MobileTracker's Jon Gales recently got a chance to ask Josh Carroll, President of Jeyo Inc., a few questions. Jeyo Inc. makes a product called Jeyo Remote that lets Windows users turn their Bluetooth phone (currently Sony Ericsson models) into a remote control for their computer. It's similar to Salling Clicker except that it is made for Windows (not MacOS X). It's quickly gaining speed, and from what we've seen for a good reason. If you want to discuss this piece, head over to the boards.
MT: What phone do you use fulltime? Looking to switch anytime soon? JC: I use the Sony Ericsson T68i. I've been considering switching to the [Sony Ericsson] T610, but I also like the new Microsoft Smartphone. I might be biased towards the SmartPhone--it's a great development platform and we have some cool projects under way for it. Not to mention it has the best phone-based golf game anywhere.
MT: Bluetooth has been pretty slow to catch on, but it's gaining strength. How has the response been to Jeyo Remote?
JC: The software became available in March, and we've had over 20,000 downloads since then so we've been very happy with the response. Since it was Jeyo's first major release we avoided doing any major advertising campaigns other than our listings on Download.com and at our own site, Jeyo.com. The slow ramp up gave us time to deal with any unexpected version 1 roadbumps, but happily we've had a really smooth ride.
MT: How's Windows work with Bluetooth?
JC: The support that's out there, while somewhat ad hoc, is still fairly robust. The experience for anyone buying a bluetooth accessory is essentially plug and play if you're on XP. From USB devices to PC cards, the setup experience, while not perfect, is fairly seamless. The after-setup experience can sometimes be trying--getting your Bluetooth hardware to work with the particular application in question, so for our software we attempted to automate as much of that process as possible and reduce the amount of configuration Jeyo Remote users have to go through. I think, and our users have told us, that we've achieved a good experience.
MT: I've heard the next version of Jeyo Remote is coming out soon (2.0). What can you tell me about it?
JC: We've gotten a lot of feedback from our users and we've folded those suggestions into the feature set that we're delivering for version 2. We're going to provide much more powerful capabilities for controlling Windows applications, more sophisticated user-programmable scripting, as well as allowing our users to create their own interactive interfaces on the phone itself. We will also be supporting more phones. Our objective to create software that's powerful but also fun. It's remarkable how much more fun a powerpoint presentation is when people have no idea how you're controlling it from across the room.
MT: Have you written anything else that people would recognize?
JC: During my time at Microsoft I worked in the Advanced Technology group in the early 90's which developed a lot of the software that evolved into Microsoft's internet technolsogies such as streaming media. I also spent a lot of time working on WebTV's software which I still admire for its ease of use and self-management characteristics.
MT: Have you noticed any locations where Jeyo Remote is really popular (like countries / states).
JC: Most of our customers are actually in the US, but there's definitely a heavy concentration of users in Western Europe. One surprise was how many folks from Russia were downloading it. It's a little mind boggling to hear about the different things people are using it for all over the world.
That concludes the Q&A. We'd like to thank Josh and the rest of the gang over at Jeyo for their time. If you're a Windows user that owns a Bluetooth powered Sony Ericsson phone, there is no reason to not try out Jeyo Remote. It's just too cool to pass up (Since we're Mac users, MobileTracker has been enjoying Salling Clicker for quite a while). Again, if you'd like to talk about Jeyo Remote, head over to the boards.