PocketThis

About PocketThis

PocketThis, Inc. was a software company founded in 1999 by Nancy Benovich Gilby. Gilby, who served as the CEO and President, brought with her 18 years of experience in building successful startups. She holds both a BSE and MSE from the University of Michigan and had a background in product strategy and development, including at the publicly traded company On Technology.

PocketThis was established to address the emerging market of wireless internet services. The company developed and sold packaged software solutions to mobile operators. This software was designed to enable these operators to quickly form partnerships with content and service providers, thereby expanding the range of services they could offer to their subscribers. The core of the business model was to provide the underlying technology that allowed mobile phone users to "pocket" or save information from the web for later use, a significant challenge on the less user-friendly mobile devices of the early 2000s. The company's offerings included data services, text messaging, and voice services.

One of the key products was a solution that allowed wireless subscribers to capture and share information and content, such as images. In 2003, for instance, PocketThis partnered with PhotoBox, a UK-based online photography service, to create new ways for people to share images via their mobile devices. The company engaged in trials with major carriers like VoiceStream Wireless and France Telecom to test its solutions. PocketThis aimed to simplify the user experience of the mobile web, positioning itself as a key infrastructure provider for the growing mobile data ecosystem.