Wednesday, May 15, 2002
Before you go...AvantGo
Posted by Jason Dunn in "ARTICLE" @ 03:00 PM
http://www.brighthand.com/newsite/features/avantgo.html
This Brighthand interview with AvantGo CEO Richard Owen makes for an interesting read. Their response on Mazingo is a little cheeky, and I wish Steve would have asked him the tough question: do you really expect your channel partners to make enough money on advertising to subsidize a $6000+ per year charge?
"According to AvantGo chief executive officer Richard Owen, mobility doesn't just mean a wireless connection, and he should know. Hayward, California-based AvantGo, Inc. has been mobilizing consumers and businesses alike with its popular "synchronize and go" products for several years. In fact, its mobile Internet service has nearly 5 million subscribers, many of whom signed up with their first PDA.
AvantGo works as an "intelligent translator" of sorts, grabbing content from websites and reformatting it for handheld computers. Consumers subscribe to "channels," which are created by content publishers, for example CNN or USA Today. When a device--be it a Palm, Pocket PC or BlackBerry--synchronizes, AvantGo software on the desktop computer communicates with AvantGo's proxy servers, which fetch the information for the subscribed channels and downloads it to the device. AvantGo software on the handheld device takes over from there, providing a browser-like experience that mimics a wireless connection."
This Brighthand interview with AvantGo CEO Richard Owen makes for an interesting read. Their response on Mazingo is a little cheeky, and I wish Steve would have asked him the tough question: do you really expect your channel partners to make enough money on advertising to subsidize a $6000+ per year charge?
"According to AvantGo chief executive officer Richard Owen, mobility doesn't just mean a wireless connection, and he should know. Hayward, California-based AvantGo, Inc. has been mobilizing consumers and businesses alike with its popular "synchronize and go" products for several years. In fact, its mobile Internet service has nearly 5 million subscribers, many of whom signed up with their first PDA.
AvantGo works as an "intelligent translator" of sorts, grabbing content from websites and reformatting it for handheld computers. Consumers subscribe to "channels," which are created by content publishers, for example CNN or USA Today. When a device--be it a Palm, Pocket PC or BlackBerry--synchronizes, AvantGo software on the desktop computer communicates with AvantGo's proxy servers, which fetch the information for the subscribed channels and downloads it to the device. AvantGo software on the handheld device takes over from there, providing a browser-like experience that mimics a wireless connection."
