It’s frustrating because it would be such a beautiful use of mobile.” In May 2007, MyThum was named the Company of the Year at the Canadian New Media Awards, recognizing its work in mobilizing business strategies for Canadian Idol, Hockey Night in Canada and MuchMusic, among others. “When I set out five years again it was to found a media company,” says Carter. “This award kind of validates what we’ve always thought: that mobile is a communication channel first, and people are seeing media as an element in driving the market behind that technology.”

ExtendMedia - Courting Jane Q. public

Scott Valentine — Thu, 24 May 2007 04:00:00 GMT

Keith Kocho, Founder of Extend Media
There is a race underway to capture a new kind of consumer – one with a perpetual advertising channel on her hip. Among the technological suitors vying for a 7×24 connection to Jane Q. Public is Toronto- and Boston-based ExtendMedia. “I’m kind of an accidental entrepreneur,” says Keith Kocho, ExtendMedia’s founder. “When I was a kid I had paper routes but I didn’t have dreams about starting a company.” What Kocho did have was a passion for computing. “I was interested in how computers could be used as a communications tool as opposed to a commercial tool. I maxed-out my student credit card to get my first company started,” says Kocho. Like many successful tech companies, Extend finds much of its definition in a commitment to having a people-first culture. “There was never that big IPO or home run acquisition, but we’ve always been in advance of being cool,” says Kocho. “We had an open concept workplace with stock options and a beer fridge and people’s kids and dogs running around before Silicon Valley was even waking up to those kinds of ideas.” Extend’s employees passed on the best part of the companies culture by volunteering to raise funds for local causes while evangelizing the corporate brand. “We used to have a staff party-slash-fund raiser-slash-recruiting event every year,” says Kocho. “Times were great.” But in the late 90s, the dot-bomb dropped and took the market with it.
“We went from 200 people down to about 20. Some people who were going down tried to take as much as they could with them.” – Kocho
“Fire me” Despite pressure from his board of directors to take Extend in a new direction, Kocho stuck to his guns. “I told the board they’d have to fire me,” Kocho says. “They didn’t.” “Those of us who were left kept our heads down and worked hard for a few years,” he says. Today, ExtendMedia provides software and services that enable content providers and distributors to quickly deliver and monetize online content over various devices. They are headquartered out of Boston with production facilities in Toronto.
“We tried to get financing in Canada and couldn’t. Investors are better at being true risk takers in the United States.” – Kocho
Now, some 16 years after Kocho financed his first company with a credit card, ExtendMedia is poised to become the de facto technology of online digital media. Monetizing media, safeguarding content Distributing top-flight content through the web is a balancing act between giving the consumer what they want and protecting ownership rights. “We believe our clients will find the best ways to protect themselves,” says Kocho. “We want to help them monetize it.”
Extend’s foundation product, OpenCASE, provides the ability to support multiple business models from one platform, plus the flexibility to launch new models as markets shift. Extend’s clients he can define conditionals such as “two play rental” or “burn twice” while the end-consumer gets the choice of viewing subscription, ad-supported, or pay-per-view content. “Digital media is getting in to a new business model and it’s very early days yet,” says Kocho. “Right now companies are just trying to keep their brand present and get into the space without too much risk.” To keep their product offerings fast and flexible, Extend’s OpenCASE platform comes with a generous basketful of plug-and-play APIs and a fully hosted solution. “We outsource the cage but operate the NOC, says Chris Gardner, chief marketing officer. “There’s also a series of modules for capturing user data, a customizable UI and a quality storefront.” For now, most clients are using a hosted solution to get out of the gates, but more and more are looking for ways to host Extend’s technology on their own. And that’s where they offer a key differentiator – it’s the only company in its space that offers an enterprise solution. “Like everything else, the early adopters tend to start off on the ASP model,” says Kocho. “But big companies have a pre-disposition to acquire technologies.” He believes it is likely that the sensitive nature of ownership rights is going to drive a future ‘in-sourcing’ trend amongst their clients. “The last thing rights owners want to do is give up margin on business,” Kocho says. “We expect clients will eventually bring the technology in-house to gain scale of capability and control. “Rights owners want to protect their crown jewels.” The key to courting Jane Q. If Disney, HP and other potential players want to hang with Jane Q., they need to meet her where she lives. Keeping up with Jane 24/7 is a daunting task but it also provides advertisers some very sexy opportunities. “Everything from pure brand exposure to intelligent target marketing,” says Kocho. “It can look at things like where you are and what you’ve used your profile for recently.” Key to staying top-of-mind with consumers is managing an efficient user experience across multiple devices and platforms. Extend attacks this challenge by allowing the user experience to take place through a series of exposed programming interfaces (.COM, .NET, ActiveX) for easy integration with existing players, web pages or other applications. “You need to deliver a solution that’s seamless,” says Kocho.
“Jane Q doesn’t want to tell you what type of wireless device she has or who her network carrier is.”- Kocho
In order to get with Jane, you need to get smart. Big media tries to beat the curve “Hollywood has made a lot of money doing unique deals,” says Kocho. “They do that on purpose.” “If there’s no list pricing you negotiate whatever you can get.” Extend believes that major rights owners fear controlled distribution is approaching its final-run, which makes the Disneys and Wal-Marts of the world intent on mastering the monetization of the emerging digital media market.
“Controlled distribution going away represents a platform opportunity for companies that value consumer intelligence to get a leg-up on the competition,” Kocho says. To provide the footstool, OpenCASE supports a healthy consumer IQ via the platform’s Media Agent. The Media Agent manages authentication, delivering and revoking of licenses, plus reporting. This intelligence – details on consumer downloads, service errors and interactive ad response – helps clients improve services and refine marketing plans. And all that consumer intelligence goes a long way to keeping Extend’s clients in good with Jane Q. A fresh outlook There are several indications that Extend’s long-term strategy is paying off. First of all, they’re hiring. “We have about five or ten jobs in Toronto we are hiring for now,” says Gardner. “Mostly developers positions.” As the company continues to add to its human arsenal, Extend has also been the beneficiary of recent product awards and financing. On May 1, 2007, Extend was named one of the OnHollywood 100 Top Private Companies for its innovation, market potential, customer adoption, media buzz and investor value creation.
“It’s important to be optimistic if you want to stay ahead of the market.” - Kocho.
And on April 6, 2007, they received a $12 million injection of venture capital. The money will be used to accelerate sales and boost product innovations. One of those innovations – a soon-to-be-released addendum to the OpenCASE product suite – will allow advertisers to dynamically refresh ads stored on Jane Q’s device. “The game now is to say ‘Spend $50 or $100 on cable and it’s all-you-can-eat,’ or ‘Go pay-per-view and have it your way,’” says Kocho. “Extend’s bet is that the monetization of digital media will settle somewhere in the middle.” Odds are, the winner will be whoever finds a way to capture and hold Jane Q’s fickle eye.

