Tom Godber
- CTO Masabi
- Co-Founder MoMo Estonia

 Tallinn, capital of
Estonia, will be co-
hosting
 Helen was the most
popular bit of my last
ppt so she‟s back

 I‟m not sure why I‟m talking in this
section ;)
 My company is self-funded
 Organic growth
 BUT
 Funding can be useful
 People like to eat

 Can fund growth
 Organic growth can be painful
 Brings way more than money
 Contacts
 Credibility
 etc
 Interview the VC
 Substance not name dropping

 Text, Voice, Alarm Clock
 Can other services reach these
heights?
 NO
 But they don‟t need to
 “Niche” markets can still be huge

 Pain of the user experience
 Limited development options
 SMS, Wap, Java…
 All defined by their drawbacks
 Fragmentation
 Poor ecosystem, limited support

 Mentioned a lot, rarely defined well
 Every handset model is different
 Then throw in operators, firmware…
 Commercial pressures always
override QA concerns => everything
has bugs

 Some of today‟s
screen size
diversity
 The exact sizes
may change
 But the change is
constant…
 To offer a good
service, you
must approach
each differently
 In a browser or in
an installed app

 New hardware features added all the
time
 Camera
 GPS / location awareness
 Add new APIs for this
 Fragmentation because not every
handset will have the APIs
 Don‟t add APIs
 Platform is limited, will get less use

 Upgrade cycle myth
 “A handset is dead after <N> months”
 In countries with subsidies, „free‟
upgrades often end up on
 >10% downloads for old Nokia S40
 Seen in advanced markets this year
 Party like it‟s 2003

 Embrace diversity
 Target the entire mass market
 Are you sure your customers only have
iPhones?
 >99% of last year‟s handsets weren‟t…
 etc

BLACKBERRY
APPLE FUND
FUND
 Kleiner Perkins  RBC/Thomson Reuters
 $100m  $150m
 Apps for single  Apps for EVERY
platform: iPhone platform
Non-iPhone
iPhone
Handsets shipped in 2007

 It‟s not always about the money
 Mobile can transform lives, societies
 This is arguably more valuable!
 Eg. Frontline SMS
 Open source SMS campaign manager
 For use by NGOs
 Used to monitor elections, track avian
flu outbreaks, help schools…

 Frontline SMS is at
http://www.frontlinesms.com/
 Most topics expanded on the
Masabists blog
http://blog.masabi.com/