CraigDalton.com

I love my DODOcase

2011-12-06T13:41:00.001-08:00

On my recent Thanksgiving travel I ditched the device I use pretty much every day of the week, my iPad, to try an alternative. My main goal was to experience another up and coming tablet, but my experience lead me to an even more powerful discovery: I love, and I mean LOVE, using a DODOcase! Sure, as a founder, this is probably a foregone conclusion, but after leaving my DODOcase behind for the weekend, I had an incredibly visceral reaction to its absence.

A little background on the type of tablet user I am. I love the convenience of a good tablet. I use my tablet as a second monitor (actually third…yes I'm a geek), I bring it to the coffee shop with me to take meeting notes, I rock a little Pandora and I love streaming videos (thanks @netflix and @hbo). My iPad is the first thing I pick up in the morning and usually the last thing I put down at night. When I travel, I love reading my Kindle Keyboard. So…by now you get the point that I am a tablet obsessed kind of fella.

I didn’t have a case for the tablet that I was testing so I was using it by itself, and what amazed me quite quickly was how notably uncomfortable, even awkward I found it to use. I realized pretty quickly that this had nothing to do with the device itself it was just the lack of the right case. I couldn't quite figure out the best way to comfortably hold the tablet while sitting in a chair, and it was difficult to hold and use at the same time. Later in the evening as I laid down in bed to stream my guilty pleasure (AMC's The Walking Dead) I discovered I couldn't assume my favorite viewing position (DODOcase tented on my chest) and had to find a pillow to hold the tablet up. Not good … at least not good for my use of this particular tablet, but, excellent news for my love of what we are doing here at DODOcase!

After this recent experience, I can say that I firmly believe we make an exceptionally useful and well crafted product. Almost two years after starting DODOcase and it’s great to be able to share my recently renewed belief in our product, especially from the point of view of a consumer/user. The DODOcase works well for me in the office, provides protection when I'm on the city streets and works great to improve the utility of my tablet. I love the look and feel of the DODOcase and I'm proud of both what and how we do the things that we do.

-Craig Dalton
co-Founder

PS - the best news is that when I returned from my trip I found a prototype case for the mystery tablet I was using had been completed! More on that soon.

Artisan of the Month: Keoki Surf Boards

2011-05-03T15:43:00.001-07:00

Shape Up: Keoki Surf Boards
By Jesse Szymanski

This month we found a surfboard shaper in my old stomping ground, Honolulu Hawaii, who’s been making surfboards for 18 years. Keoki Ching, owner and founder of Keoki Surfboards, grew up in surfing family that also shaped their own boards.

“My father and his brothers used to shape their own boards as they were growing up in Oahu. As I was getting more and more into surfing I got curious to do as my father and uncles had done, shape and surf their own boards. So really I think I did it for the experience and personal satisfaction of making something for myself,” he said.

Hand shaping surfboards has been a tradition in the Hawaiian Islands since the arrival of the ancient Polynesians, constantly improving wave riding for surfers, many of whom don’t realize the time and effort put forth into their finished product.

“Few people understand the amount of labor that goes into making a proper surfboard to Hawaii standards,” he explained.

“People have often asked, 'how much will it cost if I order two surfboards?' (expecting a big discount) To which I've responded, 'it would cost twice as much, because that would be twice as much labor involved.' People have to remember that there are seven to eight people involved in the production of any given surfboard, and each person has their special step,” he said.

With a degree in molecular biology, Ching took on surfboard shaping with a scientific approach, embracing CAD to help him perfect his designs.

“Technology has helped us with repeatability. Surfboard CAD technology has helped us make repeat surfboards. Hand shaped surfboards, no matter how hard we try to repeat what we've done before, are always going to have subtle differences between boards. This is just a fact of the surfboard shaping industry. Technology has allowed us to make absolutely accurate differences in a previous design. We've been able to fine-tune our designs with repeatability. CAD technology has become a valuable tool to surfboard shapers worldwide for these reasons,” Ching said.

With the majority of surfboards being shaped overseas in mass-manufactured factories, people like Ching are holding onto a passionate and perfected art that is certainly an endangered craft in our consumer-based society.

If you’ve ever surfed or lived in Hawaii then you know that every surf-break is unique to itself and those who ride them take the design and functionality of their boards seriously, with each one in the quiver offering variations that help for a better ride.

Much like our efforts in great production here at DODOcase, Keoki Surfboards has a hands-on team dedicated to creating great boards.
“I work with amazing craftsmen in our shop. Each surfboard that comes out of our shop is a team effort of some of the top surfboard-building individuals in Hawaii. We can provide a better product if I only focus on the shape, the laminator focuses on laminating only, the air-brusher specializes in airbrushing, the sander in sanding.” Ching explained.

Surfing is a soul thing folks, with a whole lot of heart put into the shaping of a great board and Hawaii is steeped in a small community of skilled craftmen.

“By tradition surfboard shaping has been a secretive art, so many shapers keep to themselves. Our community is small though, so most of the guys all know each other. Though there is no formal association, I think I've noticed a little more camaraderie amongst the local Hawaii shapers. We call each other when we need to, we do help each other out as we've realized we're all in the same boat,” he said.

The same boat there in is one apart from the companies who mass-manufacture over-seas, with less attention to the individual and more put on turning out a product. And while CAD has helped Keoki Surfboards improve on design it has also given way to heavy competition.

“The problem with surfboard CAD technology is that it has allowed the mass manufacture of surfboards internationally, which has helped our industry reach a saturation point much quicker. As it stands our industry is absolutely saturated, meaning our supply has finally met our demand. Market saturation has driven surfboard prices down, making our industry less profitable,” he explained.

This is true for anyone who has been to the islands and seen the overwhelming host of shops, teams, companies and logos everywhere. Having so many different boards and shapers to choose from, the market is flooded with all sorts of styles and designs. What sets Keoki Surfboards apart is the one-on-one customer attention they put into each board as other companies continue to outsource.

“I think it is safe to say that the market is saturated. Many companies have been falling through the cracks in the past few years, so it is actually a good way for our industry to sort itself out. The companies that are surviving are the ones that are remaining true to their core philosophy,” Ching stresses.

While hand-shaping is an endangered art in this day and age. It is up to people like Keoki Ching to keep the spirit and craftsmanship of hand shaping alive. Having worked as a consultant at the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, Ching has had access to the most ancient of surfboards in their collection, giving him both ideas and inspiration to preserve the past while shaping the future board by board.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Bing Bam Boom...DODOcase saves another iPad falling off a car.

2011-01-05T17:51:00.001-08:00

Dear Dodocase,

I want to give a testimony about your product. I am an avid bicycle rider in the Washington DC area. One recent Saturday morning I was out for a ride. I came to an intersection where a car was observed traveling at the posted speed of 50 mph. Just as he passed the intersection, I saw something that looked like a datebook or notebook go sailing into the air from the top of the car. It went up in the air, landed hard and then tumbled to a stop. I was going to ride off but thought better of it and went to collect the item with the intention of returning it to its owner.

To my surprise, the item was an ipad protected by the Dodocase. I decided to continue with my ride carrying the ipad and case.

I arrived home two hours later, opened the case and inspected the ipad for damage. There was no apparent damage so I booted it up. I was in disbelief as I saw it open up and since the owner had no security measures employed, I was able to get to his email and identify a way to contact him.

We made contact and I was able to return his ipad to him. When I told him how I had come across it, he also was amazed. I have told many friends and family about the event. Many will be purchasing one of your cases.

I don’t own an ipad but if I ever do I will be sure to protect it with one of your cases.

I just had to share this with you. It is so good to see a product that works.

Sincerely,

Robert
Potomac , MD

PS - If the owner if this case is reading...shoot us an email as we do have a crash replacement program if you case was damaged.

Meet the birds. Local SF shopping in December

2010-11-29T13:16:00.001-08:00

Attention all Bay Area DODOcase friends!

In order to make it easier to grab a DODOcase as a gift for yourself or a friend, we are going to participate in a few pop-up stores this December.

On December 4th from 9 am to 4 pm, we'll be setting up shop at the annual 3rd Street Sale. Every year our building brings together all the great artisans that called the American Industrial Center home creating a block party of locally produced goods. DODO will be out in force with iPad and Kindle cases ready to go. (2575 Third Street, San Francisco).

Next up, on December 11 and 12, we'll be representing at The Commons for Showmanship, a Holiday Market. See the flyer below. This one is going to be fun. (1077 Mission Street, San Francisco).

For both events we'll have some fun tricks up our sleeve so make sure to come out and say hello!

A new DODO takes flight!

2010-11-18T07:10:00.001-08:00

Your days of taunting your Kindle-toting friends with your slick DODOcase officially come to an end today. We’ve heeded the pleas of Kindle users and rolled out a DODOcase for the Kindle 3 today! It’s available for purchase immediately for $49.95 with a red lining or $54.95 for all other color linings.

At DODOcase we’re focused on preserving the art of traditional bookbinding and bringing the feel of a book back to e-readers. Even though we heart our iPads, the new DODOcase for Kindle was a natural move -- it’s synonymous with books and backed by countless bookworms. The Kindle version has the same great styling as our first product -- handmade by local artisans in San Francisco, each with it’s own unique character -- just in a smaller package.

Want to win one of these new birds? Tell us what your favorite book is and why on Facebook here by Nov. 29th. The comment with the most “likes” wins. The comment with the most “likes” wins. Hint: Share out our status update with a personalized note to drive votes.

You can also purchase one here. If you have any press-related questions please drop a line to abby at dodocase dot com. With the new DODOcase for Kindle we’re hoping to do our little part to help all of us Kindle and iPad users get along just a little better!

Download now or watch on posterous

Kindle_announce_lg.m4v (76858 KB)

We don't sell books, we smell books

2010-11-04T11:47:00.001-07:00

Over at ars technica, Nate Anderson just posted a great peice on e-readers and the cultural shift from ink and paper to pixels. This is something we think about a lot at DODOcase. Consuming books, magazines, etc via a hunk of aluminum or plastic is a far cry from what we all grew up on. Clearly, we are big fans of the iPad (and Kindle) here at DODOcase, but I'm honestly we are not fans of holding aluminum or plastic when trying to read.

