So I got back Sunday from JavaOne. It was a very useful to go to from a business standpoint. Semacode is still the only one with a java reader for matrix barcodes, and there's definitely an interest in the technology. I spent 90% of my time talking to people on the expo floor, although my speaker badge got me into all the sessions as well. I also presented at the JSR-257 (contactless communication API) session which was packed to the room's 200-person capacity.

I talked for about 15 minutes about Semacode, the CCAPI spec's programming interface, and then I demo'd semacode's SDK running on three phones . My trusty demo phone (S710a) was first. Demos are a bit scary sometimes, especially something like semacode where it does occasionally require a second scan in normal operation... Anyway, the S710a worked like a charm. So then I pulled out the SavaJe Jasper S20 Developer Edition which Andy Bush loaned me for the talk. First try -- oops, no message found. It's got a really, really big java heap (much bigger than ANY other java phone) and we need to tweak a bit I think for that. Second try worked and I got some applause from the audience ... Finally I pulled out a protoype Nokia N93 and that one also worked flawlessly.

But what about business? I have a couple of fresh insights into that. My latest is if they come, you can build it . This is the exact opposite of the usual engineer's approach to business. VCs, marketers, the press, and everyone else are always either laughing or getting annoyed with the software engineer's old mantra, "if you build it they will come" (aped from Field of Dreams ). Business people always think that engineers have this crazy idea that all they have to do is build a great product and somehow, miraculously, people will buy it.

Well, yes, that's a problem, because while it's true in open source, it's not true in business. This is a subject that Geoffrey A. Moore goes and on about in Crossing the Chasm (the only business book worth reading, in my opinion). Business people don't want a technology, they want a solution to their problems.

On the other side, the engineers complain constantly about sales people who will promise anything to customers in order to land a sale. That's the "if they come, you can build it" mentality. These sales people believe (wrongly) that every technology problem is just a "SMOP" (or small matter of programming ). In fact, they wind up promising customers all kinds of crazy stuff that will take loads of time to design and build, take time away from the core technology, not be fun, etc., etc.

It comes down to this. You can have a technology and no customers, and you fail. You can have customers and no technology, and you fail. But ... you're more likely to fail the first way than the second.

Why? Because once you have the order, you have money. Money is the root of everything to a business person. To a business person, once you have money you can solve any problem. Is that realistic? Well, it's more realistic than the other way around. So while you shouldn't promise your customers everything, I think you definitely need to take the attitude that it's worth it to land a customer based on the idea that you can build the simpler peripheral components they need once you have their money.

Especially if you can build the components they need once you have their money...

Obviously that's key. But let's face it ... if you are capable of building the high-tech monument to creativity that makes up your core technology, surely you can build some simple peripheral systems to make the sale.

Anyway, the point of this long rambling rant is that the best place to play lies somewhere in the middle of the two extreme slogans. You need to build something clever, and then you need to go and find out what customers need and do some extra scaffolding for them too.

Here's the clip from Simon's appearance on Call For Help. CFH364-20060515.mp4

Call For Help's Leo Laporte interviews Simon Woodside and demonstrates the barcode reader on the air.

(technical details: H.264 mpeg-4 compressed by QT Pro, 14 MB, 8'42)

We've got a Semacode demo coming up at the JSR-257 session at JavaOne. It's at 9.45 am, Thursday, Room Esplanade 301, Moscone center.

Also throughout the show you can see a demo of Semacode running on an E-Series Nokia at the Nokia booth under their JSR-257 (RFID and barcode) flag.

I'll post a video clip from Call for Help soon, I'm just compressing it right now in my hotel room.

Leo Laporte interviews Simon Woodside, founder of Semacode ( .torrent link from the CFH Tracker ). Call for Help episode # 364.

show notes #364

I might go on the show again to talk about all of the cool mobile phone stuff that north americans (and aussies of course) are missing out on. If I can beef up collection of kick-ass new phones and prototypes.

UPDATE: MPEG clip of the interview .

Call for Help on G4 TechTV.

Torrents from CFH Tracker

Update (2006/06/02) : see my post explaining that this post really isn't about destroying Business 2.0 at all.

Business 2.0 s May issue has a pull out section on the future of wireless. Semacode is mentioned as one of the feature companies under the the Location Based Services category.

I usually ignore what the mass media predicts about whatever industry I'm working in (operating systems, software, mobile, whatever). But I had to read this one since Semacode's in it and they are pretty good in the area of features. The problem is that they offer no real hope that we'll ever see this kind of usability on a mobile phone.

One-by-one, it's hard to see how the features are going to become commercial. Location-based push is a lot less pleasant than the industry seems to think. Anyone who subscribes to a service that alerts them as they pass by a location is going to be very sensitive to spam. That means you need a highly-developed technology that can assist people in sorting out what they want and what they don't want. This is a "channel" problem similar to the one that PointCast had back in the 90s. With so many potential information providers vying for your attention, it's too easy to drown a user in a sea of crap.

Mobile presence/instant messaging is also hard. I hear that Skype has just added the ability to send SMS. That's nice but it's going to cost because the operators charge an arm and a leg for SMS gateways and then they nickle-and-dime their customers to death on SMS termination charges. The problem is that the operators are not the ones (right now) who are going to see the brand stickyness and benefits from offering AIM or MSN messenger on their devices. It will stay expensive until they do.

VoIP and mobile integration is another obvious service that would be huge for consumers and businesses alike if it were offered. It would be lovely if I could log into Skype on my phone and receive calls seamlessly between the two. Phones like the Nokia N91 with Wi-Fi built in could multihome between the cellular network and Wi-Fi based on whichever is available and cheapest. If I could link my address book on the phone with Skype, it could automatically call into a local Skype number when calling them, saving me long distance on international calls.

The problem is that it's hard to see how this is going to happen in the real world. Maybe big manufacturers like Nokia (market cap US$100B) will start to buy operators. Then they could introduce IM as a "loss-leader" type service where messaging is free or available at a low monthly rate.

Actually, that's exactly what Apple will have to do if/when they ever bring out a mobile product . Steve Jobs gets "whole products" and he won't ship just a phone but a set of features and services to go with it. To do that he'll either have to hoodwink an operator into a joint venture (which I find unlikely, since they are super tough negotiators). Or, he'll have to start an MVNO or simply buy a small operator.

Everyone focuses on the iPhone as though it's just a lump of hardware. In reality it would be a hardware, software, and service package. You'd get iChat/IM, iTunes Music store downloads, and maybe video chat all built into the pricing plans. Just like the iPod — where iTunes and the store are just as important as the nifty scroll wheel and translucent plastics .

If they can pull it off it would be a breakthrough and I and everyone else would be super keen to buy that whole product. I'm not sure if Apple has the power to pull it off, and I'd love to see them have real competition. Nokia has some of the same qualities as Apple has, and they're a lot bigger, so maybe they can see the light and bring out the integrated product that myself and others dream of. Until then, Business 2.0's "Wireless Future" will still be technology without a business model.

Not too long ago Guido Sohne gave a talk at the Kofi Annan ICT Centre in Accra about Semacode. He also put up the first Semapedia tag in Africa. Guido is in a unique position to talk about semacode because he helped me create the first alpha of semacode reader by connecting me with a fellow African programmer who wrote some of the symbology code.

Ghanaian developers push Semacode tags