MOBILE GROOVE PODCAST: Nokia’s Risky Business With Apple & Smart Acquisition Of Dopplr; Why Flirtomatic Leads The Pack; Money Is Tough To Come By & We Salute Some Surprise Start-Ups
In brief: We have hard words and constructive advice for Nokia, hone in on what makes Flirtomatic a textbook case of how companies should approach mobile and discuss this year’s deal flow. A preview of the upcoming podcast series looking at winners of the Smaato Mobile Advertising Awards 2009 (Flirtomatic, Aloqua, Waze, Yoose and SPBTV). We also raise our goblets of Rock to companies (rather than individuals) making mobile exciting: Spanish games start-up LemonQuest and the line-up of cool companies in Augmented Reality (specifically, GeoVector and Layar) and visual recognition (Kooaba).
Mobile Groove — the monthly podcast I produce with Inma Martinez, leading digital media strategist, “free radical” and advisor to venture capitalists — is back. This time we kick off with a hard look at Nokia strategy and question the wisdom of its decision to sue Apple.
NOKIA, APPLE & DOPPLR
Do shareholders see value in lawsuits? We also piece together the logic behind the quick, quiet (and we think clever) acquisition of Dopplr, a social network company that lets members share personal and business travel plans and exchanging travel advice. Shame that Nokia’s marcomms did such a miserable job of communicating the real value of this move, leaving it to the likes of Tech Crunch to speculate and miss the plot. Are we on the mark? Listen in and let us know.
FLIRTOMATIC
Picking up on the last program (where Inma salutes Mark Curtis and his team at Flirtomatic) we look examine the company’s tremendous track record and recent expansion into the U.S.
By way of background, the freemium flirt and fun service (with 1.5 million users and operations in the U.K., Germany and Australia) announced an agreement in late October with U.S. flat-rate carrier MetroPCS that positions Flirtomatic as the preferred mobile social networking service on the operator’s Mobile Web Portal. According to Flirtomatic stats, Flirtomatic mobile users log in around seven times and send over 30 messages each day, resulting in over 30 million messages each month and over 160 million WAP page views.
Why is Flirtomatic on a roll? One reason is Mark’s pragmatic approach to mobile. As Inma puts it: “Buzz is dead!” Mark didn’t drink the Kool-Aid – and neither did we.
I’ll have more from Mark when we connect for a special podcast series looking at the line-up of companies that won the Smaato Mobile Advertising Award 2009 (Flirtomatic, Aloqua, Waze, Yoose and SPBTV). My personal thanks to Neil Robertson from IF Communications for his help lining up audio interviews and his good work keeping me in the loop with Smaato and other companies in his growing roster of clients.
START-UP WOES
Matthäus Krzykowski over at VentureBeat (@matthausk) caught our eye with a Tweet (to the world, not us) asking why funding is tougher than ever to get. Inma reviews her deal flow to recount the mega investments in mobile. Her take: 2009 is the year that the Valley woke up to mobile. So, why is Europe in a slumber? Listen in and let us know what you think.
GOBLET OF ROCK
This time we change the format to salute companies and sectors that rock. Inma’s pick: Spanish start-up LemonQuest, a global publisher of mobile games and personalization products for network operator portals. The real news (via PocketGamer): “LemonQuest is planning to launch an ambitious massively multiplayer mobile game in the fourth quarter of this year, after recently acquiring a Chinese firm with the necessary technology (and 240,000 registered players).”
Researching the next Netsize Guide has brought me in contact with some cool companies in Augmented Reality (namely, GeoVector and Layar). Since I also focus the chapter on the future of mobile on image search and recognition, I must also toast Kooaba, a company I have followed since the start.
Until next time – keep it fun!
Listen to the lively podcast here [17:47].
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The Mobile Groove series:
PODCAST: Mobile Groove Continues With Blyk’s Media Strategy, Spotify’s Chances Against Apple, What Women Really Want PLUS Cool Startups From Mobilize & Seedcamp
PODCAST: Thought-Provoking Mobile Groove Series With Inma Martinez Debuts Today; Offers Inside Track On Industry Disasters, High-Flyers & What’s Highest On Investor Radars
Tags: Aoloqua, Apple, AR, augmented reality, Dopplr, Flirtomatic, GeoVector, Layar, LemonQuest, Mobile Social Networks, Nokia, podcast, Smaato, SPBTV, VentureBeat, Waze, Yoose
November 2nd, 2009 at 12:28 pm
[...] 1 votes vote MOBILE GROOVE PODCAST: Nokia’s Risky Business With Apple & Smart Acquisition Of Dopplr; Wh… In brief: We have hard words and constructive advice for Nokia, hone in on what makes [...]
November 3rd, 2009 at 6:56 am
If things were not hellish enough for NOKIA, here is a RT from Matthaus Krzykowski:
“interesting interview on Nokia OVI over at CNET http://bit.ly/3CO10U – met OVI employees who were saying OVI is a mess in the moment, though”.
November 9th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
[...] days, I will meet someone who will look at me funny when I used the antiquated term: cell phone. Peggy Anne Salz covers quite a few topics in her podcast with Nokia, Apple, Dopplr, Flirtomatic and more. Mobile [...]
December 19th, 2009 at 8:12 pm
Good post!Thanks for the good reading!