Time and time again our customers report back to us that they love not only the look of the DODOcase, but the FEEL of the DODOcase. Using traditional book binding techniques and traditional materials insures that while your eyes may be looking at the latest and greatest technology, your hands are touching materials book binders have been using for generations.

I was personally struck by the paragraph below. Nice work, Nate!

"But with books, one handles the artifact constantly during the reading experience. Losing the feel of that wonderful paper in the old Oxford blue-backed hardcovers means losing a part of the reading experience. My booksmeller would be (and, somewhere in California, probably is) aghast at the sterilized world of the e-books, every word stripped of its tangible context." -- Nate Anderson

Pink with a Purpose! 20% to Susan G. Koman for the Cure

2010-10-14T08:00:00.001-07:00

When we rolled out custom colors recently a DODOCase fan Lacey Fabrizio suggested that we donate some of our proceeds from the pink case to breast cancer research. There was a collective "Duh!" heard around The Nest. We should've thought of that!

Several ladies in the DODO circle have been impacted by breast cancer. So it only makes sense to support National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. For the month of October we'll be donating 20% of the sale of each pink case sold to Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

We won't stop when October is over either. We'll continue to donate 10% of the sale of each pink case sold to Susan G. Komen for the Cure from Nov. 1, 2010 to the end of the year. So get your DODOCase and make a difference! Keep the ideas coming as well and a huge thanks to again Lacy for the little nudge.

Oct. Independant bookseller of the Month: Green Apple Books SF

2010-10-01T00:01:00.001-07:00

Each month we hope to highlight an independant bookseller doing great work in the community. We'd love to get your submissions in the future. The following spotlight peice was written by our own Jesse Szymanski

Novelty and Change
An afternoon at Green Apple Books
By Jesse Szymanski

On one of the sunniest of Saturdays I entered Green Apple Books to find it still crawling
with bookworms. I walked in out of the heat and the general bustle on Clement Street to
be greeted by an original cover of J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye mounted on the end
of a bookcase. The cover resonated with me, because it was the same first edition I read
in high school.

The store was quiet and cool. An older man was reading to his grand daughter in the
children’s section. Signs dangled and labels protruded alphabetically around the massive
volume of literature. However, there was no chaotic clutter some independent bookstores
can be known for.

Green Apple Books has been around since 1967 and was established by Richard Savoy,
who leased the building that predates 1906. For the last 10 years three former employees
who Savoy chose to pass the lease to have been running the show.

Kevin Ryan had been handpicked by Savoy, along with his partners Kevin Hunsanger
and Pete Mulvihill and has co-owned Green Apple Books since he was a grad student
studying English.

“I just genuinely like my job. I think for most people who work in a bookstore that’s why
you do it,” he said.

We maneuvered around sections of books as we walked across the creaking
floorboards and back outside to head up to the office in the adjacent building.

Carrying over 250,000 titles, Green Apple Books makes sure its selection and
service separate them from your “cookie-cutter book stores,” Ryan assured.

“I think the people who do like us, like us a lot. If you go on Yelp.com, review after
review praises Green Apple.”

The neighborhood is authentic according to Ryan, who prides himself as a bookstore
owner that operates outside of the franchised world. A man of tradition, he’s having a
hard time embracing the rise of E books. Though, he was impressed when I showed him
the Dodocase website.

“None of us [at Green Apple Books] were impressed with the Kindle, but the iPad I have
a lust for.”

It did come to light in speaking with him that authors couldn’t necessarily have an E

book, in-store signing.

“The thing you get down to is that the book itself is a physical object. It’s about the feel
of it, the look of it and the beauty of its unique design,” Ryan said.

With Amazon.com and other sites making suggestions for its customers, Ryan believes a
bookstore and furthermore a real live person will always be better.

People want to get out of the house and even on the nicest days still head into Green
Apple Books in search of something new.

“Bookstores fulfill a function besides just selling books. The selection in our store is
curated. We carry books with the most merit. Beyond that our efforts are to help people
who don’t know what they’re looking for,” he explained.

Ryan believes in good old-fashioned, 20th century customer service, rather than
automated suggestions based on data entry.

“I think the Internet isn’t very good at that yet. Maybe it will get there, but people really
need one-on-one direction and help.”

Many bookstores have been selling everything from vinyl records, to CDs and even in
some instances wine glasses, essentially slowly turning them into novelty shops.

“People have an emotional attachment to books. So, it will be a slower decline, but a
definite decline.”

With technology exponentially increasing, so does our adaptation. But what does this
mean for the local vibe on Clement Street, where Green Apple Books has been a sponsor
to the community for over 40 years?

“People just like the physical book, but maybe this type of person will age out of
existence and we won’t be here in the next 20 years.”

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Color case of the week: PINK

2010-09-20T13:08:00.001-07:00

We are going to start highlighting a new color each week. Today's color is the hotly debated, Pink. Love it or hate it, this color is going to get you noticed. The DODOcase team is split evenly on this one. Personally I love it and have been rocking it as my personal case. What do you think?

Color case of the week: PINK

2010-09-20T13:07:00.001-07:00

Apps we like -- Finger Physics HD

2010-09-16T12:15:00.001-07:00

We are going to occassionally post about iPad apps we like and I couldn't resist starting out with one of my favorites from the iPhone which recently got re-imagined for the iPad. The guys at Press OK Entertainment launched Finger Physics HD today for the ipad and I recommend you check it out. I enjoy games with simple mechanics with big visual pay offs. Finger Physic HD delivers big in that regard. Its one of those quick pick up the iPad and have fun games. Check out the full description in iTunes.

http://itunes.com/app/fingerphysicshd

The developer was nice enough to give us a few promo codes. If you use one, please add a comment so people know when they have all been used.

XPAAXJWRM3LT

NPWALYHEWXXX

6LHXAHKJX4LY

MXWT7F6WTYEP

See the full gallery on posterous

Mmmm... new flavors of DODOcase iPad case are available

2010-09-14T15:45:00.001-07:00

We are big fans of The Unofficial Apple Weblog here at DODOcase. They've always been a go to source for information on the latest and greatest from Apple. When we launched DODOcase, Dave Caolo gave us a much needed spark with a glowing review of the DODOcase in April. Word went around the office and eventually Steven Sande gave us a try. Steven was nice enough to email us about a few typos on our new website (thanks, Steven!) and we got to talking about the new colors which led to another nice mention in TUAW . Thanks again guys!

Mobile Monday Silicon Valley App Store Secrets Increasing Sales Feb 8 2010

2010-03-03T14:37:00.001-08:00

This Mobile Monday event was right up Mplayit's alley as more and more developers are trying to figure out how to market their applications.

I was amused when all the developers mentioned featuring by Apple as being the biggest spike is sales...that one is not really a secret now is it!

An underlying theme in all the presentations was utilizing social media to generate buzz around your application. I wish we had had an opportunity to discuss Mplayit on the panel as we continue to provide developers with the tools to generate virtual word of mouth.

Next week Mplayit CEO Michael Powers will be presenting on two separate occasions during the Game Developer Conference in SF. Make sure to come check him out as he outlines the many must have line items in your app marketing strategy.

Mobile Monday Silicon Valley App Store Secrets Increasing Sales Feb 8 2010

View more presentations from mario tapia.

DODOcase for iPad

Flashback! Device pre-loads on Android

2010-03-01T18:04:00.000-08:00

Flashback a few years in the mobile industry and the absolute Holy Grail of any mobile application business was landing a coveted slot pre-loaded on the device. The difference in sales potential for a pre-load vs. app/game in the storefront was immense. Landing a pre-load involved having a great relationship with the operator and strong ties with the handset manufacturer. The individuals with these skills and relationships were surprisingly few in number which is probably why if you picked up a feature phone in the years 2004-2009 you probably were greeted by titles like Jewel Quest, Tetris or Bejeweled. (Note: This business still exists and is critically important to guys like Glu, Gameloft and EA Mobile).

Along comes the iPhone and the game changed completely. No pre-loads and operator relationships didn't make any difference in the world. For it while, in the press, it started to sound like operator relationships did mean anything.

Now wait a minute....

Take a look at the recent announcement by AT&T regarding their first Android phone the Backflip (see Engadget video below). Pre-loaded on the device are AT&T apps including AllSport GPS, AT&T Maps, AT&T Music (which takes the place of the standard Music app), AT&T Navigator, AT&T Wi-Fi Hotspots, Mobile Banking, MobiTV, MusicID, Where, and YPmobile.

Hmmm now wait a minute, who is choosing these apps???? You better believe it is the operator. It is not surprising to see companies with strong operator relationships making the cut (MobiTV and Where for example). You can see similar examples going on over at Sprint.

For those of you who've discounted the position of the operators in the new App world, clearly they aren't going to go down without a fight. Moves like these to dictate what is shipped pre-loaded on the device clearly show the operators aren't given up their power as kingmaker easily. Congrats to MobiTV and Where for making the cut and for all you mid-sized developers out there....time to find someone who knows the operators if you really want to add rocket fuel to your user acquisition.

Gaming: Will Android ever close the gap on iPhone?

2010-02-04T08:07:00.000-08:00

Today Mplayit released yet another batch of data regarding the relative interests of iPhone users vs. Android users vs. BlackBerry users based on the Mplayit community in Facebook. Unlike the data on apps, however, the data on games paints a less comparable story. The iPhone has a clear lead in not only the sheer number of games (not surprising) but also the level of interest our users have in games. In our community, 50% of iPhone activity is directed at discovering games compared to 30% on BlackBerry and 20% on Android.

From the chart below you can see that all of the major gaming categories are covered across platforms, but as you drill down off the chart on BB and Android we see a lack of depth in each category versus the iPhone. Not surprisingly, we see Android users preferring more 'geeky' games due to the early adopter nature of the user base.

