iPhone and 10 Israel-related headlines from the week of June 14, 2009
Filed under: Breaking News, Cleantech, Information Technology, Mobile Web, New Ideas, Uncategorized, Web2.0, cloud computing
During the week of June 14, 2009, Israel was named a developed market which will be effective in 2010 and its economy was hit less hard due to the high tech industry. While the protests, demonstrations and online activity heated up in Iran, Israel’s Fring announced that its software was being used by several protesters and helping their cause. Inside Israel, the biggest news was that the iPhone from Apple will finally be coming to Israel officially. For these stories and the rest of this week’s 10 Israel-related headlines check below.
Cleantech
1. The Next Solar Frontier: Distributed Inverter Architecture
Investments
3. Israeli exports hit less thanks to high tech
4. Israel Named Developed Market at MSCI, Korea Isn’t
Information Technology
5. Storage Startup Axxana Announces the Availability of the Phoenix System
7. Iranian protesters using Israeli software
8. Blue Coat ProxyClient Software Gains OESISOK Certification
Miscellaneous
9. Israeli carriers line up to sell iPhone
10. Coca Cola Israel develops new flavor
Impressions of TheMarker’s COM.vention from a new immigrant
The following is a recap by Jessica Korman of TheMarker’s COM.vention which took place earlier today. Jessica Korman is a graphic designer, blogger and new immigrant.
“The future is already here, it’s just not evenly distributed yet” – William Gibson
I just got back from The Marker COM.vention held at Airport City. It was a great opportunity to see “Twitter” friends whom I may or may not have met before. While social media is not a dying trend, it is still important to connect to people on a personal level. That was my main purpose in attending the convention; as a new immigrant in Israel I find myself in the midst of a networking frenzy. In that respect, social media is a tool, a means to an end and not the end itself.
The convention itself had 2 tracks, ‘The New New Thing – NGN’ sponsored by Bezeq, and ‘Beyond the web 2.0.’ I attended two panels within the ‘Beyond the web 2.0′ track. The first panel I attended, “Beyond Web 2.0,” was moderated by Israel’s Hi-Tech guru, Yossi Vardi and included Anil Hansjee, Head of Corporate Development EMEA, Google (UK, London); Allen Hurff, SVP MySpace; Jane Thompson, Managing Director, International, IAC and Greg Cohn, Director of Strategy and Business Development Yahoo! as panelists.
Yossi Vardi, LeWeb 2008
They discussed how the Internet is moving from our PCs (or in my case, Mac) onto a smaller screen, such as the Android or iPhone and other trends, such as social networking, semantic web and cloud computing, and that search engines are evolving with those trends. The discussion also brought up that there will also be more engagement with entertainment, for example more interaction between the consumer and the advertiser. They concluded that social networking needs to evolve by indexing our relationships, and we must trust our networks to make our privacy decisions for us. From an entrepeneaurial perspective, the economic downturn is actually a great opportunity for start-ups.
The second panel I attended was “Microblogging, Substance or hype.” It was moderated by Gadi Lahav, Director of Internet Content at Haaretz Media and the panelists included Deborah Schultz, Consultant, Advisor and Strategist to Start-Ups and Large Organizations; Yosi Taguri, VP R&D and Social Thinker at Nuconomy and Joi Ito, CEO of Creative Commons. The panel was basically about Twitter, and, in fact, one of the panelists tweeted that this might be the only time it is socially acceptable to tweet when part of a panel.
Deborah Schultz, October 2008
They said that the idea of microblogging is socially connecting on the fly and that it broke the “real-time” barrier. While Facebook is a database of social connections, Twitter is a constant flow of content and ideas. Actual blogging is much slower but that is not to say that Twitter will be the death of blogging. It might mean less frequent updates or less people creating new blogs, but blogging will still remain part of the conversation.
At this point in time, it is imperative that corporations learn how to participate and use social networking with their branding and marketing. Companies need to learn to use the tools to listen to customers, and let the users know they are being listened to. What still needs to be determined is how to monetize microblogging sites such as Twitter and we have yet to see a business model. The question was raised by one of the panelists, that at this point, does Twitter even need a business model?
What was clearly a sign of the times was the scaling back of emenities commonly found at conventions such as these. Instead of coming home with an armful of gifts, I came home nearly empty handed. Most of the stands were giving away chocolate coins instead of shwag.
24 Israel-related technology headlines from the week of April 13, 2008
Filed under: Cleantech, Company Briefs, Data Storage, Telecomunications
This past week saw PLYmedia named Israel’s most promising Internet start-up of 2008 by Microsoft, and HP unveil plans for startup incubation. The Internet was abuzz with Fring making unlocked iPhones now VoIP accessible and EyeBlaster’s and Dapper’s joining to do the mash… up. Oh yeah, and for those who missed my previous post, IBM continued its data storage solutions providers shopping spree, with its purchase of Diligent Technologies for an estimated $200 million. For a link to details on this latest acquisition and the rest of this past week’s 24 Israel-related
technology headlines, check out the list below.
