| [October 29, 2008] |
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Successful Cell Industry and Business Entrepreneur Charles Bakes Launches Next Access Technologies to Focus on Mobile/Smartphone/PDA Aftermarket
STAMFORD, Conn. & WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. --(Business Wire)-- Charles Bakes, an entrepreneur with a track record of starting and managing successful companies in the cellular industry and in sales-driven businesses, is back in the mobile marketplace . . . and this time it's personal!
Bakes has teamed with veteran marketing and IT industry executive Jack Loop to launch Next Access Technologies, LLC, with offices in Stamford and West Palm Beach.
"We have an entrepreneurial spirit," Bakes said, "and are focused on developing, acquiring and bringing to market products for the growing aftermarket for mobile phones, smart phones and PDAs."
Introducing YourKey for the iPhone
By mid-December, Next Access will enter what Bakes called "today's exploding aftermarket for the iPhone(TM)" with its first product -- YourKey(TM) for the iPhone (www.YourKey.biz).
YourKey is an innovative mobile password security application that uses numbers, letters and images -- and advertising images - to give users a fun and easy password experience while advertisers reach users with their brand impression with every login.
"With YourKey," Loop said, "iPhone users - and soon users of other popular mobile and smart phones - can further secure important data stored on their phones, protecting them if their phones are lost or stolen."
Next Access will offer YourKey as a free download via the online Apple(R) iPhone Store, with the product supported by ad revenues from branding impressions within the YourKey user experience.
Entrepreneurial Leadership for Entrepreneurial Companies
Along with readying YourKey for its launch, COO Loop said that Next Access is also seeking "a few very select companies - three or four per year -- in the mobile/smartphone space that need guidance, partnerships, help porting Web-based applications to mobile devices, and even financing to take their products from ideas to business entities."
Bakes' history as a cellular entrepreneur began in 1990 when, sensing an emerging need for billing and ancillary services for the then-fledgling industry, he co-founded International Telecommunication Data Systems, Inc., in Stamford. As chairman and CEO, he led a successful IPO in 1996, and a year later spearheaded the acquisition of a key competitor, making ITDS one of the largest service bureaus in the U.S. cellular industry. In 1999, ITDS was acquired by Amdocs Limited (NYSE: DOX), a major international provider of customer care, billing and order management solutions to the telecom industry. Previously, after a decade as a sales director in the life insurance industry, he co-founded Life Plans Unlimited, Inc., in 1969, leading it to become one of America's largest regional life insurance brokerage agencies.
Loop has been involved in performance-based marketing and sales strategies for more than 25 years, serving clients including John Galt Computer Corporation, Cellular One, Madison Square Garden, Onwardhealthcare.com, Kate Spade, SpencerStuart.com, Public Storage, and TopCoder.
'Cell Aftermarket Will Dwarf Parent Industry'
"Together, Jack and I have nearly 50 years in technology and business building and have never seen a technology adapted as quickly and as broadly as cell phones and PDAs, nor one spurring such widespread aftermarket sales," said Bakes. "Just look at our costs to 'feed' our other screens - cable and satellite for TVs, software and games for PCs and entertainment devices, and now exciting new applications for smartphones and mobile."
Loop agreed. "Seemingly everyone has a phone, a smartphone, or a PDA," he said. "The industry moved from voice to e-mail and text in a heartbeat, and great companies such as Google(R), BlackBerry(R), Nokia(R), Palm(R) and others are now moving to help it evolve further still by supporting data-driven transactions, all adding up to create an aftermarket that will dwarf the parent industry.
"We no longer just buy a device and use it," said Loop. "Now we look for ways to leverage the device as a tool, giving it new capabilities that enhance our business and personal lives."
Bakes pointed to the iPhone(R) as "the momentum leader. It has super-charged the already exploding aftermarket, which I believe will leave sales of the devices themselves in the financial dust. The Apple(R) Store is open around the clock, delivering products and services to make users more productive and more secure while generally enhancing the utility and value of their phones.
"The model is absolutely working," Bakes said, pointing out that iPhone applications are currently selling at twice the rate of iTunes(R), as application stores from Google(R), Blackberry(R) and Nokia(R) and others continue to grow in number and popularity.
And now, with its planned launch of YourKey for the iPhone, Next Access is jumping into that aftermarket with both feet!
About Next Access Technologies, LLC
Based in Stamford, Connecticut, Next Access Technologies, LLC (www.nextaccesstechnologies.com) was founded by cell industry pioneer and entrepreneur Charles L. Bakes to develop, acquire and bring to market products for cell phones, smartphones and PDAs. Its first product, YourKey for the iPhone, manages entry of passwords using numbers, letters and images, incorporating advertising images and ads to give users a fun and easy password experience, further securing important data on their phones while providing advertisers with mobile branding impressions.
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