Chat with Fastsearch and Transfer CEO John Markus Lervik

by: admin Thursday, September 6th, 2007

Rating: from zero to hero

Despite working in Norway for the past two days – I didn’t actually meet CEO of Fastsearch and Transfer John Markus Lervik in his home town (which I have to say is beautiful and I had some extremely positive experiences). Instead we had a phone call today because he was out in Japan.

I had ten very tough questions lined up starting with “do you feel Fastsearch & Transfer’s mobile strategy has under achieved” and they get a lot worse after that! But anyway – the answers will be available in next month’s Mobile Search Analyst – but I do want to expand on some issues that we raised in Annie’s original post on Fastsearch and Rakuten Mobile Search.

My knee jerk reaction was FAST has created a new JV for mobile search. But this isn’t the case. Well it is but it isn’t. FAST has created a JV with Rakuten to create a mobile direct to consumer portal in Japan that competes with the likes of Google.

(WOW).

But the existing FAST (as we know it) will still drive business and develop as usual globally. This is a separate entity and the first exposure for FAST in the consumer market.

I have to say that I didn’t get this from the original press release but after talking to John Markus my BKI Media analysis of FAST is quickly moving from a luke warm to positive (at least in Japan).

This alone is a fantastic differentiator that FAST has needed and will grow the company in the mobile search space, outside of the online business. The advertising services provided by FAST are not in the public domain and concrete results from any consumer exposure will lift the company in the eyes of mobile operators all wary of the off-portal world.

Thank-you John Markus for your time.