MShift
Opens Platform To Open Doors
Feature
article - CT
Wireless - Nov. 13, 2000
(c) 2000 Phillips Business Information, Inc.
Wireless
application technology developer MShift is shifting
its business focus from hosting services to allowing other
wireless technology developers to build applications on
its platform.
San
Jose, Calif.-based MShift began operating as an application
service provider, but determined it could generate more
business by offering its platform as a basis for application
development, CEO Scott Moeller told CT Wireless.
The
company will continue hosting services while emphasizing
application development on its platform. Not only will MShift
receive licensing and royalty fees from companies that develop
applications on its platform, but it also will receive fees
from companies that use those applications, he said.
"This
is a sustainable business," Moeller said.
In
addition to marketing its platform to technology developers,
MShift is pitching the technology to wireless carriers.
Service providers have a particular interest in controlling
the source of applications their customers access, Moeller
said.
"They
want to own the customers," he said. "This is the way to
own the customers rather than giving them away to all the
application service providers out there."
MShift
today announced application service provider IWAPI will
use its MobileShift™ Toolkit to create mobile
applications in vertical markets, including financial services,
banking, insurance, education, entertainment and gaming.
MShift
also today made public three new customers that will deploy
wireless applications built on its platform: securities
brokerage JB Oxford & Company, San Francisco-based Patelco
Credit Union and Hewlett-Packard's [HWP] Korean affiliate.
MShift
has conducted two rounds of private financing and plans
to conduct an IPO in the third quarter next year - if it
is not acquired by another company before then, Moeller
said.
MShift's
strategy for building its customer base appears strong,
said Frank Gillett, Forrester Research's senior analyst
for e-commerce infrastructure.
"It
makes sense that anybody with good technology for building
applications for WAP phones would offer their technology
to other developers," Gillett said.
And
there is no wireless application Mshift's platform won't
connect to Internet-enabled mobile telecom devices, said
Awele Ndili, MShift's chief technology officer. "Anything
you can think of," Ndili added.
MShift
appears to be ahead of other wireless application players
in enabling mobile connectivity, Gillett said. Other companies
in the space are offering platforms that work only with
applications already being used by their customers.
"They
also give you the capability to build new applications on
their platform, rather than just extend an existing one,"
Gillett said. "That sets them apart from a number of companies
that are out there."
MShift's
existing platform works only with Microsoft Windows 2000-
based Web servers. MShift is developing versions to work
with UNIX and Sun Microsystems servers.
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