Mark Newhall, C0-founder IdealWave and INMobile.org moderated a panel at AlwaysOn 2009, examining the health and viability of mobile computing applications, advertising, and marketing. The panelists were:
- Bart Decrem, CEO Tapulous
- Simon Khalaf, CEO Flurry
- Matt Murphy, Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
- Dorrian Porter, CEO Mozes
- Purnima Kochikar, VP Nokia Community & Developer Forum
One of the most surprising statements to come out of this panel was from Matt Murphy, who disclosed that the Kleiner Perkins $100M “iFund” (formed in 2007 to invest in iPhone startups) has already invested in 70 mobile application startups; of which only 6 are out of stealth mode (public). Kochikar got a laugh by saying she felt like an international exchange student on the iPhone-heavy panel. She also got the panel’s attention by pointing out Nokia’s “enormous global footprint” of devices (next to which iPhone numbers look relatively small).
Newhall and several panelists observed that many companies are making “small money” in the mobile application market, but there are not yet any players making “big money”. Murphy pointed out that several big players in Asia have earned multi-Billion dollar market caps selling wireless applications, ringtones, and related services. He sees Asia as well ahead of the US in terms of consumption of advanced mobile services, but the US as making the biggest R&D commitment.