Cleantech
3. Project Better Place
Hollywood Premiere Of Award-Winning, New Documentary, “Water”
M&A and Investments
IBM buys Israel’s Diligent
Economy making venture capitalists cautious
Information Technology
TrusCont and CoakleyTech Announce the Launch of TrusCont Enhanced DVD-R Security Solution
HP Israel unveils plans for startup incubation
World’s First Single-Chip, Multi-Message,
Digital ChipCorder
Eyeblaster and Dapper Mash It Up Code Free
International
Microsoft names PLYmedia as Israel’s Most
Promising Internet Startup of 2008
Israeli firms shine in Red Herring ratings
WorkLight selected AS A WINNER for the Red herring 100 Europe 2008
TruMedia’s iCapture Wins Gold Medal at the Euro-Reklama Outdoor Expo
Telecom
Israel Wimax Pilot Moves to Next Stage
Motorola and FIRST Inspire Next Generation of Engineers
Israeli telecom firm Koor intends to buy stake in Tata Teleservice
Miscellaneous
Interview with BluePhoenix Solutions’ Chief Marketing Officer
Virtualization Start-Up to Present at Virtualization Conference & Expo in New York City
ClickSoftware to Automate Scheduling and Mobile Workforce Management for Rogers Cable Communications
Sentrigo Executes on all Fronts in 2007, Priming Database Security
Leader for Continued Rapid Growth
About the author: Lisa Damast is the Membership
Manager of ebizQ.net and currently resides in Israel. Any questions or
inquiries regarding this blog or ebizQ membership services can be
directed to her via email at ldamast (at) ebizq (dot) net. She can also be followed on Twitter, where she covers additional Israeli technology companies and Israel-related headlines and topics.
Coming soon: The complete Tjat mobile messaging experience
A few weeks ago, I mentioned that the popularity and excitement surrounding the iPhone and Google-lead Open Handset Alliance would be indirectly beneficial to Israel’s Infogin, a company whose Internet Mobile Platform provides users with a better mobile web experience without their buying a new phone or upgrading any firmware on a phone. A service that might work well with it is mobile “seamless messaging” service, Tjat.
Mobile Marketing Magazine reports (via Startup Israel) that Tjat’s service has launched on Vodafone Live! and will be providing Vodafone in the Czech Republic its full range of services. According to the Tjat website, its services include:
“The TJAT mobile IM solution, mobile operators can offer their subscribers quick and affordable access to the world’s most popular IM services from ICQ®, MSN®, Yahoo®, AIM®, Chikka®, and Google Talk®.”
“The TJAT mobile email solution allows customers direct, efficient, connectivity to any portal/ISP email service, including popular ones like Google®, AOL®, Hotmail® and Yahoo® or any other POP3 subscriber mailbox.”
“A full remote media and file library that can guarantee availability and management from any device with access to TJAT services (mobile handsets, landline phones, desktops, set top boxes). Available handset memory is no longer a constraint when on the go.”
Of course, the Israel R&D-based all-inclusive mobile messaging service is also working on adding more social networking sharing abilities to its mix. Until then, stay tuned and here is a link to diagram from the site that maps the services visually: http://www.tjat.com/innerData/images/dia01.jpg
Company in Focus: InfoGin, Ltd.
News
An article in the New York Times last week pointed out the failures of the mobile web in attracting more users over the years. Recently though, several companies and initiatives, including Israeli-based InfoGin Ltd., have been created to drive more people to use the mobile web and to improve the mobile web experience.
Background
InfoGin was founded in 2000 by Eran Wyler after he foresaw the “need for surfing the real Internet on any mobile device.” Over the years, InfoGin has become a leader in “Web-to-mobile content adaptation, enabling mobile users to access any Web site they desire, optimized to their mobile device.” According to a company description,
“InfoGin’s patented technology offers a range of solutions, from a fully automatic intelligent conversion engine to professional content-editing and marketing tools that enable full control over the delivered information.”
The company’s most recent technology is the Internet Mobile Platform (IMP) that is currently being implemented by several major companies, from Virgin Mobile (UK) to MapQuest.
Major Customers
Virgin Mobile (UK)
Cellcom & Pelephone (Israel)
AOL
MapQuest
InfoSpace
Analysis
Despite the increasing popularity of mobile phones with Internet access and various initiatives, the mobile web is a mess. Very few users pay for data services in their cell phone plans and those who do, are faced with difficult navigation tasks and limited data available to them.
The recent popularity of Apple’s iPhone and the Google-lead Open Handset Alliance (OHA) promise to increase mobile web access in the United States and to give more order and direction to mobile platforms by improving the mobile web access experience. However, while that might be the intention, the iPhone’s glitz and glamor only goes so far when people want to view rich media content on the Internet and it is unlikely that the OHA will be able to meaningfully impact mobile search navigation and the more complicated demands of web access in the near future.
InfoGin’s services, primarily its Internet Mobile Platform, offers anyone who has a web-accessible phone — with a participating carrier — a better Internet experience without the hassle of buying a newer phone or the obligation of upgrading a phone’s firmware. InfoGin’s service automatically changes any website that a user goes to on the phone.
Compared to a service such as Yahoo! Go, InfoGin is a lot easier and doesn’t require users to download anything. However, while InfoGin services provide a better user experience, it is not enough to overshadow the additional need for phones to be able to handle rich media requests and streaming — something that in the end, for InfoGin’s services and the future of mobile web, should be of great concern.
However, considering that 32 cell phones are sold every second and InfoGin’s current customer reports of its solutions “doubling web site traffic” and decreasing operational costs of “creating and handling web content” by 80%, InfoGin should be able to continue to expand its current reach of 20 million cell phones unhindered for the foreseeable future.
Additional Resources
InfoGin has record year
InfoGin takes on iPhone with Intellient Mobile Platform
Overview of industry’s future
Mobile Web University Trial
InfoGin Press Release
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