Ten Israeli Mobile Companies to Watch in 2010 - Levi Shapiro - MediaBizBloggers

Kelly Tedesco is easy to reach on her phone as long as you send a text message or IM quotAnyone who leaves a voice mail is either a stalker or my motherquot says the 27 year old from Irvine California Data services such as mobile internet and SMS now account for 30 of monthly wireless bills in the US and 50 in Japan However unlike the internet consumers like Kelly Tedesco are actually spending REAL money for mobile applications and services According to Morgan Stanley 95 of mobile application revenue comes from eCommerce and subscriptionsAt the Mobile World Congress this week in Barcelona no less than 72 Israeli mobile companies are exhibiting many of whom are providing the next generation of services and applications for customers like Kelly Among this group below are 10 mobile companies to watch in 201010 Israeli mobile companies to watch in 2010 amp160 Serial entrepreneur Rani Cohen wanted to access the lyrics for a Cold Play song while listening on his iPhone That simple idea has led to more than 6 million downloads of lyrics and a database of 27 million songs Investors include Motorola Telia Sonera and DoCoMo The next stage is to leverage that user base to broaden adoption of Tunewiki39s mobile player as well as introduce musicrelated mobile games According to Rani quotour Media Player will be available as a white label and some of the biggest companies in mobile will use it as their default playerquot In addition quotwe will offer a game that can be easily implemented for any song in any languagequot wwwtunewikicomamp160 amp160 Nominated for quotMobile Innovation Grand Prixquot at this week39s Mobile World Congress Fring offers free VoIP calls and IM In particular the killer app is free video VoIP Since launching video VoIP last November nearly 60 of all Fring calls in Western Europe are now made with video Fring claims to be adding half a million new users each month CEO Avi Shechter emphasizes the appeal of alwayson connectivity with the convenience of mobile quotFring is providing the video call experience they enjoy on their PC on the goquot wwwfringcom amp160 Mecanto helps you manage your music library and playlists across mobile PC and social networks Launched a few months ago as a b2b service for mobile carriers and content aggregators Mecanto won the global Nokia Developers Contest and already has subscribers from 120 countries CEO Uri Keren is careful to create a service that brings revenue to carriers while protecting third party rights quotMecanto does not allow the sharing of music Instead it is a personal music service that extends the reach of my own music across different platformsquot wwwmecantocomamp160 amp160 Think of the merchandising and customer service experience at your favorite department store At the moment those trusted retailers are virtually excluded from the mobile content and services sector a market projected by Informa to reach 344 billion in three years Retalika provides a suite of products for retailers to sell more mobile content and services Cofounder Noam Guzman thinks retailers are leaving money on the table quotThe mobile content and services market is booming And while retailers account for over 50 of mobile handset sales they have very little share in the content and services arena Retalika helps to level that playing fieldquot wwwretalikacom amp160 According to research firm Canalys as of Q3 2009 Telmap controls 46 of the European mobile navigation market That is more than three times the share of the closest competitor Nokia Telmap has captured this dominant position by taking a carriercentric approach and building white label partnerships with operators like Vodafone Orange and ATampampT Motti Kushnir Telmap39s Chief Marketing Officer is clear about the company39s goals in 2010 Location Based Services Among other efforts Telmap is helping operators to enrich their core services like SMS and voice through location based services and location based advertising They are also helping operators provide additional location services for enterprises wwwtelmapcomamp160 amp160 This week Facebook reached an important milestone 100 million active mobile users Moreover 6 of the 10 most visited US mobile internet sites are social networks Clearly mobile subscribers care about staying connected with their Social Networks on the go Mobixell is helping carriers to offer tools that add value beyond just transporting internet traffic Specifically their social media gateway SMG provides a mobile internet experience for social network users but via MMS That means over 80 of the mobile subscriber population can have what Avichai Levy EVP Marketing calls a 39rich media mobile internet39 experience Trials with two of the largest US carriers begin this year httpglobaltelmapcomamp160 amp160 Communitake uses Smartphones as a remote customer service tool Imagine having a remote service representative that can visually guide you through a billing issue or transaction on your Smartphone pausing throughout the process to draw red circles around key words or underline important instructions CEO Ronen Sasson thinks that could translate into higher customer satisfaction and more purchases across industries quotImproving the customer experience leads to increased use of new servicesquot Two of Israel39s three mobile operators are deploying the product wwwcommunitakecomamp160 amp160 Waze provides a free crowdsourced realtime mobile navigation tool that is based on the live conditions of the road More than 550000 users worldwide are using this to navigate traffic and adjust their routing CEO Noam Bardin views the social aspects of Waze as part of a larger transition quotThe mobile phone will replace drivetime radio as our source of relevant information for our every day commutequot wwwwazecomamp160 amp160 One of the biggest expenses for independent developers is testing applications across a multitude of handsets carrier networks and operating systems The time and resources required can be staggering Perfecto Mobile provides a lowcost virtual tool for testing applications with web and video tools Partnerships with Vodafone RIM and Sony Ericsson have helped to expand their customer base Eran Yaniv is the CEO quotAs entry barriers are lowered more developers now develop a growing number of mobile applications We are there to help them test their apps on real devices and ensure high quality without spending huge amounts or purchasing many devicesquot wwwperfectomobilecomamp160 amp160 WorldMate creates manages and updates all aspects of your travel itinerary and puts it on your phone Travel is the largest online eCommerce segment but until recently has been relatively nascent in mobile The WorldMate application has been downloaded 5 million times with 125 million active users CEO Nadav Gur believes the use of Smartphones for travel information and booking has finally gone mainstream quotThere is now a race by the giants in travel amp8211 from American Express and Expedia to Delta and Hilton to own this medium We are working with partners from both mobile and travel to build new lines of businessquot wwwworldmatecomamp160 amp160Levi Shapiro is a Partner at TMT Strategic Advisors a research and strategy firm focusing on the technology media and telecom sectors He can be reached at levishapirotmtstratcom or via twitter levshapiroRead all Levi39s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at Unleavened Media MediaBizBloggersFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBlogger

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Ten Israeli Mobile Companies to Watch in 2010 - Levi Shapiro - MediaBizBloggers

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