Connect Interviews: AJ, Marketcircle
Last month at Macworld Expo in San Francisco, there was one company that stood out from the rest, Marketcircle. They had just unveiled a new product, Daylite Touch, which brings the popular productivity software to your iPhone or iPod touch. We interviewed CEO, Alykhan Jethan (AJ) and here's what he had to say about his company and the future of the platform.
1. Can you introduce yourself to our ConnectReviews readers, and describe what you do on a day-to-day basis at Marketcircle?
I’m the CEO of Marketcircle – the man who runs the show. The majority of my time is spent in product development at our company, but I have my nose in pretty much everything. I began Marketcircle in 1999 and we are based in Toronto, Ontario. We develop award-winning business applications for Mac OS X, including Daylite productivity management software, Daylite Touch, Daylite Mail Integration Module (DMI), and Billings 3, which is a practical time billing and invoicing application.
2. What features make Daylite one of the best compared to the competition or similar products?
Your readers might need a bit of background information on Daylite before I answer that question. Daylite productivity management software helps Mac-based businesses win more business and deliver better on promises made to clients. Daylite provides integrated tools and processes that help manage time, tasks, projects, and contacts as well as identify and qualify opportunities. Daylite integrates with Apple Mail and works with Sync Services to bring Daylite contacts and calendar features to iPhone, iPod, Blackberry, Palm, Windows Mobile devices and cellphones.
Daylite does not have any direct competition for its full feature set. There is no other Mac business software that offers a similar set of business productivity features – at least that we are aware of. Daylite is multi-user, connecting up to 50 users together, and provides collaborative GTD tools for work groups. Daylite also offers offline synchronization as well as “over the air” synchronization with the upcoming Daylite Touch for iPhone and iPod touch. The concept behind Daylite is to make small businesses more productive. It also has business integration options that include connectors to MYOB’s AccountEdge, FileMaker databases, MoneyWorks accounting and LightSpeed (point of sales system).
3. How have sales been for Daylite in terms of total copies sold?
Our sales for Daylite remain strong. I don’t divulge specific numbers in terms of copies sold or revenues at Marketcircle. We’re a private company with just under 25 people on staff.
4. How long after Apple made the iPhone SDK available did Marketcircle start developing a touch version? How long did it take? What about the SDK were you most impressed with?
We downloaded the iPhone SDK within an hour of it being made available to developers – that was on 6 March 2008 – and myself and our many engineers have been working on the Daylite Touch application ever since. Daylite Touch hasn’t shipped yet but will soon – so it will be a year that we’ve been developing, fine-tuning and testing Daylite Touch. It will offer new levels of business productivity to the mobile crowd with features unmatched elsewhere. To name a few... Imagine being able to view your colleagues calendar and schedule meetings while on the go – without requiring a live connection to the database.
In terms of the SDK, the whole thing is pretty impressive, but the simulator is particularly impressive.
5. What kind of reception did you get at Macworld Expo?
We had large crowds at our booth at Macworld Expo 2009 and for our demos of Daylite Touch – a great reception. Daylite Touch won Macworld Expo 2009 Best of Show. You can read our company blog at http://www.marketcircle.com/blog/ for the many details about our Best of Show and our successful list of booth events.
6. Will Marketcircle continue to exhibit at Macworld Expo every year?
I’m sitting on the fence on this one. Now that Apple has pulled out, IDG, Macworld Expo organizers, need to give me a compelling reason to attend as a vendor next year. The cost of exhibiting is very high and the ROI is questionable. I hope that IDG comes up with something good, because I will sure miss the networking aspect of it.
7. What kind of products do you want to see come from Apple that you are personally looking forward to?
Since I’m the CEO and we make productivity software, the line between personal and business desires is blurred. Especially since I run my business and personal life using Daylite.
In terms of hardware, currently my biggest wish is for an iPhone with a slightly better processor and more available RAM for third party apps (like Daylite Touch).
In terms of software – it is the ability to have background processes on the iPhone. This is low-level stuff that helps developers like us deliver better applications to users like you, but it would help me personally too. Those are my top wishes at the moment.
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