Interested in mobile technology?
Say hello to Boston.
Beantown might be better known for its sports franchises and prestigious universities than for its mobile startup scene, but I’d say it’s only a matter of time before word gets out.
Silicon Valley, who?
The greater Boston area is home to thousands of technology companies, a strong VC and investor presence, some of the best colleges and universities in the world, and a community that fosters innovation. If any city has the goods – the ecosystem and talent – to deliver the next generation of mobile innovation and businesses, look to Boston.
Boston’s best and brightest are out in droves– determined to reinvent mobile. It was estimated that by late 2009, there were about 250 companies in the mobile space here in Boston. The folks over at Mobile Monday Boston and Xconomy are responsible for these latest stats and claim that 2009’s figures represent a 25-30% growth over the previous year – not too shabby.
Although many of these companies focus on application development, rest assured that the entire spectrum of mobile is well represented: Vlingo and Nuance Communications are perfecting mobile voice recognition, llume Software is creating solutions to keep drivers safe, and Sparkfish Creative is making public transportation a breeze, to name a few. And earlier this year, local mobile advertizing company Quattro Wireless was acquired by Apple for a cool $275 million. Kate Imbach, VP of Marketing at Skyhook Wireless mentions these and many other local firms in a great blog post titled Check Out Boston’s Mobile Tech Scene.
With all these mobile companies sprouting up, investors have definitely taken notice. When it comes to Venture Capital dollars spent, Boston ranks second in the country only to Silicon Valley. And in Q1 of 2009, a sum of $215 million in venture funds we delivered solely to Boston mobile companies. In fact, there are some 50 VC-backed mobile startups in the area as of last year. In case you’re not yet sold on the Boston VC scene, check out ReadWriteWeb’s blog post titled Nevermind the Valley: Here’s Boston.
Boston has no trouble attracting the best minds from around the world with some of the most prestigious schools anywhere. The area’s 74 colleges and universities educate over a quarter million students annually, spend $1.5 billion on R&D, and pump about $7 billion into to the local economy every year. Schools such as Harvard, MIT, and Babson foster the brightest business and technology thinkers. MIT alone produces 300 new companies each year, many of which involve mobile technology. Even if you didn’t like the 2004 film Minority Report, you’ll love the Sixth Sense technology from MIT demoed at TED 2009.
The excellent schools and all the talent in the area have also drawn many great businesses and organizations to Boston. If you’re searching for a successful companies to partner with, I can tell you off the top of my head that Google, Microsoft, and IBM all have offices here. And if you’re looking to network, mingle, pitch an idea, or just chat with smart people about mobile, there are tons of meetups and events in the area.
Mobile Monday is a global community of mobile, designers, developers, and industry visionaries that gather every 1-2 months to present, share, and discuss new ideas. The Boston chapter happens to be one of the most active in the world, attracting over 500 people to some of its events. There are also many other groups in the area cater to more specific interests. MassMobile attracts the general mobile developer crowd while others can be found on Meetup.com that specifically attract marketers, iPhone enthusiasts, mobile entrepreneurs, and many others.
If you work in or even follow the mobile space here in Boston, it’s difficult to overlook all that the city has to offer. And with the excitement and buzz around the industry growing exponentially, it feels good to be in the epicenter.
If you’re a mobile developer, designer, entrepreneur, or anyone working in the Boston mobile scene, hit me up on Twitter @jkardos or shoot me an email. I’d love to hear what you have to say and possibly feature it here on BostInnovation in a future installment of this column. Meanwhile, please check back here to see what I stumble upon in Boston’s burgeoning mobile space!
Jonathan Kardos a mobile designer and user experience professional. He is BostInnovation’s new mobile columnist. Check back for his work regularly. You can reach him by email at jkardos1 at gmail dot com, or on Twitter @jkardos. Read more of his writing at his personal website, JonathanKardos.com.
