Democrat & Chronicle, Rochester Newspaper

8/24/2010

George Eastman wasn't a fan of the living room fireplace in his East Avenue mansion — he thought it "too rococo," television and motion picture actor Robert Forster says in the George Eastman House tour narration that Pittsford resident Gene Edwards listened to on his mobile phone.

Edwards, 60, has visited the Rochester landmark numerous times, but last week's trip was the first he took using OnCell Systems Inc.'s cell phone audio tour.

"The guided tours, sometimes they just spit it out," Edwards said as he and his sister, Irene Goodrich of Tennessee, left the living room on a self-guided tour. "I like this because you can go at your own pace."

George Eastman House became one of OnCell's first customers after the company's late 2006 launch. Now the Perinton-based technology company, which started as GeoPoint Systems Inc. and changed its name in 2007, is in what CEO and founder Thomas Dunne calls a "land rush" for market share.

OnCell's clients are non-profit institutions, particularly those that are starting to replace older systems of headsets — which staff had to check out to visitors and maintain — with less expensive alternatives of tourists listening on their own mobile phones.

For tours such as the one at George Eastman House, users dial a local number and then, at particular stops, punch in another short number to get the relevant audio information. The tour content is typically provided by the clients, with OnCell providing the technology.

The company last month signed a deal with London-based Antenna Audio, a giant in audio tour technology, to move Antenna's clients over to OnCell's technology platform, said Kevin Dooley, vice president of market development. "That's really taken us up a whole other level. They're a global company."

OnCell has a dozen employees and more than 500 customers either paying for or trying out the service, including the Civil War Naval Museum in Georgia, the U.S. Botanic Garden in Washington, D.C., and the Grand Canyon and Independence Hall national parks.

The privately held company declined to divulge financial data, though Dunne said it has been profitable the past 18 months. OnCell is talking with potential outside investors, looking for money that would let it rapidly build its sales force, he said.

The company has developed an iPhone app, with an Android one coming soon. OnCell also is interested in pursing smart tag technology — barcode-like symbols that can have information such as audio or video embedded in a design that can be read by a smart phone, said Dunne.

OnCell is contemplating customer bases outside of non-profit cultural institutions, such as retailers, who could put promotional or product information at customer fingertips, Dooley said.

Over the next couple of years, Dunne said, OnCell hopes to start landing international customers to complement its domestic client base.

by Matt Daneman | This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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