Venture Over Funding
A great post here from Bill Burnham via Fred's A VC's blog on massive overfunding in the mobile application space.
I am not going to add to the comments on over-funding of hot companies; but actually rubbish the technology and then take a poke at technology acquisition. Seven is a great example of a stove-pipe solution. Great if you want to add just the ability to send and receive mobile email, but once a network operator wants to add other services / applications and charging capabilities with slightly greater sophistication than $x per mb, or per email then the system integrators get to rub their hands and put their hands back in to the cookie jar. All these cool apps, are just that apps. They aren't technologically advanced, they aren't future proof and they are difficult to integrate.
A semi-literate Java programmer could replicate Seven's technology in about a week using this generation open standard; if you don't believe me go to the Parlay org's website or Sun Microsystems JAIN (Java for advanced intelligent networks) JSLEE websites and think about how much more these two technologies can offer than Seven.
So why has Seven raised a chunk and the ISV's that form Parlay and JAIN / JSLEE next to nothing. Superior marketing may have something to do with it but there is also a trend in the US to keep on acquiring stove-pipe solutions - and then complain that they don't do the job advertised. It has been suggested that as US carriers, in particular, have cut back on R&D they have lost the ability to spot technical bullshit in the marketing blurb.
Somewhere between the US super-charged attitude and the European ultra-cautious approach would make sense for everyone.
07 June 2004
Venture Over Funding
A great post here from Bill Burnham via Fred's A VC's blog on massive overfunding in the mobile application space.
I am not going to add to the comments on over-funding of hot companies; but actually rubbish the technology and then take a poke at technology acquisition. Seven is a great example of a stove-pipe solution. Great if you want to add just the ability to send and receive mobile email, but once a network operator wants to add other services / applications and charging capabilities with slightly greater sophistication than $x per mb, or per email then the system integrators get to rub their hands and put their hands back in to the cookie jar. All these cool apps, are just that apps. They aren't technologically advanced, they aren't future proof and they are difficult to integrate.
A semi-literate Java programmer could replicate Seven's technology in about a week using this generation open standard; if you don't believe me go to the Parlay org's website or Sun Microsystems JAIN (Java for advanced intelligent networks) JSLEE websites and think about how much more these two technologies can offer than Seven.
So why has Seven raised a chunk and the ISV's that form Parlay and JAIN / JSLEE next to nothing. Superior marketing may have something to do with it but there is also a trend in the US to keep on acquiring stove-pipe solutions - and then complain that they don't do the job advertised. It has been suggested that as US carriers, in particular, have cut back on R&D they have lost the ability to spot technical bullshit in the marketing blurb.
Somewhere between the US super-charged attitude and the European ultra-cautious approach would make sense for everyone.
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