A mass market mobile video plug-in to Windows Media Services 9 Series Microsoft Windows Media Server

3GSM World Congress
Oplayo, the leading mobile video specialist, today announces Oplayo Transcoder, an advanced plug-in for Microsoft Windows Media Server that instantly makes content easily available to users of mass-market phones.

Joint solution demonstrated in Booth B24, Hall 1 at the GSM World Congress

3GSM World Congress
Mobilitec Inc., a global provider of leading integrated software products that enable mobile service delivery, is collaborating with Amdocs to demonstrate an integrated mobile commerce solution for media delivery at the 3GSM World Congress. Mobilitec’s leading suite of integrated software products for mobile service delivery combined with Amdocs Commerce Payments and Amdocs Partner Relationship Management (PRM) products enable wireless operators worldwide to easily purchase and use rich data services to increase revenue and reduce costs.

“Mobilitec and Amdocs are demonstrating a powerful solution for wireless operators who want to implement a tightly integrated solution combining media delivery and payment mechanisms,” said Erez Nir, vice president of product management and marketing, Mobilitec. “This joint solution will enable operators to attract and manage partners and increase subscriber usage and customer loyalty.”

The joint solution will demonstrate how wireless operators worldwide will be able to quickly, seamlessly and cost- effectively implement mobile service delivery while also leveraging and extending the functionality of existing billing, customer care and operational support systems without compromising current customer support or billing accuracy.

Mobilitec’s mPower suite of tightly integrated software products for mobile service delivery enables the flexible and secure service creation, management, charging and delivery of all mobile media including applications, video and audio for wireless operators and partners.

Amdocs Commerce Payments and Amdocs Partnership Relationship Management are part of the Company’s suite of innovative software products and services designed to deliver true integrated customer management to the world’s leading service companies. Amdocs’ best-in-class billing and CRM products seamlessly link all customer-facing business processes – marketing, sales, ordering, delivery, fulfillment, billing, settlement, service, support, and analytics – resulting in stronger, more profitable customer relationships.

3GSM World Congress
Landmat, a leading developer of mobile services and content, today announced mBlog, an application that enables mobile device users to create and receive multimedia blogs through MMS. mBlog offers carriers an additional tool to generate greater average revenue per user (ARPU). Landmat’s mBlog application has already been adopted by three major carriers and 20 others are in the set-up phase to receive it. Landmat is demonstrating mBlog at the 3GSM World Congress in the Nokia Venture Partners stand (Hall 2, Stand G12).

mBlog users create blogs by taking pictures and adding text, which are instantly published to the web or sent to any number of subscribers. The application generates viral and organic marketing growth based on increasingly valuable MMS platforms.
  
Haukar Hardarson, CEO of Landmat explains: “The ease and cost effectiveness of sharing a picture message through mobile blogging encourages the use of mobile data services. mBlogging is already growing virally just as blogging did. The carriers we’re working with have already seen an increase in ARPU.”
  
The initial response to mBlog by European wireless subscribers demonstrates strong promise for the new application. Across the continent, five percent of total MMS users have elected to initiate mBlog service at an ARPU of 10 Euros per month. Users of the service currently range from families sharing personal mBlogs to celebrities sending subscription only mBlogs to large subscriber bases.

3GSM World Congress
At the 3GSM Congress in Cannes, LogicaCMG unveiled today 19 new multi-media messaging (MMS) deals with operators all over the world, which significantly improve the company’s position in the MMS market.

With a market share in excess of 24 per cent of the installed base, LogicaCMG is gaining momentum in this sector and is building a market leading position. In the last few months the company has seen a significant increase in new wins as well as the first wave of replacement contracts being awarded. Recently contracts have been announced with Optus in Australia and Telkomsel in Indonesia.

Commenting on the development, Chris McDermott, chief executive of LogicaCMG’s Wireless Networks business said, “This is a ringing endorsement of our robust, scaleable MMS solution. We have always believed that as the market developed operators would see the value of an independent proven platform. The next step is to help operators to launch new applications which will drive up consumer traffic.

