The 31 winners, selected from over 435 applicants, were released Tuesday and feature many respected technology companies from the software, wireless, hardware, Internet and media industries. Winners must meet at least one of the following criteria: 100% increase in revenues over the past 2 years or $1M+ in funding in the past 2 years.

Macheen announced two new strategic investments from Qualcomm, Inc (QCOM), and GemVentures last fall, which were added to our existing investors including: North Bridge Venture Capital, Mercury Fund (a partner in the DFJ Global Network of venture funds, with over $7 billion in capital under management), as well as prominent angels and industry figures Tom Meredith, Mike Maples Sr. and Yechiam Yemini.

As the world around us is increasingly becoming an always-on, always-connected environment, traditional carrier plans with long-term contracts, high monthly fees, and outrageous roaming costs, are making it almost impossible for people to stay connected. Macheen has the technology to flip that model to bring right-sized connectivity, at a right sized price, with our Pinpoint Services, that give you access to just the sites and cloud applications that you most often need.

This game-changing technology is enabling the company to drive hyper-growth, and we are excited to be a part of an elite group of other “Hot Companies” in Austin.

Stock brings to Macheen more than 20 years of executive leadership with high-growth companies, many of which have gone public or been acquired. His talents and leadership have helped successful companies reach new heights by aggressively driving higher revenues, building vast partnerships and opening new channels for sales.

“Increasingly, the world around us is becoming an always-on, always-connected environment, but traditional data plans with long-term contracts, high monthly fees, and outrageous roaming costs make it difficult for enterprises to keep their employees connected and productive. Macheen has the technology to flip that model. With its Pinpoint Services, Macheen intelligently delivers access to the business critical cloud applications and services that users need, at a right sized price,” said Stock. “This capability opens up an enormous market opportunity that we are leading. I’m very excited to join Macheen at this stage in the company’s history, and I look forward to leading it to the next level of success.”

Stock was chairman and CEO of Vovici, an enterprise feedback management company that was acquired last year by Verint-Systems (Nasdaq: VRNT), a big data solutions provider. Before the acquisition, he grew Vovici’s customer base to more than 1,200 companies including 50% of the Fortune 500.

Prior to Vovici, Stock was president and CEO of Mirage Networks until it was acquired by Trustwave in 2009. While there he grew Mirage’s customer base from zero to 600 companies across 40 countries and secured $37 million in funding.

Prior to Mirage Networks, Stock was a key player in several successful technology companies. As vice president of marketing, Stock drove Vastera, a provider of global trade management solutions, to a market leading position and was instrumental in the company’s successful initial public offering in September, 2000. Previous to this, Stock helped Manugistics, the supply chain management leader, grow to more than $200 million in revenues and initiated the company’s expansion into China and Australia.

Stock is now joining another disruptive market player that is poised for explosive growth. The world of traditional mobile broadband—expensive monthly plans defined by lengthy contracts—is a one-size-fits-all-model that meets the needs and real-world preferences of only a fraction of mobile users. By comparison, Macheen’s platform enables a uniquely flexible connectivity solution with Pinpoint Services and attractive economics, resulting in greater choice for end-users and new monetization opportunities for device manufacturers, value-added resellers, content and cloud service providers, and network operators.

“Macheen is very well positioned to drive a massive opportunity in the $2 trillion mobile data connectivity market,” said Ned Hill, managing director at the Mercury Fund, a partner of the DFJ Global Network, and Macheen board member. “As Macheen’s sales and operations scale, we wanted to invest in leadership with best-in-class growth-phase execution experience. With the addition of Greg, Macheen has all the resources it needs to accelerate in a big way.”

Stock will immediately begin managing the day-to-day operations of Macheen. Schwartz, in his new position, will focus on developing new strategic relationships with data carriers, device makers and content providers to offer new connectivity options beyond traditional carrier data plans for a host of devices beyond the smart phone.

“Greg turbo-charges our capture of the market for connected services to connected devices,” said Schwartz. “With the foundation in place, Greg brings the skills we need to ramp the operational aspects of our business and drive revenues. With this addition to our executive team, we are poised for explosive growth.”

About Macheen
Macheen Inc. is a leading global mobile application service provider for connected devices and services. Its flexible cloud-based platform enables innovative mobile business models and connected service offerings that can be tailored to individual device and market segments. Macheen is unique in providing a flexible platform for new mobile broadband subscription models for bundled access, sponsored content and fine-grained enterprise connectivity. Macheen has service in over 80 countries, with local service in 11 countries. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Macheen maintains wholly owned subsidiaries in Germany and the United Kingdom.

You’re ready to catch a plane for an out-of-town meeting, when you realize there’s not enough money in your checking account to get you through the next couple of days. While that might have been a headache a few years ago, now it’s a simple matter of opening your bank’s online banking app on your smartphone, and with a few keystrokes transfer money from savings to checking. Mobile applications have made life more convenient for people in many ways – from finances, to the home, and to personal matters.

