Stop surfing and start zooming with Zumobi, an entirely new way to experience the web-based content on your phone. Highly visual, completely intuitive, and simple to navigate, the free Zumobi application allows the consumer to easily stay on top of the things that are important to them personally as their day progresses – regardless of where they may be at the time. And it promises to give carriers, content providers, interactive agencies, and major marketers a new advertising-powered revenue stream.
Founded in September 2006, and unveiled in March 2007, Zumobi’s mission is to transform the way people engage, consume, and interact with Web-based content through a revolutionary mobile user experience and information ecosystem. The Zumobi-patented zooming user interface was initially developed by the Microsoft® Research lab, incubated as part of Microsoft IP Ventures, and then spun out as a start-up company focused on mobile device content. It is the result of more than three years of development by experts in human-computer interaction and data visualization.
According to Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer Jim Cooley, “We set out to solve the problem of using the Internet on your mobile phone. And rather than looking at what was happening on the desktop five years ago and porting it to a device, we started by looking at trends in desktop Internet applications — from web 2.0 to AJAX and brought that experience to the mobile phone.”
Though the Zumobi technology was initially built for the Windows Mobile® Platform, Zumobi will be delivered on additional platforms in the future, including Blackberry. One of its core tenets is to be platform neutral — and include features that allow users to share Zumobi quickly and directly regardless of phone platforms, type of handsets, or carriers. The technology is based on the Microsoft .NET Framework, and development tools such as Microsoft Visual Studio® and Visual C#®, which Cooley adds were a huge advantage.
Says Cooley, “The Microsoft development tools have helped us make light years more progress because of the decreased debugging and editing cycle.”
According to Cooley, “Our platform basically lines up all the problems in computer science end to end. That includes everything from a distributed service center running in real time, collecting data from our partners or interacting with services over HTTP, packaging and formatting that data, and sending it down to the phone asynchronously over a wireless network, and finally rendering it with a rich client application, featuring a proprietary JavaScript implementation. All so information is delivered when and where you need it as opposed to waiting for round trips from the server.”
Zumobi is an adaptive rendering platform that features intuitive, widget-like “Tiles”-wrapped-up in a rich, high framerate zooming interaction model, enabling on-the-go experiences across a wide variety of mobile platforms and devices. With Zumobi, a zoom space appears on a phone’s screen that features 16 Tiles (expandable up to 36 Tiles), each representing an individual portion of web-based content or information that is updated throughout the day. Users can select which Tiles they want on their screen — they simply download the application from the Zumobi site or from content or distribution partners and even carriers in the future. The Tiles contain brand-related content and advertising, and it is all related to a users’ particular interests.
Says Cooley, “The Zumobi Tiles are always on, updating, and waiting for you so there’s no frustrating browser delays as you access the broad range of interactive content and customized experiences from top-tier providers and world-class partners.”
The advertisers or sponsors are paid on a CPM (cost-per-thousands impressions) model.
Explains Cindy Spodek Dickey, Vice President of Marketing, “Advertisers really benefit because it is extremely targeted, and consumers have personally selected to have each of the Tiles on their phone. We think this platform solves several needs: First, it provides a faster, more satisfying, much more lush experience for the consumer, and second, it lets developers and designers really shine with their application, especially in comparison to current widgets that tend to be text-based, and visually flat in appearance. Third, it speaks to the needs we are hearing from the marketing and advertising community. It offers a solution that really connects with consumers via mobile marketing without being spam based or simply ported from a PC-web environment. And fourth, it is a versatile, platform so developers and companies have more freedom to build applications on top of it.”
The company has already lined up some impressive companies for the initial trial.
Zumobi has been financed by Oak Investment Partners and Hunt Ventures, and wireless entrepreneur Tom Huseby of SeaPoint Ventures is the chairman of the board.
Zumobi is part of Microsoft’s Startup Accelerator Program that works with young companies to help launch innovative new business models. It’s a perfect example of how Microsoft is turning its intellectual property into valuable business opportunities.
The Zumobi team has big plans. According to Cooley, “We want to be central to redefining the mobile Internet, and change the mobile marketing paradigm.”
Public beta of the Zumobi application begins this fall, and general availability is planned for early 2008.
Download Zumobi's success story in PDF format.
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© 2007 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Microsoft, Visual C#, Visual Studio, and Windows Mobile are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
Document published November 2007.