So the question remains, will Android and BlackBerry ever catch up to the iPhone as a gaming device? I suspect the answer will be yes for Android and no for BlackBerry. While BlackBerry will continue to support a healthy gaming environment (driven by the fact that top publishers have been supporting BB for years and the operator infrastructure that exists for fulfillment and billing), the current devices simply aren't designed to be powerful gaming devices. Android, on the other hand, has all the potential in the world. As devices, their gaming potential is arguably as high as the iPhone. The limiting factor today is the Android Marketplace and the relative difficulty of payment. Developers will ultimately follow the money and if no money is being made in Android only the hobbyists will stay around.

I'll keep you posted on what we continue to see.

Click Chart to enlarge.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MPLAYIT MOBILE APPS ANALYSIS SHOWS IPHONE USERS 'GOT GAME'

Games Twice as Popular on iPhone than Android, BlackBerry;
Smartphone Users Play Similar Kinds of Games

San Francisco – Feb. 4, 2010 – On the heels of Apple’s iPad announcement, Mplayit today released a survey that underscores iPhone users’ strong interest in mobile games as compared to Android and BlackBerry users on Mplayit’s popular app store on Facebook.

With games making up only 20 percent of the over 130,000 iPhone apps available on the Mplayit site, nearly 50 percent of the site traffic centered on games. Among Android users, only 20 percent of browsing focused on gaming applications. Even BlackBerry users are more fun-loving than Android users, with about 30 percent of activity coming from the games category on the Mplayit site.

“iPhone developers are driving this phenomenon, putting out simply fantastic games that get people excited," said Michael Powers, founder and CEO of Mplayit. "But the 'developer catch up' is underway on Android. And although Blackberry is renowned for apps, it continues to be underrated and overlooked as a games platform.''

Mplayit is the company best known for its groundbreaking new social mobile app store on the Facebook platform supporting the full application catalogs for iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android devices. Users can rate, comment, and recommend individual apps to their social network on Facebook and Twitter, in addition to browsing friends’ app collections and following their interests.

Mplayit's findings, drawn from live data collected from over 50,000 users of its Facebook app store over a two week period ending January 29, highlights the kinds of games that were popular for each of the three major smartphone audiences.

The most active game categories on all three platforms were largely identical: Arcade, Casual, Card/Casino, and Puzzle. However, there were some significant differences in taste across platforms.

Music games were particularly popular on the iPhone, befitting its media-centric iPod heritage. Android users showed a predilection toward 'geeky' games making innovative use of things like the GPS, camera, and augmented reality. And the BlackBerry audience gravitated toward television and movie tie-ins.

There were also some significant commercial differences. BlackBerry users stuck with major franchises and larger publishers, reflecting perhaps the carrier-centric history of the device. Indie developers hold their own against the big games publishers on the iPhone, and continue to dominate the Android's relatively immature market.

“Intense competition on the iPhone makes it increasingly hard for stuff to surface.” said Powers. “Android is an uncrowded, even playing field that we expect will grow and grow quickly.”

Does the iPad kill the Kindle? Not for me.

2010-01-27T18:27:00.000-08:00

A while back I was asked by a friend about my Kindle. I think it is a great device. I enjoy reading books on it, surprising enjoy the New York Times and Wall Street Journal on it, and found Amazon did a great job with the bookstore. I bought it because I simply wasn't reading enough books. I found myself always distracted by the endless supply of content available online. I was reading, but something is always missing if you don't pick up a good book now and then. The almost singular focus of the Kindle as a device is exactly what the doctor order for me. I read more books in 2009, then 2008 only because of the Kindle (nice work Amazon).

So when I get an iPad (notice I did say when), will I retire the Kindle?

I don't think so. I think as a book reading device, for me, the iPad may have offer too many distractions. With the Kindle in my hands, I'll stay focused on the task at hand. That said, I do hope Amazon will make a iPad specific Kindle app as I'd love the opportunity to stay sync'd if the iPad happens to be with me when the Kindle is at home.

Time will tell, but I suspect for some a dedicated ebook reader makes sense. The iPad is going to be too much for some people.

See you at the Mobile Game Forum - London

2010-01-18T10:33:00.001-08:00

Tuesday and Wednesday of this week I'll be attending the Mobile Game Forum in London. I'll be presenting as part of a panel entitled "Content discovery: making games accessible and strategies for raising awareness"

http://www.mobilegamesforum.co.uk/event_view_link.asp?eid=19

We are looking forward to a lively discussion about how mobile game publishers can get noticed in a world of 100s of thousands of applications. Do the old rules still apply? What role will operators play in the new world of 'app stores'? How can publishers take control of their own marketing destiny?

It will be an interesting discussion and I hope I'm able to connect with a lot of developers while here in London.

Android, BlackBerry and iPhone App parity?

2010-01-13T08:44:00.000-08:00

At Mplayit today we released some data that I found very interesting as an iPhone user who is constantly thinking about make the jump to Android. We did an analysis of the most popular categories of applications and discovered while the individual brand of application may different, in most cases the application functionality is readily available across all popular smartphone devices.

This isn't to say I'm totally sold on making the move, but it is comforting to know that I won't be missing too many of my favorite app 'functions'. I suspect as we take a look at games later this month I will find some big holes in the Android catalog. I'll keep you posted.

Mplayit's online mobile game discovery service comes to O2 UK Try mobile games on your PC

2009-10-08T09:10:00.000-07:00

by Jon Jordan @ PocketGamer
Mobile games discovery service provider Mplayit (previously Mpowerplayer) has announced a partnership with Player X to enhance the try-before-you-buy options on O2's UK portal.

This will run as part of Player X's 100% Mobile service, with Mplayit providing the opportunity to try out mobile games for free in a web interface that mimics the look and feel of a phone.

The deal marks Mplayit's first deployment on a major European operator and follows successful partnerships with US carriers Sprint and AT&T, and Israel's Cellcom.

Mplayit's services are fully integrated with social networks like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Bebo, allowing you to add your favourite games to your profile pages and share with your friends. You can also recommend games to others, and receive updates on what games other people are enjoying.

"The web is a highly effective way of bringing in new customers, but it is still massively under utilised by mobile operators," said Michael Powers, Mplayit's CEO.

"We're delighted to partner with Player X and we're looking forward to working with them to offer O2 customers the best mobile games service in the UK market."

"Try before-you-buy has been a key part of our 100% Mobile offering since the beginning. The ability to try out content risk-free is highly valued by customers," said Tony Pearce, Player X's CEO.

"Mplayit's web-based services bring both playable online demos and powerful new social dimension to the O2 service."

Mplayit and Metaflow partner to make life easier for leading mobile publishers and operators

2009-09-30T02:00:00.000-07:00

Mobile games discovery specialists team up with content submission experts to
deliver one stop demo shop to publishers and operators

Washington DC, London, September 29th, 2009 – Mplayit (formerly
Mpowerplayer), the leading provider of online mobile game discovery and merchandising solutions, announced today a partnership with content
submissions and ingestion specialist Metaflow. The deal allows publishers and operators to upload content into the growing Mplayit eco-system with even greater ease.

Building upon Mplayit’s existing partnerships with top-tier content providers and operators, Metaflow’s submission software and services will provide the default process for loading content into Mplayit’s backend platform. This will allow mobile publishers to quickly and easily launch online demo versions of all their games and apps, streamlining the procedure and integrating it fully into their existing operator and app store submissions workflow. This announcement comes as Mplayit continues to expand its publisher roster and launches new services in Europe.

Mplayit provides games and apps discovery and merchandising solutions to mobile operators and on social networks. The company is partnered with leading global publishers and delivers services to them and mobile operators including Sprint, AT&T and Cellcom. Its web storefronts are integrated with leading social networks like Facebook, MySpace and Bebo, as well as with microblogging and linksharing services like Twitter and Digg. These 'Mobile Arcades' allow users to discover, demo, buy and recommend their favorite games and apps to their friends, all from their web browser.

Since its founding in 2006, Metaflow's tools have become the industry standard in content submission and deployment, taking much of the complexity out of the content submission process, removing the traditionally highly manual process of content submissions and greatly increasing productivity and deployment capacity.

"When it comes to content submissions, Metaflow are the guys everyone looks to,” said Michael Powers, CEO Mplayit. “Through working with Metaflow, our publisher partners will be able to launch demos and integrate into Mplayit’s social discovery service with the minimum of fuss and maximise their speed to market - just a few simple, standardised clicks.”

“Mplayit are rapidly establishing themselves as leaders in their field and there are great synergies in this relationship,” said Charles McLeod, CEO Metaflow. “We already work closely with many of the same operator and publisher partners and by integrating our tools, Mplayit will be able to streamline and simplify processes for everyone in the chain.”

About Mplayit (www.mplayit.com)
Mplayit is the leading global provider for online discovery and social merchandising of mobile games and applications. The company’s proprietary software solutions enable mobile content providers to better merchandise, market, and interact with a targeted user audience of mobile consumers. Mplayit is based in Ashburn, Va., and is backed by New Atlantic Ventures. For more information, visit www.mplayit.com or email info@mplayit.com. You can also follow Mplayit on Twitter: @Mplayit.

For more details contact: Andrew Durkin MUSTARD PR
E: Andrew@mustardpr.com
Tel: + 44 (0) 1628 502601
www.mustardpr.com

About Metaflow (www.metaflow.com)
Metaflow provides the industry's leading content submissions solution to help publishers, aggregators and platforms providers, stock mobile content into more than 340 mobile operators and portals globally. Metaflow submissions software is centrally managed for the benefit of the entire Publishing community via Operator, platform provider and Publishers direct updates using Metaflow software and services. The company also provides tools and uses industry standards to enable rapid content receipt and ingestion into vending platforms to support the industry working
more profitably. For more details on Metaflow please contact Charles McCleod at
cmcleod@metaflow.com

Mplayit Mobile Arcade is now a Featured App on Facebook!

