With less than two years in the game, software platform provider Stick Networks has already made a name for itself with its flagship Personal Digital Network, a wireless platform that incorporates seamless integrated communications with advanced content delivery capabilities, to offer end users a 3G-like experience over existing 2.5G technology.
Stick Networks plans to take its service a step further by launching it on a new mobile device it claims is unlike any the industry has seen.
The company told RCR Wireless News it is in talks with an undisclosed major manufacturer to develop what it compared to a “hybrid Blackberry,” a next-generation mobile Internet device that works on the GSM/GPRS network to deliver voice and data content enhanced by GPS location technology. Stick Networks said it is currently working with a device manufacturer to market the new device and PDN platform to carriers and hopes to announce a major launch in first quarter 2002.
What’s more, in an announcement last week, Stick Networks said it will partner with Macromedia Inc. to integrate the Macromedia Flash Player directly onto this new mobile device. This means Flash developers not only can mobilize their already popular wired Internet applications, but also build new content on Stick’s PDN platform.
Driven by economic and market demands, over the past year-and-a-half or so, Stick Networks made several changes in what it originally set out to do, especially concerning its marketing plan. Previously, the company had hoped to market the device and platform directly to young adult consumers interested in media-rich Internet-based content, like games, SMS and e-mail.
But once executives realized how expensive it was to build a brand and acquire a strong customer base, Stick Networks decided to use its resources-including the nearly $15 million it has raised since its inception-to focus on developing its technology and marketing it to wireless operators. “If a carrier can deliver a rich media experience today, that’s something that will speed up 3G,” explained Brandon Cotter, Stick Networks’ chief executive officer. Wireless operators also will benefit from the efficiency of Stick Networks’ solution because it allows them to offer 3G-like content using minimum bandwidth.
The company’s solution and strategy has garnered kudos from the industry throughout its evolution. Following the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association trade show in March, an analyst from JPMorgan Securities Inc. published a report that called Stick Networks “the most exciting and unexpected wireless data start-up” in attendance. “Stick Networks is a start-up and has plenty of hurdles to overcome before we can predict confidently that this is the killer experience that we think wireless data capable of delivering (at reasonable cost), nonetheless, it is one of the more exciting concept stories in the space,” the researcher added.
