Wombat Mobile I should be coding or sleeping instead of this...

I met an interesting person who works at a mobile startup over the weekend. The company is still fairly small (<50 people), and they make software for cellphones, pdas, etc. I'm not going to name the company, but I use one of their products all the time on my Nokia 6620.

One thing he said that really struck me is that none of the people in the company really use their products very much. They work with them during the day, but when they go home, the devices just stay in the office. They don't seem to possess the mobilephone/pda/crackberry addiction that I would have expected from people in a mobile startup. I guess I was expecting more of the passion of the folks I run into at Mobile Mondays.

I've realized that I spend too much time talking to train commuters, friends in Asia, and hanging out with other mobile fanatics, and I sometimes forget that the culture around Silicon Valley (and the rest of the U.S.) isn't really conducive to a mobile-centric lifestyle. This is why Europe and Asia will likely continue to dominate in the mobile arena.

It's nice to get a glimpse of the world outside my little bubble and be reminded of my life and perspective before becoming a train commuter/mobile fanatic.

If I end up partnering with these guys, we've been talking about office space that wouldn't be too far from my house, which would mean the end of my two hours on a train everyday. Our office will definitely be near a BART(subway) startion, but I probably would just end up driving. Hopefully I won't lose my mobile religion when I go back to being a car commuter. Although that may mean that I'll go back to listening to podcasts in my car again instead of websurfing on my phone or watching bittorrented tv on my PSP. :)