Skoop! Mobile
Technology
By Sherrie Wilkolaski
M
obile phones are the final
frontier, they can do
virtually anything. The term
“smart phone” is a misnomer
because it’s not really the
phone that is smart, it is the genius
of developers behind the technology.
The phone is the conduit for what is
even more brilliant, the apps that run
on these hand-held devices. Yes, you
can make calls on it, or use it as a
flashlight or a magnifying glass, those
everyday tools we need to get through
the day. They also keep us connected
via social media and help us with
applications to buy music or get
discounts at our favorite retailers.
If you think about how far cellphone
technology has come over the years,
it is quite remarkable. One man who
has been at the forefront of cellular
and mobile technology since its
inception is Dan Giacopelli, the
Founder and Chief Executive
Officer of Skoop! Inc., a Long Island
based mobile marketing company.
visualizing future market
opportunities, expanding his
companies’ technology portfolios
to meet predicted need, and then
aggressively penetrating those
markets. Dan earned his Bachelor’s
degree in Electrical Engineering from
Stevens Institute of Technology and
his Master of Science degree in
Electrical Engineering from the
Polytechnic Institute of New York.
He has authored six technology
patents and has a comprehensive
knowledge of mobile markets and
applications. Without a doubt, this
gentleman has the pedigree to lead
the mobile technology market.
speak with me, and I grilled him and
did my best to poke holes in what he
is doing. But he came back with
solutions to all of my challenges.
My first order of business was to find
out more about his credentials. As it
turns out, he has more than 30 years
of leadership experience in the
wireless and telecommunications
industries. Prior to Skoop!, he
founded, built, and sold three
successful entrepreneurial
companies, the last of which was
merged with Telular Corporation
(NASDAQ: WRLS), for which Mr.
Giacopelli served as Executive Vice
President, Chief Technology Officer,
and a Board member for 10 years. In
all of his C-level assignments, Dan
has played a lead role in positioning
his companies for growth by
“My personal history, and that of
some in our engineering and business
development teams, is one of
engagement in the mobile phone
arena since its inception. For a few
of us, this dates back to the late
1980s and early 1990s, when we
designed (at one of my previous
companies called Wireless Domain)
some of the first analog cellular “car
phones” and “bag phones”. After
Wireless Domain was merged into
Telular Corporation, we were very
early entrants into the design of
what were then called “digital
cellular” phones based on TDMA,
CDMA, and GSM technology. That
progressed and evolved over the
years into the 4G mobile phones that
we all carry today. Those early days
were an exciting time, as the market
was young and growing at triple
digit rates, and staying ahead of the
technology and market adoption
curves was a real roller coaster for
those of us designing and
manufacturing mobile products.
Several months ago, I was
introduced to Dan and was blown
away by what he is doing with
Skoop! I’m a bit of a technology
junkie and spend my free-time
researching software and
applications to see what is out
there that can help me better
run my business. Up until now,
I’ve been disappointed with the
mobile technology I have been
searching for, because it is either
cost-prohibitive or there are so
many different vendors needed
to provide everything that I’m
looking for, integration then
becomes the challenge. Skoop!
has everything a business will
need, all under one umbrella,
so integration is not a problem
and the investment is very
competitive. Dan took time to
“We also had a service at Telular
which used the cellular system (in
the form of text messages) to send
88
security alarm signals from homes
and businesses in the event that the
phone line was cut. This was a
subscription-based business with
a very high customer retention rate,
which definitely whetted my
appetite for that type of revenue
model. So, when I started Skoop!
in 2007, both my text message
technology experience and my
appetite for a recurring revenue
model business led me to jump into
the brand new arena of mobile
marketing and offer a text marketing
service. Of course, two years later
the iPhone appeared and changed
the world in then-unimaginable ways,
enabling companies like Skoop! to
first offer mobile websites (wow!),
and then apps to our clients,
creating an entirely new set of
services and revenue streams
to both us and our clients.”