A+ tool for the wireless Web

Jud Bowman and Taylor Brockman developed their Pinpoint search engine in high school. Verizon and Terra Lycos rate it an A+ tool for the wireless Web When Jud Bowman and Taylor Brockman were looking for backers two years ago to help finance their Internet startup -- which would build customized search engines for Web sites -- they had one awkward problem: They didn't have a phone to receive incoming calls. That's because Bowman and Brockman were only 18, and like other students at their North Carolina boarding school, they weren't allowed to have a phone in their dorm rooms. So the duo gave out the number for the pay phone down the hall -- and implored their rowdy dorm mates to take down any messages. Since graduation, Bowman and Brockman have had no problems lining up support for their Research Triangle Park (N.C.) venture, now known as Pinpoint Networks. While dot-coms headed by far more seasoned entrepreneurs folded long ago, these teen upstarts are still in the hunt to become the search-engine-of-choice on the wireless Internet -- which Bowman believes will soon explode in popularity. Already, it appears that youth is being served: The company signed its first major wireless customer last September, when Terra Lycos agreed to integrate Pinpoint's search technology into its wireless application portal (WAP). And Pinpoint scored another coup this past March, when telecommunications giant Verizon Wireless agreed to incorporate the company's search feature into its Net-enabled phones. Given that Pinpoint sits at the sweet spot of the wireless Web, some analysts see the startup as a perfect acquisition candidate some day for one of the major Internet portals, or possibly a cell-phone manufacturer like Nokia, that could integrate the company's technology into its products. By all indications, Bowman and Brockman might view a buyout as a fitting close to their adventure, giving them a chance to rediscover their teen years before they're gone.