About James Eberhardt

James is co-founder of Echo Mobile and a Technical Director with over 13 years of experience of leading convergent media projects, and works with production companies to deliver content and stories to audiences through any available screen – particularly the ubiquitous screens of mobile devices.

James has been the Technical Director on award winning websites such as theborder.ca, shortsinmotion.com, burnttoastopera.com, thisisdanielcook.com, and thisisemilyyeung.com. It is through projects such as these that he has brought games, video, contests and other content to cell phone users. In 2007 shortsinmotion.com won the “Best Made for Mobile Video Service” at the Global Mobile Awards, and the “Mobile Program Enhancement Award” at the Banff World Television Awards. In 2008, theborder.ca launched the first nationwide mobile contest to use QR Codes, a mobile technology that is quickly gaining popularity around the world. This mobile contest for The Border won the award for the category “Mobile Program Enhancement Award” at the Banff World Television Awards in June 2008.

In 2006 James was invited to teach Flash Lite for mobile devices at China’s foremost university for design, the Central Academy of Fine Arts; and returned in 2007 for another teaching engagement. He has taught at Ryerson University, George Brown College and the Rich Media Institute in Toronto. James is an advisory board member for Seneca College’s Digital Media Arts program. He has spoken on the topic of mobile technologies at colleges and universities, as well as conferences such as FITC, Doc:IT! and the upcoming 360|iDev. In 2006 he was the recipient of the “Programmer of the Year” award at the Canadian New Media Awards. In 2009 James will be conducting workshops on iPhone development in Toronto, Amsterdam, Lisbon, Las Vegas.

James collaborated with Pixel Gallery in 2008 to create the interactive installation “The Artillerist”, an immersive multi-projectionbased installation which involves networking a series of Wii controllers embedded in fake plastic toy guns enabling visitors to use them as a series of customized ‘brushes’ to digitally paint on ornate hanging canvases within the gallery space.

Previously James was Technical Director for marblemedia, Lead Architect for Infinet Communications, and Team Lead for extendMedia. He graduated from Ryerson University with a Bachelor of Applied Arts in New Media.

About Echo Mobile Inc

Founded in 2008 by James Eberhardt and Gabe Sawhney, Echo Mobile is a boutique mobile technology consultancy and design firm. We assist content creators, application developers and agencies to design successful mobile applications and campaigns, specializing in wild ideas and disruptive technologies and processes.

As a new company, Echo Mobile brings a fresh approach to the rapidly changing mobile space. Based in Toronto, Echo Mobile understands the challenges that are unique to the Canadian mobile market. We are determined to overcome these challenges and help our clients explore the exciting mobile space as it emerges in Canada. This can include developing both on-deck and off-deck solutions for it’s projects. With everyone still exploring the opportunities in mobile content creation, from the content owners to the users, it’s an exciting time for innovative ideas to rise to the top.

Our strengths are:

• Our recognition of the ways the mobile market in Canada is currently undergoing dramatic changes as a result of lower data rates and higher customer expectations due to the availability of next-generation devices like the iPhone.
• Our commitment to Canada — it’s a relatively small market, but one that we are proud to focus on, and that we believe has enormous creative and commercial potential.
• Our comprehensive approach to mobile, accommodating high-end and low-end phones, in ways that make best use of the capabilities of each device.
• Our track record as developers for award winning and innovative mobile content projects.

What we bring:

• Experience developing some of the most innovative mobile content projects in the world.
• Awareness of the newest and most interesting mobile content initiative internationally.
• A very solid understanding of the Canadian mobile market.
• A holistic approach to mobile that’s centered on the user and on your message — so we develop systems that embrace all mobile platforms.

While many companies in the mobile space currently offer product based solutions, Echo Mobile does not believe that one product can be everything to every project. Echo Mobile consults with its clients to develop unique solutions for the specific needs of the project. As a result, we are not focused on a singular technical solution, but rather have the ability to work with all mobile technologies, unlike most aggregators who work with singular technologies offered by their products rather than focusing on the needs of their client. We have expertise in SMS, IVR, video, and iPhone development as well as many other technologies.

Echo Mobile works with its clients during all phases of a project: consultation, production, and deployment. During the consultation phase, we will work closely with the client to identify the best possible solution for engaging the viewer with the content on their mobile device. While in production, we ensure the project meets the highest standards, both on the creative and technical fronts of the project. With new mobile devices entering the market all the time, this means continually updating our knowledge base on the specifications of the new devices. After everything has been built and rigorously tested, it’s time to deploy the project. Echo Mobile will ensure that the project runs smoothly once it has launched, keeping the hardware running, tracking the usage, and generating reports for the client. From the beginning of your project to the end, Echo Mobile can be your partner for all your mobile needs.

With years of web development experience Echo Mobile is able to work closely with its clients and their existing new media workflow. This can include integration with creative processes, and the technical aspects of front-ends, back-ends, databases, and content management systems. A project manager from Echo Mobile will work with the client to coordinate the communication between the two companies, making sure the right people are talking to each other.

As freelancers and employees, the partners at Echo Mobile have worked with a variety of clients on mobile-based projects, focusing on the entertainment and arts sectors. We have worked on award-winning projects that enhance television shows with mobile content such as ReGenesis Extended Reality Game, Shorts In Motion Mobile Video, Burnt Toast Opera, and The Border Mobile QR Code contest. For many of these projects we have also been involved in creating successful applications for funding bodies such as The Bell New Media Fund, Téléfilm New Media Fund, and Téléfilm Great Canadian Video Game Competition.

In the end, Echo Mobile has one goal: Put your content onto cell phones.