txtNation, Spotlight: From small “bedroom business” to industry leader

txtNation, Spotlight: From small “bedroom business” to industry leader
txtNation, one of Europe’s leading independent carrier-neutral SMS billing provider. In fact, it was just that optimistic business outlook that was chiefly behind the creation of txtNation.

txtNation was formed in 2002, by Michael Whelan and Jon Roswell, two young entrepreneurs who befriended each other during their studies at University in England (Whelan studied computing; Roswell was in business). As Whelan recalls, the decision to start their company came about shortly after graduation.

“We had looked at and both been interested in m-commerce for the large part of college,” he remembers. “We had seen a large gap in the market, and we had thought about and discussed it outlining future possibilities.”

With txtNation, the pair had one vision in mind for their joint venture: “to be the elite mobile solution and service provider in the U.K.” They started the company as a “bedroom business,” though they quickly attracted the attention of some of the U.K.’s largest companies, including DCS Europe (One of the UK’s largest companies), which came on board as a financial supporter. After txtNation achieved its goal of taking the U.K. by storm, txtNation focused their efforts on the rest of Europe, which they also quickly conquered.

txtNation has introduced several services over the years, the first being PEOPLEFIND (today a leading mobile chat and dating application), mPUSH (a content-to-mobile application), mCHAT (an SMS text chatting option) and most recently, the wildly successful and revolutionary mENABLE (an SMS and mobile phone billing option). These applications have pushed txtNation to the top of the heap when it comes to mobile business.

“The aggressive and relentless pursuit of developing and maintaining such leading applications has now found txtNation in the enviable position of being among the most viral names in mobile,” Michael Whelan, Director states.

Indeed, from its presence in more than 28 countries worldwide to its award-winning services (mPUSH was awarded the coveted Mobile Marketing Association Award for “Best Use of Mobile Technology” in 2003, and mENABLE
received the “Best Mobile Billing Solution” awards in 2004), txtNation has become a company virtually synonymous with “viral,” managing more than 3 million messages a month and operating from a sizeable and reputable customer base that includes some of the most respected brands in this space.

The growth rate for the company has been so big, in fact, that the company is now focusing on markets in the United States and Asia, though txtNation concedes that it may be some time before the U.S. catches up to its cousins overseas. “The U.S. is behind Europe due to the fact that all European tellcos used the GSM standard from the outset,” he explains. “The U.S. will catch up, but we believe it will take another five years for them to overtake Europe in this space.” Of course, that’s not stopping txtNation from trying to turn itself into, as txtNation trumpets, “the industry standard
for all m-commerce requirements.”

For his part, Whelan believes that txtNation is in a prime spot to help lead the charge for mobile advancement. “We focus on mobile entirely-the solutions themselves, not [the] provisioning of the content or WAP/mobile designs,” he says of what makes the company different from some of its competitors. Whelan adds that now is the perfect time to be riding on the mobile bandwagon. “I firmly believe mobile will be the wave of the future,” he predicts. “Billing solutions and advanced content systems will evolve and services will become better optimised for the handset.” He continues that the mobile movement will progress as handset technology advances:

“Once the barrier of smaller screens has been overcome, more people will take to mobile for more services. Usability is a major factor, as at the end of the day, it’s the customers who are always right.”

As Whelan says, txtNation often takes the advice of those customers into consideration, and he and Roswell are very critical of themselves when it’s warranted. “As with any company you can never be satisfied,” he begins. “We are only at the start of what we hope will evolve and be a fantastic relationship within this industry. We have to keep on top of regulations and technology improvements, ensuring our services remain a companies first choice of call.”

Future plans, include simply staying on top of new technological developments and offering new services where they can. “Our plan is to constantly strive to develop new and innovative applications that allow our partners to capitalize on the opportunities afforded by the convergence of Web, billing, and mobile technologies,” he promises. And what, pray tell, does he believe the next big thing to be? “Live streaming to mobile is widely expected to be the next killer application, and will take the already successful SMS chat services to the next level-a ’must-have’ for webcam operators, who will be able to seamlessly integrate mobile into their existing operations, creating an instant brand new market and subsequent revenue stream,” he responds.

But in case you think the folks at txtNation are living in a bubble, consider Whelan’s rather sober advice to other webmasters and entrepreneurs looking to join the latest craze. “Mobile is never going to replace the Web in that it will be used as a medium to stream full movies and access highly interactive sites that are meant for the larger screens,” Whelan says.

“This is not our aim anyway. Mobile is, however, going to be the perfect medium for previews and optimised content. In commercial terms, mobile content will, in the end, be just like today’s Web content: made by professionals for
corporations.”