The goMo™ Story
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Transcript of The goMo™ Story
The fascinating storyof
goMo
In the beginning …
There was Thaumaturgix(“Tgix” for short)
An NYC-based technology consulting companyfounded in 1994
Run by:
Yogen Peter Moses
Tgix has a LOT of Technical Experience
We have done big projects for Fortune 500 companies...
and launched many, many Tech Start-ups…
and created a lot of cool technologies
Then, in 2011As we looked around …
Mobile was everywhere
People wanted their multimediaat all times
Sometimes it wasn’t easy
And sometimes, it was downright dangerous
So we started thinking of ways to make it
Easy,Convenient
andSafe
And we came upwith the idea for a
Simple,Portable
Control Devicefor the mobile phone!
It would let you launch and control
multimedia apps at a click of a button
(“click”)
It would be a multi-app controller(which meant that we could controlmultiple multimedia applications
with one controller)
Now what problem would that solve!?o Present a simple and consistent interface to launch & access various multimedia apps
o Make it simple to switch between apps
o No need to unlock, swipe, find, tap if a simple click was all that was required
o No need to interfere with your multimedia experience
A Better Experience & Fewer Accidents
And we could also use thecontroller for other apps …
o Social media check-in
o Camera control
o Program your favorite sites
o Easy dial of favorite phone numbers
o Gaming
And with an API, other programmers could customize the Controller to do whatever they want!
And in other parts of the globe …
o m-Commerce / m-Payments
o m-Health
o m-Education
o Interface to other simple Internet services
Hmm … sounds interesting
But, is it actually going to work?
So we picked up some wireless keyboards and built a simple app
for our POC
(POC = Proof Of Concept)
Our POC Worked!
So we incorporated a new company - Port Indigo –
to design, build and launch our product!
(so as not to confuse our product development effort with our consulting business)
And we made things like logos and business cards
And we patented the technology …
Now, let’s design some hardware!
Some hand-drawn designs came first…
Followed by first digital cut(Nothing too sophisticated yet)
We had our industrial designerwork up a few design options…
“Interesting” shape…
Getting a little wacky now!
Easy to hold! We like that…
Chocolate anyone?
Too much like a standard remote
Let’s rework the shape of that red one…
Batman style! Er... no.
Let’s just keep it simple…
and call it the goMo!
Time to make a non-working RPT(RPT = Rapid Prototype)
Size seems fine…
(Just some 3D printing here)
Let’s make a better RPT
And try it again with more colors
(These are all handmade)
Let’s get a great 3-D design together and finalize
Looks awesome!
Ok… now we are ready to meet some hardware folks
(Manufacturing = China)
Let’s go to China, do some research, and meet some
manufacturersAnd talk about:
Bluetooth technologyChipsProtocolsPCBsMoldsDesignsManufacturing CapacityBattery technologyand lots more
And collect all the brochures and sample materials that we can lay our hands on
And grab some snacks!
So we found a great manufacturing partner!
And we proceeded with:
Factory VisitsDiscussions of Specifications
NDAsCosts
SchedulesNegotiations
Contracts
Let’s make a working prototype…
A lot of back-and-forth to reconcile design with
manufacturing…
Let’s have our hardware partner render final 3-D images
And start designing the components
The frame…
The front shell…
The back shell…
The top plate…
The buttons…
The LEDs…
The circuitry…
What chips are we going to use?
And a bunch of other stuff…
o Materials for all componentso Size & type of batteryo Seamless connectiono Icon & logo designso Testing protocol o Oh, let’s add a vibrator motor
Of-course, we do need to test for:Water resistance
VibrationShockDust
Humidity
And everything else that makes up“Basic Ingress Protection”
So, is the prototype ready yet?
The Prototype is ready…
It’s Awesome!
The insides look good too!
We have the full test report(and we put the hardware through its paces ourselves)
We are OK to proceed withthe mold fabrications
(but can we reprogram the duration of the vibration?)
The mold takes a few weeks as we go into the various stages
(T-1, T-2, T-Final)
But finally…mold designs & fabrication
are completed!
Let’s do a test run…
this time with the icons and logos
Successful test run of the mold!
We have 100 pieces in our hands
Let’s make sure we can make some changes for a production
run …We want a black goMo SURFR piece and a white goMo ROCKR piece
And let’s change:o Icon designs & sizeo Logoo Matte finish on buttons
Yes, we can.
We are now ready for mass production!
What’s happening to the software?
This has been underway for a long time now …
We started with overall architecture …
Then createddetailed specifications …
(Front-end and Back-end)
And figured out details of the technology and the platforms
Front-end = Android (we need an easy place to start)
Back-end = LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP)Hosting = AWS (Amazon Web Services)
Then had our teams in US and India work simultaneously on all
the pieces
We use SPP (instead of HID)for fine control & ubiquitous
support
And now our basic app is working with all flavors of Android across
all phones & tablets (and we’ve tested a lot!)
We need more!
Let’s integrate:
Browser – DONE(Ok, so that was the first thing we did)
YouTube APIs – DONEBasic media player controls - DONE
Social media hooks - DONESave & replay capabilities - DONE
Personalization - DONEGeo-location tracking – DONE
Let’s not forget about the UI/UX …
The User Interface & User Experience
This runs the gamut fromthe snug fit of the hardwareto the screens on the app
And things like:
Icon designsThe “click” on the buttons
Channel page designsSeamless switching between contentBasically, every aspect of the device!
Not to mention... the content channels, categories and multi-media
streaming sources we should use
And then there are theoperational matters …
Things like:Planning
MarketingSales & Distribution
Accounting & BankingHR
LegaleseCorporate Governance
And there were a few things on which we needed to educate ourselves …
… on packaging …
on customs clearance & duties …
on shipping & import logistics …
(including the meaning of terms like FOB)FOB = Freight On-Board
and a whole bunch more …
But we are past all that
So … what’s next?
Get the FCC / CE certifications
Place the hardware order
Have the software team integrate some popular streaming media
services…
Test ! Test !! Test !!!
Get goMos and appsin the hands of our users !
What else?
Build iOS Support
Release APIs to the community
Additional platforms
More social media integration
More applications
More markets !
And a whole lot more …
And now it’s time for aproduction run…
(so make a pledge, and get a goMo!)