I found this interesting interview of Nick Desai from the mobile marketing company Juice Wireless (link below). This is a company to keep an eye on. Earlier I mentioned Juice Wireless and their JuiceCaster mobile media service.
In the interview, by Mobile Marketing Magazine, Nick makes a few comments that clearly shows that he gets the integration between Web and mobile.
Here’s one example he used:
Take Epicurious. It’s an online database of 18,000 recipes. So you find
the recipe that appeals to you, and then what would usually happen is
that you hit the ‘Print’ button, the recipe goes to your printer, and
when you’re in the grocery store two days later trying to get the
ingredients you need to make the meal, they are still sitting at home
on your printer. So we have created a mobile application called Epi To
Go which sends the recipe to your phone and creates a mobile web page
with the ingredients for all the recipes you have marked.*
And then he says later on:
It all comes back to the increasing reliance of people in the US on the
Internet to get through day-to-day life. This is what gives us the
opportunity to create these applications that integrate with the
Internet. [emphasis mine] The user interface on the phone is limited. People will always want a small, lightweight phone, so you will never
have a great keypad and screen. Those limitations will not go away, so
you have to look at how you combat them, and the way you do it is by
creating intelligent applications that seamlessly integrate with the
Net experience. You won’t search an 18,000-recipe database on your
phone. Where the phone comes into play is for the retrieval of the
data, and that’s what it is all about.
And then brings up another example of Web-mobile integration:
The pizza-ordering application is a similar idea. We are talking to one
of the four major pizza chains right now. No one will go through 14
toppings, large or extra large and all that on the phone, but if you
can enter your address and your typical order on your computer and then
1-click order from your phone on the way home, that’s great.
Link: Mobile Marketing Magazine: View from the States.
*I can see this Epi To Go doing some other cool stuff, like advertising the recipes at the store to make the reverse mobile to PC direction. Hmm.
UPDATE 30jul07: This post is 18 months old. Unfortunately, the only comments have been mostly negative ones of Nick Desai. This past month has been very busy with the bulk of the negative comments coming in. Something’s up, and I realized that I didn’t want to be a part of it. Since this last wave started, I’ve been wanting to close the comments, because I really don’t want this site to be a Nick-bashing site.
There will always be positive and negative comments on folks and I’ve seen all sorts of folks in this industry. But, I’m closing comments and asking folks to go elsewhere to continue this conversation around Nick Desai (which was not the original point of this article).
I worked with Nick Desai and the David Herman. They completely mislead me like they do many times. I am in the process of suing them for fraud and breach of contract. I was hired to do publicity. They are the two most unethical peoplo I have ever met. Doing business with these two is EXTREMELY risky. I am know filing a law suit against these two. Trust me, run from from these two. BAD NEWS!!!
Darren Jordan
the jordan agency
323.230.7379
Nick and Daid are both scam artists. They offered me a VP position then recanted. This compnay is a scam and all should be aware. I too will be taking legal action against them for Fraud.
I knew David Herman for years, and the guy’s a big time cokehead in the New York scene, or at least he used to be. I’ve heard his partner Nick Desai is a complete scumbag, too. These guys are amateurs. Stay away.
I would like to recruit out of Juice…. or any company where I can find an MVNO wireless architect…. anyone have any referrals or suggestions??
Thanks!
I worked for Juice for 6 months as a PHP programmer. On the positive, they did pay above the average and both Nick and David treated us well overall. However they did let me go with no warning and never provided a reason. It was just an unexpected phone call ‘your services are no longer needed’ early in the morning and that was it. I worked on 4 projects that ultimately were non-money makers and were sort of ridiculous and ill-conceived. They always seemed to be making financing deals with VC’s. Most of the time I wondered how any these projects made any money. Nick is a very good salesman and can sell snow to an Eskimo. I think their modus was to go make the deals and get the financing up front, if development doesn’t work out – make up some excuses then get another round of financing going. During staff meetings Nick would tell us, we’re great and amazing and we’re all in on the ground floor and that their going public and we’re all going to be millionaires blah, blah, blah etc… And at the time he really does believe it. But when things are not going well, they’ll drop you in a second and move on to the next round of selling an idea. Be careful when dealing with these guys, don’t believe all the hype.
