Timothy Hay

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Motorola: More Devices, Screens Coming To A Home Near You (FASTech)

Timothy Hay, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on November 4, 2010 at 8:12 am PT

Motorola Inc. sees a future where there are more mobile devices, more screens to watch and more opportunities than in the past to help consumers navigate a roiling sea of content.

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As Bush-Era Tax Cuts Expire, VCs Nearly Split On Impact

Timothy Hay, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on October 12, 2010 at 11:57 am PT

As Congress debates whether or not to extend Bush-era tax cuts for some of the country’s wealthiest people, many in the financial community have said the cuts should be left in place, as the benefits will trickle down to the broader economy. But venture capitalists surveyed by law firm DLA Piper LLC are nearly split on whether letting the tax cuts expire would have an effect on the technology sector, or their firms’ pace of investments in tech companies.

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IBM Survey Says Mobile Apps Will Dominate Enterprise

Timothy Hay, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on October 7, 2010 at 11:20 am PT

Consumers love tablet computers and smartphones and are finding novel uses for the many applications that run on them. But the devices are catching on in a significant way in the business world as well, according to a new survey from International Business Machines Corp., the company responsible for building and running much of the country’s enterprise computing systems.

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Fighting Monsters And Defusing Bombs In Augmented Reality

Timothy Hay, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on October 1, 2010 at 8:00 am PT

Osuke Honda, a general partner with Menlo Park, Calif.-based venture firm DCM, says he has been traveling back and forth between Japan and the U.S. all his life. He spearheads many of DCM’s investments in Japanese companies from the firm’s office in Tokyo, and this week participated in a $12 million Series B funding for augmented-reality company Tonchidot Corp.

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VCs Picky About Mobile Apps, But Still Willing To Take Chances

Timothy Hay, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on September 15, 2010 at 2:15 pm PT

While investors in mobile applications are getting pickier when it comes to backing companies in crowded sectors, some of the top firms in Silicon Valley are still willing to take a chance and invest in a potential game-changer even if it has no traction and no users.

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Tapulous Investor Jeff Clavier On Casual Gaming "Explosion"

Timothy Hay, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on July 7, 2010 at 12:00 am PT

Last week, the Walt Disney Co. acquired Tapulous Inc., a game company whose first home was Palo Alto, Calif.-based SoftTech VC, a seed-stage venture firm headed by noted angel investor Jeff Clavier.

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The $100 Million Revenue Club: PlayPhone More Than Just Ringtones

Timothy Hay, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on June 16, 2010 at 11:19 am PT

As PlayPhone Inc. has proven, selling a smorgasbord of mobile content for the world’s best-known news, retail and entertainment companies can be lucrative. It also requires constant reinvention. The San Jose-based company has grown quickly on the back of simple feature phones by selling content like ringtones and wallpaper. But in the past couple of years, U.S. consumers have grown to expect more elaborate content–like games, music, apps and video–for the small screen.

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They’re Hot Now, but Will Start-Ups Fall Victim to "Check-In Fatigue"?

Timothy Hay, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on April 2, 2010 at 4:00 pm PT

“Check-in” companies that were all but unheard of a year ago are making noise due to the simple game mechanics and competitive element they added to their start-ups, which took social networking into a new, location-based direction.

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So Many Mobile Applications to Choose From, So Little Time

Timothy Hay, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on December 22, 2009 at 4:56 am PT

As the offerings in Apple Inc.’s App Store swell to nearly a million free and paid applications, the abundance and variety of apps is both a blessing and a curse for consumers. While there is an app to match nearly every desire, finding exactly what you want in the App Store can be a daunting project–so much so that it’s now considered good business simply steering users toward what they’re after.

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Marrying High-Tech Innovation and Midwest Manufacturing

Timothy Hay, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on December 14, 2009 at 4:38 pm PT

Most venture capital firms shy away from the Midwest manufacturing and automotive industries, instead favoring high-technology regions like Silicon Valley. Not RPM Ventures. Located less than a mile from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, the firm aims to bridge the divide between high-tech start-ups and major manufacturers in the Midwest.