Name John Criswick | Education York University | |
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John Criswick (born December 1, 1963) is a Canadian entrepreneur focused on mobile entertainment and mobile software.
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Biography
After receiving his electrical engineering degree from the University of British Columbia in 1986, Criswick worked as a software engineer for the space hardware maker Canadian Astronautics (purchased by EMS Technologies). In the early 1990s, Criswick studied space physics at York University and after obtaining his Master's degree, he worked at an observatory in Utah. In 1991 he spent the summer in Toulouse, France at the International Space University, immersed in a multidisciplinary program of study centered on space technology.
In 1997, Criswick was contracted by Nortel Networks to source an Internet browser that was agile enough to work on a mobile device. When he discovered there was nothing compatible on the market, he and fellow engineer Bob Tennant asked to let them build a browser from scratch. Nortel agreed to fund the project, but by the end of 1997, Criswick and Tennant had decided to form their own company, Beduin Communications. Nortel became Beduin's first customer, paying $120,000 for a license to use the technology and in 1998, Beduin Communications' personal Java browser technology was purchased by Sun Microsystems for $20 million U.S. in stock (which subsequently more than tripled in value). In 2001, he co-founded Rove Mobile (previously known as Idokorro Mobile and Planetfred), a company that specializes in network administration and remote access solutions for handheld devices.
In 2002 he co-founded Magmic Games, a smartphone game publisher of which he is currently CEO. He also runs a number of Web media companies under the moniker Smoke Labs and is the owner of The Mercury Lounge in Ottawa. He was a co-founder of Zucotto Wireless, a company which designed chips for wireless devices.
The main-belt asteroid named 29348 Criswick, discovered in 1995 by David D. Balam, is named after him.
He has signed up for one of Virgin Galactic's trips to space, which brought him coverage in The Globe and Mail and on CTV's Canada AM show.
Philanthropy
Criswick's primary charity motivation is astronomy and space research as a means to spark interest in young minds' pursuit of higher education. His main interest is the University of Victoria's department of Physics and Astronomy.