Jangl Launches Its Mobile Media Initiative

Jangl’s Engaged Mobile Audiences Attracts Leading Networks and Ad Agency to Test New Class of Mobile Advertising for Major Brands
PLEASANTON, Calif.-- Jangl, Inc., the company connecting millions of online profiles and mobile phones today unveiled an exciting new mobile media initiative that connects leading brands and savvy marketers with millions of mobile consumers around the world. The Jangl Mobile Media Initiative kicks off with Pudding Media and leading advertising and communications agency, Ogilvy’s Digital Innovation Group, to bring flexible mobile advertising solutions for today’s top brands.
Jangl services already enable text messaging, calling and voicemail for the most popular social Web destinations, including Facebook, Bebo and Plentyoffish. And now, Jangl is monetizing its free-ad-supported services and aggressively developing for more leading social networks, like MySpace, as well as supporting the many new social networks and application developers integrating Jangl SMS and voice services through Jangl’s Public API.
"For nearly a year, Jangl has worked hard to understand social Web consumer habits and successfully connect their online relationships with their mobile devices," said Michael Cerda, CEO and co-founder, Jangl, Inc. "The consumers spoke to us loud and clear – they expect ad-supported services in the social Web, and they want marketers to present goods and services through relevant, informative and entertaining campaigns. Today, we're opening up a new media channel for smart marketers that want to message consumers online and on their mobile phones."
Earlier this quarter, Jangl and Pudding Media tested “pre-roll spots” prior to calls on its free direct services and recently tested ads appended to SMS messages in Bebo and Facebook. Jangl is now working on new campaigns that leverage the interactive response capabilities of its voice services to deliver links and additional information via SMS to customers that respond and opt-in to promotions and offers from service sponsors and advertisers.
Jangl’s recent voice and text launch with Plentyoffish, a top ranked personals site according to ComScore Media Metrix, has driven significant additional volumes of text and voice messages to be monetized starting today through the Jangl Mobile Media Initiative.
“Jangl is a very compelling service for the Plentyoffish community,” said Markus Frind, founder and CEO of Plentyoffish.com. “Jangl has shown great leadership in quickly aligning the business objectives of advertisers, technology providers and leading online communities, while at the same time testing and delivering with great cooperation and ease. I’m looking forward to working more with Jangl and Jangl’s partners to deliver compelling, sponsored and ad-supported services to Plentyoffish members.”

CellSpin Now Supports Symbian

SAN JOSE, Calif., March 6 /PRNewswire/ -- CellSpin Soft, Inc. announced its highly anticipated support of its leading fully featured mobile blogging and media sharing software for the Symbian Operating System, the world's leading open operating system for mobile phones. CellSpin software is now available on over 300 mobile phone models worldwide.
CellSpin mobile software is the first product to provide a free, secure, intelligent, one-click graphical user interface for capturing images, audio, video and text and publishing them to one or many of a user's favorite blogging, social networking, photo sharing, and auction sites simultaneously.

CellSpin currently supports sharing media with Facebook, Blogger, YouTube, Picasa, Flickr, Live Journal, Live Spaces and eBay, with more to come. CellSpin is the first and the only application that enables smartphone users to create and post audio and videos to their live eBay auctions.
According to Bobby Gurvinder Singh, CEO and co-founder of CellSpin, "Supporting Symbian, with its huge user base in Asia, Europe and US, makes CellSpin accessible globally, and allows users everywhere to share media with friends and family instantly."
In addition to Symbian OS, CellSpin also supports Windows Mobile 5.0 and 6.0 as well as BlackBerry.

