PacketZoom launches app download speed-up service, announces backers

App developers want to do everything they can to make it easy for customers to find and download their apps.

We’ve heard a lot about companies that help make apps more visible, but San Mateo, California-based PacketZoom is focusing on that second thing — the speed at which app developers can send content down the pipe to the user.

PacketZoom said its mobile speed as a service (“MSaaS” — really?) can speed up the trip down from the cloud to a mobile device by up to ten times.

The company cited a Zogby Research report saying that more than two-thirds — 68 percent — of app downloads are abandoned because of slow download speeds. I have my doubts about the veracity of that claim, but still, the point is made.

“The PacketZoom service retires the 40 year-old TCP protocol, leveraging a new protocol that identifies the device as the address for data packets and easily accommodates for the intermittent nature of mobile connections in an intelligent, fault-tolerant way,” PacketZoom said in a statement.

PacketZoom says its service is designed to work particularly well in low-bandwidth networks or areas with spotty coverage.

To use the service, developers just pull a PacketZoom software development kit (SDK) into their app.

PacketZoom said it is launching with seven customers that have sped up more than 15 apps.

The company is backed by First Round Capital, Baseline, Founders Collective, and Tandem Capital.