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Snac Interface Wins MobileApp Challenge

Monday, October 26, 2009
 

Snac Interface Wins MobileApp Challenge at Andrew Seybold Wireless University, Joint Event with CTIA Wireless I.T. & Entertainment 2009

Santa Barbara, California, October 26, 2009 – Snac, [Snac, Inc.; http://www.snacinc.com/] a mobile wireless interface that enables users to display Twitter, Facebook, Gmail, Flickr, news, sports, weather, and email, was the winner of Andrew Seybold’s MobileApp Challenge competition, besting three other finalists at Andrew Seybold’s Wireless University during CTIA’s Wireless I.T. and Entertainment 2009 in San Diego earlier this month.

Snac and the other finalists -- ShoZu, Truphone, and Vringo -- demonstrated their mobile applications during the session of the Wireless Data University that focused on content, with the audience selecting the winner.

“We were very pleased with the entries we received,” Andrew Seybold said in announcing the winner. “Each of them has made our mobile devices more useful in its own way and it was difficult to narrow the field to the final four.”

Snac’s “dashboard” displays icons for all of the selected services and indicates how many messages are waiting unread for each. Snac claims to support more than 300 different phones from low-cost devices through feature phones and all of the smartphones currently on the market. The application is free, and Snac develops customized versions to enable companies to connect with their mobile consumers on a more frequent basis.

“We have long held that we should have smart applications, not more browser-based desktop-like applications for the wireless Internet,” Seybold said. “So, to refine the challenge as well as to underscore this point, we only accepted entries that did not require users to invoke a browser, though a browser could be used by the application in the background.”

Snac’s prize was a ride in an aerobatic airplane piloted by Rory Moore, president of CommNexus San Diego, a non-profit industry association and one of the top-ranked aerobatic pilots in the world. Snac, Inc. and its application will be placed in consideration for the Choice Awards for innovation that are presented at the annual Andrew Seybold Wireless Dinner the first night of CTIA Wireless in Las Vegas. The company will also receive three invitations to the exclusive event -- the 20th anniversary staging of the popular invitation-only annual function.

Two of the final four applications – Snac and ShoZu -- provide interfaces that enable users to quickly and easily aggregate, view, and access multiple social networking and other sites. Both help users multitask by enabling them to glance at their mobile device and see what is new in each of several user-selectable categories and rapidly move between them.

With ShoZu’s BlackBerry Client, users can send and share images over 50 different social media sites including blogs, news sites, photo storage sites, and most Web 2.0 sites. The client displays all of the selected sites so users can identify what is new and read and reply to comments in real time. ShoZu’s application currently supports the BlackBerry.

A totally different type of application was demonstrated by Truphone. Truphone 2.0 was created for the iPod Touch with Wi-Fi, converting into a mobile phone when it is in range and connected to a Wi-Fi access point (The iPod Touch was not designed to be a phone). Along with simple voice communications, Truphone 2.0 offers low-cost calling and instant messaging capabilities.

Vringo demonstrated its Version 2.0 enhanced ringtone service. Vringo 2.0 goes well beyond typical ringtone services, enabling customers to create their own video ringtones or to modify Vringo’s video ringtones and send them along with their call. Recipients hear and see the sender’s ringtone video rather than the one programmed into their phone.

“When the creative people in our industry generate new ideas and new products, there are no losers,” Seybold said. “The industry wins, business wins, and society wins as wireless communications increasingly asserts itself as can-do, must-have technology.”

About Andrew Seybold, Inc.

Andrew Seybold, Inc. is dedicated to solving client challenges through strategic consulting, client-specific research and analysis, publications, speaking engagements and educational programs. Company founder Andrew M. Seybold and his partners provide deep technology and business expertise, proven best practices and long-established relationships with industry leaders. Mr. Seybold is highly regarded for his COMMENTARY e-newsletter, TELL IT LIKE IT IS blog and the Andrew Seybold Wireless University. For more information, visit http://www.andrewseybold.com/.

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