MobileCrunch |  |
- New Factual Resolve API Will Help Clean Up, Complete Location Databases
- Sencha Raises $15 Million For Their HTML5 App Development Tools
- Video: Watch The Nokia N9 Take Shape
- Sencha Launches Mobile HTML5 Cloud, Sencha.io
- Motorola’s Droid RAZR (Or Something Like It) Likely Headed For AT&T Soon
- SmarTots Raises $750,000, Offers Mobile Apps Platform For Kids
- T-Mobile HTC Radar 4G Gets $99 Price Tag, November 2 Launch Date
- Motorola Offers Unlocked Bootloader Tool For Droid RAZR, Verizon Removes It
- Former RIM VP Tyler Lessard Lands CMO Job At Fixmo
- Location-As-A-Service Provider Location Labs Acquires Wirkle And Volly
- Chartboost Raises $2 Million In Series A Funding, Already Profitable
| New Factual Resolve API Will Help Clean Up, Complete Location Databases Posted: 24 Oct 2011 05:55 PM PDT  Open data platform Factual.com is launching a new API for developers of location-based services called Resolve. The API is an entity resolution API that makes partial records complete, matches entities against one other and assists in the process of de-duping and normalizing datasets. What this means is that developers can simply tell Factual what they know about an entity (i.e., a venue in a place database) and it will fill in the missing pieces (e.g., the category, the latitude/longitude info and venue’s address). At launch, Resolve will be available only for Factual’s list of U.S. Places, but the company hopes to expand Resolve globally in the future. Resolve is one of those under-the-hood type launches that is going to make many engineers’ lives much easier. To use, a developer sends what they know about a place to Resolve as a GET request with the attributes included as JSON-encoded key/value pairs. The API then, well…resolves the request by looking at all the possible candidates in Factual’s dataset and returns a solid match (if one can be identified) and all of the missing attributes. A couple of companies are already using Resolve, including daily deal API provider Sqoot and restaurant menu platform OpenMenu.com. Sqoot uses Resolve to convert the business name and address within a daily deal to a geo-referenced entity, and provides users with the most hyperlocal and geo-relevant deal recommendations possible. Meanwhile, OpenMenu uses resolve to identify restaurants in Factual that match those in Factual and then pushes this info on to Factual’s Crosswalk API. Crosswalk, another Factual Places API, tells you the URL and ID of a place in up to 40 other third-party namespaces including Foursquare, Urbanspoon, Citysearch, Yellowpages, Yahoo, AllMenus, Yelp, Zagat, Chow, Gowalla, InsiderPages, MenuPages, Menupix, SimpleGeo, Superpages, Explore To, Fwix and others. Documentation on how to use the newly launched Factual Resolve API, including examples and requirements is available here. Factual is an open data platform for application developers that leverages large scale aggregation and community exchange. For example, you will find datasets for millions of U.S. and International local businesses and points of interest, as well as datasets on entertainment, education, and health. Developers can access the data through an API, use our mobile SDK, or download the data directly. Factual was founded in 2007 by Gil Elbaz, co-founder of Applied Semantics (which launched ASI’s AdSense product). Applied...
