It has been two years since UK based TechCrunch co-editor Mike Butcher has payed the Swiss startup scene a visit. My recordings of the elevator pitches have been viewed over 5000 times. Some more often like Poken, with over 600 views, others with only 14 views. Now that two years have passed, I thought it might be a good idea and look back. Were any of the startups successful? Are they still around? Have some exited or joined the dead pool? To answer this questions I have created the following list with a quick status update for each startup, which presented. The list is in no particular order.
OptionRating: fabware, creating iPhone apps
FundExplorer: renamed to ETFexplorer?
Sobees: developed clients for Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and others for various devices (iPhone, iPad, web)
mixin: never heard much of them, no real update since May 2009
groops: no progress or big update, seems to have stopped
dixero: not sure, page still asks for pre-registrations, not a very active twitter feed, blank pages on website
CulturePod: active, creating new interview and videos
Cassiber: doing fine
babyZbook: dead pool? no information found
Zattoo: sold to Swiss news paper group TA Media
yes: online radio with chat? still great domain name (yes.com)
wuala: joined French based LaCie (manufacturer of hard drives), stores over 200 million files
webnode: still running, not sure if this counts a Swiss startup
W2ML: no idea…
trigami: still located in Basel, still in the same business
swisspoll: no clue, they don’t have a CEO or anything
SwarmCast: no clue, last press release is from September 2009
Starfruit: create/buy goods in Second Life and let them deliver to your real life, dead?
six signs: no idea, no information found, dead?
Semacle: no updates since August 2009, dead?
routeRank: alive, no idea how well they are doing
Profession Web: not sure, blog?
procedural: doing pretty well, I suppose
poken: personally still not a fan, funding over 2 million Swiss francs, now based in San Francisco
playyoo: on autorun, last blog entry from August 2009
NewsCred: still active in creating custom online newspapers
LiberoVision: doing great, big presence in the 2010 World Cup
kleWel: active, no idea how well they are doing
key lemon: selling their software for CHF 19.95
holistis: no idea, not a clue
gbanga: product launched, expanding
Faircustomer: selling stuff
doodle: reporting 6 million unique users a month
bluewatchdog: still active, product works on new devices/phones
amiando: not really swiss startup, but doing great
Warning: This app is in no way official or approved by Zattoo. I have just spend little over 2 hours to create this app. The data usage is like 6 megabytes per minutes. So make sure you use Wifi or a data flat rate if you watch TV.
Requirements
Android 2.2 (FroYo)
Adobe Flash Player 10.1 BETA (in the Android Market)
TV.Centerr (my app)
Screenshots
Download
Search for Zattoo or TV.Centerr or scan the QR code below. If you do not have Android 2.2 installed, the app will not show up!
I admit it, one thing that Android phones are missing are apps for live TV. There is a native app for Zattoo or Swiss newspapers offer apps to watch and record TV. But now thanks to Android 2.2 and Flash 10.1 for Android phones, I can now enjoy the full repertoire of TV channels on the Zattoo website.
The steam is very smooth, steady and the audio is great. The only problem are HiQ streams. Those are not synced and the video is not smooth. Other than that my quick test seems to be good. So get yourself Android 2.2, the Flash 10.1 BETA 3 and enjoy some Zattoo TV.
First things first: Apple refreshed their Mac Mini computer. Nice upgrade I have to admit. But there is also a downside. And as so often it lies in the price…
Update: as journalist and Apple user Thomas Benkö just noted, are the new prices CHF 300.- higher than for the old system.
Country
US-Dollar ($)
Swiss Franc (CHF)
Euro (€)
Difference
USA
$699
CHF 798
€ 572
Switzerland
$876
CHF 999
€ 717
+ 25%
Germany
$988
CHF 1’128
€ 809
+ 41%
France
$976
CHF 1’113
€799
+ 39%
Spain
$952
CHF 1’085
€779
+ 36%
Canada
$725
CHF 828
€595
+ 4%
Of course the US and Canada prices do not include taxes (usually around 10-15%). But even with that added, the Swiss Mac Mini is 10% more expensive.
I am particularly sorry for my German friends…
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