Tech firm aims to capitalize on growing mobile commerce trend
Photo/Robert M. Cook
Jordan Denning, left, and Bill Broadbent of App Publishing in Portland plan to release their mobile commerce platform in June
Jordan Denning, president of App Publishing in downtown Portland, says the year-old company will roll out its mobile commerce software next month, a software he and CEO Bill Broadbent believe will revolutionize the way businesses use personal electronic devices to market their products and sell to customers.
The company will debut its platform, known as Mowbi, with a soft launch in June followed by a hard launch in July. Denning says there are plenty of companies that currently make individual applications for smart phones like the BlackBerry and the iPhone, but no one has created a platform that encompasses all of the tools businesses need to be effective.
"It is hugely efficient in that you don't have to be sitting at your desk to do business," says Denning. "We believe that it benefits really the entire spectrum of business and consumers."
Mowbi has a suite of seven different tools that businesses can utilize, but companies can choose to use just one or a few of the tools. Depending on the size and scope of a company and its business needs, the entire Mowbi platform suite could cost anywhere from $5,000 to $20,000.
Mowbi will allow a company's sales team to summon up their entire business inventory and even accept credit card payments no matter where they are, Denning says. It can be used to create and send invoices by email or text, which customers can pay on their smart phone as well, and send out reminders or confirmations of appointments.
Denning says App Publishing spent $100,000 to develop the Mowbi platform over the last six months and he believes the company will continue to develop it as more businesses incorporate it.
Leading up to this summer's roll out, Broadbent says the company has been building membership so it can hit the ground running with potential sales, with the aim to have 5,000 to 10,000 members signed up to potentially buy Mowbi or some of its tools before the hard launch in July. "We're hoping to be in the hundreds of thousands by the end of the first year," Broadbent says.
The Freeport Merchants Association, which has 150 member businesses, has already signed up for the membership directory tool, which will give App Publishing the opportunity to sell additional tools to businesses that belong to the group.
Myra Hopkins, executive director of the Freeport Merchants Association, says her group hopes to launch the directory app in conjunction with 300,000 map and visitor guides that circulate all over New England. The association signed up for directory app in mid-April and the members are very excited. Each member will receive a one-page mobile site on the directory app that will enable them to promote their business and reserve the option to add on additional applications in the future. "It puts all of our member businesses literally in the hands of all the travelers and tourists," Hopkins says.
Broadbent says the company did a demonstration of the product recently to one insurance firm in the greater Portland region with 3,000 insurance agents and they liked what they saw. "We've barely scratched the surface," he says.
Most Recent
Most Recent
Comments