Entrepreneur puts faith in gingle

By Quentin Casey – Telegraph Jounal – link to original article

Unlike some younger entrepreneurs, Erik Gingles couldn't afford to survive on a steady diet of rice cakes, while pumping every last cent into his startup.

“I've got a family of five. I have three kids and a wife,” says the creator of gingle, a software app that is now available on iTunes. “I have to be a little more cautious. I have to very calculated and very exact in what I'm doing.”

But that's not to say that Gingles hasn't sacrificed to fund gingle, a program that allows users to stream live video from an iPhone. The president of Moncton-based i communications – an advertising and marketing company – even started cycling to work in order to pump his gas money into creating the app.

In all, Gingles says it cost roughly $100,000 in time and cash to develop the software.

“Personal savings can only go so far,” says the 46-year-old. “You do other things to make it work … That's why it's exciting to finally get it on iTunes. We did it.”

Gingle, which is free to download, enables its users to stream video and audio directly from one iPhone to another.

The video can also be streamed to iPads and to gingle's website: gingle.tv. The website displays a map of the world, with small pins marking the locations of currently streaming videos.

Tap on a pin and you can instantly watch what that particular user is streaming, from a storm surge at a local beach to a political uprising halfway around the world. The videos are also archived for later viewing.

Gingles started developing the app (with the help of subcontracted software designers) last January. In March, gingle – though still just an idea – was a finalist at the 2011 Breakthru awards – a business plan competition organized by the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation. On Dec. 9, gingle was launched on iTunes.

At this point, however, the app isn't generating revenue for Gingles' advertising firm. But that will change if he is successful in licensing it as a “journalistic tool.”

Gingles envisions the app being employed by news agencies, which could call on average citizens to stream live video from newsworthy events. He points to this year's Stanley Cup riot in Vancouver as a perfect example.

So far he has contacted more than 300 journalism schools in an effort to get feedback on the app's journalistic potential.

According to Gingles, the growing global appetite for online video bodes well for his app's future.

“People want to watch stuff,” he says. “I tell my kids to turn off the TV and there's never a fuss. Why? Because as soon as I say that, the three of them are gathered around the laptop. Then I have to say, 'No YouTube either.'

“The prevalence of online/mobile video has just gone crazy.”

And Gingles says the small number of competitors in his field further boosts his software's chances.

“There are very few people in the world who can do this – and we've done it,” he says. “It's exciting. There's huge growth potential.”