Taptu
| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2005 |
| Headquarters | Cambridge, UK |
| Key people | Steve Ives (Founder & CEO), Bob Last (VP Business Development), Stefan Butlin (CTO) |
| Industry | Mobile Search |
| Products | Mobile Search Engine |
| Employees | 40-45 (2009) |
| Website | www.taptu.com |
Taptu is a company which created a mobile search service of the same name aimed at mobile and hand-held devices such as smartphones and PDAs. The company was founded in Cambridge in 2005 and used funding from Venture Capitalists such as 3i and Sofinnova[1] in 2006. The search engine was initially opened to the public in mid 2008 by invitation, and went fully public in November 2008.
The search engine focuses on providing news, entertainment and information results, and tailors the results for various devices, giving "richer" results on high-end devices like the Apple iPhone and Nokia N95, and simpler results for dumb phones such as the Motorola RAZR. Unlike other mobile service such as Yahoo!Mobile!, it uses the web browser built in to the device rather than needing dedicated software loaded on the device, the user simply enters taptu.mobi.
In June 2009, Taptu released the Taptu iPhone Search App in order to bring the useful features of Taptu mobile search engine to the native Touch user experience. The iPhone Search App crawls touch-friendly media and is intended to make such content easily accessible to iPhone and iPod Touch users.
Symbian Series 60 users can install a widget to speed up access, which was quietly released in October 2008 - [1][2]. The S60 widget is currently in beta on Getjar[2] and rumours hint at a full release sometime November 2008.[citation needed]
Third parties - mobile publishers, portals and social networks - can also use it via a non-public APIs with white labelling.
Partners
In mid 2008 the mobile social network Moblr adopted Taptu for search, and in November 2008, Taptu announced a new partnership with Itsmy.com [3] a pure mobile social networking service, based in Munich, Germany.
It's believed that Taptu's partners are able to earn revenue from mobile search via sponsored advertising.
Products
Apart from the desktop web search service, Taptu have released a number of software products
- S60 search short-cut
- iPhone (or iPod Touch) search application
- iPhone (or iPod Touch) wapedia search application
- iPhone (or iPod Touch) "The Music Cube" game which was derived from their web/flash based [3] game
- Wapedia Mobile Site for Mobile Wikipedia
- Wapedia application for Android
Recognition and Awards
- Overall Mobile Search Company of the Year, Mobile Search Awards, September 2008[4]
- Best Search Provider 2008, Mobile Entertainment Awards[5][6]
- Commercial Category, MEX Design Competition[7]
- Red Herring Top 100 European Tech Startups, April 2008[8]
- Global Community Award, MobileMonday Peer Awards, February 2008[9]
People/Staff
Since Taptu isn't publicly listed, there's not much information about members of staff apart from those listed on various VC reports, blogs and interviews.
Identified members of staff:
- Steve Ives - CEO - captured for MEX 2008
- Bob Last - VP Business Development
- Stefan Butlin - CTO - profile at tradevibes
- Chris Moisan - VP Product & Market Development
- Andreas Bernstrom - COO
- Jason Harris - Community Manager/Blogger
Competitors
References
- ↑ "Sneak Preview: Beta Test Our Taptu S60 Launcher on GetJar". Taptu Blog. http://www.taptu.com/blog/2008/10/23/sneak-preview-beta-test-our-taptu-s60-launcher-on-getjar/.
- ↑ "Widget of the week: Taptu Search". Mobile Royale. http://www.mobileroyale.co.cc/s60-3rd-edition/widget-of-the-week-taptu-search/.
- ↑ "Search Goes Social As itsmy.com Selects Taptu Mobile Search Engine". Taptu Blog. http://www.taptu.com/blog/press-releases/search-goes-social-as-itsmycom-selects-taptu-mobile-search-engine/.
- ↑ "Taptu Takes Mobile Search Award". Mobile Marketing Magazine. http://www.mobilemarketingmagazine.co.uk/2008/09/taptu-takes-mob.html.
- ↑ "ME Awards 2008: The winners in full". Mobile Entertainment. http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/31544/ME-Awards-2008-The-winners-in-full.
- ↑ "Taptu Wins "Best Search Provider 2008" at Mobile Entertainment Awards". Taptu Blog. http://www.taptu.com/blog/2008/09/28/taptu-wins-best-search-provider-2008-at-mobile-entertainment-awards/.
- ↑ "Day One, MEX 2008 & the winners of the MEX Awards". Mobile User Experience. http://www.mobileuserexperience.com/?p=570.
- ↑ "Taptu honoured as recipient of Red Herring Top 100 Europe list". Taptu Blog. http://www.taptu.com/blog/2008/04/16/taptu-honoured-as-recipient-of-red-herring-top-100-europe-list/.
- ↑ "MobileMonday Peer Awards Barcelona 2008". Mobile Monday Barcelona. http://www.mobilemondaybarcelona.com/peerawards/.
External links
- Taptu homepage
- - Taptu blog
- 3i investors portfolio: Taptu
- Sofinnova portfolio: Taptu
- Sky News Technofile: The Google Years: The Future of Online Search Engines
- Mobile Search Company Taptu aims high
- WapReview, Taptu
- PodTech.net, Demo of how Taptu is way better than Google for mobiles by Robert Scoble
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