BoomTown » Plum

Nokia Acquires San Francisco "Microsocial Networking" Start-Up, Plum

Kara Swisher — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 11:23:29 +0000

Nokia is set to announce today that it has acquired Plum Ventures, the San Francisco “microsocial networking” start-up, for an undisclosed amount, sources said.

UPDATE: Nokia confirmed the purchase, but gave few details in a press release.

Nokia has Acquired Plum

ESPOO, Finland and SAN FRANCISCO, September 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/–Nokia (NYSE: NOK) and Plum today announced that Nokia has acquired certain assets of Plum Ventures, Inc, a privately held company which employed approximately 10 people with main offices in Boston, Massachusetts. Plum will complement Nokia’s Social Location services

The acquired Plum assets will become part of Nokia’s Services unit.

The small company was founded several years ago by Hans Peter Brøndmo as a social-bookmarking site. He then shifted its focus, trying to make a business in the places big social networks ignore.

As part of the deal, Brøndmo told BoomTown that he would be moving to Berlin to work at a Nokia unit there, but that the service would continue to operate as it has been.

As I wrote when I visited Plum in May:

“Sites like Plum are what many like to call microsocial networking, used by people or Web sites who want less the overwhelming experience that the large social networks have become and more an ability to create with a smaller group.

It’s hard–though not impossible–to do this on Facebook, and Twitter is all about broadcasting, so it’s interesting to look at those working on sites for small and private social groups and the various approaches they take.”

This kind of ability to link more intimate and closer-knit groups, like families, is likely what attracted Nokia (NOK), the Finland-based mobile phone giant. Plum is also used by third-party Web sites, such as travel search site Mobissimo.

It was backed by Levensohn Venture Partners and Vulcan Capital.

But despite Nokia’s size and power, the company has been has been struggling to compete with the rising popularity of highly interactive smart phones like the Apple (AAPL) iPhone.

Here’s a video interview I did with Brøndmo on my visit to Plum:

[ See post to watch video ]

Plum's Hans Peter Brøndmo Speaks About the Less-Social Social Network!

Kara Swisher — Fri, 08 May 2009 08:02:02 +0000

A few weeks ago, I dropped in on Hans Peter Brøndmo, a longtime Silicon Valley entrepreneur, to talk about Plum, one of the many different kinds of social networks that are not Facebook.

Brøndmo is CEO and founder of Plum, which was founded several years ago, and is trying to make a business in the places big social networks ignore.

Sites like Plum are what many like to call microsocial networking, used by people or Web sites who want less the overwhelming experience that the large social networks have become and more an ability to create with a smaller group.

It’s hard–though not impossible–to do this on Facebook, and Twitter is all about broadcasting, so it’s interesting to look at those working on sites for small social groups and the various approaches they take.

As the Web becomes more socialized, one imagines a time when you don’t need an actual social network to maintain your online presence.

Plum–which started off as a social-bookmarking site until it morphed into its current offering–is one of those companies trying a variety of approaches to do this.

Here’s my video interview with Brøndmo where we chat about this and more:

[ See post to watch video ]

Is There Some Plum, Oops, I Mean Apple Event Today in San Francisco?

Kara Swisher — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 08:00:53 +0000

Even without Apple CEO Steve Jobs, there will be copious amounts of live coverage of Macworld’s keynote by Apple SVP Phil “No-Black-Turtleneck” Schiller all over the tech sites online in T-minus nine hours and counting.

And, guess what? All Things Digital will be there too, with the intrepid reporting duo of Digital Daily’s John Paczkowski on text and our Webmaster (and not-so-secret Mac fanboy) Adam Tow on photos.

They and many others are hoping the not-prone-yet Jobs will make a surprise appearance, even by iChat, to greet the Apple (AAPL) faithful crowd gathered in San Francisco.

One can hope for His Digital Holiness, but the event might be more about Mac minis and 17-inch Macbook Pros, as most expect.

Until then, enjoy this very funny spoof video from The Onion about a new Apple sensation that almost seems like it could be made and sold: The Macbook Wheel.

Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard

Kara Visits the Royal Society in London

Kara Swisher — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 17:41:24 +0000

On the last leg of my trip to Europe to check out Web 2.0 companies, BoomTown spent the day at the Royal Society in the tony environs of St. James’s Park and Pall Mall, for some more lively discussions with more students, academics and entrepreneurs in England.

The Royal Society, by the way, is an “independent scientific academy of the UK and the Commonwealth dedicated to promoting excellence in science.”

In other words: Geek Central of London for more centuries of nerdiness than you can shake a powdered wig at (and, let me just say, there were a lot of powdered wig-wearing techies back when).

As I have written, it’s been a really interesting visit here overall, first at Cambridge University and now here, where a group of entrepreneurs, academics, execs and venture capitalists from Silicon Valley have been mingling with British students, academics and tech entrepreneurs.

It’s all been organized by Ellen Levy of Silicon Valley Connect and U.K.-based tech entrepreneur Sherry Coutu, in partnership with the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts.

So here’s my final video of the events, including interviews with European VC Saul Klein of Index Ventures, as well as Silicon Valley visitors Hans Peter Brondmo of the start-up Plum and Emily Melton, a VC with Draper Fisher Jurvetson.

The conclusion: It’s a small world, after all, as you will see. Also a message from the Queen:

[ See post to watch video ]