1992 Ford Tempo

Mobiata to quadruple office space in Nickels Arcade as Expedia fuels mobile growth

The expansion serves as another indication that Bellevue, Wash.-based travel website Expedia Inc. , which acquired Mobiata in December , plans to maintain Mobiata’s local presence.

The new office space — the company will move this summer from a cramped 400-square-foot office to about 1,600 square feet down the hall in a deal with Arch Realty — will fuel Mobiata’s continued growth. Founder and CEO Ben Kazez said he expects Mobiata to grow from 17 employees today to more than 30 by the end of the year.

Some of those workers are stationed elsewhere, including a marketing team in Silicon Valley and others in Minnesota , Austin, Texas and Boston . But Kazez said Ann Arbor would serve as the base for the company’s growth. He said he's currently looking to hire about three full-time designers and 10 software engineers.

“We’re not moving out to Bellevue. We’re very clear about that,” Kazez said. “We’re sort of being kept at arm’s length as the mobile arm of Expedia.”

Mobiata’s first big moment as an Expedia property came when the company introduced the Expedia Hotels application for Apple devices in April. The app gives iPhone and iPod Touch users an easy way to scroll through hotels and book stays.

On May 11, the company traveled to a Google developers conference to show off the version of Expedia Hotels created for phones that use Google’s Android system.

Kazez said the next step is to integrate trip planning and flight booking capabilities into the app.

“It’s been doing really well, but it’s just 1.0,” Kazez said, using software vernacular for the first version of a program. “We’re iterating really fast.”

Expedia is counting on Mobiata to develop technology that will make the booking experience more pleasant and, thus, boost the slice of bookings completed through the company’s mobile websites and applications.

Michigan Senate OKs bill requiring public workers to pay 20 ...

Public employees of the state, schools, local governments and universities would be required to pay 20 percent of their health insurance premiums under a bill the Michigan Senate passed today, MLive.com's Peter Luke reports .

The measure was approved on a near party line 25-13 vote. It comes as officials also have reached an apparent agreement that would reduce proposed per-pupil cuts to K-12 education .

Sponsored by Sen. Mark Jansen, R-Gaines Twp., the cost-sharing on premiums could save public employers more than $500 million annually, including $174 million for state government.

The bill’s cost-sharing requirement would not take effect until after current collective bargaining agreements expire. The bills are opposed by public employee unions, but endorsed by employer groups such as the Michigan Association of School Boards that want cost sharing taken off the bargaining table.

County and municipal employers could exempt themselves from the 80-20 requirement with a two-thirds vote of the governing board. As the bill winds through the process, a cap could be added that would also limit employer costs to $13,000 per employee.

A companion constitutional amendment would ask voters to ensure the proposal applies to university employees.

Read the MLive.com article .

The Automobile Book 1992

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MVMA specifications form - passenger car; Ford Tempo. 1992

Complete Guide to Used Cars, 1996

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