DEVELOPERS BLOG

Mona Networks: An App Platform Serving Professionals

EVENTS / 10.23.14 / mannyelawar

As an Enterprise Solutions Manager, I aid our customers with their Enterprise Mobility Management solution, and a large part of that is mobile applications.  While in-house custom solutions are always a rewarding challenge, the developer in me loves seeing independent dev shops creating value for the Enterprise and Professional Consumer markets.  That’s why I was pleasantly surprised when a contact of mine introduced me to his new startup: Mona Networks.

Mona’s goal is simple: connect the owners and tenants of a large center or building with the thousands of surrounding working professionals that are impacted by its operations on a regular basis.  Using their platform, the owner of a property can provide real-time information to users that frequent the area, and allow tenants of the space to post promotional material.

For example, assume you are a professional who works in downtown Toronto next to a major shopping center.   You eat at this center frequently; you shop there for a variety of items; you attend events there whenever you’re aware of them; and the list goes on.  This center is a staple in your 9-5 life.  But how do you know what is actually going on in that center at any given point in time?

This is where Mona comes in.  With a unique application for the center you frequent most, you can always stay up-to-speed with events, promotions, and any other relevant news.

When your favorite restaurants and retail stores have specials, you’ll be the first to know.  When an impromptu event pops up, you’ll know in time to catch it.  Power outage in the building? No problem; the landlord will push a notification out to you so you don’t waste time planning to visit that day.

1

Mona’s target user demographic is the working professional  – a strong overlap with BlackBerry’s core user base.  As such, Kofi, Mona’s founder and Chief Product Officer, reached out to me to ensure the Mona user experience was spot on for BlackBerry 10.  I met with both himself and Clint, Mona’s CTO, at their office in Toronto to test their product on the all-new BlackBerry Passport, and they were pleasantly surprised; it ran flawlessly!

The ease of BlackBerry’s WebWorks toolset, the incredible hardware built into the BlackBerry Passport, and the power of the BlackBerry 10 mobile OS allow the folks at Mona to provide a seamless experience to their soon-to-be users.

2

Mona is launching in a big way, with their first customer being the Bay-Adelaide Center.  Thousands of people are impacted by this location on a daily basis, which makes it the perfect candidate for Mona’s awesome platform to start with.  They will be having their official co-launch party at the Bay-Adelaide Center on Thursday, October 23rd.  I highly suggest you check them out if you’re in the area.

I’m excited for Mona’s future, as they are targeting the types of users I have been begging developers to reach for a long time: business professionals and enterprises.  There is a tremendous amount of opportunity in this space; Mona is beginning to capitalize on it, and I hope many more follow.

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