“We believe that a positive user experience of MMS will be one of the key drivers for success in this market.”

With other customer names being subject to commercial confidentiality LogicaCMG can now number nearly 50 operators around the world as MMS clients.

IN-FUSIO partners with Microsoft Game Studios to globally port and publish range of blockbuster games to mobile

3GSM World Congress
IN-FUSIO, a leading mobile games service provider in Europe, US, and China, today announced that it has signed with Microsoft Game Studios one of the largest license deals to date for the exclusive porting and publishing of six games to mobile devices.

The world famous titles to make their debut on all major mobile platforms in 2004 are: Age of Empiresâ 2 Gold Edition,  Midtown Madnessâ 3,  Zoo Tycoonä, Banjo-Kazooieâ: Grunty’s Revenge, Banjo Pilot, It’s Mr. Pantsä and Sabre Wulfä. Cumulatively, these six franchises have been played by over 17 million players world-wide.

IN-FUSIO has been chosen by Microsoft Game Studios to globally represent these titles in the wireless space due to its world-wide presence and its unique knowledge of players through ExEn, IN-FUSIO’s game engine embedded in 15 million handsets and adopted by 8 million unique players.

The first game to be launched under the agreement will be the classic car racing game ‘Midtown Madness 3’, which will make its first appearance on ExEn and EGE* platforms in June 2004. An ‘alpha’ version of Midtown Madness 3, including 3D and multi-player capability, will be shown at 3GSM in the ‘Gaming Zone’, which is sponsored by IN-FUSIO (Hall 4).

Commenting on the announcement, Gilles Raymond, co-CEO and President, IN-FUSIO, said: “We are delighted to join Microsoft Game Studios in this bold initiative. Microsoft’s recent commitment to license some of its best-known titles for the mobile games arena is a clear indication of the industry’s maturity. With our focus on gamers’ fun and innovative services to operators, we look forward to making these Microsoft games on mobile a reality.”

“IN-FUSIO’s broad platform support and legions of players made them an excellent choice for bringing some of our biggest game titles to wireless devices,” said Ed Ventura, Director of the Consumer Products Group for Microsoft Game Studios. “Each of these games already has worldwide appeal, and once they’re wireless, people will truly be playing them everywhere.”

 
* NOTE: EGE, ExEn Gaming Extensions, is IN-FUSIO’s new gaming engine, created to run on all MIDP 2.0 handsets. It is designed for the end-user: improvement of the game play, user-friendly interface and innovative service offering.

First phase of products maximises service quality, availability to subscribers

3GSM World Congress
Agilent Technologies Inc. has today announced an initiative to provide the industry’s broadest range of UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) service assurance solutions to help wireless service providers effectively manage quality of service (QoS) across the entire service life cycle. As part of this initiative, Agilent has introduced three innovative operations support system (OSS) and engineering test solutions. These products enable wireless service providers to reduce the cost of detecting and repairing network faults, and to maximise quality and availability of services to subscribers by collecting and analysing 3G network and service data.

Agilent’s broad range of OSS and communications test solutions provide visibility of UMTS network and service problems across the entire service lifecycle – from network planning, rollout and optimisation to ongoing service troubleshooting and quality management. These products speed diagnostics to improve mean time to repair (MTTR) and provide unique tools to manage services from a customer’s perspective. The solutions announced today augment the Agilent OSS Wireless Service Manager, introduced in October 2003, which provides a complete view of current service quality, including end-to-end views of UMTS networks and services. Wireless Service Manager can rapidly identify service-affecting problems, helping to prioritise problem resolution based on customer and business impact.

The new OSS and communications test solutions solve critical operational and business challenges, such as identifying problems in real time; locating and assessing network and service outages; understanding subscribers’ experiences with new 3G services; and monitoring the availability and performance of those services. These solutions enable service providers to leverage data from multiple sources to deliver end-to-end network and service assurance.