2009-09-15T13:56:00.001-07:00

I'm really proud of the engineering and product development team at Mplayit. We've all been working hard creating a great experience in Facebook for the discovery of mobile content. Today Facebook recognized that effort. On top of our 'verified app' status, Facebook has now decided to feature the 'Mobile Arcade' as an application they recommend.

Great work guys. If they like us now, they will love our plans for the future!

2009-09-11T11:56:00.000-07:00

Mplayit from Craig Dalton on Vimeo.

Our latest video for Europe. ;)

Mplayit expands internationally through partnership with Cellcom

2009-08-11T06:25:00.001-07:00

Mplayit expands internationally through partnership with Cellcom, Israel’s leading cellular operator, for mobile games discovery service

Mplayit Mobile Arcade Allows Customers to Find, Try and Buy Mobile Games on Leading Israeli Operator’s Web Portal

Washington, DC, August 11, 2009 – Mplayit (formerly Mpowerplayer), the leading provider of online mobile game discovery and merchandising solutions, announced today the launch of the Mplayit Mobile Arcade application for Cellcom, Israel’s premier mobile operator.

“This is an important milestone for Mplayit. Cellcom is our first international carrier partnership, and we’re looking forward to working with them to continue to drive the take up of mobile games and applications in the Israeli market,” said Michael Powers, CEO of Mplayit.

The partnership was facilitated by Logia Group, a world leader in providing innovative mobile content solutions and the exclusive games service provider for Cellcom. With Mplayit's award-winning discovery engine, Cellcom’s 3G+ customers can try out mobile games online for free in an interface that mimics the look and feel of a mobile phone. In addition, Cellcom will be able to analyze and tune the performance of the platform and marketing activities through Mplayit's online analytics dashboard.

“Delivering quality Value-Added Services is an increasingly important part of our strategy - we always look for new technologies and communication solutions for our customers,” commented Adi Cohen, V.P. Marketing at Cellcom. “This service will give our customers a rich browsing experience and Cellcom an effective tool for converting casual browsers into mobile game players.”

The launch of Mplayit’s services with Cellcom follows successful partnerships with Sprint and AT&T in the US, and marks Mplayit’s first International operator deployment. Recently announced as a Finalist for “Best Games Service Provider” in the prestigious ME 2009 Awards, Mplayit’s services are also fully integrated with social networks like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Bebo, allowing users to add their favorite games to their profile pages to share with their friends. Users can also recommend games to others, and receive updates on what games their friends are enjoying.

“The rapid growth in popularity of smartphones has raised awareness of mobile games and apps to unprecedented levels. Yet the opportunities for customers to discover and try out the content they desire remain limited,” said Mplayit’s Michael Powers. “The web remains a largely untapped mechanism for converting casual browsers into players – publishers and mobile operators are recognizing this, and Mplayit is providing the solution.”

About Mplayit

Mplayit is the leading global provider for online discovery and social merchandising of mobile games and applications. The company's proprietary software solutions enable mobile content providers to better merchandise, market, and interact with a targeted user audience of mobile consumers. Mplayit is based in Ashburn, Va., and is backed by New Atlantic Ventures. For more information, visit www.mplayit.com or email info@mplayit.com. You can also follow Mplayit on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Mplayit.

For more details contact Jessica Rei at Mplayit Jessica@mplayit.com

About Cellcom

Cellcom Israel Ltd., established in 1994, is the leading Israeli cellular provider; Cellcom Israel provides its approximately 3.208 million subscribers (as at March 31, 2009) with a broad range of value added services including cellular and landline telephony, roaming services for tourists in Israel and for its subscribers abroad and additional services in the areas of music, video, mobile office etc., based on Cellcom Israel's technologically advanced infrastructure.

Mplayit iPhone Arcade brings award-winning App discovery and social merchandising to Facebook

2009-08-04T08:41:00.000-07:00

Mplayit iPhone Arcade Allows Customers to Discover, Share and Buy Apps on the World’s Leading Social Network site

Washington, DC, August 4, 2009 – Mplayit (formerly Mpowerplayer), the leading provider of online mobile game discovery and social merchandising solutions, announced today the launch of the Mplayit iPhone Arcade on Facebook.

Building on Mplayit's award-winning Mobile Arcade service, Facebook users can now discover and preview iPhone and iPod Touch applications, post news feeds, bookmark their favorites and share them, as well as see the apps their friends have recommended.

Mplayit's iPhone Arcade features a growing selection of apps for consumers to discover and share - any developer or publisher is welcome to submit their app for inclusion. In addition to the enhanced merchandising and social discovery experience that the iPhone Arcade delivers, Mplayit partners also have access to the Mplayit Dashboard, the company's online social analytics tool, which provides data on the performance of apps on the service and tracks users' sharing behavior to help tune their marketing activities.

"There are so many great apps for the iPhone, and the App Store will never be able to show you all of them to their best advantage," commented Michael Powers, CEO of Mplayit. "People are looking to their friends to find the really cool stuff that is personally relevant, and our iPhone Arcade is the way they'll do it. We socialize mobile content discovery."

Mplayit’s iPhone Arcade joins the company’s successful Facebook-verified Mobile Arcade play and discovery service on the social platform. It also follows partnerships with Sprint and AT&T in the US. Mplayit is partnered with the world’s leading content publishers and their services are also fully integrated with other key social media services like Twitter, MySpace and Bebo.

"We've made a name for ourselves with full, playable discovery of mobile games for mass-market handsets, and we're delighted to bring the same opportunity for rich discovery and sharing to iPhone users all over the world,” added Powers.

Discover the Mplayit iPhone Arcade for yourself! Visit http://apps.facebook.com/iphonearcade Developers and publishers who would like to see their apps featured should contact Mplayit at apps@mplayit.com.

Mplayit nominated for E-Tech Award at CTIA 2009

2009-03-13T10:28:00.000-07:00

Mplayit, Mpowerplayer's social discovery application for mobile games, was nominated for an E-Tech Award at CTIA 2009. We are in the Mobile Application and Widget category. Please mark us as a 'favorite' if you are a fan.

http://bit.ly/4EiqV

You can check us out here: www.mplayit.com

It must be official...the press release is out

2009-03-03T16:34:00.000-08:00

My friends often joke that if it isn't tweeted or on Facebook Status updates, it didn't actually happen. If that is the case, then at least now I'm officially on board at Mpowerplayer. The included press release went out today.

Mpowerplayer Taps Craig Dalton as Vice President of Business Development

Will leverage extensive experience in wireless and social media platforms to extend Mpowerplayer's mobile operator relationships and social presence.

Ashburn, VA (PRWEB) March 3, 2009 -- Mpowerplayer, the leader in playable discovery and social selling solutions for mobile content, announced today that it has hired Craig Dalton as its vice president of business development. In this position, Dalton will be responsible for establishing strategic relationships with mobile operators and distribution partners looking to increase existing and develop new revenue streams using Mpowerplayer's online trial and merchandising solutions.

"Craig's knowledge of the mobile and social media sectors fits perfectly into Mpowerplayer's strategy moving forward," said Michael Powers, CEO of Mpowerplayer. "I've worked with Craig since his time at I-play and he is uniquely qualified to push the envelope in socializing mobile content."

Craig's knowledge of the mobile and social media sectors fits perfectly into Mpowerplayer's strategy moving forward
I've worked with Craig since his time at I-play and he is uniquely qualified to push the envelope in socializing mobile content.
Prior to Mpowerplayer, Dalton managed business development for MMS pioneer Hook Mobile leading initiatives with wireless operators and social media platforms. Earlier, he managed business development for global mobile entertainment publisher, I-play. His responsibilities included negotiating operator agreements, developing a Direct to Consumer strategy and creating a mobile video business unit. Prior to I-play, Dalton managed business development for interactive television and mobile pioneer, Proteus, having completed the first TV to SMS campaign in the US with Super Bowl XXXVI in 2002 that established the TV to SMS market in the U.S.

"I was impressed with Mpowerplayer's technology when I was first introduced to it at I-play. I witnessed the company establish itself as the leader in playable discvovery solutions for online storefronts. As the company began to explore the concept of social selling, it became more apparent that it would be a great fit for my particular areas of expertise. I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to join the leadership team and help define solutions for next generation online mobile app stores," said Craig Dalton.

Dalton holds an MBA from the Graduate School of Management at the University of California, Irvine and a BSBA in Business Administration from The American University.

Mpowerplayer gives wireless carriers, mobile content publishers and mobile content developers an effective platform to showcase mobile games, applications and other mobile content online, reaching a wider audience of consumers. Mpowerplayer also provides access to social network users, with its Mplayit Mobile Arcade application currently available on the Facebook, MySpace and Bebo platforms.

For more information on Mpowerplayer, please visit http://mplayit.com or http://mpowerplayer.com.

About Mpowerplayer:
Mpowerplayer is the leading provider of online mobile game trial and merchandising solutions to operators and publishers, allowing consumers to easily try, buy and share mobile content on any website or social network. The leading consumer destination in the world for online demos of mobile games, Mpowerplayer's software solutions enable mobile content providers to better merchandise, market, and interact with a targeted user audience of mobile consumers. Mpowerplayer is based in Reston, VA, and is backed by New Atlantic Ventures. For more information, visit www.mpowerplayer.com or email info (at) mpowerplayer.com.

Dow Jones Wireless Innovators 2009

2009-03-02T10:44:00.000-08:00

Mpowerplayer CEO, Michael Powers will be presenting at the 2009 Dow Jones Wireless Innovators event on Tuesday, March 17th 2009 in Redwood City, CA.

Michael will be talking about the Mpowerplayer Find+Try+Buy+Share solution that our customers are plugging into their app stores.

Make sure to join us there!

http://tinyurl.com/af6xw3

Its official - I'm joining Mpowerplayer

2009-02-23T09:23:00.001-08:00

I've written a bit here and there about my {love, hate, joy, frustration, etc} with the app store phenomenon. One consistent theme in my 9 years in mobile has always been the sense of 'what if'. What if more people knew about what we were doing. I've been party of some great companies that have created great games, messaging applications and other content, but the reality has always been we only every really address a tiny percentage of the market (the Golden Nickle).

