Wapple

27/11/2009

Wapple triumphed at this year’s ICT Excellence Awards to be named Overall Champion and winner of Best Innovative Product for Architect, its mobile web development platform. The Bromsgrove company impressed the judges with its innovative technology which helps companies take advantage of the rapidly increasing use of the internet via mobile phones. Read more about their success story.

Founders Anne Thomas and Rich Holdsworth had been successfully working in the mobile internet sector for two years when requests from clients and content owners, wanting to use the technology themselves, prompted them to establish Wapple (http://wapple.net) in May 2004.

Wapple, now 14 people strong and with a fledgling office in the US, has developed three ground-breaking products Canvas, Architect and Exhibit, which make it possible to create innovative and rich mobile websites, applications and marketing campaigns optimised for every mobile device, on any network, anywhere in the world.

“Currently mobile web browsers account for 5% of all internet traffic worldwide but most applications don’t work on mobile devices,” explains Wapple’s Chief Operating Officer Anne Thomas. “Our technology platform is making mobile web possible by enabling website content to be presented perfectly for mobile users.  Technologically we have addressed the biggest barrier for people entering this space and there is enormous potential for it to be used across the globe”.
 
Wapple Canvas™ is a design and publishing platform, enabling the development of highly functional, creative and scalable mobile websites; while Wapple Architect™ allows developers to take existing web content and applications and deliver them in a mobile-friendly format for access from a mobile device. Wapple Exhibit™ is a powerful, dynamic profiler and delivery engine that ensures all content is automatically optimised and displayed perfectly on any mobile phone, PDA or games console.

Wapple works with mobile and digital marketing agencies and web designers including Microsoft Advertising, MTV and Mediacom.  Its technology is behind some of the biggest mobile campaigns of recent years such as Landrover in US.  Other successful mobile campaigns include Magners Cider, Red Nose Day 2009 and Vodafone Soundbites as well as the launch of films Ice Age 3, and Run Fat Boy Run.

Anne believes the company’s success stems from a range of factors: “Rich and I had a real understanding of mobile user behaviour  before we even formed the company, which meant we could deliver the best technology, campaigns and end-user experiences from the very beginning. We also benefit from an innovative team who are smart, dedicated and hard working.”

Originally living in London, Anne and Rich decided to move back to their home town of Bromsgrove to set-up Wapple; believing it to be a more economic location for building a business.  “There are some incredibly talented people in the region,” Anne adds.  Wapple was fortunate to get funding from the Advantage Early Growth Fund and regional angel investor groups such as the Claret Club and Moor Hall.

“This is the first time we’ve entered the ICT Excellence awards so we’re delighted to have won,” remarks Anne.  “It’s the first award win for Architect since its launch in April and is a great recognition for the team’s efforts.”

With regard to the future, Wapple plans to build on the ICT Cluster’s endorsement of its technology by increasing marketing activity and continuing to grow the business. Anne comments: “We feel we are ready for new funding to scale the business to its full, significant potential.”