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Posts Tagged ‘Gerbsman Partners’

Wunderbar! Why millions are flocking to Wunderlist

Posted in Board Of Intellectual Capital, tagged , , , , on February 23, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Article from GigaOm.

Om has called 6wunderkinder “one of his favorite new companies”, and there’s good reason. The startup is one of the leading lights in the burgeoning Berlin scene, and impressive take-up claims for its first app could spell good news for its second, more fully-featured offering.

Despite being only a year and a half old, the company already has two core task management products. 6wunderkinder said this week that Wunderlist has amassed two million users in the 15 months since launching, but so far they’re keeping schtum on uptake for the still-in-beta Wunderkit — a fuller project management platform that could have enterprise as well as consumer appeal.

Wunderlist’s adoption seems to be accelerating: six months ago, 6wunderkinder said the app had drawn a million users over nine months. Those are the sort of numbers that drew in $4.2 million of funding from Skype founder Niklas Zennström’s Atomico last November.

Part of the acceleration, however, may be down to the fact that the company has taken the app to more platforms. While it began as an iOS, PC, Mac and web-app affair, with an Android version built on the Titanium platform, it has since then expanded to Linux and BlackBerry while gaining a less-kludgy native Android iteration. A Windows Phone version is also on the horizon.

Announcing its second milestone earlier this week the company gave some stats for Wunderlist’s usage so far:

 

  •          Eight million lists created
  •          75 million tasks created
  •          812 million syncs handled
  •          ‘App of the week’ in over 100 countries, with availability in 30 languages

But even though it’s now launched Wunderkit, 6wunderkinder says it won’t be abandoning its previous app. In a cute ‘love letter’ to its first app on Tuesday, 6wunderkinder stressed that Wunderlist may have lacked attention during the first weeks of Wunderkit’s existence, but the older child would not be left behind.

“You’ve probably been asking yourself: why is my sync not quite as reliable as it used to be? Why does Wunderkit get recurring tasks? We’d like to reaffirm our commitment to you. Over the coming year we’re going to make sure you get the attention you deserve. We’ll be rebuilding you from the ground up, making sure that you run faster, lighter and better than you ever have before. We’ll even be able to get you those new features you’ve been dying to have.”

As for how it intends to make money? Well, 6wunderkinder posted an interesting update last week. The original plan was to have a paid version of the service, at $4.99 a month, which would have been needed if the user wanted to collaborate with people outside of their own ‘workspace’.

But users responded by saying the platform’s adoption would probably be hindered by crippling its collaborative nature, and 6wunderkinder changed its mind and de-limited the free version. The $4.99-per-month Pro scheme still stands, but it’s now targeting heavy users who might want increased storage, for example.

6wunderkinder told GigaOM that Wunderlist saw a brief spike in takeup after Wunderkit went into public beta. The company has not disclosed Wunderkit’s adoption figures yet, but it did say 140,000 people had joined the waiting list for that beta, and it expected Wunderkit to hit the million-user mark as quickly — if not faster — than Wunderlist did.

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I am a Tag….not an number

Posted in Board Of Intellectual Capital, Inetellectual Property, Mobile, Tony Fish, tagged , on February 13, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Article by Tony Fish. Member of Gerbsman Partners Board of Intellectual Capital

In my book titled  “Mobile Web 2.0” (published in 2006) Ajit (co-author) and I identified that mobileweb2.0 holds that the mean and mechanism by which I was uniquely identified by and could be associated with, which was a number; no longer holds true.

The key aspect of this is that in the old world I was found, contacted utilising and was identified by numbers, this may have been a phone number or a passport number. In the new world I will be found and identified by tags, centred on who I am as identified by my name.  Further; it will not just be me, companies are identified by brands but we have to-date contacted or connected to them by numbers, now companies, using their brands and product names will be uniquely identified by these names.  Is there a real difference, in the consumers eyes; yes!, In deep technical aspects, probably not, since there will still be a mechanism for resolving names and numbers, but the value of resolving numbers (directories) and its controlling influence has passed.

What does all this mean for me as an individual ?

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I am a tag not a number.  In the very old days I had one number, in fact it was not mine either, if was the shared Fish Family home phone number.  People could, if the so wished, call up directory enquiries or look up in the phone book this number. Eventually having only one number passed an in the modern age I have several numbers (mobile, Skypein, office, DDI, home, home office, to name a few)  If someone wants these numbers, they would need my business card, may be linked to Linkedin or Plaxo or could go to each of the service providers directory services and eventually get my numbers.