But “mobile” isn’t just about smartphones anymore. A recent Forrester Research study says businesses must now go beyond the phone, and adapt their mobile presences to tablets and laptop computers – and make that presence seamless, regardless of what platform is used to access it.

Three entrepreneurs in the mobile space addressed those concerns at a 2013 Enlightened Speaker Series event in Austin.

Consultant Mike Millard ticked off some facts to put mobile in perspective:

• There are 6.8 billion people on the planet and 5.1 billion own a cell phone, but only 4.2 billion own a toothbrush.
• One-half of all local searches are performed on mobile devices.
• 70 percent of all mobile searches result in an action within one hour.
• It takes 90 minutes for the average person to respond to an e-mail, it takes 90 seconds for the average person to respond to a text message.
• QR code scans increased 300 percent in 2011, compared to 2010.
• 91 percent of all U.S. citizens have their mobile device within reach 24/7.
• There are more mobile phones on the planet than there are TV sets.

“Mobile is a big deal,” he said.

John Arrow, Richard Schwartz & Mike Millard answer questions abut what it means to go mobile.

Richard Schwartz, CEO of Macheen, describes himself as a “baker” of sorts. His company “bakes” mobile capability into lots of devices.

“If you think about tablets, laptops, portable gaming devices, e-readers, cameras,” he said, “all of those are starting to look for the same kind of mobility value that the phone can do.”

But, he cautioned, portability and mobility are not the same thing. Connecting to Wi-Fi does not mean one is mobile, because as soon as the user is out of the Wi-Fi’s range, there’s no more connection.

“Look at how the Amazon Kindle Reader works,” he said. “When you get one, no matter where you are, you can buy a book and the book appears on the device even though you didn’t sign up for a carrier data plan or contract – magically that connectivity and mobility was built in.”

That’s the kind of mobility Schwartz wants to see built into a variety of electronic devices. It doesn’t matter whether those devices are tablets for education, or cameras with the ability to instantly transfer pictures, or companies looking for their employees with laptops to have the ability to upload the latest contacts into Salesforce from anywhere, whether WI-FI is available, or not. In addition, he said, companies want to be able to track a stolen laptop, and either lock it down of wipe out its files. “That’s what ‘going mobile’ in the broader picture, from my vantage point, means,” Schwartz said.

Mutual Mobile CEO John Arrow said he sees mobile capability as a way to solve a company’s problems. “When we started in 2009, we didn’t want to start an app company,” Arrow said. “Rather, we knew there were big problems in the world that mobile could conquer – health care is a very important vertical and so is education.”

In the health care field, mobile capability is changing the way doctors monitor their patients, said Millard. Now there is the ability to take information like temperature, heart rate, sleeping patterns and other stats and put it in the cloud as anonymous information with a goal to leverage those numbers against all other diagnoses. In fact, he added, patients now have the ability to monitor themselves. “When you have the ability to monitor yourself, you have the opportunity for better patient care, reduced costs and hopefully when people are comfortable putting information into a data framework, it’s hugely powerful,” Millard said.

The next step is to transfer that data once it gets into the cloud, noted Schwartz. “What can you do so the health care professionals with tablets or other devices have access to the latest information?” he asked. Add in privacy controls and data security, and we have a new health care eco-system that’s mobile-enabled, he said. “It’s not just about the phone, but rather about all the devices that are relevant for getting that information and sharing that information all being mobile enabled so the whole eco-system is mobile enabled.”

Arrow described the category called “machine to mobile” that involves augmenting a piece of hardware with a mobile device. For example, sleep apnea patients take a device home with them that they wear on their face and connect to the machine with a screen that is cumbersome and heavy. After talking with the big electronics manufacturer Phillips, Mutual Mobile did away with the screen and replaced it with an Android phone.

“All of a sudden it became intuitive because everyone knows how to use a smartphone,” Arrow said. “The best part? A doctor can get information back every 24 hours to see if the patient needs to come in.”

He said mobile’s biggest potential in health care is not just replacing costs, but improving patient care by monitoring them 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Carol Thompson of The Thompson Group is welcomed by speaker Mike Millard.

Millard pointed to sonogram machines that cost between $150,000 and $200,000. Now a $15,000 mobile application can replace that by attaching to a smartphone and a printer. “If you think about the order of magnitude,” he said, “do you realize how mobile that is and how much less that costs?”

That’s going to trigger some changes in the way health care is handled, said Schwartz. “All of a sudden if that information is available in real time, what happens if somebody doesn’t take an action, or does the doctor have to be involved in monitoring?” Schwartz asked.

Millard said the Mayo Clinic is already adapting to that situation. “The irony is, the more severe the case, the less likely the doctor is to have to see that person face-to-face,” he said. “What the doctor needs is the data.”

Once that data is available, it can be relayed to the best doctors in the world, and they’ll be able to make a diagnosis. “Now your world is not just your primary care physician and your dentist and folks you go to on a routine basis,” Millard said. “It’s anybody in the world you can go to in order to get a diagnosis.”

