Dopplr
Encyclopedia
Dopplr is a free social networking service, launched in 2007, that allows users to create itineraries of their travel plans and spot correlations with their contacts’ travel plans in order to arrange meetings at any point on their journey. Additional features include allowing the user to calculate the carbon footprint
their journeys have produced. The site is named after Christian Doppler
, discoverer of the Doppler effect
. The company is based in the Old Street
area of London
.
On September 28, 2009 Dopplr announced that they had been acquired by Nokia
. Within a year many were questioning the future of the site, noting that Dopplr's blog had not been updated since two days after the acquisition and its unique monthly users had plummeted from 39,000 to 29,000. In a statement issued in September 2010 a Nokia spokesperson reported "we have decided to bring it into a maintenance mode … but will not develop it further at this stage."
, the co-founder of Wikipedia
, described it in an interview with The New York Times
as his favorite non-wiki
website.
The Evening Standard
named Matt Biddulph and Matt Jones, two of the site’s founders, among the thousand most influential people in London in 2007 and again in 2008.
A survey carried out in early 2008 on influential technology figures by the Guardian Media Group
named Dopplr as a company to watch out for.
News of the acquisition by Nokia had been in the air earlier, mostly to a news report by TechCrunch
. Rumours were officially confirmed on September 28.
, Joichi Ito, Reid Hoffman
, Saul Klein and Marko Ahtisaari
. Second-round investors in fall 2008 were: Tom Glocer
, Esther Dyson
, Tyler Brule
, Joshua Schachter
, Brian Behlendorf
, Ami Hasan, Daniel Sachs, Kim Weckström
and Azeem Azhar.
Carbon footprint
A carbon footprint has historically been defined as "the total set of greenhouse gas emissions caused by an organization, event, product or person.". However, calculating a carbon footprint which conforms to this definition is often impracticable due to the large amount of data required, which is...
their journeys have produced. The site is named after Christian Doppler
Christian Doppler
Christian Andreas Doppler was an Austrian mathematician and physicist.-Life and work:Christian Doppler was raised in Salzburg, Austria, the son of a stonemason. Doppler could not work in his father's business because of his generally weak physical condition...
, discoverer of the Doppler effect
Doppler effect
The Doppler effect , named after Austrian physicist Christian Doppler who proposed it in 1842 in Prague, is the change in frequency of a wave for an observer moving relative to the source of the wave. It is commonly heard when a vehicle sounding a siren or horn approaches, passes, and recedes from...
. The company is based in the Old Street
Old Street
Old Street is a street in east London that runs west to east from Goswell Road in Clerkenwell, in the London Borough of Islington, to the crossroads where it intersects with Shoreditch High Street , Kingsland Road and Hackney Road in Shoreditch in the London Borough of Hackney.The nearest...
area of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
On September 28, 2009 Dopplr announced that they had been acquired by Nokia
Nokia
Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational communications corporation that is headquartered in Keilaniemi, Espoo, a city neighbouring Finland's capital Helsinki...
. Within a year many were questioning the future of the site, noting that Dopplr's blog had not been updated since two days after the acquisition and its unique monthly users had plummeted from 39,000 to 29,000. In a statement issued in September 2010 a Nokia spokesperson reported "we have decided to bring it into a maintenance mode … but will not develop it further at this stage."
Key staff
- Marko AhtisaariMarko AhtisaariMarko Ahtisaari is a Finnish technology entrepreneur and musician.Marko Ahtisaari is the son of Martti Ahtisaari, a former UN diplomat, President of Finland...
- CEO - Matt Biddulph - CTO
- Dan GillmorDan GillmorDan Gillmor is a noted American technology writer and columnist. He is director of the Knight Center for Digital Media Entrepreneurship at Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication and a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard...
- Founding Traveller - Matt Jones - Design Director
- Saul Klein - Board
- Lisa SounioLisa SounioLisa Sounio is a past CEO and the current chairperson of social networking site Dopplr. She is also the CEO of her own design management consultancy Sonay. She has a has a background in industrial design management. Early in her career she worked as a sales- and export manager in the Finnish...