Nick Desai, Zkey, and anything affiliated w/those entities are evil and must be destroyed. From selling non-existent laptops and Internet products to identity theft, Desai is the ultimate scam king. Oh, and let us not forget Dr. Sunjay, the “sincere” VP and crony of Desai and Zkey. My question: How have these towel heads avoided prison thus far?
DEPORTATION NOW!!
You know what also sucks? That despite the crap conditions, their ‘creative director’ was given a $50,000 bonus just for coming back from maternity leave! And you know why? Because her husband seems completely oblivious to the fact that Nick Desai is in love with his wife and is creepily into their child. He even moved to a place just to be closer to them! What a terrible place to work.
Oh, right, and ousting David Herman? Smart move, backstabbers. God, I can’t wait for you guys to pack up shop from your failing crap. Rework the site again and again with no branding!
Desai’s partner Jay Udani was a saint. He’s now doing what he was trained to do – healing sick people as a world class alternative medicine M.D. Desai’s other Zkey partner was some momma’s boy who jumped at Nick’s commands. When Juice implodes, as it is now spiraling around the drain – I look to Nimesh Desai to try to re-invent the Slurpee. Sorry Nick, no such thing as wi-fi at Seven Eleven bro.
Desai’s partner Jay Udani was a saint. He’s now doing what he was trained to do – healing sick people as a world class alternative medicine M.D. Desai’s other Zkey partner was some momma’s boy who jumped at Nick’s commands. When Juice implodes, as it is now spiraling around the drain – I look to Nimesh Desai to try to re-invent the Slurpee. Sorry Nick, no such thing as wi-fi at Seven Eleven bro.
Nick Desai might be the worst businessman on the planet. He has screwed everryone he has ever worked with and he treats most people with a tremendous amount of disrespect. What has this moron ever accomplished that he acts like this? Your guess is as good as mine.
A birdie told me that people are leaving his company every week and soon it will be just him, his best friend and his best friend’s wife (who he wished was his) He can not even get the girl. I heard he failed even keeping his fiancee. Bye Bye Juice and your investor’s money. Qualcomm must be proud to be associated with this moron
Not only is Nick a liar and a cheat, he’s a terrible leader and business person. He will say anything to anyone to get his way and generally his shtick is full of misfacts and wishful thinking. Too bad, there are actually lots of great developers and QA people on the team – recruiters, start your phones now!
I find all of these comments not only accurate but sadly funny. I worked there for a while, and I can honestly say that I have never worked anywhere more disorganized or destined to fail than Juice. And it ALL comes down to the CEO. He is without doubt the least capable leader i’ve ever dealt with. I’ve seen Girl Scout leaders with more talent. And I’ve seen better-run Lemonade stands. It’s so dismal there, I almost wonder if they WANT the place to fail. As long as Nick is in charge that place will never go anywhere. I DO feel bad for the staff because they do have some good people there. As mentioned, the Dev and QA staff are great, and they put in lots and lots of hard work and hours to get Nick’s half-baked and poorly planned ideas out the door. If you can grab any of those folks not only will you get a great employee, they will probably be eternally grateful to never have to see or hear Nicks voice again. Seriously, no one there is happy. not a single person. Nick is a Hack, a Charlatan, a Lousy Human Being, and so obviously unhappy in his own skin that you can tell that he derives great pleasure in making sure that everyone is as miserable as he is. There is a good way to tell when Nick is lying. His lips are moving.
I have been an investor in Juice Wireless for nearly 3 years and our fund has participated in all rounds of fund-raising done by Juice Wireless. This article is about a great mobile app like Epi-to-go, something which Nick invented, which Juice built, which WON the MMA’s Best Use of Mobile Marketing Award and which is STILL live today, three years after its creation. I find the comments and posts above to be mean-spirited, sometimes racist and factually incorrect. Juice Wireless is a great company with a bright future and Nick is a hard-working, devoted CEO. Flat out LIES about a $50,000 bonus given by the company are just that – lies. It is unfortunate that the medium of blogging is being used in this way. My facts are correct, so I will sign my name – David Anthony, 21 Ventures LLC.”