Alpha Version Launch

Hello! My name is Robert Werner and I would like to welcome you to my company's website. I'm a software engineer and serial entrepreneur in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

I've been providing mobile software solutions since 1998. Back then we were supplying enterprise solutions to large corporate clients. A lot of consulting was involved with each project and every piece of software was specifically tailored for each client. The software was extremely powerful for the task at hand, but lacked the flexibility to be easily modified for other clients. The consulting hours racked up and put such software out of reach of most small companies, let alone individuals.

In 2005 I went back to the "drawing board" and set in motion a plan of action to create a completely new generation of mobile software. This would consist of a family of software products that would accomplish different tasks but would share some common traits. Specifically, each piece of software would be:

1. Easy to setup "right out of the box"
2. Easy to use, with little training required
3. Universally applicable to most every field and organization
4. Available at a reasonably low-cost

The #1 message I constantly receive from most computer users is "Keep It Simple!" I think that too often software vendors adopt the "kitchen sink" or "swiss army knife" approach. They add more & more & more features to their software. Yes, each new addition indeed makes it more powerful, but at the same time makes it much more complicated. For the new user, it's often overwhelming and frustrating.

I very much admire the approach taken by the Chicago-based
web software company, 37 Signals. Their philosophy appears very similar to my own: Build specific tools that do a few things really, really well. If a person wants to pound in a nail, you give them a hammer. If they then also want to twist in a screw and cut a piece of wood, one could conceivably add more features onto the hammer to do those things too. But perhaps it makes somewhat more sense to instead just give them a screwdriver and a saw?

Innovative Mobile Solutions [IMS] is the parent company that will sell the aformentioned family of mobile software products. Pocket Pollster is the first product to be released by IMS. Today marks the start of the Pocket Pollster Alpha Testing Program. Avid Pocket PC users around the world have been invited to test the software. In exchange for their invaluable feedback, they will receive a free copy of the product. If you would like to apply to become a tester too then please click here.

Through this blog I plan to keep everyone apprised of how the testing program is going, what new versions of the software are available, and what interesting ideas are coming forth, both from me and from users alike. Plus I'll also share interesting stories I find about mobile computing. So please don't hesitate to leave comments about any specific postings. If you wish to reach me directly, you can do so here.