Happy New Year and reflections on 2007

I've been enjoying a well-deserved break and time off-line over Christmas, and neglected to post any "Christmas" message to my blog readers, so I thought I should at least post up a Happy New Year!

On a professional level, 2007 was another one for me that was full of potential and promise, and yet still didn't seem to get us as far down the road as we first thought. While we are undoubtedly further along the road to financial success from Flash Lite, no one could argue that it has "arrived" on the non-Japanese mobile scene. Sound like a familiar line from my new year refelctions from 2005, 2006? Things are changing though.

While Moket is still small enough to be flexible in business direction and focus, 2007 was a year where we certainly locked into a path more than in previous years. We expanded our team and studio equipment to have at the moment around 5-6 guys (developers, animators and designers) and moved into a larger office space. We bought a lot of phones! We saw our first games launched in the US, and have 4-5 new game titles in development for release in 2008. And perhaps the biggest gamble of all - we launched our mobile portal, "Club Moket".

I didn't travel as much in 2007 as in previous years, but was fortunate enough to again speak at MAX in Chicago and Carnegie Mellon University ETC in Pittsburgh, and spend some time in the US with my wife Tanya. I also preseneted at webDU in Sydney and for numeous webinars and usergroup meetings. All of this public activity has kept the Moket name out there and has been great for meeting some fantastic and incredibly talented people within the Adobe and mobile communities. I looked forward to more opportunities in 2008 and to meeting many more of you.

On a personal level, 2007 was a rollercoaster. Being a start-up company owner, work always influences your personal life in a big way. Moket has a personal cost attached to it as well as just the hours spent in the office, and during 2007 at times it's been very expensive! For me, family is everything and business is secondary in life and I always try and make sure that family is not suffering because of other pressures. That's easier said than done most of the time, and I'll need to be even more focused on this in the new year.

Lastly I just wanted to say a quick thank you to those who have helped in big ways in 2007. Much appreciation and thanks goes out to Tanya, Macca, Alessandro, SJ, Bill, Adam, James T, Thomas, Donny, James L, Anne-Marie, Peter, Dom, Sam, Brendan, Steve, Vincent, Geoff B, Adobe (Aust, San Fran) and to anyone who bought one of our games :)

Happy New Year - bring on 2008.