We're Still Here

One of my competitors, Nutiteq just got bought by a partner company, CartoDB.  This is cause for some reflection.

Did you know WhirlyGlobe-Maply recently turned five?  That's right, I wrote the first of it in the winter of 2011.  Since then it's grown to more than 100,000 lines on two mobile platforms.

The 2 and the 3 D

The SDK is now a full time job for me and a part time job for a number of excellent contractors.  It's used in a wide variety really great apps and burns battery of tens of millions of devices.

So how did we get here?

Business and the Plans Thereof

I designed the SDK to be open source from the first.  This means cheap marketing which we parlay into contracting dollars.  It's a plan that's worked well, but it does have some drawbacks.

I'm excellent at tracking down new customers, but I'm awful at making third party deals.  Those are complex and require real business development, which is time consuming.  So we focus on the users and ignore the BizDev.  It does make us independent.

About Nutiteq

I'm sure reassuring emails are going out to Nutiteq customers right now.  It's going to be fine going forward, not to worry.  And it is a great move.  I commend CartoDB for their acquisition.

But if you're using Nutiteq's mobile SDK's you've got to be worried.  CartoDB is a venture backed company and they have plans they must execute.  Do you think those plans include your SDK license?

Switching to WhirlyGlobe-Maply

The danger with open source is that it won't do enough of what you want.  We're way past that point with WhirlyGlobe-Maply.  It's time to consider switching.

Our SDK is fantastic on iOS and has come along nicely on Android.  If you're a nervous Nutiteq customer, take a look.  You'll be pleasantly surprised.