4 ms·

You have no idea about the drama that occurs to get placement in a WAP deck. So many stakeholders, so little space, and everyone firmly believes their priority

You have no idea about the drama that occurs to get placement in a WAP deck. So many stakeholders, so little space, and everyone firmly believes their priority should have top billing. Cutting a deal with ANY telco is a herculean feat.

wallflower 19y ago
I'm willing to go all-in and bet that YC's network of connections enabled Loopt to become a player
- ashu 19y ago
  I doubt it. YC shows the way, you've got to walk the walk. You are seriously underestimating Sam.
  - wallflower 19y ago
    I don't know Sam personally. I wasn't intending to downgrade Sam here. Never meant to imply that getting into YC was like a silver-spoon, charmed-type experience for business success. When I said "Loopt", I meant Sam and his co-founders. I think we could see Loopt in MSM (Time magazine).
    - ashu 19y ago
      Oh yes, I did not take your statement in any negative light. I was just responding to the claim about how much of a role YC would have played in establishing a lot of these relationships. My guess is it was Sam's hard-work and business acumen (at least early on) that created all these opportunities. (Ntw, I don't know a lot about Sam personally, and I am not basing this on PG's judgement of Sam either.)
jsjenkins168 19y ago
I've heard much the same, although I think this will start to change for the better after the iPhone App Store goes live. My prediction (and hope) is it ushers an era where consumers expect to have the ability to install any application they want on their mobile device, without having to go through their carrier to do so. I think carriers will start to lose that power and Apple will drive the change. The best solution is still to stay off deck in the sense of offering a WAP-based web application rather than something that is installed. But this obviously wont work for some type of applications (Loopt is one of them). Loopt is doing great though, I am excited about their success.
- dbreunig 19y ago
  The WAP deck will only be important as long as the current handset install-base is present. The iPhone changed the industry from day one, but the realities of mobile web are still present, at least for the next year. Loopt is in a position to be on the cusp, with a leg-up over all the new comers BECAUSE they wrangled the WAP deck before the turnover.
  - gustaf 19y ago
    The "WAP Deck" represent the idea that people should find their mobile services or "content" from a startpage when the go online on their phone. this make no sense for anyone who know how the internet grew. Google overtook Yahoo when they still believed that the internet should be organized like a directory, like there were a limited "shelf" space. That wasn't true and it wont be true for mobile either. Admob, one of the largest mobile ad network has a monthly reach of 50 million unique users, that's about the size of one of the largest carriers in the world. I'm certain that the concept of "Carrier WAP Deck" will not grow in the same pace as the open mobile web.... Congrats to Loopt! :)
    - dbreunig 19y ago
      Agreed. (Plus Admob is amazing. We see fantastic results with them) My one rebut to your Google-Yahoo metaphor is that there is less specific input with a phone, it's more contextual. With a keyboard and mouse its easy to navigate the web, but a number pad (or touch) and limited screen space means your navigation takes a hit and relevance becomes all the more important. For that reason the WAP deck is still clinging on and even players like Google and Yahoo are striving for a portal strategy in the mobile world.

wallflower 19y ago

I'm willing to go all-in and bet that YC's network of connections enabled Loopt to become a player

ashu 19y ago
I doubt it. YC shows the way, you've got to walk the walk. You are seriously underestimating Sam.
- wallflower 19y ago
  I don't know Sam personally. I wasn't intending to downgrade Sam here. Never meant to imply that getting into YC was like a silver-spoon, charmed-type experience for business success. When I said "Loopt", I meant Sam and his co-founders. I think we could see Loopt in MSM (Time magazine).
  - ashu 19y ago
    Oh yes, I did not take your statement in any negative light. I was just responding to the claim about how much of a role YC would have played in establishing a lot of these relationships. My guess is it was Sam's hard-work and business acumen (at least early on) that created all these opportunities. (Ntw, I don't know a lot about Sam personally, and I am not basing this on PG's judgement of Sam either.)

jsjenkins168 19y ago

I've heard much the same, although I think this will start to change for the better after the iPhone App Store goes live. My prediction (and hope) is it ushers an era where consumers expect to have the ability to install any application they want on their mobile device, without having to go through their carrier to do so. I think carriers will start to lose that power and Apple will drive the change. The best solution is still to stay off deck in the sense of offering a WAP-based web application rather than something that is installed. But this obviously wont work for some type of applications (Loopt is one of them). Loopt is doing great though, I am excited about their success.

dbreunig 19y ago
The WAP deck will only be important as long as the current handset install-base is present. The iPhone changed the industry from day one, but the realities of mobile web are still present, at least for the next year. Loopt is in a position to be on the cusp, with a leg-up over all the new comers BECAUSE they wrangled the WAP deck before the turnover.
- gustaf 19y ago
  The "WAP Deck" represent the idea that people should find their mobile services or "content" from a startpage when the go online on their phone. this make no sense for anyone who know how the internet grew. Google overtook Yahoo when they still believed that the internet should be organized like a directory, like there were a limited "shelf" space. That wasn't true and it wont be true for mobile either. Admob, one of the largest mobile ad network has a monthly reach of 50 million unique users, that's about the size of one of the largest carriers in the world. I'm certain that the concept of "Carrier WAP Deck" will not grow in the same pace as the open mobile web.... Congrats to Loopt! :)
  - dbreunig 19y ago
    Agreed. (Plus Admob is amazing. We see fantastic results with them) My one rebut to your Google-Yahoo metaphor is that there is less specific input with a phone, it's more contextual. With a keyboard and mouse its easy to navigate the web, but a number pad (or touch) and limited screen space means your navigation takes a hit and relevance becomes all the more important. For that reason the WAP deck is still clinging on and even players like Google and Yahoo are striving for a portal strategy in the mobile world.