ideegeo Group Limited

It is with a huge amount of pride that we announce the launch of two new registrar sites. In conjunction with a great partner in the Netherlands we’ve created Ben ik Vrij a Dutch language version of our iWantMyName site. With all the functionality of our existing platform plus full Euro currency integration Ben ik Vrij allows us to enter one of the largest domain markets in Europe.

But we aren’t just stopping there. We’ve also opened a wholly owned and operated German language site and we called it simply Mein Name. The German site is a special achievement because ideegeo in part has its origins in an idea that began in Germany. Mein Name a little bit like a return home for us.

The new sites demonstrate how we can powerfully leverage the underlying technology behind iWantMyName and how we can make other partnerships work in new markets. Expect to see further rollouts and cool new services in the future as we change the face of domain name management.

Erlang is a functional programming language that evolved out of the telco space and was built for concurrency. It is a perfect fit for everything that needs to run in parallel and is a native citizen in cloud based computing. We used Erlang for our iPhone interface in the iWantMyName project and use CouchDB for various purposes in several projects. We are experimenting with RabbitMQ and run an ejabberd jabber server; and I am sure we have even more Erlang based software that I have forgotten to list.

Because of the high level of interest in this language, we have decided to host an Erlang usergroup in Wellington commencing in February. We are so confident in the further establishment of Erlang that we have employed it successfully in some of our own projects. Furthermore, a number of the toolsets we use to build our projects or run our infrastructure are built in Erlang as well. As we foresee a growing need for Erlang programmers, we are trying to raise awareness around this very special programming language.

If you are interested in Erlang or in software based on Erlang or just curious how functional programming works generally (or how wired the guys doing it look like!) then please come along and chat with us. Most probably we will chat about CouchDB as well and if you are interested in other erlang based software then you are very welcome to contribute to the discussion.

We have a google group on http://groups.google.com/group/erlounge-wellington

When: 3rd Feb 2009
Time: 6:00 PM
Where: AltSpace (http://altspace.co.nz/)

Suite 607, Level 6 29 Brandon Street, Wellington

see you there.

Pretty boy rockers from the band Europe released a cult classic over twenty years ago with a triumphant keyboard riff that still thrills listeners today. We hope our new domain registrar site will roar up the sales charts and still be number one in a couple of decades too.

It’s now only a few days to until we go public with the new site. The smooth lines and easy functionality of the site belies the many hours of hard work that has gone into the project. Our tech guys may not be as good looking as the band members from Europe, but they sure as hell work just as hard to satisfy their audience. We’ve had to overcome a few hurdles along the way, like banks who don’t want to know about start-up companies in the current economic climate and bureaucrats who don’t understand the pace of life in a fast moving new company and take two weeks to return your calls and emails. But with dogged determination we’ve pressed on.

Things move fast on the Web and online enterprises must continually reinvent themselves and reinvigorate their business model - especially when economies are faltering. That’s why we don’t want to be just another wannabe. Differentiating our product is important, very much so. That’s why we are planning semantic search functionality and a whole host of value added services that other registrars do not offer.

ideegeo has a vision for the future that is both user-centric and grounded in the realities of cloud computing and hosted services which are now coming of age and launching daily on a desktop or mobile platform near you. Web users of the near future will need mobility and portability. Owning and managing your own personal domain will be as ubiquitous as owning a car or a refrigerator. In fact your car and fridge will probably come complete with their own IP addresses! That’s when you demand - “I want my name!”.

We’ll release more once we’ve signed off on our final testing phase. Stay tuned to this channel.

So what are we currently working on? Well, apart from the already mentioned iPhone software there is a brand new domain registration web site under development. The topic of domain registrar site usability was covered by Domain Name Wire and Tucows’ Ross Rader a couple of months ago. Making the user experience a happier one is a goal close to our hearts at ideegeo and it is something we hope to address with our forthcoming registrar site and related product line.

You don’t need to look far to find sites that simply do not cater adequately for the user experience. The worlds biggest domain registrar Go Daddy is a good example. I really do not want to buy the Go Daddy girl, four other domains and a hosting plan. I just want my domain name! On the other hand Go Daddy recently introduced a new service called SmartSpace which was covered by ReadWriteWeb and is a step in the right direction. But again there is one comment in the ReadWriteWeb article which speaks volumes about the current lack of innovation in the domain industry, “Do they really need to offer new domains to users all the time? The registrars are still so focused on catering to domainers that the UX sucks ass.”

