Ontario, Canada software firm puts the "Flash" in mobile

Animated Media Inc. building a business around solving Flash's shortcomings in small mobile and portable devices.

Animated Media Inc. is a fan of Adobe's Flash software for creating and viewing graphics, animations, and videos. But the Toronto-based company has built its business around solving Flash's shortcomings in small mobile and portable devices.

Anni, the company avatar for Animated Media Inc., is mainly used for marketing materials and in demos. You can see more of her at www.youtube.com/animatedmedia

"Flash works great in PCs," explains Chris Brady, President and CEO of Animated Media, "but it has its limitations in low-power devices."

Animated Media's VGK platform allows its customers to incorporate cutting-edge Flash capabilities - such as stunning visuals for multimedia applications – in their low-power devices, including the world's billions of smart phones, tablets, and other portable consumer electronics.

"Applications are the future of portable embedded and mobile devices," Brady says. "VGK customers can add Flash objects directly to their existing software applications and to simultaneously run multiple Flash objects in a single application."

The company developed the VGK platform by studying the User Interface (UI) market, the tools available, the system requirements, and customer needs.  "The VGK is a software platform that is fast, modular, and flexible," says Brady. "It saves our customers time and money."

The resulting VGK software suite soon found wide acceptance in the United States, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom.

"We chose those markets because traditionally, they do a lot of product development in the major market spaces in which we compete."

The company then used the services of the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Trade to help it launch in target market segments including consumer devices – tablets, toys, handheld and portable devices and digital cameras and mobile devices – smart phones and feature phones, as well as broadcast – set-top boxes, digital TV and Internet TV.

"In Europe, all companies in the broadcast segment are looking for ways to differentiate their product offerings. The VGK allows them to do that."

"In the US, the success of Apple products has entire industries now focused on their product User Interfaces. They're all looking for sophisticated, stylish UIs that are easy to use. The VGK enables them."

Brady praised the services offered by International Marketing Consultants at the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade. "They were invaluable in helping us get our foot in the door in export markets," says Brady. "They gave us exposure that resulted in new contracts, sales leads and partner discussions."

Animated Media's international success is driving annual sales growth of 20% to 30% and helping the company grow its employee numbers.

"We expect export sales will allow us to add at least five to 10 staff in 2011, bringing our total to 17 or more to handle the growing demand," says Brady. "Beyond that, we also plan to hire regional sales professionals in our key export markets."