Tobias Kemper Podcast: Nimbuzz Rocks

Social? Yes - Useful? Yes - Mobilized? You Bet

Last October Tobias Kemper, VP of Nimbuzz USA, and I got on Skype to talk about Nimbuzz, an online interactive service covering 200 countries. The following month Tobias and I met at the Smaato advertising awards and mLove, Harald Neidhardt's worldwide conversation about the future of mobile and mobile advertising.

One of the exciting things happening here at vator and elsewhere is the promise of hope and success for entrepreneurs--the men and women in Silicon Valley and elsewhere who breathe innovation, excitement, commitment, dreams. Entrepreneurs give up a lot: time spent with their families, vacations, low pay or "alternative income," as I like to call it. Tobias is one of those people.

Nimbuzz enables people to enjoy free and low cost mobile phone calls, free instant messaging, social networking and other rich communication features, using the Internet capabilities of their mobile device. The service is also available using a PC or Mac.

The brainchild of Dutch entrepreneur & CEO, Evert Jaap Lugt, Nimbuzz took two years to develop, officially launched in May 2008 (August, 2009 in the U.S.) and has won numerous awards.

Tobias says his early involvement in the mobile industry comes from his love for mobile phones, blogging about gadgets, trends and emerging technologies, launching the Palm Treo 750, and running a workshop for Palm at the TED conference.

Originally from Germany, Tobias studied and has worked in the UK, USA, Germany, and The Netherlands.

In the podcast, Tobias talks about the service, several strategies the company is exploring to monetize their free service, relationships with wireless carriers and social media companies, new services under consideration and maintaining strong relationships with its members.

Listen to: "Nimbuzz New Generation Mobile Service: a Chat with Tobias Kemper" on MobileBeyond.