But there is hope. Services like the social network based on domains Chi.mp or Hover from Tucows show that there are at least some companies who think about how you can connect Web 2.0 technologies with domain names and bundle value added services into the mix. However, it seems like most first generation domain registrars which were founded around the turn of the millenium, after the fall of Network Solution’s monopoly, are totally stuck in their current business models.

That’s why we have decided to take a different direction with ideegeo. Our web sites are domain-centric, focussed on usability and simplicity and built with the actual Internet end user in mind. We want to help you to get the domain name you want and we intend to make that process as uncomplicated as possible. We are inspired by companies like 37signals and their ‘Getting Real‘ manifesto. We have the freedom to build everything from scratch using cool open source technologies like Erlang and CouchDB. That’s fun!

We will keep on working hard in the next couple of weeks to present you with our first product well before Christmas. Watch out for further announcements.

Carsonified run a series of events featuring web design and mobility in both the UK and U.S. Now they are giving away a magic golden ticket including an airfare and free pass to the event of your choice. It is a magical proposition for us because we are based on the other side of the world but would love to get to some of these events.

Carsonified host the Future of Web Design, Future of Web Apps, Future of Mobile, Fuel and other Workshops and are always on our radar when it comes to interesting web stuff.

So please help us to win the ticket! All we need is 25 comments to this blog post before the end of September.

And you can win something too! As we are sponsoring and attending the Software Freedom Day 08 event in Wellington we will give away a sweet surprise for all attendees who visit us and leave a comment on this blog during the event. We will also blog live from SFD’08 and feed the little bird by the way.

If you want to meet us in person watch out for some guys with white MacBooks and shiny white polo shirts with our logo. You just can’t miss us.

Even if you are not attending SFD08, you can still leave a comment too of course. Please.

Telco mobile networks are toast without good content

It is always encouraging to make some progress forward in a new business, so it was pleasing to round off the week by signing an agreement with a development partner to work on our much anticipated iPhone application. What would be even more encouraging is if the telcos stimulated growth in the mobile application industry.

ideegeo is collaborating with coravy. Limited, an Apple approved iPhone developer. They will provide us with a stylish mobile interface and we will deliver the back end search functionality based on our underlying technology. It’s a win for both parties because we both get to extend our development skills and demonstrate capability. We’ll be sharing more about this as we achieve some milestones in the project. We have a mobile product pipeline planned, but should have version 1.0 available within a couple of months.

The telecommunications providers should be pleased that developers are thinking about next generation applications. With Telecom having taken years to make the decision to invest in WCDMA it was no surprise that it was found to be losing market share to Vodafone. Now that Telecom is planning to switch over to a 3G capable network by about November we will finally see some competition in the market place. The networking technology itself is moving ahead in leaps and bounds and as capacity ramps up prices must drop. More attractive pricing plus lots of cool apps should ensure that mobile computing will finally hit the mainstream in New Zealand and globally.

What is still unclear is why the telcos rarely talk to independent developers. It’s all very fine investing in mobile network infrastructure, but if there is no product who is going to use it? Telcos have traditionally not been successful at developing their own content offerings, whereas small niche developers have been. The telcos want to retain and grow their user base, so why not encourage mobile application development as an industry? Where are the telco sponsored developer forums, competitions for best mobile app and the investments into intrapreneurial spinoff ventures? Surely we can do a bit better than PacMan and mobile Bridezilla?

Finally everything came together!

The ideegeo Group just moved into a new office in the co-working space AltSpace in Wellington. Our preparations have lasted for some months and it is good to see that things are really starting now. We are currently refining our strategy and build some backend technologies which will help us to quickly go to the market with new products in the future. This is an exciting time and we are all happy to be part of it. And could it be any better than starting our business in a beautiful country like New Zealand? We don’t think so. The wilderness and untouched natural world is exactly the environment we love and need and which gives us the freedom to have fun and to be creative in what we do.

This blog might not have many updates in the beginning because - to be honest - we have more important things to do. But we are listening to you and will keep you informed on Twitter and Friendfeed in the meantime where you can follow us already. And don’t forget to become a fan of us on Facebook.

Have fun. We surely have!