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Why we should make it happen in Europe
- Tichy 19y agoFor completeness sake perhaps it should be mentioned that those guys don't have a very good reputation. Mostly because Jamba was making money by ripping of kids. Then there are rumors that their numbers were seriously inflated when they sold Alando, but I don't know if that rumor only got started because people are envious and spiteful because of Jamba. Overall I guess it is better than not having started a company, but I could think of "better" entrepreneurs to look up to.
- sharpshoot 19y agoHaha sure, i'm looking at the story of them being young, determined and in Europe. I think at the time they were quite experimental but founding and exiting 2 companies big is an achievement. The stories of spreadshirt, mindcandy, moo, skype etc are also pretty interesting.
- danw 19y agoPerhaps there needs to be an EU equivalent of "Founders at Work" with interviews of all these great startups so that people have easy access to these examples? Not necessarily in book form but possibly in a blog such as StartupStories.
- gaborcselle 19y agoGreat idea! Let's send Jessica to Europe - I'm sure she could be convinced. :-)
- danw 19y agoFrom what I hear nobody has aggressivly sold ringtones in the US market, like Jamba did in the UK. Could someone in the US confirm this for me please? Based on rising SMS usage in the US, now would be the perfect chance to clone Jamba for the US market.
- sharpshoot 19y agoZingy.com
- gaborcselle 19y agoInteresting side note: Zingy was founded in NYC by Fabrice Grinda, a French guy (http://fabricegrinda.com/) http://fabricegrinda.com/) He had previously started Aucland in France, an Alando competitor. It's a small world. He'd be a great candidate for a Euro edition of "Founders at Work".
- danw 19y agoCheers sharp, guess I can shelve that idea. I wonder if there are any mobile ideas from Japan/Korea that I can bring to Europe..
- sharpshoot 19y agoapparently jamba was a korean clone. So the revolution can start there.
- sharpshoot 19y agoFabrice supposedly derived inspiration from the Samwer brothers. Just as they had brought Jamba from korea, he brought Zingy to the US based on the idea from Jamba from Germany. These guys are good friends.
- kingnothing 19y agoI'm not familiar with Jamba, but it's hard for me to watch an hour of TV at night without seeing at a handful of advertisements to buy ringtones or wallpapers for a few dollars, plus a connection fee and monthly recurring fee, conveniently mentioned in small text.
- kyro 19y agoYeah. However, I don't think one should be discouraged to start a ringtone service just because there are all these commercials floating around. In my opinion, and in many others', most of these commercials come across as incredibly cheesy and one can tell from the first 3 opening seconds that amidst the cheesiness lies a huge scam. I'd say the only company who has tried to pull this off and come across as legit is MTV. I don't like cheese.