Investor relations
Comments from our CEO
The intensity of Ironroad’s development has remained very high during the second quarter of this year.
Above all, we have been focused on fine-tuning our Indian support and development office, the financing of the company through a new share issue (which was heavily oversubscribed) and the launch of VMS in different markets together with renowned partners such as Aftonbladet in Sweden, TV2 and VG in Norway and Globe and GMA in the Philippines.
During the period we also developed and recently launched the VMS app for BlackBerry, which has a high market share in the U.S., South America and Asia.
Our strategy to collaborate with well known brands to market VMS has been successful, as our brand is now becoming more established in the various markets. Customer uptake was high just before the summer holidays and continues at an unabated pace now that the autumn season started. The rapid expansion of VMS place high demands on our organization to deliver customized solutions, with subsequent support and development. The acquisition of our office in India, which currently consists of 45 people, took place at the right time. Thanks to them we are able to deliver customized solutions and maintain our support in a good way.
Efforts to establish new subsidiaries around the world continue, with local funding and local management. Within the next few weeks we will introduce another couple of new establishment of affiliates. Interest in becoming a partner is constantly growing and our existing subsidiaries are heading in the right direction. In the Philippines and Indonesia, cooperation with each country's largest mobile operators provides the launch of VMS great force. Also our licensees in the United States is making significant progress with an increasing number of celebrities and companies that want to market themselves using VMS. Less successful has it been for our partners in the Arab world, which, because of the political turmoil in the region, has fallen behind in the introduction of VMS. They aim to launch within the next few months.
Ironroads’ sales still consists largely of licensing revenue since the establishment of VMS as a concept for consumers and businesses has been a priority. We will continue to place great emphasis on the establishment of VMS as a brand, but focus on the sale will be moved from celebrities to more revenue generating customers who want to do direct marketing through video on the mobile. We believe the time is right now, since we have had successful campaigns, including K-rauta and Ticnet in the spring, while VMS as a concept is becoming more well known thanks to the PR we get from celebrities. For example, more than 3% of Sweden's population now has received a VMS in their phone. Our goal in 2011 is to reach 10%, this is considered to be a sign that a product is established in a market. The ambition to reach break-even during the fall on the Swedish and the Indonesian markets are still valid. VMS roll out in the United States is about half a year after Sweden.
The high demand for VMS means we have great challenges ahead, but by effectively utilizing our capacity in India and focusing on our customers' needs for customized solutions, we can be very positive about the future.
Magnus Kniving
Chief Executive Officer