MBusinessDaily -- Mobile Business News -
[Cached Version]
Published on: 10/13/2002
Last Visited: 10/13/2002
MobileQ, which makes the XMLEdge mobile middleware platform, partners with both carriers and enterprises because the two groups' strategies marry well, says Lalit Canaran, president of MobileQ.MobileQ has two products in its XMLEdge platform: LinkScape is for corporate Lotus Notes and Microsoft Exchange users and lets them access email, personal information management applications, and CRM systems.MyScape lets carriers build, deploy, and manage enterprise and consumer portals.
Now that the two markets are merging when it comes to wireless, MobileQ is landing big-name customers on both sides.A significant portion of MobileQ's sales pipeline is carrier-based."We've made significant inroads this year in terms of revenue from carriers," Canaran says."We have very clear evidence of carriers wanting to spend on apps that have a direct tie to increase stickiness, personalization, and average revenue per user."
Canaran says that early on, carriers were focused on obtaining a broad uptake of their data offerings, so they provided consumer-based applications such as stock quotes and mobile banking."At the time these applications seemed leading-edge," he says."Those are very important applications, but until the enterprises show up and start paying for this stuff, the carriers will have trouble recouping their investment in the wireless infrastructure."
JP Mobile also targets both carriers and enterprises with its mobile server software, but it wasn't always that way.Up until nine months ago, carriers and device manufacturers were 75% or 80% of JP Mobile's business.Now, the company is adding a direct sales team to primarily focus on Fortune 1,000 enterprises."Most carriers are focused on creating networks and driving airtime, so they have started partnering with companies similar to us for applications," says JP Mobile spokesman Farlin Halsey.