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 |
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
 |
 |
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.