Tonchidot in TechCrunch50: A presentation worth learning from

TechCrunch50 was successfully held. We know who the winners are. But today let’s talk about one of them that didn’t win. Tonchidot generated alot of fanfare in TechCrunch even though they didn’t end up on the podium.

Well, to start with, the idea is awesome. Geotagging and using the broad viewport of iPhone as the tool to geotag and view geotagged objects. However, the thing that caught my attention the most was the spirit of the presenter.

The Japanese presenter had to overcome the language barrier, but it was exactly that that allowed passion unfiltered. He stood out so much that the crowd was roaring. After the presentation, he even started jumping and spreading his hands, hr went on shaking the hands of the panelist even before the panelist started quizing. And because he had so much spirit and had the excuse of not speaking english well, the panelists were literally giving the question and helping answer some of them, the host lent a helping hand too. And what the japanese presenter had to do was to occasionally give his uber confident short answer such as “join us”, “we have patent”. It was a show-stopper.

This sums up how entrepreneurs should pitch. Simple, confident and avoid details. Who says presenting as a non-native speaker is a handicap?

Note: For readers in China that can’t stream the video (cases reported), try viewing in YouTube. The earlier part of the presentation was not capture on this YouTube video. It is also coarser , but did capture the audience’s reaction more.

September 20, 2008 · Filed Under Japan, Mobile 2.0, Wireless Application

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MoIP: Truphone & ConnectMeAnywhere - I am not sure!

Techcrunch UK has profiled two new UK-based VoIP service companies, Truphone & ConnectMeAnywhere. More interesting is that both have defined a new term: MoIP which stands for Mobile over IP to differenciate with VoIP (Voice over IP), regardless that they are still using the same core technology Voice Over IP.

they are nice ideas. Both are trying to enable peoples use their mobile handset to make the VoIP call, i.e. call through Internet (WiFi, GPRS, 3G, etc.)

However, I dont think I will use them in near future. Here are my points:

Truphone I was willing to download it to give a go. But I gave it up when I found I need send a txt message to a ShortCode to get the download link. 25p, yeah, it is not a big money, but why I should pay for something I do even know how it looks like. If it is MIDP .jar file, or SIS file, give me the link, say, http://m.truphone.com where I can download it from. Truphone, are you saling your MoIP product or service? It is the first time I saw the customer should pay a VoIP company for its voip-client!!

Secondly, when I checked the Compatible PHone lists, I got stuck again. Mine is N70 which I thought it is good enough. Truphone require E-series Nokia phones which are WiFi-supported. Hey, do you know E-series are not popular at all?

ConnectMeAnywhere ‘No need to download or install phone software’, oh yeah. I like this. Registration done..Login…all look fine. Then I found that the contraversial thing is that I have add all my contact I want to call and all the contact will be assigned a new CMA number…No…why I should remember a extra number for every contact? Is there any international staff working for CMA? Do they know most of the foreigners here are using either IP card or a Access Number, by which they only need remember one extra Number, such as 0845******. Secondly, the price. The price CMA offer is not cheap at all (at least it is not competitive).

I like the idea of MoIP, in general. But my last question is how they can compete with other company such as Skype which is my favarioute so far. Skype client is free, and it has different versions working on Palm, PocketPC, Linux, Windows. Cool.. That is what we talk about here - Mobile VoIP.

September 19, 2006 · Filed Under Wireless Application