Ex-Sun boss McNealy launches social gaming startup

The former Sun boss launched his new company this week, and it's a long way from the enterprise IT business he ran for most of his life. Called WayIn, it's a social gaming service that lets people post a photo online and create their own quick poll, asking friends and other members to "weigh in" with their opinion.

The intended audience is consumers

The intended audience is consumers, however WayIn's real target is big business. It hopes to amass a vast database of consumer sentiment, which it will at that time sell to businesses along with the analytics tools to parse the data, for marketing and other purposes.

Businesses can as well pay to slip their own questions onto the service. For instance, if Ford needed to choose a design for the grille of its straightway Mustang, it could post two photos and ask people which one they liked best. "We can give them an answer in two hours, and it will be statistically significant," McNealy said.

The interactive TV part requires users to have their smartphone or iPad on the couch with them. Television is a "lean back" medium, and it's after all not clear if people want to interact with the shows they're watching, even if the innovation is made easy.

Lot to the table

But McNealy brings a lot to the table. One of Silicon Valley's longest-serving CEOs, he has always been a savvy marketer -- every one of his "giant hairball" rants against Windows was covered by the press. And he has connections: Most of WayIn's board members, partners and investors are friends and acquaintances from when he ran Sun.

James Niccolai covers data centers and general innovation news for IDG News Service. Follow James on Twitter at @jniccolai. James's e-mail address is james_niccolai@idg.com

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