Synchronica is making significant in-roads into emerging markets, with the first mobile operator having launched Mobile Gateway and another 15 operators currently trialling the software.
Carsten Brinkschulte, Synchronica's CEO, comments: "Mobile operators in emerging markets have been telling us that they see a strong market for mass market mobile email and look at mobile email as a way to get around the inherent problems caused by low fixed-line and PC penetration. The challenge has been finding a mobile email solution that works with all phones in use today and does not need additional client software to be installed on the device. With Mobile Gateway 3.5, we have added the last piece of the jigsaw by enabling any mobile phone user, regardless of which handset they use, to access their email easily from their phone."
Brinkschulte continues: "All forecasts point to emerging markets as the breakthrough area for mass market mobile email. India, for example, saw a 97 percent year-on-year growth in new mobile subscribers during 2006 to 149.5 million*, and forecasts point to a total of 300 million mobile users by the end of 2008. The number of mobile phone subscribers in developing countries has almost tripled in the last five years, and they now account for 58 percent of subscribers worldwide**. All of this bodes well for mobile email when you consider that the number of email users in India outstrips the number of PCs in the country. Recent trips to emerging markets convinced me that mobile operators in these regions now have the opportunity to make the mobile phone the primary device for accessing the internet, and our 'mobile email for all' solution can become the most popular data service generating recurring revenues and preventing churn."
New features in Mobile Gateway 3.5 include:
Support for all phones: Even very basic phones can receive email - via an SMS notification showing header and body text in a text message
Mobile signup: Users can register from their handset via WAP, removing the need to sign up via a PC in countries where PC penetration is low
New business back-ends: Support for Microsoft Exchange 2007 and Sun Java Communications Suite 5.0
Easy billing integration:
Synchronica exhibits at the GSMA Mobile World Congress, 11-14 February 2008, Barcelona, Spain, Fira de Barcelona, Hall 2, Ground Floor, Stand 2J25.
*Data from Light Reading, March 2007 (statistics show growth between December 2005 and Dececember 2006). Other countries that feature in Light Reading's Top Ten Emerging Mobile Markets report include: Pakistan (up 147 % to 48.3 million), Bangladesh (up 135 % to 21.8 million), and Nigeria (up 38 % to 30 million)
**Data from study of world trade and development conference of the United Nations (UNCTAD), February 2008
About Mobile Gateway:
Synchronica's Mobile Gateway provides carrier-grade push email and synchronization services for virtually all mass market feature phones and smartphones being used by subscribers today. It is based on the dominant open industry standards Push IMAP (LEMONADE) for mobile email and SyncML (OMA DS) for contact and calendar synchronization and works with the built-in email and synchronization clients found in more than 1.5 billion phones. The new email-to-SMS functionality expands its reach to virtually every phone in use today. Serving consumers and prosumers, Mobile Gateway includes back-end support for POP3 and IMAP mailboxes, connecting to popular services such as AOL or Gmail. For business users, it provides a unique zero footprint architecture where users simply register their devices and instantly start to receive corporate email on their phone without requiring additional connectors behind the firewall. Business mailboxes supported include Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Domino, and Sun Java Communications Suite.
About Synchronica:
Synchronica plc develops and markets industry standard mobile email and synchronization solutions for the vast majority of devices in the market today. Mobile operators, device manufacturers, and service providers in emerging and developed markets use Synchronica products to offer mobile email, PIM synchronization and backup and restore services to their consumer and corporate customer base. Products include the push email and synchronization solution Mobile Gateway and the mass market device backup solution Mobile Backup. Headquartered in the U.K., with a development center in Germany and presences in the USA, Hong Kong, and Dubai. Synchronica plc is a public company traded on the AIM list of the London Stock Exchange (SYNC.LN). More information is available at http://www.synchronica.com
For more information, please contact:
Nicole Meissner
Chief Marketing Officer
Synchronica plc
Barcelona, Spain
Tel.: +44 1892 552 780, Fax: +44 1892 552 721
Mobile U.K.: +44 7977 256 412, Mobile D: +49 173 6069 160
nicole.meissner@
http://www.synchronica.com
