MWC – Myriad Group, a global specialist in mobile technology having shipped over 3.7 billion software applications on more than 2.2 billion phones, today announces the launch of Myriad Updates, a new text-based social networking service that makes mobile social networking, IM and email accessible to mass-market phone users. Myriad’s Xumii platform is the first of its kind to enable operators to offer social networking services over USSD and SMS, creating new opportunities to reach an untapped market of over 4 billion consumers worldwide.
Myriad Updates uses the Xumii platform that powers services for Telefónica and other major operators. This enables deployment in just a matter of weeks, allowing operators the opportunity to monetize data services in a new way that is complementary to existing data offerings, and is open to all subscribers.
Using short codes through any mobile phone, subscribers who have no access to data can now connect to their favorite social networks, and stay in touch with their friends on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and Flickr via Myriad Updates. The Xumii platform aggregates the most popular social networks into one single, operator-branded environment and enables subscribers to stay connected to these social networks without a data subscription and no need to download or install an application.
As mobile ownership is approximately three times higher than PC ownership in many developing countries (On Device Research Dec. 2010) and mobile social networking is on the rise with an expected one billion users by 2012 (eMarketer 2010), operators can now monetize this market with Myriad Updates by opening up social networking capabilities to all mobile subscribers.
“Hot on the heels of our partnership with Telefónica, Myriad will continue to react quickly to rising market demand to further expand the addressable market for operators. Through Myriad Updates, operators can enable mobile users with no access to data services, to connect with each other and the world around them for the first time,” commented Simon Wilkinson, Myriad CEO.
As part of Myriad’s recent Telefónica partnership to provide mobile social networking services to Telefónica’s Movistar and Vivo brands, Myriad Xumii services will be made available to Telefónica’s 140 million subscribers across 13 countries in Latin America.