Now the App Store movement does have some chance in changing that in a positive way if executed properly. What needs to be noted is that for the market to grow we need not only good on-device discovery (and great devices), but also good online discovery. It is clear that all our customers (at least in North America and Western Europe) are online. We need these app store efforts to consider that as much as they consider on device initiatives. Apple has obviously done a nice job with the iTunes Store (although I do have some suggestions for improvement). It is up to other market entrants to meet and exceed this bar.

It is for this challenge that I've accepted a new position as VP, Business Development for Mpowerplayer. Mpowerplayer is helping operators, handset manufacturers, publishers and anyone else selling content online to increase sales by offering trial and merchandising solutions. To boot, the company is linking content discovery to social media services creating the concept of social selling. I'm very excited to start this new position and make better app stores!

Tweet up at Mobile World Congress

2009-01-30T09:46:00.000-08:00

Attention all folks attending Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. There will be a Tweetup on Wednesday, February 18, at 5pm. The location is still being determined, but it will be in the vicinity of the GoMo News Blender, which is at Belchica: Carrer de Villarroel, 60, 08011, Barcelona.

We will post updates on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Check for hash tag #mwc09

Termination Fees

2009-01-19T05:31:00.000-08:00

One of the unfortunate things about working on MMS is that inevitably the discussions are always framed by client's understanding of SMS. The SMS market has come a long ways since my time at Proteus ('99-'04) where we were able to create some of the first large scale TV to SMS campaigns. It was always a challenge trying to find the right commercial deal between the parties involved. Sometimes it was the carriers who paid, other times it was the content owner. It was clear that SMS was a technology that would benefit both sides so fortunately, in the end, someone always paid. In the years that followed, as the SMS volume increased, the costs began to decrease. Eventually we've arrived at a place where those with the highest volume have ended up paying a fixed fee effectively driving the incremental cost of additional messages (above that fixed fee volume) down to zero.

The marginal additional cost structure has led to some exciting new models. Why not strike a 50/50 advertising deal if you aren't paying a per unit cost for each message? I would. Unfortunately, this has skewed the perspective of new market entrants (and old) to think that SMS is free. In actuality, there are still cost involved. While this models are still in relative infancy, the are incredible attractive to new market entrants.

Here is the catch. The operators were never consciously on board with the fixed cost deals the aggregators have put forth. In Q4 of 2008, a Verizon Memo was leaked suggesting that a $0.03 per message termination fee should be implemented. This would put pretty much all advertising deals under water. At a $12 CPM, the parties are splitting $0.012 per message losing the provider $.024 per message. Not attractive. You can see even a termination fee of $.01 would be a losing proposition at the current CPM rates. I'm really concerned.

Now back to MMS. The market is conditioned to think about messaging from the perspective described above. Unfortunately the cost structure for MMS is still in its infancy. Much like the early days of SMS, it is unclear what those cost *should* be and who should be bearing them. Trying to cram an advertising model into this situation is very challenging. Eventually I believe that the cost structure will rationalize and the models will appear, but in the meantime it remains quite tricky.

It will be very interesting to see what happens if and when the carriers implement termination fees for SMS messages. I believe it will happen in 2009 and the industry is going to be in for an unfortunate correction. On the brighter side, I believe then MMS will begin to shine as the advertising units are way more interesting and effective.

David Lidsky of Fast Company profiles Hook Mobile

2008-11-13T13:13:00.000-08:00

Under the Radar Conference Preview: Hook Mobile
| posted by David Lidsky

"Only about 25% of U.S. cell-phone customers have a data plan. So the mass of users generally can't access multimedia content on their phone without incurring unwanted fees. Hook Mobile is a platform that acts as a go-between for social media and content companies and the mobile carriers to open up MMS as a network to expand content consumption on phones. "Social media is where content is uploaded and shared," says Craig Dalton, Hook Mobile's VP of business development. "We're bringing that bite-sized content to MMS. Why limit the delivery of a sentiment to Facebook?"

Hook Mobile thinks it has a leg up because it's done all the hard work behind the scenes, and customers are already used to the idea of MMS through their avid use of SMS. "Nothing elicits a more definite response than when your phone beeps with a message," Dalton says. Hook Mobile handles intercarrier connectivity and billing, and it optimizes the photos, images, or audio for each user's phone bandwidth and screen dimensions.

Its challenge is finding the right customers to convince to use its service. For example, Paramount Studios is a client, delivering movie clips from its Facebook app, Voozoo Mobile, to any mobile phone."

Hook Mobile Presentation at Under the Radar 2008

2008-11-13T09:08:00.000-08:00

I was given the opportunity to present at the Under the Radar conference in Mountain View, CA this week. It was a great opportunity to talk about the Hook Mobile platform to the start up community. UTR did a great job of getting wireless operators, VCs and content owners into the room which created a unique opportunity to get feedback. The presentation went well (although I wish I had 'paced' a little bit less). Jeff from CBS had some tough questions for me at the end, but after the session he told me they do want to find a way to work with us.

I enjoyed UTR very much as it brought together lots of different companies who look at mobile from different angles. My favs had to be Smule for shear entertainment value and Billing Revolution for providing a quick and efficient mobile billing option.

See video:Hook Mobile

Mobile 2.0 Meet Up

2008-11-04T10:31:00.000-08:00

In classic Mobile 2.0 Meet Up fashion, I'll be delivering a 4 minute, 4 slide, 4 questions presentation on Thursday night.

The subject is SMS 2.0 which provides a good forum for discussion the current state of MMS (available and ready to go) and the reason why, historically, it hasn't been deployed as an offering by 3rd party content owners.

This kicks off a busy two weeks of presenting. As mentioned previously, I'll be presenting Hook Mobile at the Under the Radar conference on November 12th.

Both events should be really fun. I'm looking forward to them!

http://www.meetup.com/sfmobile/calendar/8913885/

Real MMS is coming to the iPhone from Hook Mobile

2008-10-29T10:33:00.000-07:00

Since day 1 the iPhone was announced, I've been miffed that they excluded MMS from the functionality of the device. It never made any sense to me from a consumer perspective, nor from AT&T's perspective.

At Hook Mobile, we've developed a cross-carrier MMS delivery platform that partners can use for content optimization and delivery (in addition to many other things). As the one entity that sits between all the carriers for MMS, we found ourselves uniquely suited to do something about the iPhone MMS issue. While today, we can't 100% solve the 'receive an MMS on the iPhone' problem, we can solve the 'send MMS' problem.

We are in the process of submitting an application called MMS to the Apple App store. The application allows iPhone users to select images and send via MMS to friends mobile phones. The message is uploaded to us via http, then optimized for the target device and delivered via the carriers MMS infrastructure to your friends messaging inbox. No data download required by your friend, they just need a messaging plan.

In future versions, we'll be adding functionality and hopefully address the receiving issue. Until then, keep a look out for it in the app store. I'll post again when we launch and share Ad Hoc with a lucky few!

Hook Mobile to present at Under the Radar

2008-10-23T08:57:00.000-07:00

Hook Mobile was selected to present at the Under the Radar | Mobility conference on November 12, 2008 in San Jose.

We will be discussing the Hook Mobile platform and the MMS opportunity.

Google to share Android Market revenues with operators

2008-10-23T08:49:00.000-07:00

It was widely reported yesterday that the revenue split for Android developers will be 70/30. Unlike the Apple App Store, the 30% in this case will be going to the operator (currently T-Mobile for the G1). Since the operator is going to be responsible for the billing and delivery, this makes sense. Not to mention that this is the traditional model pursued by operators and app developers.

I was happy to see that the split was 70/30. As anyone in the mobile content business can tell you, splits have been steadily getting less favorable to the developer over the last few years. I thank Apple for pushing 70/30 as the norm. Application developers shoulder virtually all the risk and as these marketplaces become more competitive so does the need to create more complex (read: more expensive to develop) applications.

I hope we continue to see more Android phones appear on other networks with the same model.

T-Mobile G1

2008-09-23T08:50:00.000-07:00

http://announcement.t-mobileg1.com/#

Check out the dedicated site T-Mobile just launched for the upcoming G1 (Google Android phone) from HTC. I watched the live press event today and the device looks great. A lot of cool features that will give the iPhone a run for its money. Some of the mapping functionality looked useful, if not novel. At $179, it should be an attractive device to consumers. T-Mobile claims it will be launching its largest advertising campaign ever in October to support the launch. It is going to be interesting to see how their reach will compare to Apple's.

One thing is for sure, the pace of innovation in mobile is going to continue thanks to this new entrant!

ipad-dodocase

MMS on the iPhone....hardly.

2008-09-22T17:47:00.000-07:00

Nic Elder at Apple iPhone Apps Review did a nice review on the available iPhone 'MMS' apps. At first glance the Flutter app seemed really interesting, but upon deeper review it is clear this app has nothing to do with MMS. Nic accurately points out the many shortcomings of this app from a consumer perspective. He gives props to SwirlyMMS, but the reality is that even for consumers with jailbroken phones Swirly is tough to set up. Just try to find your carriers MMSC settings.

www.appleiphoneapps.com/2008/09/review-swirlymms-vs-flutter-real-iphone-mms/

Maybe someone is working on a 'real' MMS app for the iPhone that can be sold in the App Store...stay tuned.

In related storefront news....

2008-08-28T13:07:00.000-07:00

"Developers will be able to make their content available on an open service hosted by Google that features a feedback and rating system similar to YouTube. We chose the term "market" rather than "store" because we feel that developers should have an open and unobstructed environment to make their content available. Similar to YouTube, content can debut in the marketplace after only three simple steps: register as a merchant, upload and describe your content and publish it. We also intend to provide developers with a useful dashboard and analytics to help drive their business and ultimately improve their offerings."

This certainly sounds 'open'. Here comes the wild West of mobile content sales.

Apple's App Store vs. Traditional Mobile Storefronts

2008-08-28T11:51:00.000-07:00

I've been reading a lot recently about how revolutionary the Apple App store is and most recently how T-Mobile USA is going to release a similar App store to replace their dysfunctional on-deck offering.