Getting away from health care to mid- and small-market companies, the panelists said mobile capability is even more vital for them to grow their business. Salespeople have to be out of the office, face-to-face with clients to generate revenue, said Schwartz. “Coming up with mobile solutions and being productive, no matter where they are, is even more critical for that size company,” he said.

Smaller companies can seek help from mobile marketing companies to help plan a strategy. A BIA/Kelsey report says one critical consideration is making sure a company website can be navigated easily on a small screen as well as on a desktop computer.

“If you do mobile wrong, if you make this vanity play where you check off a box of ‘doing mobile,’ that’s not going to serve you well,” said Arrow. “Rather, it’s just going to be this giant cap-ex investment and you’ll spend a lot of money maintaining it over the next several years.”

Millard suggested mapping out a flow chart from the first contact with the customer to closing the sale. Find out where the “pain point” is located, he said, and that’s where innovative ways to use mobile become apparent.

On the big company side, network operators such as Verizon and AT&T are scrambling to provide more bandwidth for the increasing use of mobile applications. “It’s a bad problem and only gets worse,” said Schwartz. In a typical company, he said only five to seven percent of the laptops and tablets have broadband connectivity. But with more data being stored in the cloud, they’re being forced to connect more devices. “It’s impossible to think about moving 60 to 70 percent of devices and having data plans for each one,” he said.

“Hopefully the industry self-polices and the problem solves itself,” added Arrow, “because if not, we’re going to find our phones are unusable here in Austin in a few years.”

The network problem also brings up the ever-present concern over security. “It’s a global problem, not a local problem,” said Schwartz. Data in the cloud could go from one country to another. “We haven’t had a cataclysmic event – and it’s going to occur,” said Arrow. Fortunately, he added, highly regulated industries like health care and financial services realize they need to lead with security and security must come before utility. Millard said there is a great area of opportunity for companies that can figure out how to secure data.

That requires software engineers, and Arrow said that’s another type of bottleneck. Mobile requires both engineers and designers, and at Mutual Mobile, two engineers are teamed up with every designer. The result is a mobile solution with the user experience paramount.

But the demand for engineers is what keeps Arrow up at night, he said. “Engineers and designers are in such high demand and we can’t grow until we can integrate those people in our organization.” He cited CitiBank, which he said could have as many as 100 mobile initiatives per year. That could mean they’ll consume all the mobile talent available.

Still, mobile is going to grow. Millard urged companies getting into that field to do it right. “A lot of the mobile companies just make apps – you can make a lot of money at that – but it’s a short-term solution,” he said. Instead of just making a template, the real challenge is to become a partner.

“One of the biggest takeaways here,” Arrow summed up, “is that all companies need to add mobile as a competency as they added web, otherwise they’re going to be too far behind.”

http://texasceomagazine.com/features/what-does-it-mean-to-go-mobile/

Tom – welcome to the Board!

Meredith is currently co-founder and general partner of Meritage Capital, L.P., an investment management firm specializing in multi-manager hedge funds, as well as CEO of MFI Capital, the Meredith Family’s private investment arm. In addition, he serves on several for-profit Boards including Bazaarvoice, Inc., and Brightstar Corporation, as well as several non-profit Boards. Tom is frequently listed among the most influential Austinites, and was recently named the Austinite of the Year in 2012 by the Austin Chamber of Commerce.

“We are extremely pleased to welcome Tom to the Board,” said Richard Schwartz, CEO of Macheen Inc. “Tom’s deep knowledge of enabling new business models and growing global businesses is unparalleled. The eco-system for connected services to an increasing array of mobile devices beyond the mobile phone is being created as we speak. Macheen continues to lead the charge in providing new connectivity options beyond traditional carrier data plans for a host of tablets, laptops, portable gaming devices and other CE devices. Tom’s soup-to-nuts understanding of the market dynamics is unparalleled. ”

About Macheen
Macheen Inc. is a leading global mobile application service provider for connected devices and services. It offers a comprehensive white label solution for major OEMs, global resellers and application providers to roll out branded “service included” devices and offers. Its flexible cloud-based platform enables innovative mobile business models and connected service offerings that can be tailored to individual device and market segments. Macheen is unique in providing a flexible platform for new mobile broadband subscription models for bundled access, sponsored content and fine-grained enterprise connectivity Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Macheen is a global corporation with services active in multiple continents, with wholly owned subsidiaries Macheen GmbH and Macheen Ltd.

Separating out access begs the follow on. How do you separate out the mobile connectivity CHARGES for access. So, the company can pay the mobile charges for corporate email or asset tracking but not worry they are also paying for Facebook and Netflix. Or worse, that asset tracking stops working because the monthly data plan allowance was exhausted by the 10 minutes of Netflix. Worse even still, how large should the data plan be to avoid this from happening? And who is going to pay the bill for THAT?

