In 1997, the founders of this company were working with every major landline carrier in the US, enabling a new calling feature that was both revolutionary and extremely simple – Number Caller ID. Remember the little box that arrived in the mail from your carrier? Chances are we made it and the software that made it work

At the time, the jury was still out on whether consumers would see value in a number with each inbound call. The term "call screening" in those days meant standing by your cassette tape answering machine and hoping the caller would identify themselves. A number might help on occasion but seemed too simple to matter, right?

Wrong.

Number-only Caller ID took off like a rocket and visual call screening was on its way to becoming a deeply engrained and universal consumer behavior. Over the years, as we introduced new caller ID products with our carrier partners it became obvious that there is something in human nature that values learning as much information as possible about those trying to reach you. It's a sense of empowerment over who we connect with and how we spend our time.

Fast forward 10 years and we're once again providing something so basic it's easily dismissed. Don't.

City ID™ couldn't be simpler – and that's a good thing. In a world where most wireless application providers are peering into the future to provide TV on handsets or serve location-based ads (and waiting patiently for the market to adopt), we're simply helping people to manage how and with whom they communicate. Since Name Caller ID in wireless is impractical for carriers to provide on so many levels, we've been stuck with number only in cellular for almost a decade now.

We have yet to run into a consumer (landline or wireless or both) who would actually prefer less information on who is trying to reach them – business person, youth, anyone. Think about that for a moment – literally everyone screens their calls and values more information. That's 100% demand from 100% of mobile subscribers – and if you look at our trial statistics and are thoughtful about the historic uptake of Caller ID products, you will conclude that a compelling number of people are willing to pay for this evolution of mobile Caller ID.

I'll sign off by thanking the wonderful partners and trial customers we've worked with to date. Your willingness to look past the simplicity of City ID™ and appreciate the empowerment it provides has been an inspiration for us. People don't realize the value of a city, town or neighborhood beneath each unknown number until they see it with every call – and it helps them connect with someone they want to speak to, or, in the case of a particular vendor that's been hounding me for months – avoid someone they don't.

Best Regards,