SOFTA Ventures

Line2 adds a second line with voicemail to your cell phone.

Place and receive calls from either number. Each has its own voicemail, call

history, and contacts.

via Add a Second Cell Phone Number | 2 Numbers 1 Phone – Line2.

January 9th, 2010 Posted by Larry Zinox | blackberry, iphone | no comments

Interesting Article on Why iPhone Will Stick with AT&T

Very interesting assessment as to why Apple will stick with AT&T as it’s sole provider in the short run. It’s always interesting to see additional facts and insights by those with knowledge. Rumors have abounded for months as to when Verizon will offer the iPhone. This article casts doubt that Verizon will ever offer this version of the iPhone on its current CDMA network.

Why the iPhone Isn’t Going Anywhere

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Simple. Smart. SOFTA.

The smartphone wave is growing.

In less than a year the iPhone garnered a 28 percent smartphone marketshare, according to Apple. Recent studies show that smartphones now outsell standard cell phones.

Informa Telecoms & Media predict that while traditional handset sales are expected to fall, Smartphone sales will maintain robust growth, 35.3% year on year – Smartphone penetration will reach 13.5% of new handsets sold.

Smartphones are bringing people together. It is the next level of networking. Even established networks like LinkedIn and Facebook are seeing the value in mobile networking.

One common feature of Smartphone users is the desire to have easy-to-use, cost-effective apps.

The SOFTA Ventures team has been riding the wave of software solutions for more than 20 years, combining their marketing know how with an ability to keep technology, intuitive, inexpensive and instant. Applying this knowledge to iPhone’s and other smartphone technologies in the natural next step.

SOFTA Ventures is in the business of making smart phone smarter. Follow us on our latest adventure.

October 28th, 2009 Posted by softaventures | SOFTA, apple, blackberry, development, iphone, smartphone | no comments

Two Steps Forward and One Step Sideways

Although we are nearing completion of our first release we still have some unsettled issues.

From a software standpoint we need to complete the registration process our users will use once they download our application from the iTunes store. For that registration process to be as solid as we would like there is a key piece of data that we will need to obtain from the cell phone independent of the person doing the registration. Unfortunately to date we’ve been unable to ascertain whether that information is made available to us or not.

Our trials with testing the equipment we would need in our data center have been going on for about a week now. The device looks promising, but we’ve struggled all week to get it to consistently work. Looks like we finally isolated the problem today. A swappable part of the device appears to be bad, or at least incompatible. Assuming we have solved that part of our roadblock we should be able to make some quick progress toward our goal of submitting our application to Apple by November 1, 2009. And I think we are comfortable enough with how this will turn out that we have begun to spec our application into a Blackberry platform.

We are now rapidly approaching the point where the need to complete all the incidentals will have moved ahead of the software code. Incidentals such as landing page at iTunes, FAQ’s, support website, all are open issues that must be completed along with the code in order to have a fully functional application.

October 1st, 2009 Posted by Michael ORoark | SOFTA, blackberry, iphone, smartphone | no comments

All Good Things Come to Those Who Research

Well it ends up that our trials with the iPhone SDK 3.x shortcomings proved to be one of the best things that could have happened to our project. In searching for a work around we uncovered an answer that is not a work around but is truly a superior solution to what we had thought the SDK could provide. The answer moves us from the realm of just providing a software application to being a service provider.

It entails adding some equipment at a data center, but that equipment opens us to some very expansive telecommunications possibilities. It will allow us to create an engine that we can then use not just on our iPhone app, but as the back end for any smartphone on which we choose to release our application. We’ve had numerous conversations with both the manufacturer as well as the local VAR and we are convinced it will do everything we need for now and well into the future.

And in a serendipitous twist it also solves the issues we were having with out Iowa project. It will allow us to do everything we wanted our third party technical partner to provide but couldn’t.

In speaking with the manufacturer it seems that no one else is using this hardware in the way we intend, even though it is 100% capable of doing what we want. That may be the best news of all, it gives us a competitive advantage.

Shows what you can do when you view problems not as roadblocks that impede, but as challenges to succeed.

September 9th, 2009 Posted by Michael ORoark | SOFTA, Uncategorized, blackberry, development, internet, iphone, mobility, palm, smartphone, social networking | no comments

Twitter Takes Off

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Why do we bring you this clip? Because Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, will all become and integral part of business solutions we will be rolling out on iPhones, Blackberrys, and other smartphones in the coming months.

All geared toward businesses that want to touch their customers with relevant, useful information, specifically targeted at them.