That moves the ball back to Macheen and its Pinpoint Services. We can set you up as a company with a customized business data plan for connectivity to the corporate applications, while still enabling your employees to pay for anything else on their own nickel.

BARCELONA, Spain, February 25, 2013–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Regulatory News:

Gemalto (Euronext NL0000400653 GTO), the world leader in digital security, and Macheen, a leading mobile cloud applications service provider for connected devices, have deployed a new solution for mobile broadband device makers to provide right-sized global connectivity to their customers, wherever they are, from the first time they turn on their device. Using Gemalto’s LinqUsTM Subscription Manager, Macheen offers Lenovo tablet and laptop users the opportunity to immediately purchase a data plan that suits their requirement for anytime, anywhere Internet access. Working in partnership with mobile network operators Three Group in the UK, and KPN in Germany, the secure and highly reliable solution enables customers to dynamically manage mobile broadband subscriptions. Gemalto and Macheen are extending computing connectivity far beyond the limits of Wi-Fi networks and this represents an opportunity for mobile network operators to enter a rapidly expanding sector that is hungry for comprehensive, high speed Internet access.

Macheen’s mobile cloud service integrates Gemalto’s LinqUs Subscription Manager and embedded UICC to provide Lenovo with remote personalization capabilities. The card is inserted into any Lenovo mobile broadband enabled ThinkPad tablet and laptop devices at the time of production and can be personalized at a later stage, simplifying supply chain management and global deployments. A local active subscription is downloaded securely and automatically the first time the device is used and regardless of where the customer is located, they can immediately benefit from the local tariff offered by Macheen partners best suited to their usage, even if they have not yet purchased mobile connectivity. Philippe Vallée, Executive Vice President of Gemalto adds: “the partnership with Macheen enables us to offer a complete dynamic subscription management solution for wireless carriers and device makers which simplifies global logistics. The new solution delivers quick, simple and cost effective offers to dramatically increase adoption of mobile data services by users of tablets, laptops, and many other connected devices.”

With Pinpoint Services, end-users get always-on access to just the sites and applications they need. They can also buy noncontract time passes for full Internet access. These connectivity offers, and a host of new business models provided by Macheen, become a key differentiator in the highly competitive market for laptops and tablets. Richard Schwartz, President and CEO of Macheen adds: “people just expect the connection to the cloud to be there. We’ve worked to deliver a new solution in a carrier friendly way that breaks through what have been abysmally low adoption rates for connected devices beyond the phone. Everyone benefits – the device makers, the carriers and of course, the users”. Lynda Burton, Director of Wholesale at 3UK adds “we’re thrilled to work with Macheen. They have an innovative solution that solves a key industry problem to grow the pie and increase the number of network-connected devices”.

About Gemalto

Gemalto (Euronext NL0000400653 GTO) is the world leader in digital security with 2011 annual revenues of €2 billion and more than 10,000 employees operating out of 74 offices and 14 Research & Development centers, located in 43 countries. We are at the heart of the rapidly evolving digital society. Billions of people worldwide increasingly want the freedom to communicate, travel, shop, bank, entertain and work – anytime, everywhere – in ways that are enjoyable and safe. Gemalto delivers on their expanding needs for personal mobile services, payment security, authenticated cloud access, identity and privacy protection, eHealthcare and eGovernment efficiency, convenient ticketing and dependable machine-to-machine (M2M) applications. Gemalto develops secure embedded software and secure products which we design and personalize. Our platforms and services manage these secure products, the confidential data they contain and the trusted end-user services they enable. Our innovations enable our clients to offer trusted and convenient digital services to billions of individuals. Gemalto thrives with the growing number of people using its solutions to interact with the digital and wireless world.

For more information visit www.gemalto.com, www.justaskgemalto.com, blog.gemalto.com, or follow @gemalto on Twitter.

About Macheen

Macheen Inc. is a global application service provider for connected devices and services. It offers a comprehensive white label solution for major OEMs, global resellers and application providers to roll out branded “service included” devices and offers. Its flexible cloud-based platform enables innovative mobile business models and connected service offerings that can be tailored to individual device and market segments. Macheen is unique in providing a flexible platform for new mobile broadband subscription models for bundled access, sponsored content and fine-grained subscriptions. Macheen delivers breakthrough value by significantly increasing adoption rates and market penetration of connected CE devices and cloud services. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Macheen is a global corporation with services active in multiple continents, with wholly owned subsidiaries Macheen GmbH and Macheen Ltd.

Contacts

Gemalto
Peggy Edoire, +33 4 42 36 45 40
Europe, Middle East & Africa
peggy.edoire@gemalto.com
or
Nicole Smith, +1 512 758 8921
North America
nicole.smith@gemalto.com
or
Yvonne Lim, +65 6317 3730
Asia Pacific
yvonne.lim@gemalto.com
or
Ernesto Haikewitsch, +55 11 51 05 92 20
Latin America
ernesto.haikewitsch@gemalto.com

You and I may grumble about the situation, but in the eyes of an entrepreneur what we have is a significant market opportunity. There is a chance to grow and reap profits by cutting customer costs. Several startups are seizing the opportunity to free our data from the cellular carrier’s chokehold. They are approaching with a variety of solutions ranging from SIM cards for each user’s phone to cloud-based enterprisewide solutions.

