ForbesOnTech

Midomi Mobile, Perfect Harmony in Music Search-- Right Place Right Time With an iPhone App

Apple opened it’s iPhone online applications store concurrently with the public release of its new 3G iPhone this week. I guess we can all relax now, the sun is coming up in the post-launch world and there appears to be an initial strong flood tide of applications for Apple’s mobile platform.

            There are few surprises in the first round of iPhone applications; location-centric, business, entertainment and personal productivity applications are a;; represented.

            But initially I wanted to focus on an iPhone version of an application category I’ve watched since the 1990’s—music. High on my list of “hot iPhone apps” is  a music search application called Midomi Mobile. What this application does that’s heretofore been missing in music search, is allow its users to hum, sing, and use multiple modes of inputting rough data to find individual or groups of songs.

            Midomi Mobile is from a Sunnyvale startup called Melodis Corp, whose sound recognition-based search technology is something that’s been missing in Internet –based music services until very recently. Midomi Mobile works even if you can’t carry a tune, or if your singing voice sounds like a bullfrog being castrated. Melodis claims it’s musical search technology is extremely accurate.

            In my continuing quest to fill out my 1970’s music catalogue, I’d love to try and hum a few bars from Little Feet’s “song “Red Streamliner” or the Allman’s Brothers “Les Bres in A Minor” to see if this service delivers on its promises. Or, I just might get up around 3 AM and record birdsongs in my orchard to see I it understands I’m trying to identify and locate the Beatles song “Blackbird (singing in the dead of night)”

            The online video demonstration of Midomi is one of the most compelling consumer technology pitches I’ve ever viewed. It’s exactly the sort of pitch that I would respond to when picking companies for Demo, before my retirement several years ago. Besides its apparent accuracy in returning results to difficult queries entered by off-key singing, humming or haphazard lyrics entry, Midomi also has features that let you annotate and share query results and in some cases music, with friends or readers of personal blogs. The new iPhone application also provides simple one-click links to music and related content from sites such as iTunes.

            But what really makes my heart sing about Midomi Mobile is that it’s a perfect match for two key Apple business strategies; iPhone and iTunes. It’s dificul;t to imagine this three-year–old start up not being pitched heavily by Apple when it needs to demonstrate technologies that bolster its key business units.

            Other music search services have come and gone-- but I suspect Melodis’ Midomi Mobile will set a new gold standard in this category. The technology is tightly linked to Apple and this developer is fosued sharply on an application category that show almost no signs of slowing its hockey stick growth.—Jim Forbes—07/11/2008.

Q&A with Kleiner Perkins' Matt Murphy on the iFund

I've spent several days now thinking about Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers' and Apple Inc's attempts to bolster the iPhone with a $100
million venture fund.
    First, I believe iFund could legitimize the iPhone in virtually all segments of the market, taking it far beyond the realm of the so-called "Apple Faithful" who wait in line for every new Apple product.
    Second, the overall effect of the iFund will extend far beyond iPhone
platform and help make the mobile Internet a reality not only for
Apple iPhone users s, but for all mobile phone users.
    Finally, the iFund is a much different proposition than KPCB's
previous platform-based venture effort. The Java Fund.  Although both
the iFund and the Java Fund initially have the same value, $100
million, the first fund was subject to the forces of several large
corporate entities, including  IBM and Sun Microsystems. The iFund was
raised solely by Kleiner Perkins and is only concerned with one large
corporate partner, Apple Inc.

If you want to get to the core of the iFund, there's only one person
to as questions of; Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers partner Matt Murphy, an
eight-year veteran of the firm and a member of KPCB's Information
Technology investment team. The following are some of the questions I
asked Matt Murphy and his replies:
ForbesonTech: What are some of the differences between the iFund and
the Java Fund?
Matt Murphy: The Java Fund had many different strategic partners. The
iFund is focused on one partner and it's all KPCB's money.
ForbesonTech: Does Apple have to "approve" iFund investments?
Matt Murphy: Apple doesn't have to approve anyone, except when the
investment is strategically aligned with its goals/
ForbesonTech: Will Apple help iFund companies with cooperative
marketing programs and funds?
Matt Murphy: Apple will control internal editorial and marketing, at
Apple stores and on its website, but I haven’t heard anything yet on
whether or not Apple will establish cooperative marketing programs
for iFund companies.
ForbesonTech: Have there been any surprises since Klein Perkins
announced the iFund?
Matt Murphy: The response to the fund has been great. We’ve heard from startups, establiushed companies and other VC firms.

The biggest surprise has been the volume. Internally we had a bet about what the response would be in the first 30 days. The high end number was exceeded in 36 hours and now the number of companies we’ve heard from is 3x that number.

ForbesonTech: What was the number?

Matt Murphy:  (silence)

ForbesonTech: any other surprises?

Matt Murphy: the number of healthcare and healthcare applications people would like to develop for the iPhone was more than we imagined.

ForbesonTech: Are there are other types of applications you hope to see:

Matt Murphy:            Location-based shopping –which includes delivering local coupons—and Mcommerce are things we’ve heard about., GPS Shopping (and related services) are things we’ve been pitched with.

            We’re looking for businesses that will be stand-alone applications, not small widgets.

            The iFund is about funding high tier mobile Internet applications.

ForbesonTech: Do you think current pricing models for wireless Internet connectivity will be a significant problem gating the success of wireless Internet-based applications?

Matt Murphy: Mobile Internet pricing is an issue, as is consumer awareness of the mobile Internet.

            Cell network operators are moving to adjust the pricing of mobile Internet connectivity and some are looking to offer free over-the-weekend trials of Mobile Internet (connections).When they do they report 10X spikes in wireless Internet usage.

            Iphone (internet) connectivity is high, 95 percent of all iPhone users use Internet connectivity, compared to only 20 percent with other (brands) of cell phones.

ForbesonTech: What’s your take on Google’s Android mobile phone operating system?

Matt Murphy: there’s a great spot in the (smart phone) ecosystem for Android and JavaBrew operating systems.

Stay tuned, the iPhone applications are coming and when they begin trickling in I think we’ll see it’s a tide that raises all boats and which drives mobile internet connectivity, creating an ocean of where persistent connectivity is expected and is the flood tide that fuels a new economic force.—Jim Forbes 03/20/2008.