Nokia as a force of good in the European Start up Scene
Dopplr has just been acquired by Nokia. Dopplr is a web service that lets you share your travel plans with your network and exchange travel tips and advice about cities around the world. It helps you make your traveling smarter and more enjoyable. Dopplr calls this aggregate of collective intelligence the “Social Atlas”, a cutting-edge service that has provided the team with new insight on how people and location interact. I invested with Dopplr on the first round for the same reasons that I make all my investments. An entrepreneur I admire, in this case Marko Ahtisaari, and a product I use, Dopplr.
Nokia is an excellent platform for the development of this know-how. While I really don’t know what Nokia plans to do with Dopplr I believe that an integration of the service with Nokia phones would make a lot of sense. A mobile Dopplr is the ultimate pocket travel guide. Anytime, anywhere and in the palm of your hand you have the best restaurants, bars, clubs etc. that people who you trust recommended. This element, “the people you trust” is very important. There are many sites that recommend hotels. Trip Advisor is a great one. But the problem I have with Trip Advisor, or IMDB is that I many times find that my taste is more like that of my friends than that of the world at large. I don´t care where the average person wants to stay, or where the average person wants to eat, or where the average person wants to go. I care where my friends who are my most trusted advisors want to go. And that is Dopplr.
Lastly I would like to say that is interesting that Nokia continues to acquire companies of friends of mine. Plazes in which I also invested, and Plum. Nokia continues to be the number one technology company in Europe and Europe needs a strong Nokia. And where Nokia is weak is in services, in software small acquisitions make sense.
Disclosure I own Nokia shares.
Congratulations to Marko Ahtisaari, Matt Biddulph and the Dopplr team!
Posted on General | 1:43 pm
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I hope now Nokia will make a good job integrating this service with the existing ones to make an even better user experience. However, being Marko son of whom he is and the connections he might (or should!) have at high levels inside Nokia, someone may wonder whether the decision to buy DOPPLR was merely done because of the value it brings to Nokia or because any other reason. I tend to trust Nokia management team and I am sure that they bought it because it brings value. Now let’s make the best of it!
From Tweets that mention Nokia as a force of good in the European Start up Scene -- Topsy.com - September 28, 2009 2:24 pm - #
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Ralph Talmont and nunovargas. nunovargas said: RT @martinvars New post: Nokia as a force of good in the European Start up Scene http://bit.ly/3K0ycO [...]
From FT.com | Tech Blog | Nokia maps a path to Dopplr’s door - September 28, 2009 8:12 pm - #
[...] Varsavsky said in a blog post about the acquisition: “I believe that an integration of the service with Nokia phones would make [...]
From Confirmed: Dopplr Snapped Up By Nokia - Tech News - September 29, 2009 2:19 am - #
[...] Update 2: Dopplr angel investor Martin Varsavsky on the deal: ‘Nokia as a force of good in the European start up scene’ [...]
From Confirmed: Dopplr Snapped Up By Nokia | Filme Gratis Filme Moca - September 29, 2009 7:20 am - #
[...] Update 2: Dopplr angel investor Martin Varsavsky on the deal: ‘Nokia as a force of good in the European start up scene’ [...]
From Nokia officially announces Dopplr acquisition : SEO | Search Engine Optimization | Web development - October 1, 2009 12:56 pm - #
[...] According to Martin Varsavsky, an investor in both Dopplr and Plazes, Nokia is a “force of good in the European start up scene“. As Varsavsky sees it, Nokia “is weak is in services” and therefore “small acquisitions make sense” in the realm of software. I tend to agree, although the real question, of course, is whether Nokia is focusing on the right services. When one looks at the success Apple has realized with the App Store, for instance, and then compares it to Nokia’s attempt, one has to wonder if Nokia is playing too much around the edges, so to speak. While there’s definitely value in services like Dopplr and Plazes, and even more value in the knowledge their teams bring, it’s questionable if these small acquisitions can collectively turn into game-changers. [...]
From Bizzmodels.com » Blog Archive » Nokia Confirms Dopplr Acquisition, Joining Services Team - October 18, 2009 1:54 pm - #
[...] Martin Varsavsky: “While I really don’t know what Nokia plans to do with Dopplr I believe that an integration of the service with Nokia phones would make a lot of sense.” [...]