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. "Anyone who leaves a voice mail is either a stalker or my mother", 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 e-Commerce and subscriptions.
At 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 2010.
10 Israeli mobile companies to watch in 2010
| 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 2.7 million songs. Investors include Motorola, Telia Sonera and DoCoMo. The next stage is to leverage that user base to broaden adoption of Tunewiki's mobile player as well as introduce music-related mobile games. According to Rani, "our Media Player will be available as a white label and some of the biggest companies in mobile will use it as their default player". In addition, "we will offer a game that can be easily implemented for any song in any language". | |
| Nominated for "Mobile Innovation Grand Prix" at this week's 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 always-on connectivity with the convenience of mobile. "Fring is providing the video call experience they enjoy on their PC, on the go." | |
| 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. "Mecanto does not allow the sharing of music. Instead, it is a personal music service that extends the reach of my own music across different platforms". | |
| 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. Co-founder Noam Guzman thinks retailers are leaving money on the table. "The 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 field". | |
| 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 carrier-centric approach and building white label partnerships with operators like Vodafone, Orange and AT&T. Motti Kushnir, Telmap's Chief Marketing Officer, is clear about the company's 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. | |
| 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 'rich media mobile internet' experience. Trials with two of the largest US carriers begin this year. | |
| 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. "Improving the customer experience leads to increased use of new services". Two of Israel's three mobile operators are deploying the product. | |
| Waze provides a free, crowd-sourced, real-time mobile navigation tool that is based on the live conditions of the road. More than 550,000 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. "The mobile phone will replace drive-time radio as our source of relevant information for our every day commute". | |
| 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 low-cost, 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. "As 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 devices". | |
| WorldMate creates, manages and updates all aspects of your travel itinerary and puts it on your phone. Travel is the largest online e-Commerce segment but until recently has been relatively nascent in mobile. The WorldMate application has been downloaded 5 million times with 1.25 million active users. CEO Nadav Gur believes the use of Smartphones for travel information and booking has finally gone mainstream. "There is now a race by the giants in travel – 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 business". |
Levi 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 levi.shapiro@tmtstrat.com or via twitter: @levshapiro
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Levi Shapiro
Levi Shapiro is a Partner at TMT Strategic Advisors, a research and strategy firm focusing on the technology, media and telecom sectors. Clients are split evenly between early-stage, Israeli start-ups and large entities like NTT DoCoMo, OpenTV and the Austra…