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| Sencha Raises $15 Million For Their HTML5 App Development Tools Posted: 24 Oct 2011 12:08 PM PDT  What a week Sencha is having. Just minutes ago, they announced their new HTML 5 cloud services suite, Sencha.io. Tomorrow morning, the company will announce they’ve raised a $15 million Series B. The announcement will be made during tomorrow’s keynote of their third annual Senchacon. So, what’s a “Sencha”? Sencha makes Javascript frameworks and tools for HTML 5 developers. In other words, they make life easier for the people trying to make the web prettier. Sencha Touch, for example, lets developers quickly add Native app-esque touch gestures to their web apps; Sencha Animator, meanwhile, lets developers build complex CSS3 animations in the same way as they might build a Flash animation. It’s also a type of green tea (specifically, it’s green tea made without first grinding the leaves.) This round was led by Jafco Venture, with existing investors Sequoia Capital and Radar Partners participating as well. Sancha previously raised $14 million in their Series A back in June of 2010. Sencha makes JavaScript frameworks for desktop and mobile devices. It has a new emphasis on HTML5-based products, like Sencha Touch, a framework for touch-enabled devices like those running iOS and Android. Sencha was formed from the combination of three open source projects: Ext JS, a desktop Ajax framework, jQTouch a jQuery library for touch applications, and Raphael, an SVG library. Sencha received funding from Sequoia Capital and Radar Partners. Financial-organization: Jafco Ventures Website: jafco.com JAFCO Ventures is an independent venture capital firm investing in emerging technology companies with true breakout potential. They look for exceptional companies with differentiated technology and compelling business models. Given their close relationship among all the leading venture capital firms in Silicon Valley, it is an investment requirement at their firm to co-invest in every deal with top-tier venture investors to help validate the opportunity and bring to their portfolio of companies the collective expertise needed to help assure... Financial-organization: Sequoia Capital Website: sequoiacap.com Sequoia Capital is a venture capital firm founded by Don Valentine in 1972. The Wall Street Journal has called Sequoia Capital “one of the highest-caliber venture firms” and noted that it is “one of Silicon Valley’s most influential venture-capital firms”. It invests between $100,000 and $1 million in seed stage, between $1 million and $10 million in early stage, and between $10 million and $100 million in growth stage. The firm has offices in the U.S., China, India and... Financial-organization: Radar Partners Radar Partners is a principal investment firm. The firm seeks to invest in non-technology companies.
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| Video: Watch The Nokia N9 Take Shape Posted: 24 Oct 2011 11:26 AM PDT  It isn’t everyday that we’re afforded a look at what goes into making our favorite phones, but a new video from Nokia shows us how exactly their gorgeous unibody N9 handsets are made. Despite how you may feel about the dead-end software it’s got running the show, there’s little question that the N9 is a visually striking phone. I’m a real sucker for a good looking device, and Nokia’s N9 is sitting pretty at the top of my list — it’s got a bit of iPod nano in it (even down to the color scheme) but I think it’s a clean premium-looking design that just works. It’s sort of a shame then that Nokia used a design like this for a phone that few people will ever buy. There’s still hope though: Nokia World is just around the corner, and with any luck the N9-esque Nokia 800/SeaRay Windows Phone will steal the show by marrying a phenomenal design with a true contender of an OS.
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| Sencha Launches Mobile HTML5 Cloud, Sencha.io Posted: 24 Oct 2011 11:21 AM PDT  Javascript Web app framework provider Sencha is today announcing the public beta launch of Sencha.io, its new HTML5 mobile cloud service. The service will allow Sencha app developers to build “shared experiences” in the browser, without having to write server code or manage hosting. At launch, Sencha.io will provide a set of cloud services, including Sencha.io Data, Sencha.io Messages, Sencha.io Login and Sencha.io Development. Combined, the new services let developers use just a few lines of Javascript code to store data, send messages to users, listen for messages, deploy apps or login users via Facebook or Twitter. The suite, which can be thought of somewhat like an iCloud for the Web, is now in open beta. It includes a Sencha.io SDK, plus full API documentation. Details on the four core services are as follows: 1) Login: This cloud services allows users to log in to applications using Facebook or Twitter accounts or accounts specific to the application. 2) Data: Sencha.io Data let developers store data in the cloud with one line of code in a Sencha Touch application. Data is synchronized across all devices and can be shared between users. Even when a mobile device is offline, applications can still read and write data and Sencha.io Data will transparently sync when the device rejoins the network. 3) Messages: Sencha.io Messages enables users and applications to communicate with each other. For example: notifying a friend it’s their turn to play, or moving an in progress game from your mobile phone from your desktop. 4) Deployment: Sencha.io Deployment lets developers deploy their applications and optimize their application images for various mobile device screen sizes. Deployment includes a management portal that allows developers to manage versions of their applications and a fully sandboxed development environment for testing and collaboration. More details on the services are provided on Sencha’s blog. Interested developers can go to htp://developer.sencha.io to create a team and download the SDK. Those with an existing Sencha ID are already registered. The company also notes that those apps using Sencha’s Sync and Src services will continue to work. Sync has now become a part of Data and Src is now a part of Deployment. Sencha makes JavaScript frameworks for desktop and mobile devices. It has a new emphasis on HTML5-based products, like Sencha Touch, a framework for touch-enabled devices like those running iOS and Android. Sencha was formed from the combination of three open source projects: Ext JS, a desktop Ajax framework, jQTouch a jQuery library for touch applications, and Raphael, an SVG library. Sencha received funding from Sequoia Capital and Radar Partners.
