It’s self love for two reasons: ZenZui is an independent mobile user-interface company born from Microsoft’s own Research Lab; and it sounds an awful lot like the Japanese phrase for…um…auto-erotica.
First, let’s talk about what this company is, and then we’ll poke some fun.
The company, headed up by wireless industry veteran Eric Hertz, centers its business on ZenZui‘s Zooming User Interface, a mobile phone technology patented by Microsoft. It’s very cool-looking, too; a direct answer to Apple’s forthcoming iPhone.
The interface allows mobile phone users to zoom in on Web content much like what Steve Jobs demonstrated back in January. Users can sync-up social networks, sports and weather, traffic, and share digital content without all that annoying scrolling and clicking.
Here’s a YouTube demo:
“ZenZui’s compelling platform is already creating excitement among carriers, content providers, interactive agencies and major marketers,” said Hertz.
Kayak.com, OTOlabs, Avenue A | Razorfish and Traffic.com Inc. are all signed up for the initial trial.
Now, on to the name. The quick-actin’ folks at Waggoner Edstrom are looking into the origin of the name ZenZui for me, but so far haven’t found out. Excuse my Dixie priggishness as I tell this as sensitively as I can.
When I lived in Japan I had a buddy named Hiro, and I visited him and his family often to have dinner and hang out. Well, nature called one night, called ferociously, and when Hiro decided I’d been his bathroom too long, he knocked on the door and said, “Jake! Sen Zuri?”
This was his crude way of asking if I was, um, you know, enjoying myself. The phrase “sen-zuri” means “1000 strokes.”
It will be interesting to see how the ZenZui product goes over in Japan, if they decide to launch there. I can’t help but to imagine a whole country covering their mouths in a fit of giggles.