Is the App store really all that great?

Lets dissect the App store experience into two segments: 1) iTunes online 2) the on device experience. I won't argue that the iTunes online store isn't great. It obviously surpasses any online commerce efforts put forth by the wireless operators. It is the on device experience that I question.

On device, the iPhone App store is doomed to become as cluttered as the wireless operator decks and ultimately require the same management as it grows. Even today, the only reason the store is more navigable than a traditional deck is due to the superiority of the device (namely more screen real estate and great screen).

So why is the App store so great???? The device is great, but the App store experience isn't any better than the carrier deck.

The noise T-Mobile recently made in the press is ridiculous and I'm eager to see the chaos created by this move. I suspect the decks on feature phones will get even more confusing.

I've long predicted that on the road to 'open' the wireless content business is going to suffer. T-Mobile looks to be accelerating the begining of the process. It is probably good for the long run, but take your money out of any company who relies on 'deck sales' for their revenues as it will be a highly volatile time.

And everyone...keep in mind that trading our 'master' from the wireless operator to Apple doesn't solve much. iPhone Apps are about as open as the carrier deck are at this point (unless you have a jailbroken phone)!

TransRockies Race Report

2008-08-23T12:16:00.000-07:00

TransRockies 2008 Mountain Bike Stage Race

It is quite difficult to find the words to describe the Transrockies experience so many come to mind. Beauty, Joy, Misery, Agony, Suffering, Sore, Sick, Wet, Dirty, Elated, Dejected and on and on.

To put this race in terms that might resonate with some of you. 7 Stages, 58,000 feet climbing, 342 miles of technical off road riding. Imagine the camping situation of Wildflower, but you have to break camp before you race the long course at 8 am every day - now do that 7 days in a row with 20x the elevation gain. 300 teams of 2 riders from dozens of different countries.

Other than the notions that this was going to be 'hard', I didn't have many expectations for the race. I wanted to ride to the limits of my ability and face challenging terrain. Little did I know that those boundaries would be stretched farther than I thought possible.

Stage 1; Panorama to K2 Ranch
Distance; 55 km (34 mi)
Elevation; 2200 m (7217 ft)

Mark and I lined up with much enthusiasm for Stage 1 after the long trip to Panorama and the many bike building, bag sorting chores the night before. The sun was shinning and riders from dozens of nations waited anxiously to get going. The gun went off for the parade lap and we set off to gradually, patiently pick our way through the teams ahead of us. Knowing a massive climb leading to singletrack was ahead, we set the goal of moving up as much as possible without breaking my legs in the process. We did well to clear the 'riff raff' during the hour + of climbing that ensued. I was struggling on the climb as was to be expected, but felt OK once we started traversing the singletrack ridge. Our fine weather quickly deteriorated as we crossed steep shale fields. Within minutes we were riding in hail and snow! At the sunny start line, we had elected to travel a bit light on gear (just jackets). As if that wasn't bad enough, Mark sliced a 2.5 hole in his tire requiring a careful, fingers crossed repair job in the snow! We took about 20 minutes to get back sorted out before we continued traversing and descending the mountain. We road well throughout the stage, but realized if this was a 'easy stage' we were in for one hell of a week. We arrived at K2 Ranch to get our first look at tent city. Each evening tents would be erected and available on a first come first serve basis, along with showers and bike washing. We settled in to what would become our daily choirs, tent arrangement, unpacking, bike wash, bike repair, shower followed by evening dinner and next days stage review.

Stage 2; K2 Ranch to Nipika Resort
Distance; 74 km (46 mi)
Elevation; 3000 m (9842 ft)

Waking up crusty and damp in a tent at 6 am knowing that we were soon to be climbing nearly 10k feet was quite difficult. Still in the 'excited to be here' phase, we packed our bags and headed to the start line. Due to our mechanical on stage 1, we were in start group 2 which put us behind 1/3 of the pack at the gun. With a longish jeep road to road section ahead of us, Mark and I drilled it from the gun working our way through the pack like a road race. We managed to bridge to the lead group just in time to start climbing. I was a bit cooked from the chase so I had to insist on a casual pace even though Mark's legs were telling him otherwise. We proceed to climb and/or traverse forever. After aid station 1 we started to see people pushing there bikes up the trail and eventually we were relegated to the same strategy. I started to suffer as the trail got steeper and steeper as unlike Mark as an adventure racer, I haven't spent much time pushing my bike. Just when I thought things couldn't get worse we reached a plateau and saw an ant line of riders with bikes on their shoulders hiking up the steepest rock field you can imagine. We resigned ourselves to getting it done and took our place in line. After about 30 minutes, we started to hear people call down the hill asking if anyone could see a trail marker. Apparently the entire top 1/3 of the race is off course! We discovered with the help of other racers that we had climbed passed the turn off and were torturing ourselves for no good reason (the pros had probably gone an entire hour up the hike-a-bike hill!). We bushwacked through the woods to rediscover the trail amongst the chaos of 100s of confused racers. We then hit some gnarly steep singletrack which I enjoyed which lead to an even gnarlier section of sloppy, wet, creek crossing singletrack. We emerged from the woods to learn the extent of the race chaos....we discovered that we were in the top 30 teams. We decided to keep hitting it in the hopes that we could make up some time from the day before. The pro teams eventually caught us on the run into Nipika. It was actually quite surreal getting passed by the pro who looked effortless as they danced by us. We felt we road a great stage and would easily make up the deficit we created on stage 1. Unfortunately we would later learn that this stage would not count on the General Classification b/c of all the lost riders. While I appreciated the situation, I was a little disappointed as we road very efficiently and had in this tough stage (not too mention that we wasted time lost as well!). Nipika was to be our home for two nights. It is a great eco-lodge built entirely of products found on the property.

Stage 3; Nipika Resort to Nipika Resort
Distance; 44.2 km (27 mi)
Elevation; 1514 m (4967 ft)

Stage 3 was a first for TR: a time trial. Rider were set off at 30 second increments on a shorter course (I should note that this short course still contained more climbing than almost all of our normal training rides). Mark and I both felt good on this stage so we really pushed our limits. We managed to catch all the riders ahead of us which gave us a clear look at the amazing singletrack course. We road the ridgeline of a gorgeous river most of the day descending and climbing through the rocks and trees. I think we were both enjoying ourselves despite the quick pace. We've learned that Mark and I are one of the better singletracking teams in our division so this course suited us well. One of the most memorable moments of the day was coming upon a motocross rider on a steep singletrack descent. We were totally committed to a shoot, when we discovered the Moto rider, we yelled, he crashed and we rifled by him. We finished the day in 9th in our division which was very satisfying. Our morning start afforded us a leisurely afternoon in Nipika and some well earned 'ease' in our daily schedule. Later in the day we learned that our friend Greg had broken his frame. Ever the solution oriented thinker, Greg bought a new Rocky Mountain bicycle to continue the race the next day (more on that later).

Stage 4; Nipika Resort to Whiteswan Lake
Distance; 109.7 km (68 mi)
Elevation; 2567 m (8421 ft)

Stage 4 was the longest stage in KM so we knew we were in for a rough one after our efforts in the TT. We had another very fast start which left Mark feeling a little winded, while I on the other hand was feeling quite spunky. Today's stage was a bit less steep which suited me well and I quite enjoyed the long climbs and river crossings. The team aspect of TransRockies adds and interesting dynamic to each day as it is as important for your partner to feel good as it is for you. While I was struggling to stay with Mark on the first days he was now struggling to stay with me. As good teammates and friends, we just did our best to keep moving and cover this long stage. We cleared the toughest climbs and started a long single/double track descent. At one of the last checkpoints we heard of a bad crash a couple of KM behind us. A little investigation (and the arrival of his teammate, Carrie) led us to learn it was our friend Greg and most likely a broken collarbone. We were totally bummed, but knew he was being as well taken care of as possible (he ended up with a helicopter ride home). We push on through the stage and hit a long road section to the finish. I was pulling hard, but honestly as cracked as Mark was with the long hours of riding. We pulled into a beautiful field and headed for tent city. We discovered a creek behind some trees and decided to soak our weary bodies, before tackling the chores of the day. Whiteswan lake brought a welcome addition to tent city....a local MTB club cooking burgers. Now we could have dinner #1 at 3 pm in prep for dinner #2 at 6 pm! We continued to meet riders from all of the world and developed a crew of bay area riders that we spent most of our time with.

Stage 5; Whiteswan Lake to Elkford
Distance; 88.5 km (56 mi)
Elevation; 2147 m (7043 ft)

We knew from the course overview the night before that Stage 5 would be rough. Almost the same amount of climbing as the day before in 12 less miles. We've learned at this point that what that really means is 'get ready for a big hike-a-bike section. Mark was still feeling a bit dodgy but as always he remained up for the challenge. We hit the course and again for unknown reasons, my legs we magic (despite having picked up a sore throat). I found myself riding many of the sections people were walking which felt great. I think Mark recognized that I was probably going to pay a heavy price for this exuberance, but he let me go anyway. Sure enough we hit the final aid station and got reports of a heavy duty hike-a-bike section in front of us. We shouldered our bikes and got started with the frustrating task at hand. After a LONG time, we finally crested the pass only to be greeted by the 'rock garden'. The rock garden is essentially a descent that is 100% on 6-12 inch rock. There is no possible way to ride other than picking your way on top of 1000s of rocks. While not my idea of a good time, I relished the technical challenge of the section and pointed my Niner downhill. The combination of gravity, big wheel and a little prayer helped me navigate the 5k of rocks. Mark, with a look of shear terror, decided this wasn't his cup of tea and proceed to dismount and run/walk the section. If poor Mark hadn't been tortured enough already after the rock garden we had 10k of technical dirt/rock descending to do. I'm glad I was ahead of Mark as I'm sure he was cursing my name for a good 20 minutes as he picked his way through. We finally hit a fire road into town and knocked out the remaining 10k. It was so hot today that we were both totally fried. Arriving in our first official town, the finish line spread was filled with treats that we hadn't seen all week (gold fish, chips, lemonade, muffins). It was a little bit of a shock to the system to see buildings etc, but the comfort of tent city was just around the corner. As a big bonus we learned we were next to the town pool and we were given free access for a bit of a swim (after finding the requisite mtn. stream to soak in first). We ate dinner in a hockey rink and we greeted by the town mayor. Mark discovered while inspecting my bike that my bottom bracket had frozen and looked at me questioningly as to how I made it all day with cranks that barely turned (I told you I had good legs). I dropped the bike off at the bike shop that traveled with the race to have a new BB install over night.

