An exclusive interview with Mfuse CEO Geoff Read featured in eGaming Review's Mobile Report 2013.

1. MOBILE REPORT
Featuring: Mfuse
The tide of change
Last year saw some notable work we do on a development day basis. We also
pride ourselves on our ability to bring ideas and Geoff Read
developments in the mobile gaming
enhancements to the table so that, in combination CEO
sector. eGaming Review talked to Geoff with the vision and aims of the client, they can be Mfuse
Read of Mfuse, to discover how these assured of a constantly evolving and improving Geoff Read, CEO,
has been at Mfuse
changes will impact his business and product. Ultimately, and as you would expect, our
for more than five
the sector as a whole clients have complete control over their product years and is tasked
requirements and have flexibility to choose the with implementing
devices they want supported. Thus, we have strategies to evolve
W ith 2012 seeing some notable developments for effectively become our clients’ outsourced ‘in-house’ Mfuse’s business
model and product
mobile in terms of growth and technological mobile teams, and we really do work that closely
offering. Prior to
innovations, it is an exciting time for those involved in with them to ensure fast, efficient and innovative Mfuse he was finance
the sector. And as mobile continues to take up greater product delivery. director at Cashcade
sections of operators’ portfolios, the next 12 months for three years
and has a total of
could prove to be even more interesting. To find out eGR: How has the company grown in the past 12
almost eight years’
more about the journey being taken, eGaming Review months? experience across the
talked to Geoff Read, CEO of Mfuse. GR: Just 12 months ago we had a headcount in the gaming industry
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UK of 35. We are now over 75 employees and all this
eGaming Review (eGR): You’ve mentioned the growth has been led by demand from our existing
changes you were tasked with implementing at Mfuse client base. We are now in the position where we
when you took over as CEO. How have they worked are close to being fully resourced for each of our
out in the past 12 months? clients and are actively seeking further clients
Geoff Read (GR): During 2011 I had become who are looking for innovative mobile and tablet
increasingly concerned with both our product solutions both in sports betting and wider egaming,
and our business model. Our product had grown and beyond. Our products at the moment are all
up from Java and WAP-based services with all sportsbooks, but then of all mobile applications,
the challenges they presented in getting a service nothing else has to be as fast, secure or robust as
across a wide range of handsets. While Apple drove sports betting applications; nor have to deal with
the smartphone revolution, during the late 2000s the huge traffic spikes we see around events like
we were still hampered by our legacy support the Grand National. Therefore, we are more than
requirements and that was stopping us from capable of building out almost any other type of
focusing on building the latest and best services for mobile application. Both casino-style and more
the new breed of handsets. I was of the view that we innovative social games are in our sights, and we are
needed to focus on getting market-leading services in conversations with a number of potential clients
available on the Apple and Android platforms with a for work starting in 2013.
simple mobile internet (WAP) ‘catch-all’ service for
all other handsets – and that is what we have been eGR: Where else do you see opportunites for Mfuse?
implementing over the past 12 months with great GR: Although in the past we have typically designed,
success. built and managed whole solutions for our clients,
We have also shifted our business model away our experience and extensive skill set mean that we
from a revenue share to a more straightforward are ideally placed to assist operators who are doing
development model. We now provide dedicated their mobile in-house, but may have temporary
teams for each client with a rolling roadmap of or ad-hoc project-based requirements they are
upgrades and enhancements, charging for the struggling to meet or resource.

2. MOBILE REPORT
Featuring: Mfuse
Furthermore, we also possess hugely talented lowest common denominator of functionality as
designers and usability experts who can be hired each new browser and operating system provides
in to provide additional input and bring some of increased and alternative functionality not available
Mfuse’s expertise and innovations to their own in previous versions. To get anything close to a
solutions. native experience you can only write effectively on
the most recent handsets.
eGR: What kind of product innovations were you To get around these issues, development
pushing in 2012? houses like Mfuse have built an advanced Mobile
GR: During 2012 we began focusing on reducing the Application Development Platform (MADP) to try
number of clicks and screens/pages required for a and get the best solutions for the latest handsets
user to find and place a bet through our applications. while still offering a lower level service for the
This was tackled through a number of product earlier browsers and operating systems. Effectively
enhancements. Firstly we have been prioritising we build an 80% solution that works across all
events to homepages so the user sees the most handsets and then layer on the remaining 20% of
likely matches or events as soon as they open their functionality and features only for the handsets
application. Bet buttons are placed next to each that can support them. Even with this sort of clever
event with live odds so that the user is presented coding and product design, it is still a requirement
with immediate pricing. We have also added ‘quick to remove handsets over about four to five years
bet’ functionality allowing the user to place a single old as they cannot even meet the latest ‘base layer
bet directly on the home page without going through 80%’. I should also point out that there is also a
the ‘add to bet slip’, ‘go to bet slip’ and ‘complete bet’ whitepaper discussing the MADP and its benefits on
process, and have introduced multiple carousels that our website.
allow markets to be scrolled horizontally as well as Overall, our view is that if you want the best
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vertically maximising the amount of information the applications you have to write in native. We
users can access on their home pages. This year will recommend to our clients that an HTML5 base layer
see a number of exciting new innovations entering is built with functionality layers as detailed above,
our products that will continue to push our solutions but that certain devices like the iPhone 4+ and the
ahead of the competition. Galaxy S on Android 4+ are worth the extra cost of
building natively. For tablets such as the iPad, the
eGR: There is still much debate on the choice between arguments for native are even more persuasive as
HTML5 and ‘native’ applications. Where does Mfuse user expectations of applications on those devices
stand on this? are usually much further ahead of browser-based
GR: This is a complicated subject and I have written solutions.
a whitepaper outlining the debate and the main pros
and cons for each choice. eGR: What does 2013 hold for Mfuse?
In simple terms, native provides scope for much GR: Clearly our main focus is always on delivering
more functionality through access to a huge number the very best service and solutions to our existing
of APIs, increased performance through access to clients and they all have a demanding schedule of
the phone’s CPU and GPU, and a lot more scope for product rollouts and improvements throughout 2013
interesting user navigation and graphics. However, that we are really looking forward to getting live
native apps are much more expensive as you have to throughout the year. We are also in conversations to
build multiple apps, each taking significant time, and add more clients that share both our product visions
are exposed to Apple and Google’s policies which can and our commitment to dedicated development
change quickly and without warning, and which in teams rolling out an ever-improving roadmap of
the latter’s case currently bars native gambling apps products.
from their store. Finally, and as a first for Mfuse, we have a number
HTML5 browser-based applications in theory of our own mobile projects that we are looking to
provide an opportunity to write once and distribute develop ourselves that we are getting very excited
over a wide range of handsets. However, the reality about – and I look forward to being able to announce
is that this is only the case if you are writing to the the launch of one or more of these later in the year.