Wherever you belong in that span, the good news is that you will be a winner. With a growing pack offering sweeter deals than the one that has you currently locked in to a cellular carrier means there are solutions coming down the pike to wherever you sit—or roam about.

But who will win in the long run?  On the enterprise level, I see a good deal of evidence it will be Macheen if it does not stumble and keeps to its current course. I’ll tell you why in a minute, but first, let’s look at the entire playing field.

The incumbents as Godot

Ironically, the companies best positioned to win would be the incumbents, such as AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, Vodfone, Orange or the rest of the international gang of carriers.  But I doubt any of them will have the vision to break with the pack and their own business models. So they will just keep on doing what they have always done—growing corpulent with excessive profits milked from you, me and 5 billion other mobile data users.

One giant could break from the pack, but I doubt any or them will try until the disruption has happened and a small, agile, customer-centric challenger gains sufficient momentum so it cannot be stopped.

Seeing an incumbent cut your data rates by 90% and eliminate data contract requirements is as unlikely as it would be brilliant. It would be like seeing the government eliminate the deficit by cutting taxes 90%.

You’re better off waiting for Godot.

So carriers will glide along, enjoying the powers of brand and size until disruption happens. That’s the way it always happens.

Ask IBM, who never quite took Microsoft seriously until the 1990s. By then it was too late. Ask Microsoft, who argued that its bigness was enough to stifle open source and Apple in the early 2000s.

Ask AT&T, whose mobile data revenue grew by $1 billion in the third quarter of 2012, the last quarter reported. When you are raking it in at that rate, you are unlikely to want to change the game’s rules.

Then there’s Amazon. As the world’s largest retailer, it has brand presence, huge reserves and proven technology. Unlike carriers, Amazon enjoys a good service reputation. The company holds its strategic cards close to the vest, and it has a long history of making surprise moves. But any such move by Amazon is entirely my speculation. Besides, Amazon is already mud wrestling with other giants. It is enmeshed in tough fights with Apple, Google and Microsoft on other fronts. Taking on big carriers may be one battle too many.

Scrappy Disruptors

Major disruptions usually come from small, scrappy, agile, determined and focused startups and there is already a pack of them with numerous promising players. For example, Goodspeed is a SIM card maker. You can insert their card into your cellphone to create a personal Wifi hotspot and save roaming costs. It is being marketed to end users in the EU and is reportedly doing well.

Two consumer-focused companies, FreedomPop and Karma, are offering personal solutions in the US and have achieved some momentum. There is also Open Garden, which was a 2012 recipient of the TC Disrupt Best of Show award, which is focused on an ‘Internet Everywhere’ campaign.

But the two companies that seem best positioned to upset the carrier’s’ data applecart on the B2B enterprise level are Macheen and ItsOn, Inc.

These two companies have much in common. Both boast talented veteran teams who have successfully worked together previously. Both have raised millions of dollars from pedigreed investment services. Serial entrepreneurs, who have previously fought successful battles as underdogs, lead each of these two companies.

The two potential rivals both formed in 2009. Today each vows to reduce data costs by allowing people to pay for what they access and for the time it takes to do it. Both promise to forever spike the dreaded carrier contract.

To us end users, two competing startups are always better than one. Competition accelerates innovation. Rivalries also generate greater media attention, which tends to speed up user adoption. Competition keeps the price down, particularly when price is one of the key selling points for both companies.

I think the two companies probably don’t need to worry about each other for a very long time. The market they are addressing is five billion strong and growing. I doubt any of these folk like paying higher-than-necessary prices and being locked in for two years.

But for today, there are already some significant differences between ItsOn and Macheen, which is why I believe Macheen is in the better position.

• Road Testing. While both companies are about the same age, Macheen has real business partners in the form of Dell and Lenovo. The Macheen service has been in the hands of end users since February 2011. Today thousands of mobile professionals use Macheen all over the world. They have provided feedback leading to hundreds of refinements that can only come from field-tested products.

  By contrast, as of this writing, there is not a single end user for ItsOn. In fact, there is not even a single product. ItsOn has announced it will launch later this year and, until then, pundits like me can only guess what they are up to and who they are up to it with. This brings me to my second point.

  History says the company that gets product to market first will prevail unless it makes a mistake. In fact, if ItsOn sticks to its planned strategy when it does get to market, I see a big reason why it could stumble in my next point.

• Bedfellows. Macheen, as I mentioned, is partnering with B2B hardware, software and service organizations that see value in giving their users something valuable and different. These partnerships are based on an assumption that they can prosper and gain market share by cutting end user costs.

  While ItsOn claims it will provide the same benefits, its stated initial go-to-market strategy in 2013 will be to partner with a large carrier. This to me is most disappointing. I just don’t believe you can beat the Devil by dancing with him.

