Before you go...AvantGo

[Jason Dunn]

<a href="http://www.brighthand.com/newsite/features/avantgo.html">http://www.brighthand.com/newsite/features/avantgo.html</a><br /><br />This Brighthand interview with AvantGo CEO Richard Owen makes for an interesting read. Their response on Mazingo is a little cheeky, and I wish Steve would have asked him the tough question: do you really expect your channel partners to make enough money on advertising to subsidize a $6000+ per year charge?<br /><br />"According to AvantGo chief executive officer Richard Owen, mobility doesn't just mean a wireless connection, and he should know. Hayward, California-based AvantGo, Inc. has been mobilizing consumers and businesses alike with its popular "synchronize and go" products for several years. In fact, its mobile Internet service has nearly 5 million subscribers, many of whom signed up with their first PDA.<br /><br />AvantGo works as an "intelligent translator" of sorts, grabbing content from websites and reformatting it for handheld computers. Consumers subscribe to "channels," which are created by content publishers, for example CNN or USA Today. When a device--be it a Palm, Pocket PC or BlackBerry--synchronizes, AvantGo software on the desktop computer communicates with AvantGo's proxy servers, which fetch the information for the subscribed channels and downloads it to the device. AvantGo software on the handheld device takes over from there, providing a browser-like experience that mimics a wireless connection."

[mclaughlinc]

Didn't his mother ever tell him if he could not say something nice then don't say anything at all!

He (Richard Owen) forgot to mention that Mazingo deliveries radio and video content as well.

I for one have just about switched completely to Mazingo from Avantgo. The 2 meg limit is what made me look else where. It will be interesting to see where Mazingo and Avantgo are next year.

Any predictions??

[seatec]

http://www.seatechnical.com/images/msn_avantgo.jpg

I like how MSN Mobile now supports the Avantgo community. I used to use the offline MSN quite often. Another one to Mazingo!!!

[seatec]

Just an update. changed over to the Mazingo MSN Mobile and it has most of the same that Avantgo used to have. Mazingo rocks. Glad I got in on the early Premium channels. 8)

[jpzr]

In fact, its mobile Internet service has nearly 5 million subscribers, many of whom signed up with their first PDA.
...
AvantGo software on the handheld device takes over from there, providing a browser-like experience that mimics a wireless connection."

It is interesting to see at last confirmation of my considerations!
After I sold website JavaMobiles.com I was searching for name
for website and I was considering:

MobileSoftware dot something
and
WirelessSoftware dot something

and I came to conclusion that actually that what interests
me more is "Wireless Software" - it means software with connectivity
of wireless type - online, not off-line. Do I understand correctly this distinction? AvantGo claims to be
"mobile Internet" solution, but it is NOT wireless Internet service!

Since fixed Internet is available for flat rates and cheaply,
but cell phone internet connections still are charged per
kilobytes or time, you can clearly see where cash lies:
in wireless software, not in mobile software!

And as far as AvantGo is concerned I am really dissappointed:
they should have found some financing solution, similar to that one of
www.google.com -> google is not charging you for using it!
google has found a way to finance its several thousand of
servers which handle google. But AvantGo went the easy way:
to charge content providers ! This is absurd. I THINK THAT MICROSOFT SHOULD DROP AVANTGO FROM ITS DEFAULT EMBEDDING WITH POCKETPC!

I myself switched totally to Mazingo and the only problem I experience
with Mazingo is the fact that a couple of my friends use Palm devices
(since long long time and you cannot convince them to PocketPC)
and they cannot use Mazingo - I cannot offer them my content...

[Tari Akpodiete]

yeah, well Mazingo is getting ready to do PalmOS!

[IpaqMan2]

Just an update. changed over to the Mazingo MSN Mobile and it has most of the same that Avantgo used to have. Mazingo rocks. Glad I got in on the early Premium channels. 8)

Seatec, what do you mean you got in onthe early premium channels? Do you mean you go them for free? If so, which ones?




Yeah Mazingo rocks.. I moved the day Advantgo start blocking custom channels. I also like all the rich multimedia and what seems to be an unlimmited amount of channels I have with them.

[BadgerSoft]

IpaqMan2,

I believe he means in the very beginning Mazingo was offering a free lifetime premium membership if you registered (back in November was it?).

I took advantage of it as well. Can't wait for my 3870 to come in so I can store the channels to an SD card while sync'ing with my WLAN CF card. It's the only thing that's been keeping me from using it regularly.

[helloboys]

I still prefer AvantGo. Mazingo seems really slow, and I dislike having to use an extra app (for syncing and reading). MZ really need to get an ActiveSync provider happening.

[Steven Cedrone]

I dislike having to use an extra app (for syncing and reading).

Actually, I prefer that the sync is done "outside" of ActiveSync. I can't tell you how many times Avantgo caused my ActiveSync to crash or stop responding......

[lar3ry]

Actually, I prefer that the sync is done "outside" of ActiveSync. I can't tell you how many times Avantgo caused my ActiveSync to crash or stop responding......
In addition, being able to sync directly to CompactFlash card (courtesy of an inexpensive USB CF reader), makes it faster, especially when you are downloading LOTS of files/links.

One problem with Mazingo is that you need to "register" your published site with them. I have a couple of perl scripts that regularly collect local weather information from NOAA and other similar information that is only interesting to me. Using Avantgo, I can simply tell it the URL of my page, and the link depth. With Mazingo, I need to "register" the site, which means that other people could be pounding on my web server.

As a result, I continue to use both Avantgo and Mazingo. I'm always tweaking my services, and continue to be impressed by the steady improvement that I'm seeing in Mazingo.