Startup profile: QuickPlay Media

Trevor Stafford — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 08:00:00 GMT

Perhaps it’s the brick-and-beam, high-ceilinged Zen of its environs, but QuickPlay is one calm startup. Surprisingly calm – given that in less than two years they have grown from four to 75 employees, won two national awards, received $16 million in capital financing and compete in a frenzied technological environment.

Founded by telecommunications executive Wayne Purboo and media master Raja Khanna, QuickPlay gives phone companies and media organizations seamless delivery of mobile video to consumers—despite today’s Byzantine array of devices and protocols.
The company is much more than a content platform, however. To succeed, QuickPlay has had to become a startup chimera: parttechnology solution, part design house, and part publisher.
As Mark Farmer, QuickPlay’s Director of Marketing, explains, his organization is as focused on understanding and engineering ‘sticky’ end-user experiences as they are on streaming video at 15 frames a second.
A ‘quick’ company history
Launched in September of 2004, QuickPlay was born in a tiny office carved out of Raja Khanna’s Gemini-winning company, Snap Media. By November, the company had launched pioneering video-on-demand services with Rogers and Telus, adding Bell a year later.
QuickPlay has won a CNMA award two years running
With success came a need for capital – to the tune of $4 million from partners JL Albright and Up Capital in the late spring of 2005. The company relocated and absorbed its former landlord, moving into a spacious and creative home in Toronto’s King West neighborhood.

