Early this morning I found myself jetlagged and working (at around 2am local time) in Barcelona, where I have a speaking oppportunity at Etre 2006. I left the hotel business center where I was working on my slide deck-something I tend to obsess over, only to stop by the bar on my way back to my room. I guess bars here don’t necessarily close at 2am like at home. So I stopped in, and ended up chatting it up with some people from all over Europe. The first person I talked to approached me because I had on a JDUB Records t-shirt, which is the label Matisyahu was on when I bought his first record. I ended up buying a round of drinks before too long, chalking it up to an international focus group. (I lived in Europe for a while as a kid, but that was before mobile phones and social networking, so my senses around European usage in those areas is only around current education). Anyhow, the big take away was that given there is so much SMS usage here, that Jangl would be used more for SMS than talking. We’ve always thought this to be the case, but at least among my informal bar room focus group, it was validated. The other take away was that it would be used just as much by business people as socialites. That was an interesting data point I didn’t expect-but these people were business people so there ya go.
I’m headed to the gothic quarter today, so I’ll see if I can do some more digging among locals. I tend to confuse people here because my name is Spanish (Cerda), yet I’m American, yet speak Spanish with a Mexican slang. Go figure.
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Regardless of how pumped up I get about a European Jangl, we’re focused on the U.S. right now. We will expand more than likely via partnership opportunities. I’ve learned that when walking before running, it makes for a better stride.
(Brief shout out to the Canadians trying to use beta now-folks we don’t work there yet, which is why your numbers aren’t getting verified. We’ll let you know when we expand into .ca.).
-MC
