The latest news are that Phone.com went ahead and acquired the unified messaging  startup Onebox.com (http://www.onebox.com) in a stock transaction worth some $900m.  Earlier they also acquired Paragon Software (Phonesync software) from the UK.  If they continue, I will have to upgrade their stock to buy since they seem to be putting together a fairly comprehensive service portfolio.  Also last week, Aether Technologies acquired the mobile Internet enterprise middleware startup Riverbed Technologies for some $800m in stock.

Here is the latest issue focusing exclusively on the Demo 2000 results. Another issue is underway with a focus on the Corporate Venture Funding Conference as well as impressions from GSMWorld 2000. Referring to my show report two weeks ago, Internet Showcase presentations are now available to all of you at the Driveway.com online archive (link here).

DEMO 2000 TRENDS AND HOT COMPANIES

TANTAU Software Inc.  The TANTAU Wireless Internet platform is architected to offer a highly scalable transaction processing system for mobile e-commerce. Behind the Atlanta-based Compaq spinout are the founders of Tandem Computers and their reference customer is Merita-Nordbanken (referred to as world’s largest user of wireless e-commerce applications).  Other well known references are AT&T, AOL, Nasdaq, Deutsche Telekom, Merrill Lynch and Visa. The company representatives told me (in clear Finnish) that we should start discussing cooperation. Hopefully we can evaluate this against our own products asap.  http://www.tantau.com

BeComm Corporation.  BeComm have a patented technology “dynamic application synthesis” for media-aware routing over IP networks, adapting content into different types of Internet appliances.. Partnering with Wind River Systems. This is a hot company in the home communication space, they were already familiar with eBox.  I talked to the founder and CEO, and asked for their financing status. “We are privately funded since we don’t want VCs to control us. We would be interested in strategic money, though.” Well, do you have angel investors? “No, I used to work for Microsoft, that’s were the money comes from.”.  This company can be very relevant to us.  http://www.becomm.com/

Presto Technologies. Shop, wave and go!  Presto has developed a web-based physical  payment platform for e-commerce that - with a radio frequency chip called PrestoTag - 1) Identifies and authenticates customers physically, 2) integrates with payment functions for simple, secure transacting and 3) enables customization of the customer experience, both online and at retail.  To put it brief, Presto does what Ericsson visions a mobile phone would do as a payment device plus it has a business model including loyalty services and a portal functionality.  Worth looking at before Nokia does.  http://www.prestotech.com/Products/prestopass.html

Younology, Inc. The company provides smart personalization solution which proactively prioritizes information based on the totality of your browsing experience, rather than the behavior on one site. This is certainly the most advanced “auto-personalization” solution I have seen. All good hype terms like fuzzy logic, neural nets and genetic algorithms have been put into use.  Think about this in the context of location-based wireless services. Your past browsing experience helps you navigate and give right answers in a new city…  http://www.younology.com/home.html

NotHarvard.com.  I was about to skip this one but on a second thought it makes close to the top of the list…  NotHarvard.com provides online university solutions for e-business customers. By adding free edu-commerce to its site, a company is capable of increasing its customer acquisition efficiency. Ericsson need better customer acquisition tools in order to become a 1:1 marketer - we should consider building WAP and GPRS universities linked to our site and our mobile phone sales…  http://www.notharvard.com/

Fresher Information Corporation.  Fresher is an outsourced end-to-end content infrastructure solution based on the media distribution network of Digital Island.  It provides caching and syndication functionality to websites in order to keep them fresh. Fresher is interested in offering the “caching backend” to our WAP service platforms, i.e. eMode.  http://www.fresher.com

Xtime.  Xtime is a web application that enables service merchants to put their time-based inventory online. Consumers go to the merchant web site to choose the best open time for their meal, doctor’s appointment, etc.  Xtime includes a voice recognition component that schedules appointments over the phone.  Business model is to act as an ASP to hosting companies.  Founder got interested in doing a trial in Europe. UK?  A great idea and a great management team. http://www.xtime.com/

Salesforce.com.  The company is an ASP providing 24/7 sales force automation services for companies of all sizes. The board members include Larry Ellison of Oracle who is also an investor.  I talked to their VP of Business Development and they are naturally extremely interested and require immediate follow-up. http://www.salesforce.com/info/index.html

Facetime Communication.  Facetime is an instant messaging ASP which has developed application applying instant messaging to b2b and b2c markets. It applies IM to a supply chain based on business rules, enabling cross-selling and upselling based on those rules.  Services cover group communication, notifications and email alerts.  “World’s first smart distributed call center.”   http://www.facetime.net

Kerbango, Inc.  Kerbango Internet radio device will start shipping in the spring. It allows you to build your own web radio portal into a separate device which looks like a radio. When hooked up to an always-on Internet connection such as DSL, it constantly monitors the technical quality of 4,000 Internet radio stations and helps you pick the good ones. Includes even a feedback functionality. Their wireless strategy?  http://www.kerbango.com/

ChatScan Inc.  ChatScan empowers Web users to scan chats in real-time. ChatScan is powered by the robust eNow engine, which uses a distributed architecture and artificial intelligence to simultaneously follow tens of thousands of public chat streams about everything from dogs to dieting.  This looks like something quite relevant for mobile instant messaging.  http://www.chatscan.com/main/index.html