- Chairman of the Board - Tom Insam - Architect & Developer
- Boris Anthony - UI Designer, later Design Director
In the press
In 2007, Jimmy WalesJimmy Wales
Jimmy Donal "Jimbo" Wales is an American Internet entrepreneur best known as a co-founder and promoter of the online non-profit encyclopedia Wikipedia and the Wikia company....
, the co-founder of Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
, described it in an interview with The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
as his favorite non-wiki
Wiki
A wiki is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used collaboratively by multiple users. Examples include...
website.
The Evening Standard
Evening Standard
The Evening Standard, now styled the London Evening Standard, is a free local daily newspaper, published Monday–Friday in tabloid format in London. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London...
named Matt Biddulph and Matt Jones, two of the site’s founders, among the thousand most influential people in London in 2007 and again in 2008.
A survey carried out in early 2008 on influential technology figures by the Guardian Media Group
Guardian Media Group
Guardian Media Group plc is a company of the United Kingdom owning various mass media operations including The Guardian and The Observer. The Group is owned by the Scott Trust. It was founded as the Manchester Guardian Ltd in 1907 when C. P. Scott bought the Manchester Guardian from the estate of...
named Dopplr as a company to watch out for.
News of the acquisition by Nokia had been in the air earlier, mostly to a news report by TechCrunch
TechCrunch
TechCrunch is a web publication that offers technology news and analysis, as well as profiling of startup companies, products, and websites. It was founded by Michael Arrington in 2005, and was first published on June 11, 2005....
. Rumours were officially confirmed on September 28.
Investors in Dopplr
First angel round investors in it include Martin VarsavskyMartín Varsavsky
Martín Varsavsky is an Argentine entrepreneur based in Spain.Born to Carlos Varsavsky and Silvia Waisman-Diamond, Varsavsky attended primary school at the New Model School and the Colegio Nicolás Avellaneda high school....
, Joichi Ito, Reid Hoffman
Reid Hoffman
Reid G. Hoffman is an American entrepreneur and venture capitalist. Hoffman is best known as the co-founder of LinkedIn, a social network used primarily for business connections and job searching.-Early education and career:...
, Saul Klein and Marko Ahtisaari
Marko Ahtisaari
Marko Ahtisaari is a Finnish technology entrepreneur and musician.Marko Ahtisaari is the son of Martti Ahtisaari, a former UN diplomat, President of Finland...
. Second-round investors in fall 2008 were: Tom Glocer
Tom Glocer
Tom Glocer is the CEO of Thomson Reuters and former CEO of Reuters.-Biography:Glocer joined Reuters Group in 1993 as Vice President and Deputy Counsel, Reuters America...
, Esther Dyson
Esther Dyson
Esther Dyson is a former journalist and Wall Street technology analyst who is a leading angel investor, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and commentator focused on breakthrough innovation in healthcare, government transparency, digital technology, biotechnology, and space...
, Tyler Brule
Tyler Brûlé
Tyler Brûlé is a Canadian journalist, entrepreneur, and magazine publisher. He is the editor-in-chief of Monocle and a columnist for the Weekend FT.-Early years:...
, Joshua Schachter
Joshua Schachter
Joshua Schachter is the creator of Delicious, creator of GeoURL, and co-creator of Memepool. He has a B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh....
, Brian Behlendorf
Brian Behlendorf
Brian Behlendorf is a technologist, computer programmer, and an important figure in the open-source software movement. He was a primary developer of the Apache Web server, the most popular web server software on the Internet, and a founding member of the Apache Group, which later became the Apache...
, Ami Hasan, Daniel Sachs, Kim Weckström
Kim Weckström
Kim Weckström is a Finnish journalist/writer turned serial entrepreneur. He launched his first venture – an alternative newsmonthly City-lehti in 1985, which is still successfully published in all major cities in Finland...
and Azeem Azhar.
External links
- Dopplr
- Company profile on CrunchBase
- “Let’s do Lunch in London”. Vivienne Walt, Time Magazine, February 2008.