• Technology focus. There is a reason why almost all cloud-based applications put the complexity in the cloud and the simplicity in the client devices we carry. Macheen works its magic in its cloud-based platform.By contrast, ItsOn’s technology kernel embeds into the actual devices people will use. You will have to buy a device that contains ItsOn technology, presumably from the one carrier they partner with.

  I’m not big on single vendor options. I’m even more concerned by what seems to be a cloud-light and client heavy approach. By contrast, Macheen does the opposite. Its technology is cloud-heavy and client light, which seems to me to be how most mobile technology succeeds these days.

  By putting the technology up in the cloud just like iTunes or GoogleNow does, changes are simple and usually painless to users. By putting everything in the device, all sorts of compatibility and updating problem seem to me far more likely.

• Transparency. We live in a Conversational Era. Personally, I trust a company that lets me see what they are up to. It puts me on their side. If they hit a glitch or a setback, I sympathize with them and if I can help I will. Macheen seems to be pretty upfront and open about what it is doing.

  I have no reason to believe that ItsOn won’t be credible and transparent when it comes to market. The team and its investors have great reputations. But so far they have followed the path of traditional marketers, with a highly polished website and hints of great things to come—without revealing any more than the emperor’s tailor did before launching, leading the poor royal fool to the most unfortunate kind of naked conversation.

• Devices. ItsOn has declared that it will only support Android devices and that it’s capabilities will be added in to devices at the point of purchase. While I see great promise for Android, not even Google limits its technology to just Android devices. It seems to me like ItsOn is thinking of itself as a mobile phone adjunct and not a cloud-based data services platform as Macheen is doing.  It seems ironic. The best thing about Android, in my view, is the openness of the platform. I certainly hope ItsOn develops a multiplatform strategy. Not only would I include iOS, but I would also embrace Windows, Rim and any other enterprise player.

My Exciting Conclusion

This series of articles has been a unique experience for me. I am applying journalistic approaches to what, at the end of the day, is a series of marketing documents. I am trying to break new ground and I am also trying to make writing more lucrative than it historically has been.

But there is risk involved. At the end of the day, these four columns are Macheen’s property. I do this sort of work worried about my reputation as an independent writer and I look for clients who will respect and appreciate the value of an independent perspective.

Richard Schwartz and Darcy Kurtz, Macheen’s CMO, have been my central sources of information on this month-long project. They have reviewed my copy and made corrections to factual errors.

At no point did either of them try to “tweak it up,” as marketers so often do. At no point did they insert punchy adjectives or try to exaggerate their capability or market position. In fact, several times they told me I had over-stated their case and encouraged me to soften claims I had made.

This, in my view, strengthens their credibility, and credibility is extremely important to end-users these days.

I really don’t know if Macheen and ItsOn together will lead an assault that will topple the carrier oligopoly. I do not know if, ultimately, one will take a dominant market position over the other.

But I do know that I’ll be rooting for Macheen. I think they have your interest and mine at heart.

Read all past articles in this series:

Part 1: Beating the High Costs of Mobile Data
Part 2: Blurring the Lines Between Work & Play
Part 3: Macheen & The Miracle of Little Data

#####

[Shel Israel writes about the Internet and business. He is co-author of Naked Conversations: How Blogs Are Changing the Way Businesses Talk With Customers, The Conversational Corporation and Twitterville: How Businesses Can Thrive in the New Global Neighborhood]. He also writes The Social Beat column as a Forbes.com contributor. He has previously contributed editorially to BusinessWeek, Business Insider, Fast Company and American Express Open Forum. He is currently collaborating on a new book with Robert Scoble, called The Age of Context: 10 Trends that will change your work and life. He was contracted by Macheen to write this series. The views expressed in this column are his own.]

Some articles bemoan the potential loss of personal privacy and, occasionally, there is a report of something truly terrible happening–usually in a social network. But while the dangers are real, the likelihood that something bad will happen to you or me remains small.

It’s like driving a car. Every day people get killed and maimed– yet still we drive. Quite simply, the car is usually the best way to get us where we need to go. Besides, the probability that something bad will happen specifically to you or me is small, when weighed against the benefits of taking the risk.

Google, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon and the rest all say the more data they have on you, the better service they can give you and the statistics show more and more people like what they are getting in return. Most of us have brushed off our concerns and are moving forward with gusto.

That’s one reason why Big Data numbers are so mind numbing. IBM estimates we create 2.5 quintillion bytes of data every day and 90 percent of all the world’s data was created in just the last two years.

However big it is, the Internet is getting bigger. Ericcson, a global leader in telecommunications, published a Traffic and Market Data Report in 2011, predicting mobile data usage will grow tenfold by 2016. They predicted data traffic would grow anywhere between eight and 40 times over the five-year period, depending on what category of data sources you examine.

There are those who would dispute both calculations. Measuring the length and breadth of data on the web is like trying to figure out the square miles in the universe. One can only guess. What is certain is the numbers will relentlessly expand for as far into the future as anyone can see.

