Profitability
Adding Transl8 as an application to your Phone.
Google recently announced the introduction of it's highly touted Android open-source operating system for the wireless industry service as well as mobile phones. In the past, many developers have faced the daunting challenge of how to make developing applications for mobile devices as open and easy as developing applications for the Web. Most experts and consumers agree that accessing the Internet on a mobile handset is very different from accessing it on a PC. Often, users get stripped-down versions of Web sites, with far fewer applications available.
The shortcomings have been blamed on whoever controls the network, the device itself, and the underlying technology. Also, the mobile market is incredibly fragmented, and software developers are forced to support various systems. Google hopes to remedy this problem with the advent of the Android software platform and it's Open Handset Alliance which is a collaboration of 34 companies working together to embed this technology into chipsets, handsets, and services. Hugely successful companies, including Motorola, LG and Samsung, are expected to build phones based on this software. A prize of $10 million dollars has been announced for the winners of companies that build innovative applications based on the Android OS. The top 50 applications, as determined by a panel of judges, will be given $25,000 prizes to help fund further development. Then, of the 50, 10 will be eligible for $100,000 awards and another 10 $275,000 for awards.
"Google Gadget Ventures is a new Google pilot program dedicated to helping developers create richer, more useful Google Gadgets. Inspired by the success of iGoogle, which has been driven by the creation by 3rd-party developers of a broad range of gadgets." Gadget Ventures provides two types of funding:
1. Grants of $5,000 to those who’ve built gadgets we’d like to see developed further. You’re eligible to apply for a grant if you’ve developed a gadget that’s in our Google gadgets directory and gets at least 250,000 weekly page views. To apply, you must submit a one-page proposal detailing how you’d use the grant to improve your gadget.
2. Seed investments of $100,000 to developers who’d like to build a business around the Google gadgets platform. Only Google Gadget Venture grant recipients are eligible for this type of funding. Submitting a business plan detailing how you plan to build a viable business around the gadgets platform is a required part of the seed investment application process.
Facebook has also created a new investment fund, the FB Fund, to give grants of up to $250,000 to developers creating new tools for the site.
A popular question has been raised regarding how to value such mobile phone and web based applications. One company, Adonomics, is a source of Facebook analytics that tracks and values popular Facebook applications through a stock-market styled analysis. Developers and investors can track application growth, activity, and valuation.
One popular application similar to Transl8 is "Translate It" - valued at $113/share.
Other Facebook apps like iLike are valued at $2 million dollars in total.
There is an increasing level of interest for translation applications as can be seen from the 100,830 users of "Translate" - an iGoogle application that translates words or phrases between languages.
Why are Shortcodes Profitable?
http://www.vibesmedia.com/corporate/news/2006/011206St.LouisPostDispatch.htm
