Startup Visenza targets SMB smartphones

“With a Blackberry today and the iPhone today, people are able to connect Yahoo email or to Gmail and even to a Pop3 email, but really being able to leverage the full capability of calendar synching, contact synching, notes, tasks – really having that freedom of not being tied to entering their data twice – it’s such a huge productivity gain, and that is where the true value-add is for Visenza,” Bengston said.

Visenza is coming to market in a relatively crowded space. Companies like Visto Mobile and Synchronica have been offering this capability for smartphones for awhile now. Bengston said that to date, most of these services have flown under the radar. Visenza’s path to differentiation will come in marketing the service as a simple package ideal for non-technical users. He sees the company’s closest competitor, as far as the iPhone is concerned, as MobileMe, Apple’s synching technology.

While Visenza doesn’t yet have carrier relationships in place yet, Bengston said he is open to working with any carrier to market the service as an upsell. At launch, the synching technology will be provided as software for Outlook or Entourage connectivity, as well as the wireless synching of the smartphone. The company hasn’t yet announced pricing, but Bengston said it will be a monthly subscription for about $25 per month.

“I really look at the same way as dial up Internet versus high-speed internet a few years ago,” Bengston said. “We are taking a smartphone and making it functional to take it to the next level. What we found in our focus groups and pilot testing is that once people start using the service, they absolutely love it, and they see it as something they couldn’t give up.”