It gives me this image of new terabytes of data being heaped and heaped upon existing terabytes of data up in the cloud somewhere, creating a virtual mountain so immense it makes Everest look like a molehill.

Yet, somehow each of us gets precisely the data we want, when we want it. In a fraction of a second we get answers to our Google queries, upload streaming vids from our children’s birthday parties, or log into our Yammer or Chatter accounts to keep current on customer-related issues. We send or receive these tiny spoonfuls of data, on the go, as we bop about places wherever we go.

So, while most of the talk is about bigness and danger, it seems to me the really remarkable thing is that we can so easily pinpoint the data we want to use and share. We can do it fast and we can do it everywhere.

I call this the Miracle of Little Data.

It’s the stuff that keeps us current, entertained, in touch and smarter all day long.

To me the Big Data Mountain is so vast and remote that, from a pragmatic perspective, knowing its size is about as relevant as knowing how many angels can dance on the head of a Pinterest marker.

I could not live the life I lead without the Miracle of Little Data and, I’ll bet, neither can you.

Why Pay for the Whole Mountain?

If you have been following this series you already know my villains belong to  the small oligopoly of cellular carriers who get richer and richer as the Data Mountain gets bigger and bigger.

They are the devils we know and we pay the price to dance with them.

If you like big statistics, consider this: In a two-year period, an average person will sleep for 5824 hours. During every minute of those hours, we will be paying for a data plan we are not using.

Who is “we?” It’s more than 5 billion people. I have not done the math, but it does add up to a whole lot of humanity spending a whole lot of money for access we don’t need and won’t use.

Why can’t we pay for just the little bits of data we use?

Why must we pay for a full day of access in most hotels and many airports when all we want is to pinpoint a small amount of data, for just a short period? And why can’t we pinpoint just the actual data we want at a certain time? Shouldn’t we be able to go online to just have our email downloaded to us, without having to pay for a major application automatically downloading or a Netflix streaming in the background, often without our knowledge or permission?

Well, we can—or we will be able to do so soon. It’s time to introduce a new class of companies who are promising to do precisely that and tell you why I am excited, in particular, by Macheen, the company who has contracted me to research and write this series.

But first, let’s take a brief look back to just a few years ago, although it seems like far longer.

Whispered Solution

In 2007 Amazon introduced the Kindle, which created a revolution in how people read books. The original launch made slight reference to a feature called Whispernet. It is the Amazon technology that allows us to search for books and effortlessly download and read them. To readers like me, it seems like magic.

In a way, it was the magic of innovative technology. Whispernet made Kindle the first data retrieval device to pinpoint Little Data spoonfuls and deliver them to you without a data plan attached. Amazon uses a carrier—currently it’s AT&T in the US—who charges Amazon just for the data involved when you download a book. Amazon bakes it into the book price as part of the goods sold, and for users the data costs seem invisible. There is no such thing as a Kindle data contract and you don’t even need to hook into Wifi to get what you need.

Whispernet got very little hoopla when it was introduced, but it set a few smart technologists thinking. If you could pinpoint book data for an e-reader, how about pinpointing other data on other devices?

One of those technologists was Richard L. Schwartz, an old friend. He was my first client when I founded my own PR agency in late 1986. Schwartz had co-developed a relational database for personal computers called Paradox, at Ansa Software, the first of five companies he would help start.

In an era of complex productivity software, delivered on floppy disks and accompanied by bulky paper manuals, Paradox was so easy to figure out that even a PR guy like me could enjoy using it.

Schwartz was among the first technologists I met who could explain complex technologies in a way that neither confused nor bored me. He made it easy and fun to grasp complex technologies. He talked with end users in mind and the business media just loved him. I thought he might end up as a professor, but he chose a different route.

Schwartz did well with Ansa, staying on for a while after Borland Software acquired it. He did well again a few years later with SoloMio, whose software became wildly popular in the communications and media industries. He stayed on again after SoloMio was acquired by Openwave.

Schwartz was looking for a new entrepreneurial opportunity when Kindle and Whispernet came out. In 2009, he started Macheen, his fifth startup.

Inverting the Carrier’s Pyramid

Schwartz assembled a first-rate senior team, each of whom had more than 20 years experience. So far, he has taken in over $20 million from investors including Qualcomm, a global leader in mobile technologies.

According to Steve Pazol, vice president of business development for Qualcomm, “We see a lot of interest in the market for sponsored content and new data subscription models for the flood of data-using devices that go beyond the cellphone.  Macheen is providing capabilities that address these challenges”

Macheen was started with the goal of becoming the data users’ best friend. Schwartz seems to still have the same end-userist focus that he demonstrated back in the Paradox days 25 years earlier.

The company’s marketing structure is an inverted pyramid. Macheen has flipped the carrier model upside down. Its business strategy is on providing a Little Data to a lot of users for as short or long a period as they want.