The three solutions announced today are the Agilent OSS Wireless QoS Manager for UMTS, Signaling Advisor Realtime, and Data Service Assurance.

Unique anytime, any network voice minutes at an unbeatable price

3GSM World Congress
3, the UK’s only video mobile operator, is set to shake-up the pre-paid market in the UK with the launch of ThreePay its first Pay-As-You-Go offer to customers on Monday 23rd February.

3 will offer Pay-As-You-Go customers the same great value price plans it already offers its contract customers, along with the unique same price, anytime, any network voice minutes.

ThreePay customers can chose from three top-up vouchers, all of which have a validity period of 30 days from activation:

Voucher*/Voice call minutes/Value allowance**     
£15 top-up/100 minutes/£1.50 
£25 top-up/500 minutes/£1.50 
£35 top-up/750 minutes/£1.50 

This combination will save money for most typical Pay-As-You-Go customers currently spending more than £15 per month with another network operator.

The launch of Pay-As-You-Go is in line with 3’s strategy of broadening its offer and introducing the maximum number of consumers to video-calling. With ThreePay, 3 is now addressing 65% of the UK mobile market instead of the 35% it had been reaching previously with just its contract proposition. ThreePay will initially be available on the Motorola A835.

3 today published a study reviewing the UK’s Pay-As-You-Go market; the study found that many Pay-As-You-Go customers are paying far more than they would on a contract.  Furthermore, due to the complicated tariffs and various charges, 43% of Pay-As-You-Go customers don’t know how much they are really paying for their calls.

Bob Fuller, Chief Executive of 3, said: “3’s challenge as the new-entrant is to shake up a stale and unimaginative market; to find ways of delivering better value to consumers.  We have put an end to the Pay-As-You-Go practice of charging punitive prices for cross-network, peak-time calls.  Our offer is fair, simple and excellent value. The calls cost the same no matter what time it is, or which network you’re calling.  What’s more, we are not punishing customers for paying up front; we are offering them the same value available to our contract customers.”

Gareth Jones, Chief Operating Officer of 3, said: “ThreePay offers excellent value to the customer. The likelihood is that if you are currently buying more than one £10 voucher a month will be better off on ThreePay. It is Pay-As-You-Go as it always should have been. No-one else in the industry has dared offer such good value to pre-paying customers. 3 has taken up that challenge and we’re proud to be leading the way with ThreePay.”

* Top-ups have a 30-day validity period.
** Value allowance is a monetary credit on top-up vouchers that may be used for any service including voice and video-calling.

3GSM World Congress
Visto Corporation, the leading provider of personal and corporate mobile messaging solutions to wireless operators for the broadest set of mobile device platforms, today announced Visto Mobile Personal Edition. Visto Mobile Personal Edition is a flexible set of custom-branded applications and services that let wireless operators provide subscribers with real-time, secure, remote access to their corporate and personal email, PIM and other files directly from their wireless devices.