QuickPlay’s Toronto Headquarters

New clients were added in the form of Canadian media companies, but it’s no secret that the trunk of the mobile marketplace is the United States, so QuickPlay secured a second round of financing, a total of $12 million from Boston’s General Catalyst and JL Albright.
With funding fueling expansion, the company opened offices in Atlanta, Washington, Boston and San Francisco, has south-of-the-border deals with ESPN and MTV, and is aggressively pursuing American carriers.
A two-pronged, customer-centric solution
QuickPlay’s white-label solution makes nice with content and devices, allowing them to sit (transparently) in the middle of the content-to-user chain for either carriers or media companies. QuickPlay also offers the human expertise and hardware required to program (in the TV sense of the word) content.

Five minutes of fun: QuickPlay’s Secret Sauce
Even the most efficient mousetrap needs great cheese. QuickPlay’s irresistible bait isn’t the technical superiority and device interoperability of their platform – it’s knowing the customer – the mobile consumer – and creating user interfaces that fit their needs.

“There are 2 billion cell users worldwide…and only a billion TVs.” – Mark Farmer, QuickPlay

A traditional mobile web interface
As Mark Farmer explains, mobile surfing isn’t anything like desktop surfing, yet most device interfaces look, feel and operate on that traditional model. Unlike the deskbound, most mobile users have just enough time for a quick, five-minute fix. Every extra click or layer detracts from the experience and from the ‘five minutes of fun’ that QuickPlay uses as their motto.
QuickPlay’s secret sauce is knowing how to build a faster, better, and stickier mobile mousetrap

Working at QuickPlay The combination of working creatively with leading-edge technology and a friendly, supportive environment makes QuickPlay an engaging place to work, so much so that turnover – the bane of high-pressure startups – is nearly zero.
How does QuickPlay maintain its quiet harbour amid a storm of growth and change? It’s due in part to trickle down. The senior management have ‘been there’ through the highs and lows of running a small company. They know what to expect, so there’s no executive panic button.

“You can actually see how the stuff you work on works, and impacts the consumer” – Mark Farmer
Nothing says ‘startup’ like a milk crate in the foyer
Culture adds a second note to the harmony. The workspace is bright, dog-friendly and open concept, and many of the employees have worked together in the past. There’s a blend of people from creative and operational backgrounds and the groups have faith in each other.
The work itself is challenging, satisfying and tactile; you can show what you’ve built to your friends and neighbors simply by taking out your phone. Winning is fun, and building a better mousetrap is a challenge on many levels.
As Farmer says, QuickPlay has to keep itself at the edge of a market where innovation is the rule.
What the Future Holds – Job Growth
According to Mark Farmer, QuickPlay’s recent funding is proof that it isn’t moving toward an M&A. They are in it for the long haul, and plan to keep putting their windfall to aggressive use south of the border. That means they’re looking for more talented people to help them lead an increasingly competitive market. Mark suspects that the company will number over 100 employees by early 2007.

“We’ve had several offers from several quarters, but we’re not focused on getting acquired, we’re focused on building a company that has a great revenue stream.”
- Mark Farmer
Quickplay’s loft workspace has multiple levels.

A Growing Market
Pundits once suggested that placing a camera in a phone was absurd. Prices would be too high and quality too low, or so went the criticism. The same questions are leveled at mobile video-on-demand.
Yet QuickPlay’s market is growing by leaps and bounds. Devices are maturing, networks are improving and consumers are demanding more (and better) services. Phone companies and media empires are well aware of this, and are pushing hard to get in on the action.
As Mark Farmer puts it, “in the past, we’d approach clients and they’d say, ‘ok. we’ll try this mobile content thing”. Now they say, ‘we have to do this’.
Technology and design are inexorably bridging the gap between devices, networks and the user experience – and QuickPlay is at the forefront of giving clients – and consumers – the perfect mobile mousetrap.