Stage 6; Elkford to Blairmore
Distance; 102.4 km (64 mi)
Elevation; 2998 m (9835 ft)

Suffice it to say that another long stage was not what the doctor ordered for our weary crew. My sore throat had gotten so bad that I could barely talk to Mark. For some reason my legs were still good, but the voice was gone. I felt bad because I couldn't communicate well with Mark to offer any words of encouragement along the way. It was another hot and long day on the race course. We did our best to keep moving efficiently, but I think we both new this was going to be a rough one. We were greeted with some spectacular views and some amazing river crossing which took the sting off a little bit. We crested one of the longer climbs and started a very fast ridgeline descent. The film helicopter was off to our right with a camera man leaning out of the cockpit. I felt like I was in an MTB video as the copter paralleled our fast descent down the ridge. We hit the final aid station and knew we had another 2000ft of climbing and purportedly hike-a-bike ahead of us. I was feeling pretty good in the legs, but I knew Mark was hating this stage. We continued on as Mark comically stated he needed to soak his feet in the river (I had to admit I had a little of the Canadian hot foot myself!). We found some water for Mark to soak it, but it didn't change the fact that we had a bunch of annoying hike-a-bike to get on with. We slowly made our way through and crossed the finishline with our weakest performance of the week. Despite all the good singletrack in the race, most of our conversations with fellow races was about the unnecessary hike-a-bike sections that seemed to always be present. Its a shame b/c I think the organizers wanted it to be the toughest bike race in the world which took away from the racing aspect and made some stages more like survival stages. Fortunately Blairmore had two things going for it that day. A great soaking river and a pizzeria. Mark made a b-line for the pizzeria after the race and ordered us a cheese pizza. We did a 15 minute soak in the river, then sat on main street eating a pizza! Somehow that Pizza started to change things for the better for Mark.

Stage 7; Blairmore to Fernie
Distance; 78.8 km (49 mi)
Elevation; 2101 m (6893 ft)

Knowing we were on our last stage (and having the boost of yesterday's pizza party), I think both Mark and I was in good spirits despite the growing all over body fatigue (and my cold which had now progressed to a cough). We hit the start line determined to race again. The race started with a climb up a ski resort hill which we fought valiantly up to maintain our position going into the singletrack. We hit a bunch of traffic, but patiently worked our way through the slower singletrackers ahead of us until we had clear trail. We worked well together making sure we were pushing each other as hard as we could in each section. The day had some mentally draining climbs in the middle. At one point I think we were both head down and silent begging for the second aid station to appear. We knew once we hit that section we were blessed with a downhill ride (for the most part) to the finish. We went ballistic down the fire road to find the singletrack and kept the gas on through the first of many sections of 'Fernie' singletrack. For me, hitting the singletrack is like putting gas in the tank so I was ready to rip. We emerged onto another fire road with a group of riders and took a right turn up a hill. Now it is worth noting that when you study the course profile you tend to forget about certain things --- like this damn hill. We started on this hot climb thinking we were almost done not knowing that TR had one more tough as hell climb for us. Probably inconsequential compared to early climbs this one just seemed particularly nasty. We finally made it to the top where local told us that we only had 6k to go and it was all singletrack. Boy they weren't kidding, we hit one of the best, technical singletrack descents I've ridden. It took everything I had to navigate the turns, trees, roots and drop offs they were throwing at me. I finally washed out and crashed lightly which gave Mark a good laugh since I'd stayed upright all week previously. We made it through the track and rolled into downtown Fernie to a heros welcome. We had just finished the TransRockies! We had a good stage and placed 16 in our category and moved up 6 spots on the GC to finish 24th overall. We enjoyed snacks, drinks and a basket of fries Mark bought before landing a ride with all our gear to our hotel. Again, we found a great river for a soak then enjoyed a late afternoon of Olympics viewing on our first beds in a week!

It was an incredible experience with many highs and lows. I enjoyed the race format and organization, but felt they should have made better choices on the route to avoid some of the hike-a-bike. I'd recommend the race format, but would advice looking into TransAlsp or BC bike race as you stay in hotel and you actually ride the course!

Craig

PICS:

http://www.me.com/gallery/#100024

http://www.flickr.com/photos/91469892@N00/sets/72157606824302599/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dolface/sets/72157606800987689/

GSP East App Night - Pic2Phone Presentation

2008-06-11T11:31:00.001-07:00

Niels and I presenting Pic2Phone
http://apps.facebook.com/pictophone

Mobile + Social Panel at GSP East

2008-06-11T11:23:00.000-07:00

From the left: Ben from Bluepulse, Me, Greg from AIM, Chris from Dash

Hook Mobile booth at GSP East

2008-06-11T11:20:00.001-07:00

Niels and I manning the booth at GSP East. Lots of good sessions.

Mobile 2.0 Meet Up

2008-06-06T15:58:00.000-07:00

Last night I attended the SF Mobile 2.0 Meet Up which featured presentations from Symbian, Zannel and Juicecaster. It was really interesting to hear Zannel and Juicecaster side by side as the differences in their business models highlighted some ongoing discussions I've been having with Noel, CEO at Mosio. Specifically we've been discussing the benefits and challenges to on-deck versus off-deck distribution.

Without going into too much detail on either company, both offer lifecasting services from the mobile phone. Zannel's system works via WAP across all carriers, while Juicecaster has JAVA or BREW applications across many by not all carriers. Zannel is monetizing their offering via advertising and sponsorships, while Juicecaster is charging a monthly service. Zannel claims to have well over a million users, where Juicecaster sheepishly claimed to be over 100,000.

Here comes the big difference. Juicecaster, sold for $2.99/month in partnership with the carriers would be generating around $180,000 per month post carrier (my estimate allowing the carriers 40% of the revenue). I have no idea what Zannel is charging for their advertising and sponsorship solutions, but with even 10x the users, I suspect the revenue is less. Juicecaster's revenue is subscription based which means that they are not only getting that first month, but likely 6+ months per user regardless of actual usage.

It is worth noting that Juicecaster has been in existence for at least 3-4 years and has worked very hard to get the carrier deals in place. Zannel's strategy is totally appropriate given the time it arrived in the market. I hope that all the emerging WAP strategies will work well, but for today if given the chance at carrier based revenues, I'd take it any day of the week. The best strategies will do a little of both (why leave revenue on the table?

I couldn't resist this one....

2008-06-04T10:37:00.000-07:00

Accessing vs. Alerting

2008-06-03T15:31:00.000-07:00

As we continue to investigate how users interact with Social Networks and Social Network Applications from mobile devices, it is important to consider whether we are talking about 'accessing' networks or 'consuming' content. The former has been tackled by a number of companies including the SNS containers themselves. Facebook and MySpace each have well trafficked WAP sites that allow users to pull content. Other access strategies include J2ME and BREW applications from the likes of Intercasting Corp and Juicecaster. In addition to access, these applications do also promote a mobile originate (MO) broadcasting feature. Both the WAP and Application solutions absolutely have a home for the power user. I do, however, see a few challenges for these solutions. Namely, users need to actively navigate to these applications / WAP sites on their device. This is appropriate in moments of inspiration such as when you have a great photo or video to share or if you have some time to kill and happen to be poking around your device, but like all great mobile offerings, the risk is that they stay buried on the device as users are focused on other higher level device functions such as text messaging or voice calls (remember voice?). I can confidently say this having studied usage patterns of top selling mobile games during my time at I-play.

So lets move on to the concept of alerting. Now let me clarify, if a user is 'in' an application or actively 'on' a WAP site, alerting can occur, however this doesn't necessarily notify the user who is outside the site or application. Most major networks have implemented an SMS notification of site 'events', but like the SMS alerts we all signed up for in the early 2000's, notifications eventually get turned off when they become overwhelming. So where is the opportunity with alerting. I believe the opportunity lies in the SNS sites and applications having the ability to bring components of the online experience to mobile devices via multimedia messaging (MMS). The huge difference between SMS and MMS is that with MMS we can deliver the content itself (not simple a notification). Imagine sending a video poke to your girlfriend on a Friday evening when you know she has already gone offline. By sending the video to her phone, you know she'll receive the actual multimedia message. You know this because we all leave the house with 3 things these days; keys, wallet and mobile phone.

It is no secret I am a big proponent of MMS, however my promotion of MMS doesn't take away from my belief that the entire spectrum of mobile technologies (SMS --> MMS --> WAP --> Apps) have a home in social media. In my ideal world, my favorite social media apps will allow me to share content using MMS while still providing WAP or Apps when I want to pull content. MMS, and messaging in general, should be used as a bridge to deeper mobile experiences. By delivering the entire experience within an MMS we can create a positive 'awakening' event for the device and user (phone beeps and content is one click away). Once the device is awakened, if the user has more time to consume, they can be directed to one of the available access options.

Hook Mobile Subscriber Protection Explained

2008-05-28T11:32:00.000-07:00

The Hook MAX Platform protect mobile subscribers from unwanted content via 7 level of rules enforcement.

1. SNS Network Standards
2. Hook Content Standards
3. App opt-in / opt-out
4. Friend opt-in / opt-out
5. Mobile Service opt-in / opt-out
6. Mobile Tab (user controls)
7. Message receipt opt-in / opt-out

GSP East and mobile

2008-05-28T10:48:00.000-07:00

I'm going to be speaking on a panel at the upcoming GSP East event outside Washington, DC in June. I'm excited about the discussion we will be having about mobile and social media. I've been thinking more and more about a framework for understanding the options one has when pursuing mobile. I believe there is a spectrum of opportunities in mobile that vary in cost and complexity. Each has its benefits and challenges. In the next week I hope to give an overview of the following technologies on my blog.