With the Visto Mobile Personal Edition mobile operators can address a broad range of market segments that include individual subscribers, SOHO (Small Office, Home office), and mobile professionals working for medium and large enterprises. It can be integrated with the wireless operator’s networks so that operators can effectively manage billing, user provisioning and customer support.
Visto Mobile Personal Edition provides wireless access to Microsoft Exchange and Outlook, Lotus Domino/Notes corporate email, calendar, address book and desktop- accessible files, as well as to multiple personal/Internet (POP3) mailboxes. Visto supports all popular wireless PDAs/phones using Palm OS (including the new Handspring/palmOne Treo 600), Windows Mobile (Pocket PC and Smartphone, including Windows Mobile 2003), and Symbian platforms, J2ME devices, as well as enhanced wireless phones with WAP browsers. Visto also supports IMAP and SyncML-based email clients on mobile devices.
“Visto Mobile Personal Edition provides the single most requested wireless data application – wireless email and PIM, and combines it in a complete solution for wireless operators to brand and deploy quickly,” said Brian Bogosian, chairman, president and CEO. “Visto Mobile Personal Edition is a sure-fire method for increasing average revenue per subscriber and for mitigating churn issues among wireless operators worldwide.”
“Wireless Operators are clearly targeting the mobile business user and prosumer for value-added services, including wireless email on the broadly used smartphones,” commented Lars Vestergaard, Research Manager, IDC European Wireless & Mobile Communications. “Visto Mobile Personal Edition matches those requirements exactly by offering a push email experience, along with wireless access to updated calendar and contacts, on all popular email platforms.”
Visto Mobile Personal Edition is a significant update to Visto’s highly successful WirelessInbox solution, deployed through nine wireless operators worldwide. Visto Mobile Personal Edition provides real time access to data, along with over the air synchronization between desktop and smart phones, giving subscribers a solution unmatched by any other wireless messaging solutions provider. For example, subscribers can look-up a colleague’s contact and incorporate it into the device’s address book without needing to synchronize the entire data set into the phone. Additionally, users are alerted to new email as it occurs, can access emails, contacts, calendar and view attachments, and respond to meeting requests. For maximum efficiency while off the wireless network, subscribers can also view emails, reply or compose new emails to be sent upon next connection, using their smart devices.

3GSM World Congress
Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications and Research In Motion (RIM) today announced their plans to enable BlackBerry connectivity on Sony Ericsson mobile phones. The first product to feature BlackBerry services will be the P900 Symbian OS smartphone later this year.

Sony Ericsson and RIM recently signed an agreement to enable Sony Ericsson’s Symbian OS based phones to connect to BlackBerry Enterprise Server and BlackBerry Web Client services for enterprises and individual users. The BlackBerry services infrastructure and platform has been approved and deployed by operators around the world and thousands of companies and government organisations have already installed BlackBerry Enterprise Server behind their firewall.
The combination of RIM’s ‘always on’ connectivity and push technology that automatically delivers emails and other data to and from a wireless device, makes BlackBerry an efficient and reliable communications platform. The BlackBerry services will be able to run on the P900, while maintaining the existing P900 experience and functionality. BlackBerry connectivity support on the P900 is expected later this year.
“We’re delighted to be adding BlackBerry connectivity to the palette of solutions we support with our smartphones, thereby further expanding customer choice. The P900 smartphone is a multi-faceted device which offers productivity, entertainment and communications and our agreement with RIM ensures our customers a proven, market-leading mobile e-mail and data solution,” says Jan Wareby, Executive Vice President and Head of Sales and Marketing of Sony Ericsson.
“We are pleased to be working with Sony Ericsson to provide our end-user customers and carrier partners with greater wireless device choices while enabling IT departments to leverage their existing BlackBerry infrastructure,” said Don Morrison, Chief Operating Officer at Research In Motion.
“IT departments and consumers are recognizing the productivity benefits that can be gained from wireless access to corporate data and email,” said Marit Doving, EVP, Marketing, Symbian. “By adding BlackBerry Connect to the P900, RIM has enabled Sony Ericsson to further exploit the rich functionality of Symbian OS.”
The BlackBerry architecture for enterprise customers includes back-end integration with corporate information systems, enhanced manageability and end-to-end security. BlackBerry for individual users enables push-based access to one or multiple internet-based email accounts without the need for a corporate IT platform.
The P900 is a high-quality communications tool for voice calls, text and picture messaging and e-mail, as well as providing full PDA/organizer functions. In addition, it is a camera-phone capable of recording video and still images and also provides a good gaming experience on the 65K colour touch-screen. The wide range of applications available for download enables the P900 to do much more than making voice calls, thereby increasing its value for both consumers and operators. The P900 is based on Symbian OS v7.0 and the established UIQ user interface.