Katmango, Inc.  Katmango launched a “portal” of  sites requiring registration where a user can build a hierarchical structure out of a variety of sites offered and, through Katmango site, register for all of them with a single click.  Try it, it’s great!  I think this is an interesting opportunity for mobile portals. Should Nokia buy them? Should Phone.com buy them? Infospace? Vodafone-Airtouch?  They expressed an interest but have not given it very much thought yet.  https://www.katmango.com/

WeSync.com.  WeSync.com launched wireless e-commerce-enhanced calendar-sharing. Got it?…  This is actually a pretty cool idea: portals, ASPs, mobile operators etc. can private label their service and go after e-commerce opportunities attached into interpersonal calendar and contact synchronization.  http://www.wesync.com/

Digital Bridges Ltd.  A wireless game company from Scotland, already known to Ericsson Mobile Phones in Lund. The company has developed a multiplayer gaming server optimised for mobile devices.  http://www.digitalbridges.com/

Dejima, Inc.  Dejima launched AASAP is an input, device and platform-independent technology for natural language command and control of pervasive Internet applications. This technology claims to give e.g. a cell phone an intelligent navigation interface, either by voice or by text input. Partners with a Dutch company Zi Corporation. I am quite frankly not fully capable of judging this, please help me.  http://www.dejima.com/

Televend Limited.  The very early-stage Israeli company was promoting a server-based mobile e-commerce solution which enables buying Coke from the vending machine with your mobile phone (as people have done in Scandinavia for quite some time). The news here is that this company seems to be ready to grab some easy VC money and they have planned an aggressive market introduction (mentioned to be working “intimately” with Neopoint). Boy, that Neopoint is smart! They have realized they can never scale up the mobile phone brand and production so they have to focus on portal services to build up the valuation and leave the scene as millionaires.

Surfnotes, Inc.  This Israeli company has developed middleware for the mobile Internet market which intelligently categorizes key sentences and words from web pages for a new navigation experience standardized across various types of Internet appliances. The result: 90 percent fewer cell phone screens are needed to display web pages. I am in the process of finding more info. http://www.surfnotes.com

New Trends and Wild Ideas.  Remember that framed family photo on grandmother’s piano? The frame will be connected to the Internet and grandmother will see new family pictures every day - it is called StoryBox and it will be brought to you by Weave Innovations…  Need a personal fitness trainer? Go to GetFit.com.  These guys need to go wireless!…  Imagine a time when the liquidity of merchandise enables you “just buy it!”, i.e. there is always a mechanism to get rid off it. Half.com is a start in that direction - everything at half the price…  Keen.com enables individuals to sell their expertise online, via per minute charged phone conversations. The company also plans to launch pay-per-call group events and prerecorded pay-to-play messages. Why not earn money while waiting for that delayed flight to take off?…  Utipia.com is a content broker acting as a “context provider” for e-commerce sites to increase purchase rates…  Zing.com set a standard for digital photo communities: a no-cost service as things should be on the Internet…  Be Inc. launched their much-hyped software platform for Internet appliances…  Business Objects launched a dream tool for real-time customer portfolio management…  BuzMe.com is I guess like Ericsson PhoneDoubler but with an ASP business model and marketing done properly…  Firetalk has a standalone software solution for large-scale conferencing on the Internet…  Everyone is these days an ASP - how about a “powerpoint ASP”? Take a look at iAmaze.com…  ISphere Corporation has developed an out-of the box solution for an advanced service brokering architecture which enables e-service vertical portals and enterprise customers to dynamically create and manage commerce and collaboration within their community of employees, customers, resellers, and strategic partners…  Simpli.com search engine greatly improves your search relevancy…  Stationbreak.com is promising to bring to the market a much more user-friendly TV-based Internet service than web-TV is, featuring targeted e-commerce services with an 800-number access and a microphone built into a remote control (!)…  Thinkfree.com launched an ASP service for office applications, integrated to work seamlessly with MS Office. This is probably the most advanced service so far in its category…  Third Voice has totally revamped its business idea and offers now in-context information and commerce to consumers in a solution that turns select keywords on any web page into channels of information. The trade war over Oxford Dictionary has begun!…  Want to send a tester network of thousands of live people to Nokia’s site and evaluate the site based on the tester collective behavior? Try Vividence.com. Live testers represent a typical web audience and they get compensated by coupons and sweepstakes.  Pretty amazing!…

And what else? Yes, I met with Melody Kean Haller, a PR consultant. She had been the main PR consultant behind Yahoo (in 1994) and more recently Ask Jeeves.  Wisely, she took one third of her fees from both as stock.  This way Melody, an ex-hippie who married a Zen-priest, became a millionaire.  Now she wants to work with some mobile Internet company and was looking for the best one.  I also ran into Rich Miner from Wildfire. Unlike their competition Portico, Wildfire has enjoyed some success, mainly in Europe and with PacBell. We wondered whether Ericsson would be interested in partnering. I don’t know…  Hiwire is one of the most advanced web radio services, I met with the CEO Jim Pavilack. We should get them on board for GPRS and 3G.

That was all. And now the only thing that remains is to follow up all these contacts. I don’t have any staff here…  Any volunteers?