DEMO Celebrates Past Demonstrators’ Successes; A Round Up of August DEMO Demonstrator News
SOUTHBOROUGH, MA.- August 31, 2007 – Twice each year, an influential mix of business development executives, industry insiders, investors and press gather together at the influential DEMO ( http://www.demo.com ) technology conferences to witness the launch of 70 compelling new products. Hand-selected from across the spectrum of the IT market, these products provide insight into the state of the industry and uncover the current trends in product development and investing.
"It's not easy for a product to be selected for a DEMO event," said Chris Shipley ( http://www.demo.com/conferences/demofall07/producer.php ), product analyst and executive producer of the DEMO conferences. "The tough selection criteria my team and I employ mean that each product that debuts at DEMO is a winner. We see this immediately at each event and for years later, as each product goes on to achieve greatness in a variety of ways."
In August, several past demonstrator companies announced impressive new achievements, including:
— Video ringtone sharing company Vringo
( http://www.demo.com/demonstrators/demo2007/91373.php ) (DEMO 2007)
announced the closing of its Series B round of funding, with $12
million in a round led by private equity firm Warburg Pincus. The
company said it will use the financing to fund its global expansion as
it brings "new personalization and content services to mobile phone
markets in the United States, Europe and Asia."
— Hearst Corp. recently announced plans to acquire Kaboodle
( http://www.demo.com/demonstrators/demo2006/62999.php ) (DEMO 2006), a
social shopping community that lets users find, recommend and share
products with other members. Kaboodle will become a wholly-owned
subsidiary of Hearst, managed by Hearst Interactive Media and its
Hearst Magazines Digital Media unit.
— NewTek Inc. ( http://www.demo.com/demonstrators/demo2005/54221.php )
(DEMO@15) recently announced that FOX Sports was using its TriCaster to
assist in the production of its NFL Preview Special, which included the
first live Webcast of the network's annual preseason NFL summit. Last
Wednesday, the TriCaster's portable, live production broadcast
capabilities helped FOX Sports bring NFL fans a unique look into this
preseason meeting, where the entire NFL on FOX team (on-air
personalities, producers, network executives and guests) talked about
the upcoming season. The Webcast is archived here (look at the "More
Videos" section on the right).
— ThinkFree Online
( http://www.demo.com/demonstrators/demo2006fall/79975.php )
(DEMOfall 2006, DEMO 2000) recently announced that 1 million documents
have been created on or uploaded to ThinkFree for sharing, publishing
or private use. The company says the average file on the site is about
350KB, approaching the 500KB limit that Google places on any document
or spreadsheet. The site also saw an increase in membership, with about
335,000 users signing up, creating an average of between 60,000 to
80,000 documents per month.
— GoWare ( http://www.demo.com/demonstrators/demo2007/91304.php )
(DEMO 2007) recently announced a plug-in for its DoMo HopePage mobile
portal that lets World of Warcraft players access their character data
from a mobile phone. Players can also use the HomePage Snapshot feature
to send character content via text messaging. The HomePage is available
as a free beta trial at the DoMo Web site.
— Vivid Sky ( http://www.demo.com/demonstrators/demo2006/63046.php )
(DEMO 2006) recently announced deployment of its SkyBOX system at
Comerica Park with the Detroit Tigers, which will continue through the
rest of the 2007 season. The Detroit deployment includes mobile devices