In the past, we used to distinguish between Technology Companies, and Technology Enabled Companies. The difference was pretty clear – the former developed technology products, while the latter used technology to enable the product or service delivery.

In the technology space, mobile companies used to be a distinct type of companies, which usually developed products or services specifically to be used on mobile devices and on-the-go. In the last few years, this has changed. Since Apple created the mobile apps market, and mobile devices with 3G and GPS became widely used, mobile became more than just a distinct technology arena. It is now the enabler of new products, services, and business models. Here are some examples for products and services that are not directly related to mobile, but would not be what they are without it:

1. Pandora – The internet radio service was launched in 2000, with a unique technology to match songs their user’s music taste. Despite of their cool offering, the service never really picked up, but with the release of their iPhone app 2008, they immediately reported an unbelievable boost in the rate of new user registration. The ability to steam music on the go, which was not available in first 8 years of the service, was eventually what enabled its success.
2. Zipcar – I’m one of the many fans of this popular car rental service, which allows you to rent a car by the hour from accessible locations across big cities. Their website works very well as a way to access the service and book cars, but the idea of a mobile application simply upgrades this completely. Regardless of where I am, if I need a car, the app locates the available cars near me and books one for me (and if I can’t find the car I booked, I can honk the horn from the app).
3. Facebook – It can be interesting (or not) to read that my fried “Had a great time at the U2 concert today”, but it’s much more exciting to read “I’m at the U2 concert now!” and see a picture of Bono which was taken 2 seconds ago. That’s “live” social networking.
4. Yelp – I don’t always know where I’m going to eat when I’m going out, especially as a tourist in a place I don’t know. There aren’t many things more intuitive than having your mobile device find you top rated restaurants around you, at a certain price range and that are currently opened. It’s one of the things that just make sense. And if it did not exist, someone would have had to invent it.

The common attribute of the above companies is that even though mobile presence is a key contributor to their success, they are not mobile companies. There are complex and unique processes involved in creating their service, product, or content (which is often user generated). These happen in the non-mobile side, but the mobile platform is the one that delivers a compelling value to the users. It’s the Enabler.

If you are reading this post, you might be in one of the following situations:

1. “I need to sit down and analyze my business requirements”
2. “I think I know what I need, but I need to document it and define the product specifications”
3. “I pretty much know what I want to develop, and need some extra programming hands to code the thing”
4. “I’ve already written the software, now I need to test it and make sure it’s doing what it needs to do”

Whatever your status may be, extensionEngine can tailor the service that will fit you most.

The first step in every project we do is to understand our clients’ business and the problem they are trying to solve.  This will generally require 1-2 meetings or calls. Once we have enough data, we will prepare a project proposal that will include the services we can offer you, milestones and deliverables.

Most likely, the project will be divided into several iterations that will help us scope the work, measure our success, and improve over time.

If you choose to use our services, we will be able to start working from within a few days to 2 weeks, depending on the type of services and our staff’s availability.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me ofri.markus@extensionengine.com