So we finally broke down and documented all of the latest additions to the Enthusem developer API. Even better, we've moved the documentation into a nice downloadable PDF format that you can get from enthusem.com/developer. If you're a developer we'd love to hear your feedback on the API and the documentation.
Get the Enthusem Blackberry Client
Today Absolute Mobile Solutions launched their Enthusem Blackberry client in the Blackberry store. You can download it free from the Blackberry store. Please let us know what you think!
Absolute Mobile Solutions’ Blackberry Application selected as a Semi-Finalist in AT&T Open Call for Apps
Tampa, Florida – Absolute Mobile Solutions LLC and Prospect Smarter Inc., jointly announced today the launch of the Enthusem Mobile Blackberry Application, the latest refinement of the online system which makes personal direct mail and response available for the first time to sales professionals and individuals. Both companies are pleased to announce that the Blackberry Application has been selected as a Finalist in the AT&T Open Call for Apps as part of the CTIA 2010 Wireless Show in Las Vegas Nevada. Finalists will present on March 23rd, at the CTIA Show.
Enthusem allows any individual to create and mail a printed, full-color direct mail piece in an envelope with their personal message inside. Enthusem mailers also have online attachments that are created by the sender of the card and are hosted for free at Enthusem. An online attachment, much like an attachment to an email, is a file that is viewable when the recipient of the mailer enters a simple 5-digit code at the Enthusem.com website or at any other designated landing page. The sender then receives an instant email notification alerting them that their recipient has viewed the file attachment, completing the process. Online attachments can be anything: photos, videos, a resume or a link to an existing web page. Enthusem cards regularly achieve response rates averaging 17% or more.
And now, with Absolute Mobile’s Blackberry application, Enthusem has gone mobile!
Because Enthusem mailers contain a one-to-one, personal message the mailers are printed one-at-a-time and mailed each day in a premium vellum envelope with first class postage speeding them along. There is no sign-up fee or monthly subscription to use Enthusem. Users simply create an account and pay for mailers as they send them via the purchase of account credits.
Absolute Mobile Solutions’ President Alfred Goldberg states that:
This is a prestigious event and we are thrilled to be selected by AT&T for this challenge. Enthusem’s flexible and well-documented API helped us bring Enthusem to the most widely used Smartphone platform in North America in a very short time. Android and Symbian applications are currently being tested.
Co-Founder and CEO Steve Tingiris says:
The Blackberry application is astonishingly easy to use and makes Enthusem accessible on the go. The file attachments, hosting, data capture and address management features taken all together deliver a high value. The per-piece price makes sense for all potential users and the Enthusem pickup code is easier to use than cumbersome personal URL addresses. We have had a lot of fun interacting with our user community and adding in the features they want. This Blackberry application is just one step in our growth, serving the business market and the sales professional.
About Absolute Mobile Solutions, LLC
Absolute Mobile Solutions has been providing high quality mobile applications to clients worldwide for over ten years, and truly believes that mobile is the greatest communication and information medium of our time. Originally targeting the Palm handhelds in the late 1990’s, Absolute Mobile Solutions, has experience on all major mobile platforms including, iPhone, RIM’s Blackberry OS, Android, Windows Mobile, Palm® webOS™, Symbian S60, and BREW.
For more information contact:
Alfred Goldberg
Phone: (888) 908-6862
E-mail: agoldberg@absoluteitsolutions.com
About Prospect Smarter Inc.
Prospect Smarter has been using Variable Data and SaaS technology since 1998, bringing together online and offline experience to engage prospects and customers with precision and grace. Prospect Smarter offers Campaign Design and Hosting, Software Design, Variable Data Printing, Personalized Mail, Purls, Campaign Tracking, and Measurement.
The Enthusem founders are dedicated to instigating the growth of printed communications and to advancing the marriage of print and the Web 2.0 world in practical and accessible ways. We believe that to be truly personal, one-to-one direct mail should be created one-at-a-time by a caring sender – by an author who knows just what to say.
For more information contact:
Angela Medlar
Phone: (813) 254-5454
E-mail: angela@prospectsmarter.com
All trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners.
February 2009
January 2009
My last milestone update was current through July 2008, here’s what’s been going on since.
July - October 2008
October - December 2008
Creating this blog post has been on my to-do list for more than a year now. I had such grand plans… I was going to chronicle every step of my latest business venture (Enthsem.com) from concept through development, launch, marketing and hopefully success 
.
Well, I’m a bit behind on my posts but Enthusem is coming along nicely. Here’s a quick intro and timeline to catch things up.
The Enthusem Concept:
An online service that makes sending postal mail (yea, the printed kind) super simple and seamlessly integrated with online content.
The service lets users send direct mailers one-at-a-time (or to a list of recipients) from a Web browser or through a set of web services. In addition, Enthusem mailers can include online attachments. The attachments link the printed communication to online content much like an attachment to an email message.
The www.enthusem.com website lets end users send Enthusem mailers while a set of web services let 3rd party applications send direct mail without all the complexities associated with your typical Web-to-print solution. So, for example, using the web services, a developer could create an add-in for Microsoft Outlook that would allow Outlook users to send direct mail in addition to email.
Timeline and Milestones to Date:
February - March 2007: General feeling that Web-to-print solutions are too complex and that there should be a way that anyone with Internet access to send postal communications as easily as sending email.
April – May 2007: Searching, searching and more searching for someone who has done it. Specifically we looked for a service provider that could answer “yes” to the following seven questions:
1. Can I send direct mailers one-at-a-time from a Web browser?
2. Can I do everything online without talking to a person?
3. Can I pay as you go?
4. Can I personalize text and graphics?
5. Can I use PURLs or something similar to tie-in online content?
6. Can I access the service through some sort of API?
7. Is the quality of the mailers something I’d be proud to send and can I get a free sample?
A number of services hit our radar but we didn’t find a single one with a “yes” answer to all seven questions.
June – August 2007: The final decision is made to move full steam ahead with Enthusem and we start coding the first prototypes.
September – December 2007: Teamed up formally with Marc Fors - the perfect co-pilot. I learn (once again) that nothing ever goes as planned – we have to change lead programmers – we fall behind schedule for our planned internal beta tests.
January 2008: Internal beta is working (sort of)
February 2008: First public beta is live and working (sort of)
March – May 2008: First public beta gets marginal marks from initial users – “a little too light on the functionality”. Decision is made to scrap the initial release and rebuild.
June - July 2008: The second public beta is launched – user feedback is MUCH better but there’s still a lot of work to be done.