However, why did you want the numbers, why have I got some many numbers.  Because I can be reached in a variety of means, depending on where I am and the cost of telephony I wish to suffer.  In essence however, all you wanted to do was to “speak” with me.  Actually, all you wanted was to connect with Tony Fish or Ajit Joaker who wrote about mobileweb2.0 in London in June 06.

However, there is another way.  Instead of worrying about using the telcom operators directory search, not knowing which operator I am with, how about using a web search engine to connect.  Imagine, you type in my name, the search engine now responds with not a pile of numbers, but offers you a choice of what you would like to do.   Do you want to call, message, lowest call route (LCR), VoIP call. You click yes. The search engine has now become the telco, not by offering infrastructure but by offering the directory resolving feature, and I am now a name not a number.  So why tags?

Lets assume that as you read this, download the slides, look for the update of the book, you store this new data on your computer and you tag the information with something useful.  Suppose you tag it with Ajit or Tony.  Suppose, as I have tagged the same information on my computer with Ajit and Tony and Mobileweb2.0 etc etc.  Suppose also that I have tagged my contact details with my name.  Now a tag based search engine could resolve the search, and hence draw out the connection opportunities, and can even then set up the connection.  If would be possible that I have set preference for my location, and therefore you could be offered to meet me in the Starbucks on Berkeley Street, W1 opposite my office as I am in there at the moment!

What becomes evident is that none of this depends on knowing a number or how connection happens and it is certainly not fixed mobile convergence! There is someone who may perform the task, but nobody needs know.

Surly this all breaks down when you have many people with the same name! The simplicity of the tags is that everyone will uniquely tag is different ways, each of these will build unique identifies for people with the same name.

Now how does this extend to the corporate.  Corporate discovered many years ago that Vanity numbers worked.  This being 0800 Flowers etc.  There was no need to remember the phone number, you could type in the name on an alpha numeric key pad.  This developed into short codes on the mobile and is likely to introduce a whole new mobile vanity number opportunity.

It is possible that you will dial COKE, BMW or TAXI, FLOWERS and be connected.  A corporate will be able to remove the cost of reprinting different number for customer services or for competitions by geography.  Instead all one number.  But better, this number will be available from fixed, mobile and PC based origination devices.  Calls will automatically be least cost routed saving customer and supplier cash.

Mobile will be the first to drive these changes, and will be the driver.  It will be the there at the point of inspiration to capture ideas, but also there when you need to connect and find, without the requirements to have it all stored locally.

Read more here.

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5 stories to read this weekend

Posted in Board Of Intellectual Capital, Economy, FaceBook, Intellectual capital, internet, IPO news, Market research, tagged , , , , , on February 12, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Article from GigaOm.

Don’t get mad at me for not finding seven stories for you to read this weekend. I have been busy with some other stuff and as a result I have not been able to spend as much time reading as I normally do. Regardless, here is an abbreviated recommendation list. Hope you enjoy them.

Read more here.

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Akamai’s Blaze buy and what is says about today’s web

Posted in Board Of Intellectual Capital, FaceBook, Gerbsman Partners, google, tagged , , , , , , , , on February 8, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Article from GigaOm.

“Akamai said it purchased Canadian web site optimization company Blaze Wednesday, ahead of its financial results call. In acquiring Blaze, content-delivery network leader Akamai offers an excellent example of how the web is changing as we access it from more devices and as the nature of the web sites we visit changes. This small deal illustrates some big changes in the web.

Blaze, which was formed in 2010, offers a service that helps web sites load faster by optimizing the scripts running on the site. It also recommends clients add a content delivery network and complements the software and CDN mix with consulting services for folks that want to go further. The optimization happens on the backend on Blaze’s servers, so the consumer’s front end experience was faster and fitted to the device he was on at the time. Other companies in this space include Aptimize.

In buying Blaze, Akamai is acknowledging that web sites today are accessed in more places, something anyone who’s been in a Starbucks lately can tell you, but also that the sites themselves are different. They use richer media and offer links back to more applications. Things like sharing something on Twitter or liking it on Facebook via a simple button add seconds to load times and complexity to the overall site. Complicated CSS scripts and lagging ad networks don’t help either.

Blaze was a natural fit for Akamai in many ways as Akamai tries to take its CDN beyond the old days of static content delivery to delivering optimized advertising, helping bring content to mobile devices, and otherwise adapt to the application-heavy and real-time nature of the web. Where web sites were once comprised of fairly simple code optimized for one or two browsers, they’re now a mash up of many applications from different places being viewed on as many as 10 different browsers and platforms. Akamai is just trying to keep up.”