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| Motorola’s Droid RAZR (Or Something Like It) Likely Headed For AT&T Soon Posted: 24 Oct 2011 11:14 AM PDT  Sorry, Verizon: looks like your exclusivity on the Motorola Droid RAZR might not last all that long. Based on the finer details of some docs pulled fresh from the good ol’ FCC, it looks like AT&T might be getting a RAZR of their very own. At first glance, there’s not much to be gleaned. The device is constantly referred to as the “IHDP56ME2″ or “M0C2E”, rather than “OMG AT&T RAZR LOOK!” or anything along those lines. It does have all of AT&T’s radio bands (GSM 850/1900 and WCDMA Bands II/V for 3G) — but how do we know this thing is actually a RAZR? The devil is in the details. You see, Motorola had to design a brand new battery for the Droid RAZR. As their first Android phone with a non-removable cover, the Droid RAZR’s battery needed to be wider and flatter than those they’d built before. They built this new battery and lovingly dubbed it the “SNN5899A”. And hey, whatd’ya know: as noted by the guys at WirelessGodness, this mystery handset also happens to use the SNN5899A. Given the legacy of the original RAZR, it only makes sense to get it on as many carriers as possible. Remember the original RAZR? That thing was on every carrier imaginable. You could have started a wireless carrier in your basement and offered the RAZR by the end of the week. AT&T will obviously avoid using the “Droid” half of the “Droid RAZR” name (Droid = Verizon’s branding), but I’d be surprised to see them drop the other half. The documents of note can be found here. Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: MSI) is a data communications and telecommunications equipment provider that succeeded Motorola Inc. following the spin-off of the mobile phones division into Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc. in 2011. The company is headquartered in Schaumburg, Illinois, a Chicago suburb. Motorola Solutions is composed of the Enterprise Mobility Solutions division of the former Motorola, Inc. Motorola Solutions also previously had a Networks division, which it sold to Nokia Siemens Networks in a transaction that was completed on April...
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| SmarTots Raises $750,000, Offers Mobile Apps Platform For Kids Posted: 24 Oct 2011 11:00 AM PDT  Can devices like the iPad and even the iPhone be useful learning tools for young kids? Absolutely, says SmarTots, which has developed a mobile apps recommendation and analytics platform specifically for kids aged 2-7 (and their parents, educators and mobile app developers from around the world). Investors are betting on the mobile education startup to make waves, too: SmarTots has just raised $750,000 in seed funding from Xu Xiaoping’s Zhen Fund, which led the round, and international investors like ChinaRock Capital, SOSventures and Angelvest. Xiaoping is the co-founder of New Oriental Education & Technology Group (aka New Oriental), a publicly listed provider of private educational services in China. With its mobile platform for kids, SmarTots aims to provide parents with a window into their child’s “app world”. Parents can receive reports tracking their children’s learning activities across various SmarTots apps, including subject aptitudes, amount of time spent on specific apps and recommendations for other applications. In addition, SmarTots delivers teacher advice and educator-developed suggestions for interest-matching and social family activities to reinforce learning. Since its launch in December 2010, the company has clocked over 600,000 downloads. Developers who are interested in gaining access to SmarTots’ SDK, cross-promotion tools and reporting features can sign up here. On a sidenote: Smartots’ CEO, Jesper Lodahl, spent more than seven years working for Nokia, where he developed four phones and created two patents which have been implemented in more than 1 billion mobile phones worldwide.
