Last night, I was going through some computer documents and happened upon a stream-of-consciousness I wrote in January on a return trip from a Florida vacation. That trip culminated the end of Infinity Softworks II. Two weeks later, we had started working on Infinity Softworks III — but I didn’t know that yet.

Let me explain. Infinity Softworks I culminated the years 1997-2001. During that time, our main focus was on financial applications for handhelds: calculator, money tracking, investment tracking, etc. The company was run like a commercial shareware business. There were never more than three or four associated with the company, and for a chunk of the time it was just me.

Infinity Softworks II ran from 2001 through 2006. During this era we built a business plan, raised money, grew the number of employees and focused on verticalizing our business. We spent some time focused on real estate but never really committed to it. We spent most of this time focused on education. Most of this era was spent in handhelds but the latter two years was focused on web-based products for math education.

Our time ran out in December, 2006. We were running out of cash and no longer had a clear business vision. Infinity Softworks III began in January, 2007 as we 1) received the largest order in the history of the company, 2) decided to develop a BlackBerry version of our software, and 3) streamline and improve the existing Palm OS, Windows Mobile and Windows applications. We are set to dig into this new world of connected devices.

While the Infinity Softworks III era has just begun, I am starting to see some very interesting possibilities. I have been asking questions like, “How do our customers interact with their customers and how can this relationship be made more efficient?” It seems to me that the value of carrying around a small, connected computer is two fold: it helps me work and it helps me work more efficiently. But it seems that we are forgetting the efficiently part and focusing on the work more part.

Next week I will post the eulogy I wrote on that long flight home. I think it ties into my post on success and longevity and will give you some insight into this company. I hope to share more about this new future with you over time.

I spent years trying to steer Infinity Softworks out of mobile computing.

When the stock market crashed in 2001 and then the terrorist attack later that year, people stopped buying handhelds. We spent years trying to prop ourselves up in the market. We tried to go vertical, developing products for real estate and education, but our attention was split and not enough devices were being bought to be successful. Then we tried to leave handheld computing and move to the web with an educational product. Ugh! While we had some success there it didn’t work out well.

It’s not that we left completely. We have had products for Palm OS, Windows Mobile and Windows computers and have continued to talk with clients and watch progress. But I didn’t see the momentum building for mobile computing again until recently.

Now the BlackBerry smartphones are selling well and out of its traditional enterprise niche. A couple of popular Windows Mobile devices have come out that have revived interest. And of course the iPhone has made a lot of chins drag (sight unseen, mind you).

Our customers are starting to buy connected devices, smartphones if you will, instead of the disconnected handheld computers of yesteryear. And it struck me that with connected devices there is so much more we can do than with the disconnected ones.

With that, I am proud to introduce powerOne for BlackBerry devices. Our customers have gotten used to the ability to quickly and easily perform what-if analysis but we have added an extra dimension here. For the first time, we have made it possible to quickly and easily embed that calculation in an email report and send it from the device. No more waiting to go back to the office to send that quote. No more evening sessions of sending out the “thanks for meeting with me” messages. Now it can be handled quickly, easily and painlessly right from the device.

I hope this product is well received and is the beginning of great things we can do for mobile professionals everywhere. I know that I am brimming with ideas!