A group of Massachusetts based software developers at Kanda are out to change an inefficiency in the presentation world. Instead of dealing with large attachments and bulky slide downloads, their app MobileCast broadcasts PowerPoint slides directly to people’s cell phones and iPads in real time. Perhaps best of all, this update process can occur both remotely and in person.
At first Mobilecast sounds a lot like Conde Nast’s IdeaFlight, but where IdeaFlight feels like a snazzy conference room feature, Mobilecast is built for utility.
In order to achieve this task, Mobilecast relies on a business network (created by logging in through the app) and a Windows plugin download that allows people to update the rest of the network with PowerPoint slides. Let’s start by discussing the Windows plugin and continue with an explanation of how the slides are distributed.
The PowerPoint sharing process begins with a Windows plugin download available via the Kanda website. Anyone who wants to share anything with the rest of their Mobilecast network needs to download this small piece of software. Once that’s on your main computer you can use Kanda’s control panel to share presentations and update slides with the push of a button.
When a slide is shared with a network it is forwarded to everyone who has downloaded the Mobilecast app. It doesn’t matter if people’s phones are in sleep mode or if the Kanda app is even running. Updates take the form of push notifications so the network is kept up to date as long as their phone is on.
From there Mobilecast users can choose to view slides on their mobile device and save them for later on Evernote. This can occur no matter where a user is in the world. As long as they are signed up to your Mobilecast network they’ve opted in to receive slide updates.
Despite how complicated the process sounds, once everything is set up it’s quite simple to keep Mobilecast running efficiently with your team. Still, there are a few kinks I’d like to see worked out before I took this to my workplace.
- Kanda’s plugin only works with Windows and PowerPoint. Before this goes mainstream it needs to be operating system agnostic.
- Mobilecast would be an excellent resource for clients, but asking a customer to pay to view your ideas feels a bit awkward. Something about the pricing structure feels like it needs to change.
- Something about the way the app is communicated makes you feel like you have to be an engineer to get it right. A little bit of accessibility here would go a long way.
If Kanda can fix those three issues Mobilecast has huge potential to solve a serious market issue. Until then it will remain an extremely niche app built for a very specific audience.
Bottom Line: Presentation broadcast app Mobilecast has the makings for something great, but the Windows only clause makes it hard to vouch for.
