Now that Apple Inc.'s [
AAPL] iPhone is the
best-selling mobile device on the market, smartphone application developers are getting ready for prime time. One such company, mobile Web conferencing
PhoneTopp, is preparing to make its debut at the
Under the Radar conference, in advance of an anticipated Series A round of funding.
Founding CEO
Tom Barsi, late of network security provider ConSentry Networks, walked me through a demonstration of PhoneTopp's service. Built atop leading videoconferencing services such as Cisco Systems Inc.'s [
CSCO] WebEx, Microsoft Corp.'s [
MSFT] Live Meeting, Citrix Systems Inc. [
CTXS] and Adobe Systems Inc. [
ADBE], PhoneTopp's application first connects users into conferences, then delivers optimized versions of presentation slides, loading them onto iPhone and Blackberry screens more efficiently than a typical mobile browser would. Barsi says slides that might take 25 to 30 seconds in a browser can be launched in three to five seconds via PhoneTopp's system.
PhoneTopp will pursue an indirect sales model via existing Webconferencing and audioconferencing providers, as well as through mobile operators. While smartphone users can download its application for free, the company will charge about $10 per user per month as well.
The eight-month-old, six-employee company is self-funded to date, but Barsi said it's already speaking with potential angel investors for a projected $1.5 million first round, also likely to include a single venture firm. Barsi said such a deal will bring the company into a revenue-generating phase, and give it enough capital to last through mid-2010.
-- Paul Bonanos
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