Nationality American Name William Mobley | Occupation Entrepreneur | |
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Born 1963 Pahokee, FL |
William (Bill) Allen Mobley Jr. (1963 - ) is an American entrepreneur who has founded technology ventures in various fields. Born in Pahokee, FL in 1963, Mobley studied at the University of Florida and subsequently started work in the perishable goods business.
Contents
- World Commerce Online 1993 1999
- Global Intertainment Group 1996 1998
- ImageCafecom 1998 1999
- MegaMedia Networks 1999 2001
- Personal Portals Online 2001 2004
- Web2 Corp 2005 2008
- Nextelligence Inc 2000 present
- FreeCast Inc 2011 Present
- References
Mobley has experience in global trade and marketing, working with such brands as Ryder, Dole, Chiquita, NFL, NBA, MLB, Citibank, PepsiCo, and numerous perishable importers globally. Prior to WCO, Mobley held positions with Intermarket Services (Southeast Banks Export Trading Company), Wm. A. Mobley & Associates and Entrepreneurial Systems, Inc. of Miami specializing in the trade of perishable commodities from Latin America and Europe.
World Commerce Online (1993 - 1999)
Mobley's first online endeavor was World Commerce Online. One of the first global ecommerce trading systems, World Commerce Online was a trade intermediary system for the floral, produce, and livestock trades. It was created using WorldGroup (MajorBBS) lock and key architecture and the original X.25 network, which was used by the military and the platform on which AOL was created.
World Commerce Online went on to acquire ProduceOnline.com and FlowersAuction.com, growing to over 200+ employees and offices in 5 countries. Mobley transitioned out of company management at a point where WCO stock traded at over $28.00 per share, prior to its sell-off to GE Global Exchange Services, I2 Technologies, and Atlanta Bremen. The product was renamed "Supply Chain Management".
Global Intertainment Group (1996 - 1998)
Mobley also created Global Intertainment Group, a project managed by a second group of developers under Mobley's supervision. During the growth of World Commerce Online, Mobley traveled to the Netherlands for meetings with floral importers. On his business trips to the Netherlands, he met the owners of the "Red Light District" and signed agreements to distribute their content to web sites worldwide.
Global Intertainment was a key service provider that came to deliver an online representation of the Red Light District and was distributed by over 55,000 webmasters globally. Global Intertainment Group (aka Club Casa Rosso) received numerous awards from trade publications and is recognized in numerous ecommerce circles as having been one of 5-6 companies that was an anchor of the early days of the $6 billion online entertainment industry.
When his longtime friend and partner, Andy Enfeld, was killed in an auto accident in 1997, Mobley left the industry, and instead pursued a traditional media career with former employees from World Commerce Online and Global Intertainment.
ImageCafe.com (1998 - 1999)
ImageCafe.com was a pioneering first-generation homepage builder. Image Cafe generated 500 e-commerce web sites per day at www.imagecafe.com. Image Cafe was built upon previously developed multi-site builder logic used in Global Intertainment. It was redeveloped by Mobley's partner (and Image Cafe founder) Andre Forde and previous World Commerce Online employees as a DIY consumer web site building tool. Image Cafe was acquired by Network Solutions, LLC a VeriSign, Inc. company (NASDAQ: VRSN), in Nov. 1999 for $25 million. After assisting with early planning for Image Cafe, Mobley directed his attention to the Internet newcomer streaming video, and founded MegaMedia Networks.
MegaMedia Networks (1999 - 2001)
MegaMedia Networks, Inc. was an immensely popular streaming video platform whose main site, MegaChannels.com, reached a top site ranking by traffic for males 18-34 in 2000, according to Neilsen Ratings, and was the number #1 media portal serving over 800K+ visitors a day only four months into the network’s launch.
MegaChannels drew some top talent as it grew. David Gust, former V.P. of Hard Rock Cafe International. Inc., and Paul Turcotte, former V.P. of Yahoo! Internet Life and the creator of the Yahoo! Internet Life Online Film Festival, were tapped to head netcaster Megachannels.com Inc, and the company continued to gain market share with Gust as CEO and Turcotte as President.
Although it was the first the web property to host Time Warner, Miramax, Sony, and various film/music libraries, MegaChannels became a casualty of the "Internet bubble-burst" in 2000, when display advertising revenue slumped from record highs, but not before creating and proving the viability of online streaming broadcast as a business. The company’s public offering plans were disrupted by the mid-2000 implosion, and Mobley took it private, where he still controls the key software assets.
Personal Portals Online (2001 - 2004)
Personal Portals Online was a website builder system targeting cottage industry merchants seeking a simple, low-cost means of setting up their online storefronts. Personal Portals Online also developed HotHomePages.com, a leading early social network that formed strategic partnerships with companies such as NetZero and Global Switch and which proved popular internationally. Personal Portals Online merged with One Ten Media in December 2005 went on to launch a number of new web 2.0 products under the corporate brand Web2 Corp.
Web2 Corp (2005 - 2008)
Web2 Corp was a holding company for several subsidiaries devoted to duplicating new possibilities of proven Internet business models. The overarching purpose of Web2 Corp was to create a sound platform of products that built upon one another to give Mobley and his clients a broad base of “white-labeled” products that could be used to make the most of the rapidly growing user base of the Internet.
Products included:
Web 1000 Hosting, an award-winning free webhost which had over 800,000+ sites prior to being sold; ByIndia, a social media hub and search engine created for the country of India; and numerous enterprise products installed internationally.
Nextelligence, Inc. (2000 - present)
Nextelligence, Inc. is a privately held business creation and incubation firm that has fostered development of numerous companies, including several listed above. Other notable Nextelligence products include:
BroadCastBid, an online auctions platform for broadcast media, giving them a robust, customizable platform to sell half-off certificates, dream vacation packages, and more.
iDemption, a secure online document delivery system that functions in a manner similar to CouponStar or Coupons.com, but which does not require a software download to prevent fraudulent document re-prints. IDemption also provides complete printing and redemption tracking of all documents, coupons, and certificates for marketing research.
As Mobley’s private think tank, Nextelligence provides the administrative and management support for start-up concepts and arranges capitalization for market development.
FreeCast, Inc. (2011-Present)
FreeCast, Inc is a digital media business launched by Mobley in 2011. FreeCast is much like a TV channel guide, except it provides information on online streaming and television programs. It is a search-engine type application that catalogs content from video-streaming sites, including YouTube, and makes these accessible to customers worldwide.
The company specializes in the marketing and operation of instant downloadable software. The software offers an array of Internet-based on-demand popular television shows/programming, full-length movies, streaming radio stations, pay-per-view movies and multi-player games from multiple content providers. It is compatible with personal computers, tablets, mobile/smart phones and Wi-Fi enabled HD/LCD flat panel TVs.
In November 2012, FreeCast partnered with "As Seen on TV" guru A.J. Khubani and Telebrands Corp to develop Rabbit TV, a web-based guide to watching TV shows, movies, live events and more online. Rabbit TV is currently sold in the form of a USB device which grants users access to the Rabbit TV Go web-based guide.