Marcelo Calbucci

    It's a bit weird to blog about the "competing" companies at the WTIA since I'm a presenter, but I just can't stop myself:

Demoxi
Demoxi is an interesting proposition w/ interesting technology to create a new ad serving platform that lives on your PC. Remember when you'd install some application and it would hijack your adds, show you popups, and control your PC? That's what Demoxi is, except they are doing it w/ the end-user in mind. So you control what happens, how it happens and when it happens. That's my understanding. I think there might be something for Sampa users since we are branding ourself as a "family safe" company Demoxi positioning is very much aligned with us.

Earth Class Mail
I've seen they talk many times, and the whole send your mail to ECM and check it online simply doesn't work for me, as a consumer, but I can see the value for the enterprise or people that are seldom at home because they travel a lot. I think they will burn a lot ($$$$) of cash. The initial cost to get going is very high and they probably need a few million customers to break-even.

Yapta
Yapta is really interesting and valuable to travelers. They nailed the technology and the website, but they have to create a brand and attract customers. I blogged about this before, but I think they should either merge with TripIt or duplicate TripIt's technology, which isn't that hard to do. The most valuable aspect of Yapta is the opportunity to get a refund on a price reduction of an airline ticket you already purchase.