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Data torrent may spur biggest M&A frenzy since ’07

Posted in Board Of Intellectual Capital, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 6, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Article from SFGate.

“Three years from now, the data equivalent of every movie ever made will cross Internet networks every five minutes, according to Cisco Systems predictions. How to manage all that information is what will be driving technology mergers and acquisitions in 2012.

In a bid to transform that torrent into profits, a cash-rich industry is poised to surpass 2011’s almost $200 billion volume of announced mergers and acquisitions. Companies such as Cisco and IBM are searching for deals that will boost their capacity to provide new storage, analytics and security services to enterprise customers.

Big data, mobile and cloud technologies will lead to “bold investments and fateful decisions,” market research firm IDC said in a recent report. The volume of digital information may balloon from 2.7 zettabytes this year – the equivalent of filling 2.7 billion of Apple’s priciest iMacs to capacity – to 8 zettabytes by 2015, according to IDC.

“The speed at which technology innovation moves is such that you can’t miss a step,” said Jon Woodruff, the San Francisco co-head of technology investment banking at Goldman Sachs, the industry’s top adviser on deals last year. “Every tool has to be used for speed and nimbleness sake, and M&A is one of those significant tools.”

Abundant cash and investor pressure to jump-start sales growth will also propel deal-making. Cash levels have expanded 21 percent in the past year to $513 billion, based on holdings of the 35 companies that comprise the Morgan Stanley Technology Index.

Large companies will be leading the charge. Hewlett-Packard, Google and Microsoft led a 36 percent gain in technology deals last year, outpacing a 4.1 percent advance for all M&A worldwide.

In one of the biggest deals last year, HP agreed to buy Autonomy Corp. for $10.3 billion in a bid to build its software business and scale back on its PC manufacturing. Though viewed negatively by some investors, the move will enable Hewlett-Packard to offer database search services and other cloud-related services for business. CEO Meg Whitman said in November that the company doesn’t plan “large M&A” this year, though it may seek small software deals.

Cisco, which has made about 150 acquisitions in its history and has $44.4 billion in cash on the balance sheet, said in November that it will “continue to be aggressive in acquiring technologies.”

Bigger volume

“This year’s technology deal volume could be bigger than last year’s and 2007’s,” said Chet Bozdog, global head of technology investment banking at Bank of America.

Industry takeovers in 2007 reached $264.4 billion, the biggest year since 2000’s record high of $585.2 billion.

“Convergence between hardware, software and services will continue to add products to the same sales chains,” said Bozdog, who is based in Palo Alto.

Cloud computing, which allows companies to access information over the Internet from external data centers, and the shift from desktops to mobile devices, will continue to be “huge multiyear trends,” said Drago Rajkovic, head of technology mergers and acquisitions at JPMorgan Chase.

As part of this trend, SAP, the largest maker of business-management software, agreed to buy SuccessFactors for $3.4 billion in December to create a “cloud powerhouse,” co-CEO Bill McDermott said at the time.

Gaining patents

Google announced in August it would buy Motorola Mobility Holdings for $12.5 billion in its largest acquisition, gaining mobile patents and expanding in hardware. Microsoft purchased Skype Technologies for $8.5 billion in October, the biggest Internet takeover in more than a decade, in an effort to catch Google in online advertising and Apple in mobile software.

While Google and Microsoft paid in cash for their deals, the purchases didn’t put a dent in their funds. Microsoft’s cash and equivalents jumped 41 percent from a year earlier to $51.7 billion, based on its latest filing, while Google increased cash by 28 percent to $45.4 billion.

Apple, which has no debt and the most cash among technology companies at $97.6 billion, said Jan. 24 that it is discussing ways to spend its funds and would consider acquisitions.

“There’s more cash in technology than in any other sector and the low level of debt makes it very easy for companies in the industry to buy growth,” said JPMorgan’s Rajkovic, who is based in San Francisco.

Affordable targets

“As cash piles have increased, some potential targets have become more affordable. Shares of F5 Networks, whose software helps companies manage Internet traffic, lost 18 percent of their value in 2011 even as sales grew 31 percent. Riverbed Technology, a provider of equipment to boost networks’ speed, lost 33 percent while its revenue increased 32 percent. Shares of Acme Packet, a maker of devices that help networks transmit phone calls and video, dropped 42 percent last year while sales jumped 33 percent.

“You will see more M&A than last year, with some very strategic technology companies involved as valuations have become more reasonable,” said Larry Sonsini, who co-founded Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati, the law firm that brought Apple public in 1980.”

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