Davis Janowski at Investment News talks about Lab49, a new company that is developing financial services software for the iPhone. The company seems to be in direct competition with Pyxis Mobile, who is also delivering financial data to mobile devices.

Lab49 isn’t targeting the individual investor, opting to target hedge funds initially.

From the article:

“[We think] fund managers, trade operations, groups and institutions that are a little less hamstrung by deployments of enterprise wide applications and issues … will gravitate to the application and the iPhone’s abilities,” Mr. Jacobs said.

“I also see demand from clearing and custodian companies which do a lot of processing and need better ways to manage work flow remotely, and are looking to monitor the status and performance of their systems,” he said.

It’s fun watching a new financial software market being created. I’m not too sure I can picture my hedge fund manager making trades from his cell phone, but it will be interesting seeing whether either of these companies get any serious penetration.

I ran across Russ Thornton’s Wealth Simplified blog several months ago and asked him if he would participate in our advisor blogger profile. The blog was brand new and he wanted to put some more miles on it first. But it has since turned into one of the best looking blogs out there.

One of the things I really like about Russ’s blog is that he puts it on the main page of his web site. Every time his clients go to his site, they’re reminded that he has a blog with constantly updating content. Which should, in turn, bring them back to his web site more often.

1. How would you describe your business and typical client?

My business delivers a comprehensive wealth management service to families.  This includes planning, investment management and coordination with a client’s other professional advisors.  My typical client has $1 million or more in investment assets and has important goals that they wish to accomplish.  Here’s my ideal client profile:  http://www.thorntonwealth.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/twm-ideal-client-profile.pdf

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Broadridge Financial Solutions acquired Investigo two weeks ago–I’m not sure how this one slipped under my radar. This is turning into an exciting month for portfolio management acquisitions. It really highlights the risk advisors take when they select a smaller startup vendor for technology/operations outsourcing.

A few years back, Investigo was the #1 stop for outsourcing portfolio management and reporting for advisors. I think they stumbled a bit with a botched rollout of their new version, but I haven’t heard anything new about them in the press for years. From the advisor side, I’ve heard slightly displeased rumblings but no specifics.

I know some of the Investigo crew and they’re good folks. I wish them well.

Morningstar bought dbCAMS+ maker Financial Computer Support (FCSI) yesterday, with the intention of integrating it into their Principia product line. This is an unexpected move that has me scratching my head a bit. dbCAMS is a low-end legacy product that usually isn’t even included in reviews of portfolio management systems. To be blunt, nobody took them seriously. I’ve always thought that was unfair and I’m glad to see somebody else agreed.

From Morningstar’s letter to their clients:

We have seen strong demand for integrated portfolio management solutions like this in our Web- based investment planning platform, Advisor Workstation Office Edition, and felt that offering a similar capability in our Principia suite would be a valuable enhancement.

We plan to incorporate dbCAMS+ into the Principia product line and rebrand it within the next year. By bringing these two software applications together in a single product suite, advisors will have powerful options for integrating investment data and analytics with client performance reports.

…The addition of dbCAMS+ will allow us to offer portfolio management systems, integrated with traditional Morningstar research and analytic capabilities, in both a web-based and CD-ROM software-based solution.

They’re coming out with an integrated desktop suite that they can sell in parallel to their Advisor Workstation product. I’ll bet Morningstar thinks they can clean up the dbCAMS front-end, and turn it into a viable contender in the desktop portfolio management space–a third option that people will eventually consider alongside Advent Axys/APX and Schwab Portfolio Center. I wonder if Morningstar is planning any more acquisitions to round out their desktop suite. Legacy technology aside, they may be able to buy up a low-end desktop suite on the cheap.

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I got an e-mail from Chris Willis at Pyxis Mobile today, announcing the launch of their company blog. I’d never heard of their company and checked it out. Pyxis makes a mobile portfolio/contact management application tailored toward the financial services industry.

Pyxis takes your financial data and delivers it to you on your mobile phone. I’m not sure how much demand there is for this; I can’t remember anybody asking for it five years ago at Techfi. I know that IAS is playing with mobile PMS on the iPhone, but it feels more like a developer boondoggle than a serious product effort.

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