Carrier                                Macheen

While we are discussing companies best-known as cellular carriers, Macheen is about business-to-business data services —not telephony.  While a cellphone could work with a Macheen SIM card, the company is a B2B play. It is planning to partner with hardware, software, and service vendors who have started to offer the white-label service to employees, clients and customers.

Macheen’s Pinpoint Strategy
As Whispernet demonstrated, you must still include carriers in the recipe—but you don’t need to toss the whole Big Data Mountain into the batter. All you have to do is pinpoint the data spoonfuls you want. By so doing, you can dramatically reduce cost, and you won’t need “no stinking contract.”

Macheen has built upon what Whispernet did in several significant ways. While Whispernet is used just for transactions with Amazon customers, Macheen allows employers and users to pick the particular spoonfuls they want.

Charges are based on the data actually used rather than access to the entire Big Data Mountain.

It also significantly reduces the friction and confusion between employers and employees, at least in terms of who pays for what data. Employees can use either company-owned devices or their own and who pays for what is defined in advance.

The manager has a single dashboard view for each employee and just clicks on the services authorized for each of them.

There are, of course, no data contracts.

And Now, a Blurb from Our Sponsor
I think one of Macheen’s more innovative offerings is the ability to defray costs for access to premium sites through sponsorships and promotions. It addresses the fact that a great many employees will argue they should be entitled to access the most costly sites.

Companies may want to accommodate, but the costs can be steep. So Macheen offers employers the ability to cut deals with third-party sponsors who can insert ads and promotional offers. Users benefit because sponsorships allow them limited free access to the entire Internet or free anytime access at no cost.

Macheen also offers a service that could have saved me the angst I suffered after I discovered a $1200 Israeli roaming charge for a four-day trip. It’s a ‘roam-like-at-home’ service that lets international travelers legally tap into the local data networks and pay local prices for savings of up to 90%. It’s an expanding service that currently works in the US and a growing number of EU countries and is building globally.

Even in places where there is no roaming discount yet, the service can prove valuable. Using SIM cards and other devices, users can directly access the Macheen Cloud Platform in over 80 countries, even if there’s no Wifi available. You won’t get the roaming cost reduction, but you will save on time charges through Macheen’s spot access feature that allows you to download a document during a business meeting, or talk for a few minutes with a loved one, without having to subscribe for up to 24 hours at some fixed location.

Customer Success
Macheen went live in February 2011 with partners who have been successfully marketing the cloud-based service platform in real-time environments and getting favorable customer response. The company is expanding features, services and its customer base.  Although there are other players coming, it is the only player in this area that has real technologies already in the market as of this writing.

Among its early customers are Lenovo and Dell Computer, two of the best-known business laptop brands. The manufacturers each offer customized services under white label partnerships:

• Dell NetReady was Macheen’s first major customer. Dell customers pay as they go, logging in wherever they wish and paying for as little as 15 minutes time. Dell’s service is directed at mobile small business people.
• Lenovo Mobile Access is a service directed at enterprise users for its Thinkpad® business laptop line that incorporates Macheen Pinpoint services for companies to manage their laptop and tablet connectivity, with central billing for specific enterprise applications and allowing users spot access worldwide.

The company plans to steadily expand its customer base globally, reaching out to more device makers for their devices as well as SaaS and business software companies. Early enterprise feedback is positive, pointing to Macheen as a “landmark solution.”  A popular feature is Macheen’s ability to parse out who should be billed for what and to centralize and manage cost.

Schwartz says the company will grow carefully, making certain that Macheen can support the right customer needs as the markets mature for “connected everything.” Right now, he said, “Macheen is just learning to walk. We want to establish ourselves as a reliable brand and a trustworthy business partner.”

Despite his cautious words, Schwartz clearly has ambitious plans.

“Our objective is to make it easier and a lot less expensive for everyone, everywhere to use data whenever. We are acknowledging that data has no national borders. That should be self-evident on a worldwide web. There are many moving parts to solving this, and to succeed we must disrupt. There are powerful and entrenched incumbents who may not like that,” he said. “But users will.”

Macheen is not alone. There are other players in this new and potentially disruptive field. I’ll tell you about them in my next and final part in this series.

Read other articles in this series:

Part 1: Beating the High Costs of Mobile Data
Part 2: Blurring the Lines Between Work & Play
Part 4: Why Macheen Leads the Pack of Data Carrier Challengers

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[Shel Israel writes about the Internet and business. He is co-author of Naked Conversations: How Blogs Are Changing the Way Businesses Talk With Customers, The Conversational Corporation and Twitterville: How Businesses Can Thrive in the New Global Neighborhood]. He also writes The Social Beat column as a Forbes.com contributor. He has previously contributed editorially to BusinessWeek, Business Insider, Fast Company and American Express Open Forum. He is currently collaborating on a new book with Robert Scoble, called The Age of Context:10 Trends that will change your work and life. He was contracted by Macheen to write this series. The views expressed in this column are his own.]