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| Innovating The Next Big Thing | September 6, 2010 |  |
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Ruff and Ready: UIEvolution Helps Wireless Operators, Media Companies Face the Wireless Future: An interview with UIEvolution CEO Chris Ruff
Apr 14, 2008 – A profile of Chris Ruff, CEO of UIEvolution
But he found that the collapse of the tech bubble, “really hardened UIEvolution’s culture. When we started in 2000, capital wasn’t plentiful so we had to be really focused on our efforts and our execution – and keep the focus on building the company over the long haul,” since the reality was they it would “not get up to millions and millions in revenues over night,” as was “the thought process for lot of companies.” UIEvolution’s more realistic approach “gave us the mentality to grow, and continue to evolve.” He noted, when asked about the current economic malaise gripping the country with the sub-prime mess and consumer confidence on the wane, that “equally challenging problems that exist today existed back then.” But the current economic fragility nonetheless “feels really different to me – the last one was fueled by a significantly overvalued stock market from my perspective – but this time, I’m not sure it’s stock valuations driving the problem – it goes more to the risk premium on debt than it does on companies valued too highly in stock market.” He added that in “all economic downturns – for companies whose products touch consumers, we all face some of those challenges.” And while this time around he has not yet “seen the numbers,” he recalled how in “the early 2000s we also saw a decent amount of pullback in enterprise investment as well,” so while “earnings are still strong,” he noted “we haven’t seen if they are pulling back.” A big difference from the free-wheeling days of exuberance during the last bubble, he added, is that it “feels really different today, as we are all cautious on a short term horizon.”
AT&T Partnership We noted how AT&T seems to be in the news a lot these days, and how in February we read they had won Starbuck's coveted hotspot business from T-Mobile, and then in March we saw an announcement about AT&T's MEdia Mall 2.0, which is powered by UIEvolution. We asked Ruff if he could tell us about the AT&T deal and his company’s relationship with AT&T.
Ruff described the “strength of our company,” noting that “we’ve developed a lot of software and technical capability in helping media companies and now operators and service providers deliver rich and dynamic apps to mobile phones -- whether apps like mobile portals like ESPN MVP that integrates audio, video and real-time data into a single consumer experience, or something like a carrier-grade reliable portal for content, like the AT&T Media Mall 2.0 announcement.” These present a “very similar set of problems –fragmented devices with various capabilities, and moving multimedia content onto those devices.” He explained that’s UIEvolution’s strength, to “create the most usable applications experience in the market,” and to “help users adopt and use the content more.”
Ruff recalled that “historically, as a company, we’ve worked primarily with media companies like ESPN, MySpace, and we’ve worked with lots of other brands” such as IMDB, and Disney, with whom UIEvolution has worked “since the early days of mobile, in 2002 or 2003, and we still have a business relationship with them.”
Powering AT&T’s MEdia Mall 2.0
As for AT&T, Ruff commented that “now, with MEdia Mall 2.0, we’re really excited to bring proven technology directly to the wireless operator space and help deploy a best-in-class applications experience that is going to allow consumers to find more, try more and buy more content. We’re very excited, and pleased they included us in the announcement release.” While UIEvolution has worked with AT&T indirectly for some time, as it has “been in wireless for almost eight years now, and has had relationships with wireless operators and media companies,” so when UIEvolution partnered with “ESPN, MySpace and others,” that meant it has “distributed content through AT&T for years,” and consequently the company has developed “relationships with AT&T through that process almost since the beginning of UIEvolution.” But he noted with MEdia Mall 2.0 “this is the first market release of a project for UIEvolution with AT&T as the direct customer.”
Looking at AT&T’s recurring presence in the tech headlines of late, Ruff commented that “from my perspective, AT&T is an extremely innovative company right now, and is continuing to try to push the experience of their applications and products into the market.” He added, “I do believe they are very aggressive in how they want to be leaders in the mobile and telecom spaces.”
Looking to the days, weeks and months ahead, Ruff added that “AT&T is the big one for us,” especially “for the next six months.”
Sidebar: The AT&T MEdia Mall 2.0 Announcement
Attention Mobile Shoppers: AT&T's MEdia Mall 2.0 Coming Soon!
March 19 -- Highlighting its commitment to bring the universe of mobile applications and content to consumers, AT&T has unveiled plans for a redesigned MEdia Mall, the company's one-stop shopping destination for mobile content. Since launching on AT&T mobile handsets in December 2004, millions of customers have visited MEdia Mall to load up on ringtones, games, videos and other applications -- generating more than $1 billion dollars in sales and helping spawn a wave of innovation among an ever-growing mobile developer community.
AT&T's MEdia Mall 2.0 is designed to be the ultimate source for personalizing your AT&T wireless phone. Like its predecessor, MEdia Mall 2.0 will feature more than 90,000 choices from more than 115 different content providers, including the new top-selling game, Guitar Hero 3. MEdia Mall 2.0 shoppers are just a click away from even more content with millions of additional full track songs, available from Napster Mobile and eMusic. From the "Ringtones" page, customers can click on the "Full Track Music" link to shop for music from capable handsets.
The storefront will be expanded on an ongoing basis, giving more developers an opportunity to reach the 70.1 million customers of America's leading provider of wireless services.
The grand opening of MEdia Mall 2.0, powered by software developer UIEvolution, is slated for next month on AT&T capable handsets, but the company is currently giving customers an opportunity to preview MEdia Mall 2.0 with an online mock-up of the mobile storefront at http://www.att.com/mediamall2 .
One of the cool new features of the enhanced MEdia Mall 2.0 is the ability to preview ring tones on a handset before you purchase it -- a capability that was previously only available from AT&T's Web site. Because more than 90 percent of AT&T customers purchase their mobile content directly from their phones, having the ability to "try before you buy" is a more friendly way to shop.
"We want to make MEdia Mall 2.0 the one-stop shop for customers who want to explore the universe of mobile content and applications," said Mark Collins, vice president of Consumer Data for AT&T's wireless unit. "By remodeling our mobile storefront, we're giving customers more choices and helping developers reach an ever-growing number of mobile consumers."
AT&T works with developers to create unique versions of applications and content that work with AT&T's wide variety of devices. Counted individually, including multiple versions of the same application designed for different devices, there are nearly 10 million pieces of mobile content and applications available on MEdia Mall.
In addition to previewing ring tones, customers will also be able to view screenshots of games and graphics before purchasing. The new and improved MEdia Mall 2.0 also offers customer purchase recommendations, providing a well-rounded customer experience.
Want to learn more about the ways that MEdia Mall 2.0 will put the hottest ring tones, graphics, games and more right at your fingertips? Visit the preview at http://www.att.com/mediamall2.
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