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| T-Mobile HTC Radar 4G Gets $99 Price Tag, November 2 Launch Date Posted: 24 Oct 2011 09:45 AM PDT  Calling all T-Mobile Windows Phone fans — you can finally put your aging HD7s out to pasture. T-Mobile has just announced that the Mango-powered HTC Radar will officially debut on November 2, and it’ll cost you just a hair under $100 after a $50 mail-in rebate. The Radar is the first new Windows Phone to hit T-Mobile since the platform went live late last year, but it doesn’t look like much of an improvement on paper. It sports a 1GHz Qualcomm processor, 512MB of RAM, a 5MP rear camera — nothing that will make your socks roll up and down, but it’s reportedly more than enough for Mango to strut its stuff. People used to the HD7′s big display may feel a little constrained working with the Radar’s 3.8-inch WVGA SLCD display, but they may just have to get used to it. T-Mobile hasn’t hinted at any more Windows Phones coming down the pipeline anytime soon, so fans of devices like the HTC Titan may have to turn elsewhere for their big-screen fix. T-Mobile is getting geared up for the holidays in a big way, and the Radar is only one part of the puzzle. If a leaked roadmap is to be believed, T-Mobile has 5 more phones waiting in the wings for a simultaneous launch on November 2nd, so new and current customers may soon find themselves awash in choices.
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| Motorola Offers Unlocked Bootloader Tool For Droid RAZR, Verizon Removes It Posted: 24 Oct 2011 07:19 AM PDT  Soon-to-be Droid RAZR owners, this one’s for you. If you’re looking for a reason to be angry this Monday morning, I’ll do you one better with a reason for anger and a target toward which you can direct that rage. Ausdroid reports that Motorola has provided a bootloader unlock solution for its new Motorola Droid RAZR (which is a shock in and of itself after the way Moto has previously handled the bootloader unlock situation). The catch? Verizon has decided to remove said solution from its models. Verizon’s decision does make sense, in a way. An unlocked bootloader is less secure. However, in most cases an unlocked bootloader voids the user’s warranty on the phone. If that’s the case, then Verizon either has happy customers with unlocked phones or customers who need a new phone because they bricked their last one. Seems like a win, win to me. Company: Motorola Mobility Website: motorolamobility.com Motorola is known around the world for innovation in communications and is focused on advancing the way the world connects. From broadband communications infrastructure, enterprise mobility and public safety solutions to mobile and wireline digital communication devices that provide compelling experiences, Motorola is leading the next wave of innovations that enable people, enterprises and governments to be more connected and more mobile. Motorola (NYSE: MOT) had sales of US $22 billion in 2009 Verizon Communications Inc. delivers broadband and other wireline and wireless communication innovations to mass market, business, government and wholesale customers. Verizon Wireless operates America’s largest wireless network that serves nearly 102 million customers nationwide. Verizon’s Wireline operations include Verizon Business and Verizon Telecom, which brings customers converged communications, information and entertainment services over Verizon’s fiber-optic network.
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| Former RIM VP Tyler Lessard Lands CMO Job At Fixmo Posted: 24 Oct 2011 06:43 AM PDT  In a high-profile departure, Tyler Lessard quit his job as VP of BlackBerry Global Alliances & Developer Relations at Research in Motion (RIM) at the end of last month. He worked at RIM, a sinking ship, for over a decade. He’s now landed at mobile risk management company Fixmo, the company announced this morning, following a $6.5 million capital infusion secured last June. Lessard will be leading the company marketing and product strategy as CMO. "Fixmo provides mobile solutions to protect and manage enterprise mobile devices. Fixmo Sentinel™ provides powerful device assurance so you stay informed if any of your mobile devices enter a compromised state. Fixmo Mobile Monitor & Analyzer provides comprehensive enterprise device management. Fixmo Tools is an essential set of productivity and utility applications for BlackBerry® users. Fixmo Inc. has offices in Toronto, Washington, Amsterdam and Tokyo.
