My Internet Notebook

Companies are demoing innovative mobile applications at DEMO Fall 2005:

EasyReach, a Campbell, Calif.-based startup that is jumping into the remote document-retrieval space. Punch a few more buttons and EasyReach users can e-mail retrieved documents to whatever address they choose. In addition, EasyReach enables a user to search multiple desktop PCs on which EasyReach’s software has been installed.

Software created by Orb Networks Inc., based in Emeryville, turns the PC into a personal network server that can stream video files and music to handheld devices. TiVo Anywhere.

Avvenu, a Palo Alto startup founded in 2004 and backed by Motorola Corp., intends to challenge Orb on both fronts, said spokesman David Trescot.

Starting next week, Avvenu will match Orb’s network server functions and soon thereafter will launch a service bringing TiVo to smartphones, said Trescot, whose company is a DEMO alumnus.

Several companies have developed smartphone applications that leverage Global Positioning System technology, which pinpoint locations anywhere on Earth through satellite triangulation.

Last March, MapQuest and Nextel Communications launched the “Find Me” Service, which uses MapQuest’s digital maps, on GPS-enabled mobile phones.

At the DEMO conference, MapQuest is expected to announce a similar service for the BlackBerry.

A rival company, Destinator Technologies Inc., is unveiling software for GPS-enabled smartphones and handhelds that automatically updates a route based on the device user’s location.

The Destinator platform, which has been available in Europe for more than two years, also allows friends and colleagues to spot each other’s locations on a map in relation to their ultimate destination and send directions via instant message.

Destinator also includes a real-time traffic-monitoring feature. Few U.S. companies aggregate traffic information but this is expected to change soon.

“We’re going to automated-live navigation,” said Jeff Kukowski, senior vice president of marketing. “Your printed directions from Yahoo or Google can’t tell you how to get back on route.”

The Destinator software takes the user’s GPS location information and compares it to the planned route. Miss a turn, and the software offers up a revised route.

Adoption of all these new smartphone functions isn’t widespread yet, probably because phone carriers such as Verizon, Cingular and Sprint make it difficult for customers to obtain services the carriers can’t closely control and profit from, analysts say.

But smartphone makers are encouraging software companies to keep developing new applications that can drive sales, says Kevin Burden, program manager of Mobile Devices at research firm IDC.

“The makers are lawyers looking for a nice hook because the phones come at such a premium price tag,” Burden said. “To sell these things, they have to offer more than a phone and e-mail.”

Links:

DEMO conference: http1://http://www.demo.com/demofall/

Orb Networks: http://orb.com/

Destinator Technologies: http://destinatortechnologies.com/opencms/index.html

EasyReach: http://easyreach.com/

Avvenu: http://avvenu.com/

Salesforce.com unveiled their latest goodies at Dreamforce’05 – the so-called AppExchange, which is based on their successful CustomForce offering, a number of API that makes creating custom apps a snap. The AppExchange is a step further in solidifying the idea that SFDC is not just an application vendor. They want to be a platform vendor. That is where the real money lies. Once you have a proven platform, you create an eco-system. While your partners and developers make some money, you reap the most benefits.

SFDC CEO Marc Benioff claimed in his SF Chronicle interview on Sunday that: “he wants people stop buying software from Microsoft” instead, people should just lease software as a service from his company. Microsoft, be worried!

“With AppExchange, salesforce.com has cracked the code of what we call application syndication — an efficient way to create and distribute a wide array of on-demand applications,” said Sheryl Kingstone of The Yankee Group. “No other vendor comes close to matching this vision.”

Google engineers have made very few mistakes in the past. Their products (web search, to be specific) has been rock solid. However, I recently stumbled on an 404 error when I clicked on a sponsored ad from just below the search field. Perhaps working on many fronts has finally made its dent on Google’s product quality.

The URL shown in the picture is http://www.google.com/home.php.