Mobile technologies for social media:
SMS
MMS
WAP (mobile internet)
Java/Brew applications

Stay tuned!

MMS Privacy Policy

2008-05-28T10:10:00.001-07:00

My colleague, Brian Kathman has been doing some great work documenting the many ways in which the Hook Platform protect subscribers from unwanted messages. This approach is going to be critical to the growth of mobile social media extensions. Many in the space don't understand the need for such rigid policies, but anyone who has worked with the wireless operators will know that it is essential. See excerpt below:

"Hook Mobile understands the importance of subscriber protection in order to protect users of social networks from receiving content or services unwillingly, incurring charges without proper disclosure, and gaining access to content or services that is inappropriate for the audience. At the same time, Hook Mobile understands the potential liability risk mobile operators can take on when the proper subscriber protections are not in place, especially in the context of the new social networking environments in which the flow of communications and content is not always of the old ‘one-to-one’ variety, but in some cases among and between friends and shared interests.
So to achieve the optimal mobile subscriber protection in a social networking environment, Hook Mobile has extended social networking applications with opt-in only MMS push platform, M.A.X. 2.0. This protects users by utilizing the double-opt-in process of normal mobile marketing, along with two additional opt-in processes for i) application acceptance, and ii) Friend confirmation. So at the very least, mobile subscribers receiving services through M.A.X. 2.0 are protected by an integrated ‘triple-opt-in’ of the content, services, and friends that are part of their “mobile social” experience."

Hook Mobile in Mashable

2008-05-21T13:03:00.000-07:00

Hook Mobile got some great coverage in Mashable today.

See article at: http://mashable.com/2008/05/21/hook-mobil/

Ztail - The Kelly Blue Book for everything else

2008-05-20T10:56:00.000-07:00

My good friends Bill, Jordan and Dave just launched a site called Ztail (www.ztail.com) that aims to help you find out what things are worth. Personally, I think it is a great idea. As a gear head, I have a whole garage filled with stuff I don't use and probably should sell. But how do you know how to value a bike that was build of misc. parts? By asking the community what something is worth, you can get a sense for how much to expect should you throw it up on eBay.

Check it out when you get a chance. It gets addictive when you are 'worthing' products!

Hook Mobile to sponsor GSP East

2008-05-19T13:40:00.000-07:00

O'Rielly puts on a great social media conference called Graphing Social Patterns. I attended the last conference in San Diego after I joined Hook. It was really insightful from a content perspective and very fruitful from a networking perspective.

The next GSP event is being held on June 9th-11th just outside of Washington, DC in Arlington, VA. Since the Hook Mobile HQ is just down the road in Vienna, VA, it made sense for us to jump on board as a Gold Sponsor.

We are very excited to be part of the program now that the Hook MAX Platform has been launched. We look forward to meeting more of the community. Make sure to reach out to me if you will be in the area.

http://en.oreilly.com/gspeast2008/public/content/sponsors

My Social Times Podcast

2008-05-09T11:09:00.000-07:00

Check out my podcast on the Social Times with Nick O'Niell
http://www.socialtimes.com/2008/05/interview-with-craig-dalton-of-hook-mobile/

Interview With Craig Dalton of Hook Mobile
Posted by Nick O'Neill on May 9th, 2008 11:19 AM

Yesterday I had the opportunity to speak with Craig Dalton of Hook Mobile. Hook Mobile has developed a platform which helps integrate MMS technology with social applications. They’ve already launched one application on Facebook called PicToPhone. The application enables users to view their friends photos on a daily basis through MMS technology.

The application has been used as a demo so that developers can see how to integrate MMS technology into their own applications. Throughout the podcast, Craig and I discussed the various challenges facing the convergence of social and mobile technology. We also discussed the various ways that businesses are trying to monetize applications in the space.

Just yesterday, Nielsen released statistics that in the first quarter of 2008, 1.6 percent of all mobile users in the United States had accessed a social network via their mobile device. While it is only 1.6 percent, this space is growing rapidly and could become one of the most dominant areas for social technology to expand into. Listen to my interview with Craig Dalton below to hear more about how the social web can leverage mobile technologies.

Why MMS? Just some thoughts I had documented for a client

2008-05-08T17:51:00.000-07:00

MMS is an evolved form of SMS. It is a technology that enables the creation and sharing of messages with rich content. MMS-compatible devices can send and receive multimedia messages, such as graphics, video and audio clips, etc. MMS messages can convey content up to 250 KB today on a cross carrier basis with those thresholds improving quickly.

MMS has several significant advantages over WAP-Push/SMS delivery.

- MMS is the most efficient way to deliver multimedia content as the content is encapsulated in the message itself. Users simply need to know how to hit a single soft key button to open a message. Once the message is opened, the multimedia content can be viewed / played.
- MMS’ can be single images, multi-image slideshow or full motion video today.
- MMS is a better user experience. Users can watch video, scroll through slideshows and read inputted text within the standard MMS client on their handset.
- Pricing. MMS is typically subscribed to within a message bucket or can be used on a per use basis. Unlike WAP-Push which requires both a messaging and data plan, MMS only requires a capable device as users can make single use purchase decisions.

Back to blogging

2008-05-06T16:18:00.000-07:00

Its been a long time since I've actually written anything on the blog and even then you could barely call it writing...more posting. I been getting into microblogging via Twitter which has renewed my interest in the whole concept. I'm going to start sharing some more verbose thoughts on this blog to cover some of my interests in mobile and social media along side a bit about my racing activities.

Modern High End Couch - Thayer Coggin

2007-10-11T10:51:00.001-07:00

This item is currently for sale. Click below to bid or learn more!... Read more

Price

Date posted

2007-10-11 10:51:05

Location

San Francisco, CA

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Giant TCR 2 Composite Road Bicycle Size Medium

2007-06-10T07:37:00.001-07:00

This item is currently for sale. Click below to bid or learn more!... Read more

Price

Date posted

2007-06-10 07:35:24

Location

San Francisco, CA

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Klein Q Pro XX 56cm - Custom Lombardi Sports Edition

2007-06-08T20:33:00.001-07:00

This item is currently for sale. Click below to bid or learn more!... Read more

Price

Date posted

2007-06-08 20:31:00

Location

San Francisco, CA

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2007-06-07T15:41:00.001-07:00

Insane picture

2007-06-05T21:54:00.001-07:00

http://www.games4work.com/games/swf/supercoolpic.swf

FSA Vision Triathlon Saddle

2007-06-05T21:24:00.001-07:00

View more pics

230139720590

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End Time

2007-06-12 21:23:34 PDT

Location

San Francisco, CA

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DMT Ultimax RSX Cycling Shoe

2007-06-05T16:31:00.001-07:00

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Date posted

2007-06-05 16:26:18

Location

San Francisco, CA

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Day 1

2007-05-30T21:30:00.000-07:00

Just getting my blog started today! I hope I can keep this up! I figured I'd post this nice picture of my Trek Madone 5.9

CraigDalton.com

I love my DODOcase

Artisan of the Month: Keoki Surf Boards

Bing Bam Boom...DODOcase saves another iPad falling off a car.

Meet the birds. Local SF shopping in December

A new DODO takes flight!

We don't sell books, we smell books

Pink with a Purpose! 20% to Susan G. Koman for the Cure

Oct. Independant bookseller of the Month: Green Apple Books SF

Color case of the week: PINK

Color case of the week: PINK

Apps we like -- Finger Physics HD

Mmmm... new flavors of DODOcase iPad case are available

Mobile Monday Silicon Valley App Store Secrets Increasing Sales Feb 8 2010

Flashback! Device pre-loads on Android

Gaming: Will Android ever close the gap on iPhone?

Does the iPad kill the Kindle? Not for me.

See you at the Mobile Game Forum - London

Android, BlackBerry and iPhone App parity?

Mplayit's online mobile game discovery service comes to O2 UK Try mobile games on your PC

Mplayit and Metaflow partner to make life easier for leading mobile publishers and operators

Mplayit Mobile Arcade is now a Featured App on Facebook!

Mplayit expands internationally through partnership with Cellcom

Mplayit iPhone Arcade brings award-winning App discovery and social merchandising to Facebook

Mplayit nominated for E-Tech Award at CTIA 2009

It must be official...the press release is out

Dow Jones Wireless Innovators 2009

Its official - I'm joining Mpowerplayer

Tweet up at Mobile World Congress

Termination Fees

David Lidsky of Fast Company profiles Hook Mobile

Hook Mobile Presentation at Under the Radar 2008

Mobile 2.0 Meet Up

Real MMS is coming to the iPhone from Hook Mobile

Hook Mobile to present at Under the Radar

Google to share Android Market revenues with operators

T-Mobile G1

MMS on the iPhone....hardly.

In related storefront news....

Apple's App Store vs. Traditional Mobile Storefronts

TransRockies Race Report

GSP East App Night - Pic2Phone Presentation

Mobile + Social Panel at GSP East

Hook Mobile booth at GSP East

Mobile 2.0 Meet Up

I couldn't resist this one....

Accessing vs. Alerting

Hook Mobile Subscriber Protection Explained

GSP East and mobile

MMS Privacy Policy

Hook Mobile in Mashable

Ztail - The Kelly Blue Book for everything else

Hook Mobile to sponsor GSP East

My Social Times Podcast

Why MMS? Just some thoughts I had documented for a client

Back to blogging

Modern High End Couch - Thayer Coggin

Giant TCR 2 Composite Road Bicycle Size Medium

Klein Q Pro XX 56cm - Custom Lombardi Sports Edition

Linkedin

Insane picture

FSA Vision Triathlon Saddle

DMT Ultimax RSX Cycling Shoe

Day 1