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| Location-As-A-Service Provider Location Labs Acquires Wirkle And Volly Posted: 24 Oct 2011 05:59 AM PDT  Location Labs, a location-as-a-service provider and makers of mobile parental control utility Safely, is today announcing the acquisition of two companies in the mobile space, Wirkle and Volly. Wirkle, a mobile product development firm, and group messaging company Volly will bring their product portfolios, IP and team to Location Labs as a part of their respective deals. Although the terms of the deals were not disclosed, the cumulative value of both companies was in the millions. Location Labs may not be a household name, but its technology is pre-loaded onto millions of mobile phones in the U.S. The company’s Sparkle mobile platform serves as the basis for Safely, and is shipping pre-installed on all of Sprint’s smartphones. In addition to Sprint, the company also counts among its partners AT&T and T-Mobile, and its solutions power the carrier-branded Family Locator apps as well as Sprint and T-Mobile’s ”no texting while driving” services. The new acquisitions will help Location Labs further expand into becoming a full-fledged mobile security company, says CEO Tasso Roumeliotis. “Symantec protects data on your PC, but your mobile phone is a personal security device,” he explains. The company plans to delve deeper into what a phone can do to help users stay secure, even going so far as to protect you when you have to walk through a darkened parking garage alone. But how will it do so? Here, Roumeliotis plays a bit coy but hints that Location Labs is already working with 911 providers to set up some sort of mobile alerting capabilities (perhaps SMS). It’s also building out services that could provide alerting functionality for those sort of “non-emergency” emergencies – like when you have a flat tire or run out of gas, and need a friend to come get you. Wirkle has experience with mobile platform development which will help speed the time to market with these new solutions, while Volly’s group-messaging functionality could be used within Location Labs’ current and future safety and security apps. San Francisco-based Location Labs previously raised $26 million in venture financing from Draper Fisher Jurvetson, BlueRun Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures, Intel Capital and Mitsui Ventures. It now has 150 employees, is profitable and no longer considers itself a startup. Established by Location Labs in 2011, Safely(SM) provides services that enhance the safety of millions of families. Nearly a dozen Tier 1 wireless carrier services are powered by Safely, helping parents to keep tabs on loved ones through mobile alerts and online activity reports. Safely includes: Safely Locate, a mobile location service available via AT&T FamilyMap, Sprint Family Locator and T-Mobile FamilyWhere; Safely Drive, the only carrier-grade, patent-pending safe-driving service on the market, available via Sprint DriveFirst and T-Mobile DriveSmart...
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| Chartboost Raises $2 Million In Series A Funding, Already Profitable Posted: 24 Oct 2011 05:55 AM PDT  The new direct-deals mobile advertising marketplace Chartboost is announcing today that it has raised $2 million in Series A funding, after having just launched at the beginning of the October. Investors in this rounded included TransLink Capital, SK Telecom Ventures and XG Ventures, the latter a former investor in Tapulous before its Disney acquisition. Chartboost, too, has a Tapulous connection, given that it was created by former Tapulous employees, Maria Alegre, now Chartboost CEO, and Sean Fannan, CTO. The service they built is not just another ad network but a technology platform providing free ad-serving technology. Developers use the Chartboost SDK to serve ads promoting other publishers’ apps – ads which were typically set up as direct deals. But instead of mediating these direct deals through an ad network, Chartboost publishers get a 100% revenue share on the ads. Chartboost itself operates under a freemium model: the ad-server technology is free when used for direct deals or internal cross-promotion, but the opt-in ad network offers revenue sharing with publishers. The network allows publishers to maximize the unsold direct-deals ad inventory. Notable Chartboost publishers currently include TinyCo, Storm8, Pocket Gems, Gameview Studios, The Playforge, Funzio, OMGPOP, Com2us, Fluik Entertainment, Sunstorm Interactive, Ace Viral, Camigo Media, Neon Play, Lakoo and Devsisters. Alegre says that the new funding will help Chartboost to scale and reach more publishers worldwide, but the company is already profitable. Chartboost is a direct-deals mobile advertising marketplace. The company offers a platform for mobile game developers to connect and buy advertising from each other directly, skipping the mediation and the 50% cut of an ad network. Chartboost provides their publishers with an ad serving technology to display full screen interstitials, and with the analytics to track performance and conversion. Through their online dashboard, publishers can launch, edit and measure campaigns in real time, and combine internal cross promotions, with...
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