It was the best of times...it was the burst of times

Trevor Stafford — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 07:00:00 GMT

Billed as one of Canada’s hottest 30-something entrepreneurs leading one of its most promising companies, Kashif ‘Kash’ Hassan bootstrapped a mobile integration firm into Wysdom, a wireless ASP riding the frothy whitecaps of the Dot Com tsunami.

After two multi-million dollar funding rounds, Wysdom landed a stunning $50 million USD ($70 million CDN) in February of 2000. The NASDAQ collapsed two weeks later. Starved for business, Wysdom ‘restructured’, Kash departed in 2004 and by 2006 the company was dead.

Red Canary caught up with Kash to talk about Wysdom, the crash, and his advice for today’s startups.

KASH ON WISDOM
What was the funding environment like in 2000?
If you look back at the first quarter of 2000, the Nasdaq was at an all-time high. Wireless was big, valuations were going through the roof—we did it at a time when the market was the hottest it’s ever been. I don’t think anyone expected the market to crash literally two weeks after we closed the deal.

Did you have to shop around?
We just happened to time it at a point where everyone was looking for deals. It took us about 30 days to get a deal done, there was a lot of interest at the time.

Was it the largest deal in Canada at the time?
If it wasn’t the largest it was one of the largest.

What about your products. Was the market ready for Wysdom’s application model and its map-OS framework?
We were early. I look back now and we were probably two or three years early.

If you look at map-OS, everybody’s talking about the same concept today, the concept of service delivery platforms, making it easy for developers to build applications…everything that we talked about in the early days people are doing now.

“I don’t think anyone expected the market to crash literally two weeks after we closed the deal.”

I remember when everyone was talking about 3G (cellular) networks and how it was going to revolutionize everything…yet we still don’t have 3G networks in Canada.
Yeah but in Europe it’s happening. A lot of the stuff Wysdom talked about doing…people came in later and started doing some of that stuff. When we were going people were taking opportunies and everyone was talking about growth, but once the market collapsed it was all about restructuring. The spend wasn’t there. The [telco] models hadn’t evolved.

So was there a tipping point? A day where you said to yourself “this company isn’t going to go the direction I thought it would?”
Not really, hindsight is always 20-20. I was looking at some old pictures of the events – just looking at the names, the faces, the times.

Looking back, I think I would have switched direction on certain things, but that was the direction we went in. For all the challenges we had I think we had a good team. (laughs) Gotta get the timing better next time!

ON CANADIAN STARTUPS
Do startups have something to learn from Wysdom?
I meet a lot of startups and everyone’s got all these great ideas, but I think people get in to startups and then realize that there’s actually a lot of work that goes into building companies.

It’s easy to build some basic code, but as you build a company you have to make sure you have everyone going down a straight path, making sure that you’re funded, that you’ve got real revenue – there’s a lot of pieces that have to come together for you to be successful.

What do founders need to do?
You got to start thinking about financing, you’ve got to start thinking about human resources, how to hire, how to fire, and so on.

“People get in to startups and then realize there’s a lot work.”

Was there one specific executive position that you can say you relied on the most?
The funny thing is…I don’t think there was one person specifically…Ian Collins [Wydom’s co-founder] was was my partner and we relied on each other for a lot, but the reality is it’s not one person.

How would you say your role in the company changed as you went from 5 employees to 175 employees?
It’s having to give up control, you let people do their jobs. At 5, you’re basically doing everything, at 175 you just can’t deal with everything.

That’s why you have to have people that you can trust to make decisions, to do the right thing for the business.

We went through two acquisitions.

What was that like?
You have to have the infrastructure to run and maintain everything….it’s details.

When you’re at 5 people you’re managing around a few pods, when you get to 50-100 people you’re managing a facility…when you get to 175 people after acquisitions you’re managing people in different facilities, in different time zones, in different countries.

