Source: www.socialnetworkingwatch.com
SNW INTERVIEW — Jan 17 — OnePIN was the most interesting company I came across at the Social Networking Conference in Amsterdam. I interviewed OnePIN’s CEO, Feyzi Celik. – Mark Brooks
What is your background?
I was the CEO of the North American Division of Koç Group, currently a $35 billion business. I was meeting a lot of people, getting stacks of business cards every week and I had a hard time keeping everyone’s contact information up to date. I was developing a large business network, however, when I attempted to contact people I often found that their information was outdated. This drove me to find an alternative process to connect with people, efficiently storing their information in my phonebook with the ability to leverage these relationships down the road. So that’s how OnePIN started.
How did you come to start OnePIN?
The idea came about in 1998 while I was working at Koç Group. The first business model was a web-based solution (an idea that was also brought to market in different ways by Plaxo and LinkedIn). In 2002, our patents were issued and I invested my own money to get the business off the ground. We were successful in selling the service to universities for a number of years.
In 2005, we designed and developed the technology to offer the same simple social networking feature on the mobile phone – the device we all use when meeting people on a daily basis. From this point, we shifted the entire business and focused solely on mobile solutions. We raised venture financing to grow our mobile business globally and have successfully completed two rounds of VC financing. Today, we have deployed our CallerXchange mobile service with mobile operators in various countries around the world.
How does CallerXchange work?
CallerXchange transforms today’s static mobile phonebooks into dynamic Social Address Books. It is deployed by mobile operators as part of their normal SIM card distribution process – every new subscriber is automatically offered the CallerXchange service. The service is very easy to use, let me give you the use case. If I were to call you from my mobile phone, after I hang-up CallerXchange asks me to exchange my contact details with you. I have the option to send you my business or personal information (which can include phone numbers, email or even social networking invites). After the selection, I’m done….it’s that simple. On your side, your phone beeps and asks you “Add Feyzi to your phonebook?”, and all my information will be inserted into your phonebook with one click. You can also return the favor and the exchange is complete. If I change my contact information in the future, I can automatically send you an update the next time we chat. One click, that’s all mobile subscribers need to build and maintain their mobile social address book of family, friends and business associates.
So how about compatibility? Is it the specific phones that work with CallerXchange or the carriers? Just how open is it?
CallerXchange works on all GSM networks and we built it on the SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card. So when you get your new SIM card and insert it into your phone, CallerXchange begins working immediately and is 100% compatible with every standard GSM device in the marketplace. Subscribers can exchange their contact details across different networks and countries. In fact, subscribers in over 180 countries have used CallerXchange to enhance their mobile phonebook.
Is there any way of sharing the application with somebody who doesn’t have the CallerXchange service?
Let’s say I send you a CX message and you do not have CallerXchange on your SIM card. You will receive a text message with my contact details and if you reply, I can add you to my phonebook with one click. Also, each CX message sent to a subscriber in another network contains an advertising message that promotes the operator’s brand or services.
You’re working with a number of carriers around the world. Where are you focusing your marketing efforts at this stage?
We’ve started with Latin America and have multiple deployments within the America Movil (Claro), Cable and Wireless and Orange groups. This success has enabled our growth into Africa with the MTN group and we are now expanding to Europe and Russia. We’re pretty much everywhere except Asia. We’ve recently signed our first European deal and have built a significant sales pipeline across each region.
When you sign distribution deals, does CallerXchange ride on all of the GSM phones across the board?
Yes it does. So when the operator signs the contract with us, it goes onto every SIM card that is shipped into the marketplace from that point forward. It’s automatically available to every subscriber with a new SIM card, regardless of the handset as our service is handset-agnostic. We are seeing utilization rates of over 40% for subscribers who have CallerXchange onboard.
How do you make money?
A CX message is billed to subscribers by the operator. OnePIN gets paid by the operator for every CX message.
What does the end user pay?
Depending on the market, a CX message costs between 5 to 20 cents.
How can social networks partner with you? What is their slice of the pie?
Our model enables us to reach the three billion mobile subscriber market. We are an enabler that brings social connectivity to the mobile phonebook after every unique phone call. Therefore, we are able to convert a phone conversation into an enhanced social networking relationship (transforming eardrums into eyeballs), driving voice and data services for mobile operators and increasing traffic and activity for social networking brands. We are currently in discussions with both groups on our next generation social networking service offering which we will be talking publically about later this year.