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10 Canadian Tech Stocks making your Smartphone Smarter; Part 2

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6. Poynt (TSXV:PYN)

By almost any measure, Poynt is a runaway success. The app is consistenly ranked at or near the top of BlackBerry’s App World and, at varying times, has been ranked in the top ten apps on the iPhone. It’s even featured in one those slick Blackberry “SuperApps” commercials.

But is Poynt, the eponymous company that was called Multiplied Media until last October, a one trick pony? And what the small matter of monetizing the app? Despite having more than five million users, Poynt lost $2.73 million on revenues of just $230,000 in its most recent quarter. Of course, after the acquisition of go2media’s mobile advertising platform laid Poynt’s intentions in that area plain, many investors are thinking those kinds of numbers might soon be a thing of the past. Poynt recently announced an arrangement with Toronto’s Versant partners and Roth Capital Partners in the US to raise up to $15 million in a private placement. Cantech Letter talked to Poynt president and CEO Andrew Osis about what the future holds for Poynt.

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7. Diversinet (TSXV:DIV)

Peruse the Health and Fitness section of the Apple App Store and you’ll find what seems like a million calorie trackers, daily ab workouts and pedometers. Search a little more and you’ll find, Mobisecure, a platform that recently got Toronto’s Diversinet a five year deal with the US Army. Uncle Sam will use the platform as part of its teleheath outreach program to to monitor wounded returning soldiers. Diversinet says it will “…help the army hasten the recovery and track the progress of as many as 10,000 wounded warriors who return home or to community-based transition units following initial recuperation in military medical facilities.”

Telehealth software such as Diversinet’s Mobisecure is gaining traction in the civilian world as well. Boston based life science consulting firm Scientia Advisors says the remote health management market (RHM), which include telehealth services and this type of remote patient monitoring is the smallest, but fastest growing segment of the home health management (HHM) market.

Scientia projects that RHM will double from the $1.8 billion it represented in 2007 to $3.6 billion next year. Harry Glorikian, a Managing Partner with Scientia says this “growth is driven in part by strains in the health care system, high health care costs, insufficient personnel and an aging population with chronic conditions that, in many cases, can be cost effectively monitored or treated at home.”

8. Pethealth (TSX:PTZ)

Petango allows users to send notifications of missing pets in their area, effectively creating a canine and feline "amber alert" system.
Petango allows users to send notifications of missing pets in their area, effectively creating a canine and feline "amber alert" system.

Petango is an app from Pethealth, an Oakville based company that has grown into a profitable high-margin business, mainly by providing microchip ID and medical insurance to cat and dog owners. Pethealth’s Petango app began as a pet adoption app that works with thousands of shelters across North America. Through constant tweaking of the application Pethealth came across an idea that was an instant hit with pet owners; Petango allows users to send notifications of missing pets in their area, effectively creating a canine and feline amber alert system.

9. Bluerush Digital Media (TSXV:BTV)

Curb appeal. That’s what RE/MAX was looking for from a mobile app when they signed up Toronto’s Bluerush Digital Media, which has done work for blue chip clients such as Bell, Scotiabank and Manulife. According to RE/MAX executive vice-president David Brown “Today’s mobile-empowered consumers are increasingly impatient when pursuing information about a purchase. BlueRush did a stellar job helping us to launch Curbside Marketing to bridge the gap.” The SMS platform that Bluerush Digital set up for RE/MAX is simple. Agents use a template to to set up a home listing with enhanced detail. Prospective buyers then text a number on the for-sale sign to the RE/MAX short code, and instantly receive all the listing details, including photos and agent information, right to their cellphone.

10. Counterpath (TSXV:CCV)

When Counterpath launched its Bria app, a Voice over IP softphone for the iPhone and iPad, it had a built in audience. Counterpath’s X-Lite, a desktop, multimedia phone was already of the most widely used ways for road weary professionals to reduce their communications costs by incorporating full business phone features into various IP based platforms. It functioned, as one Cantech Letter reader pointed out to Counterpath CEO Donovan Jones, as a type of “Enterprise Skype”.

Counterpath’s challenge was to bring the robust reliable qualities of its desktop smartphone to mobile. CEO Jones said entering this space correctly was important to Counterpath because “We’re seeing the momentum behind mobile operating systems and platforms pick up speed, driven by the success of Apple and Google Android devices. According to Frost & Sullivan, mobile VoIP revenue will reach approximately $30-billion by 2015, up from $606-million in 2008,” he added. “With the recent introduction of our mobile VoIP applications, CounterPath is positioned well to take advantage of this rapidly growing market.”

With the Bria app, which launched as a $3.99 download in the Apple App Store last June and was followed by an Android launch in November, Counterpath appears to have satisfied its legion of desktop users. X-Lite user Dan York of Emerging Tech Talk was impressed by how much of the desktop experience Counterpath was able to deliver to the app.

About The Author /

Cantech Letter founder and editor Nick Waddell has lived in five Canadian provinces and is proud of his country's often overlooked contributions to the world of science and technology. Waddell takes a regular shift on the Canadian media circuit, making appearances on CTV, CBC and BNN, and contributing to publications such as Canadian Business and Business Insider.
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