We sat down with Emoze to talk about their product, their market, and their views of the mobile market in general and the mobile messaging in particular.

Activity started at – Jan 2007
Entrepreneurs – Moshe Dgani and Moshe Levy
Invesments – seed – The company is 95% owned by Emblaze
Targeted markets – global: handset vendors, service providers, VARS, Consumers
Customers –Nokia, Samsung, Orange, Turkcell, Mero, Tulip Telecom, Pelephone and MIRS.

Q: There are many pre-loaded mail clients, not only on smartphones, Ovi mail for example is aimed to connect users in developing countries to mobile mail.
What is your perspective on the pre-loaded mail clients move? Do you see solutions like Ovi as a threat? Where do you locate Emoze in the future in this market?

A: Emoze today has the most sophisticated email and messaging solution for the mass market, but the simplest for the actual end user in terms of downloading and installing with the greatest user experience.
We don’t consider the OVI as a threat at all (the OVI is only for hi-end phones), and in terms of pre-loaded, we are soon to be pre-loaded on the 2nd largest handset vendor. The beauty of emoze is its diversity: you can mix business with pleasure; you can get your business mail; your web mail, your home mail and your social community messaging all on ONE client.
You will also be able to receive “content” of your choice being pushed to you in real time i.e. news, sports, weather, the stock market etc…

Q: Researchers show that mobile e-mail usage is growing with the development of mobile internet and mobile internet bundles. What do you think will happen to the market in the mid term of 2-5 years?and what about SMS usage?

A: Mobile email usage is growing and so are content and services. In 2-5 years this will be a billion dollar market. Our mobile phones are becoming “multiple personality disorders”.
They are being used for and will be used for just about everything, communication: both verbal and data, wallets; cameras, MP3 and MP4 players; games; videos and more. We truly believe that mobile messaging in terms of emails will take over SMS usage, as SMS messaging is still limited to a couple of characters and the end-user today demands to see more – his attachments, pictures and videos. Emoze believes that email is the evolution of sms.
Mobile email to the mass market is also getting your social community messaging such as Facebook, MySpace etc… this you cannot get via sms.

Q: How do you see Emoze growing and what will strengthen your business case and increase your revenues?

A: Greater global penetration via handset vendors and international service providers.
The widest range of handsets as we support Symbian, WM and Java; the fact that emoze is totally service provider independent and works on any wireless network; and the fact that we are adding different messaging sources and of course content to the ONE client.
Emoze will be your “one-stop-shop” for all your messaging and content needs.

Q: With your experience in mobile apps development, do you have any suggestions for developers?

A: Develop for mass market; give the end user what he needs –not what you want to develop and always go for user-experience – this never fails! Think value when developing a product – not technology.
Emoze is a way of life – not just a technology!

Q: What OS do you focus on for the near future? Do you see any new OS or platforms that you think you will need to develop your apps to?

A: We are presently working on the Android platform and of course the new IPhone 3.

Q: Although it is a cliché how can mobile apps be monetized?

A: Depending on how they marketed, but they are monetized either as one-time downloads or subscription fees per month.
At emoze, a license fee is required for the PRO version, but this gives you everything, all your messaging on ONE client – and it costs less than a cup of coffee a month! Again, we go for mass market – make the application affordable BUT for the masses!
A loyal community can also result in mobile advertising which is a great revenue generator – every company has their own business model.

Talkingmobile is thanking Emoze for its cooperation