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In the Spotlight
Chris Ruff: The content
champion
As told to Jason Meyers
November 2005
Chris Ruff: From enterprise software to business school to an attempt
to redefine mobile messaging at Aptelix. Now president of UIEvolution,
helping redefine how mobile content is developed and distributed.
I started my career in enterprise software. I got my MBA in the late
'90s, so I was reading books while everyone was getting rich off of
stock options. While I was in business school, a colleague and I decided
to start a software company. We decided the Internet was dead for
entrepreneurs, but the wireless Internet was just taking off, and
messaging was going to be a killer application. So we came up with a
technology designed to streamline text input of messages. If we were a
game company, I'd probably be rich today, because we had the perfect Mad
Lib generator.
Our weakness was that we didn't have that visionary technologist. But
while I was raising money, I met Satoshi Nakajima, a venture capitalist
at Ignition. He has an unbelievable vision of how consumers are going to
interact with technology. Everything I learned about why my company
didn't have the bench strength technically to succeed, he had. I had
spent two years focused on wireless data, and the Ignition folks liked
what I knew. So I joined UIEvolution and jumped right into business
development and marketing.
We had the vision of a lightweight, cross-platform programming engine
from the beginning. We realized that the first phone call every wireless
company makes is either to the device manufacturer or the wireless
carrier. We decided that if those hundred companies were calling the
carriers, we would call those hundred companies and see if we could make
it easier for them to offer something unique.
We believed companies with a lot of brands would be partners we could
keep for a long time, so we focused on Disney and ESPN. Instead of
selling them software, we partnered with them to help get their content
deployed on new device platforms.
You don't immediately expect to experience content on your phone. If we
want mobile to become a mass-market consumer service like the Internet,
my Mom needs to find some value downloading content to her phone like
she does now with her PC.
There are several hundred cable TV channels, but people still find the
10 they like. That's an interesting model, but it requires brands to
take an active interest in promoting the value of their channel. The
MVNOs are going to help with this because they're targeting specific
demographics with specific offerings. And over time, I think, a lot of
brands will do it through just software.
We see a great opportunity with a ubiquitous network. We'll focus beyond
mobile phones to other mobile products, like digital cameras and MP3
players. We can virtually run on any operating platform, and we can
drive convergence across different platforms.
The biggest transition for us now is to move from being the primary user
of our software to being the software provider to an ecosystem of
developers who can more quickly build lots of applications for the
market. That's how software companies become ubiquitous.
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Wireless News
Ericsson
wins softswitch deal with SunCom
By Kevin Fitchard
Nov 30, 2005
Ericsson today landed its first U.S. mobile softswitch
deployment, announcing a deal for its IP switching infrastructure and
future Wi-Fi/cellular convergence trials with southeastern operator
SunCom Wireless.
AT&T,
Cingular test Mobile2Home
By Carol Wilson
Nov 30, 2005
In the latest push toward wireless-wireline convergence,
AT&T and Cingular Wireless are trialing a service which gives customers
unlimited wireless minutes when calling between their Cingular Wireless
mobile phone number and their primary phone line. The trial of
Mobile2Home is being launched in Connecticut and will cost $5.99 a month
per wireless phone.
New
Orleans Wi-Fi sign of the times
By Carol Wilson
Nov 29, 2005
Municipal Wi-Fi could be taking a significant step
forward today, as New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin announces a new citywide
Wi-Fi network to be used both for government and public communications.
Cingular,
Orange team on corporate users
By Carol Wilson
Nov 29, 2005
Cingular Wireless has landed its largest partner to date
for its Cingular Worldview program, announcing today that Orange SA will
join. That means Cingular and Orange corporate customers in the U.S.,
Great Britain, France, Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland now will be
able to combine their Cingular and Orange wireless usage for the
purposes of volume discounts, and also manage billing and expenditures
for both through the WorldView Wireless Information Navigator online
portal.
FLO
Forum ratifies mobile multimedia spec
By Kevin Fitchard
Nov 28, 2005
The association created by Qualcomm to standardize its
proprietary forward link only (FLO) mobile TV technology has released
its first technical specification for the platform's air interface.
Microsoft
launches hosted messaging update
By Dan O'Shea
Nov 28, 2005
Microsoft has announced version 3.5 of its Hosted
Messaging and Collaboration solution, which allows service providers to
equip small and mid-sized businesses with enterprise-class e-mail
services, mobile device data access, team Web sites and online presence
information.
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