You need more and more infrastructure to run your business.

“At 5, you’re basically doing everything, at 175 you just can’t deal with everything.”

What’s changed in Canada’s startup environment? How are Canadian startups doing things differently?
There are still a lot of Canadian startups, which is a good sign. Canadian entrepreneurs are waiting a lot longer before they go get money from a VC or wherever.

So It may get hot again, but probably nothing like what it was.

Never say never.

Is there a problem with funding?
I think startups are getting back to being startups again – without having to spend lots of money. They’re being more intuitive in terms of how they get work done. I think the collapse of the markets pushed a lot of people to start looking for profitability earlier in their business There’s also not as many angel investors as there used to be, a lot of them lost money during the bust.

“I think startups are getting back to being startups again…”

So development costs are lower?
I think that has changed but at the end of the day a company is not just software, it’s putting the software with the sales with the marketing and that still has an inherent cost to it.

Do Canadian companies not do a good job at those aspects?
I don’t think it’s that Canadian startups don’t do enough, it’s just that they haven’t gone through it enough, what you’re seeing is, second time around, people are able to do things quicker.

At one point Wysdom had 175 employees. What would you say to a startup with a good revenue stream that’s about to hit a growth phase?
It’s all the cliches, hire the best, hire the brightest, but at the end of the day you really have to manage your growth.

“What you’re seeing is, second time around, people are able to do things quicker.”

How do you do that?
I call it a soaking-in period. When you bring people in they bring their culture [with them] – if you bring in too many people too fast you lose the culture that you’ve got.

Make sure that the revenue isn’t just a spike…you’ll hire a lot of people and all of the sudden you’ll realize ‘hey that was just a spike in our activity and we probably shouldn’t have hired all these people”.

I would look at bringing in contractors, have the flexibility of full-time and part-time. Understand what you want long-term and what you want short-term.

And if a startup wanted advice with this kind of situation, who would they go to?
If they’ve got a resource like Red Canary it’s not a bad place to start. (laughs)

There are a lot of good VCs that add money but they also provide value from a networking and contact perspective.

ON HIS NEW COMPANY
Tell me about your new venture, ooober.
Being in the wireless space you realize how difficult it is to do it, so many different devices, so many different networks, no real standards. So our model is: let’s make it easy for anyone who has content to be able to buy and sell in an online marketplace.

A mobile content marketplace?
Kinda like what Ebay did for buyers and sellers, anyone who had stuff could sell it to anybody who wanted stuff. We’re doing the same thing in the mobile world, allowing people who have content to sell to people who want content.

We take care of the billing, the operators and the different devices.

What are you doing differently this time?
We were underground for about a year or so…just going through, trying to figure out the business model, building the technology, making sure things worked.

At the end of the day you have to build good businesses,we didn’t want to get out too far ahead of ourselves [with ooober].It’s like every business, you’ve got to keep your head down, keep focused.

IN RETROSPECT
What are you proudest of at WYSDOM?
We’ve got 100 entrepreneurs that were at Wysdom and are now out on their own. It’s kind of like an alma mater. These people will help create more companies in Canada, it will be good for Canada in the long run.

Personally, how would characterize the whole Wysdom experience?
I went through everything. Huge highs and huge lows, but at the end of the day you’ve to keep moving forward, you can’t stick your head in the sand.

Would you do it again?
Yeah, absolutely.

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See also:

Deloitte & Touche: Growth Rates of Canadian Technology Companies Falling After a Decade of Remarkable Gains

Average growth rate down 1,276% compared to last year

U.S. and global economic weakness taking a toll

Changing trends in financing

Rise in commodity/energy prices providing new opportunities

GreenTech and CleanTech on the rise

The wireless sector continues to thrive

Federal government getting too involved in the wrong ways

Regional representation of Canada's technology hotspots

Leadership Awards

Companies-to-Watch Awards

Deloitte Technology Green 15(TM) Awards

About the Deloitte Technology Fast 50(TM)

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It was the best of times...it was the burst of times