Start with the experience

"In the late 1990s, the global giants of tech and telco bet billions on mobile internet architecture. We anchored ourselves to a single principle: that the future of the internet would be personal, mobile, and woven into every moment. This is the story of how our small team, Genie, out-paced those giants with $100 million less - by starting with the experience, not the platform. And crucially, we weren't just thinking differently - we were moving faster."

"Even more remarkable, Genie's first public alpha launched as early as 1997, more than three years before Vodafone and Vivendi unveiled Vizzavi in June 2000. When it came to WAP - the technology that made mobile web experiences possible - Genie's services went live in January 2000, a full six months before Vodafone entered the market. By the point Vizzavi was preparing for launch, Genie already had 900,000 registered users."

In the late 1990s global tech and telco giants invested heavily in mobile internet architecture. A small team named Genie adopted a guiding principle that the future of the internet would be personal, mobile, and woven into everyday moments. Genie prioritized experience design over building a massive integrated platform, enabling faster iteration and lower costs and outpacing larger rivals by roughly $100 million. Public alpha work began in 1997, and WAP services launched in January 2000, six months before major competitors entered the market. By rival launch time Genie had about 900,000 registered users. That early, experience-led approach shaped subsequent product decisions and connected-experience innovations.

Read at Medium