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Monday, January 25, 2010
Ten local mobile tech developers to show off at Demo Night

My, how the business “beauty pageant” is changing. Attendees of Mobile Monday Mid-Atlantic’s Demo Night today will vote on the best presentations, not by a show of hands or secret ballot, but with a touch on their mobile devices.

Would you expect anything else from a group that proselytizes the virtues of the wireless smart phone? Got to work the app, if you talk the talk.

There is a growing local community of entrepreneurs developing all sorts of applications and tools for the iPhone and smart phones marketed by Verizon, Sprint and others.

Ron Braunfeld, who’s on the board of the local chapter of Mobile Monday, said meetings now attract more than 200 people, up from 50 where they started two years ago.

At the event at the Hub in the Cira Centre near 30th Street Station starting at 5:30 p.m., 10 companies from this region will each get five minutes to tell their stories. Then, those in attendance will rate each presentation using software being developed by another local company called Yorn L.L.C.

After the last presentation is done and all the votes have been cast, the top three will be shown to the audience as a PowerPoint slide. Each presenting company will learn instantly how it fared via a private data transmission to their mobile devices.

Among the presenters is AirClic Inc., which quite possibly is the granddaddy of the region’s mobile-related entrepreneurial community. AirClic, of Trevose, was founded in 2000.

To Braunfeld, who is the vice president of business development for Boston’s ULocate, the frenzy of the mobile business reminds him of 1998 when everybody had to get Web pages, but no one really knew what to do with them.

Today, lots of people know what they want to do using their phone. But the lack of open systems means developers have to design their tools for separate phone makers and networks. Still, that’s not deterring an explosion of development.

Braunfeld said a big aim of the Mobile Monday chapter is to encourage those developers locally, help them network and yes, allow them to show off.

Earnings

Tuesday: AmerisourceBergen, Ametek, Carpenter Technology, CSS Industries, DuPont, Sunoco Logistics Partners

Wednesday: Amerigas Partners, Innovative Solutions & Support, SAP, Tyco Electronics

Thursday: Abington Bancorp, Airgas, Bryn Mawr Bank, Destination Maternity, Dollar Financial, Kensey Nash, National Penn Bancshares, SEI Investments, TF Financial, UGI

Friday: Parke Bancorp, Wilmington Trust.

Posted by Mike Armstrong @ 2:05 AM  Permalink | File Under: Small Business | | Technology | Post a comment
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About Mike Armstrong

Mike Armstrong, a business editor and writer for nearly two decades, is the Inquirer's business columnist and PhillyInc blog editor.

Contact Mike via e-mail or at 215-854-2980
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