reQall 2.0: iPhone Optimized

MOFFETT FIELD, California, March 6 /PRNewswire/ --
- reQall 2.0 improves memory for today's connected, but forgetful individuals reQall launched reQall 2.0, a groundbreaking, free memory aid to help people better manage their busy lives. Based on pioneering research from MIT's Media Lab, reQall 2.0 is an easy-to-use personal memory assistant that works across all aspects of your life. It's an always-with-you digital "memory pad" and memory jogger for your to-dos, ideas, shopping lists, visual reminders, or anything else you worry you will forget. From home to work, on your cellphone, on the Web, and with your friends and family, reQall is designed to help you remember better in whatever way suits you.
Although built on complex technology, reQall is fundamentally easy to use: There is no software to install, and no technology to think about -- a voice and a phone is all that is needed. Simply tell reQall and it does the rest: if you mention a grocery item, it will automatically be added to your shopping list; if you mention a friend's name and say 'ask', a reminder will automatically be sent to that friend.
A key feature of reQall 2.0 is the ability to allow users to be reminded in multiple ways: cell phone, text messaging, instant messaging, email, or Web. These 'triggers' are ideally suited to best jog the memory of today's connected but forgetful individuals.
Additionally, reQall 2.0 helps others to remember with its shared reminder functionality. Users simply add their friends, family, or business contacts to their reQall profile and the reQall system takes responsibility for setting and sending reminders to them in the format that they choose. When it comes to jogging your memory, reQall 2.0 makes it easy.
Here's an example of how you can use reQall:
-- Simply dial reQall's toll-free number and say "buy Easter gifts before 5pm today."
-- The message will immediately be converted into text and delivered in whatever way you specify.
-- The reminders can be sent as an email, added to your calendar, as a text message, via instant messaging, automatically added to your to-do list or sent to a friend or family member.
"Everyone today is busier, more distracted and overwhelmed than at any other time in history, so who doesn't need help remembering?" says Sunil Vemuri, reQall's co-founder and chief product officer. "With reQall 2.0, we're harnessing the power of your voice to help you remember and provide you with automatic reminders, in whatever way works for you. It's simple but powerful and has been specifically designed for today's hectic lifestyles."
iPhone Optimized
Although reQall works on any phone, it shines on Apple's iPhone, where it acts as a personal and sharable Task Manager. This is no accident: founding reQall members and advisors hail from Apple Computer.
As of today, reQall 2.0 is available for free.

Nokia and Fido launch the Nokia 6555

TORONTO - Fido and Nokia today announced the Canadian availability of the new Nokia 6555 mobile phone. Designed with the fashion conscious consumer in mind, with a stylish piano-black cover and retro analog clock display, the sleek fold-back handset exudes elegance and boasts superb functionality. The gentle curved shape and unique "smoothback" design, eliminates the sharp edge found at the hinge of most conventional folding phones, and makes the Nokia 6555 phone a joy to behold. Style mavens will not only be chic but comfortable when talking on their fashionable new mobile phone.
"Fido customers have for years enjoyed the easy-to-use and stylish interface of Nokia devices," said Patrick Hadsipantelis, VP, Marketing, Fido. "Design and functionality are very important to them when it comes to choosing the right mobile phone. The Nokia 6555 delivers on both counts, enabling our customers to stay connected and look good at the same time."
With support for Fido's MobileMail e-mail solution and a host of entertainment options, the Nokia 6555 handset allows users to stay in touch
while on the go. With the Nokia 6555, customers can browse, download, share and stream videos, for a rich mobile experience. The 16 million colour, 2.0" main display allows for crisp images and videos.
"Canadian consumers are demanding more from their mobile phones," said Joe Woo, Director of Sales, Nokia Canada. "With the Nokia 6555 phone, Fido and Nokia are giving consumers the opportunity to take advantage of Fido's network and full range of services. Now Canadians can take advantage of mobile e-mail and enjoy fast and easy downloads."

Along with the sleek design and fast downloading capabilities, the Nokia 6555 also includes the following features and functions:

- 1.3 megapixel camera and video recorder with 6x digital zoom for spontaneous capture of special moments to share with friends and family - XHTML browser for Internet browsing - Enhanced voice dialling - 30MB internal user memory, with support for up to 2GB memory with a microSD card - Bluetooth 2.0 for talking hands-free, connecting with other Bluetooth devices, or transferring data between the handset and a PC - Large keypad and generously sized scroll keys The Nokia 6555 is available exclusively at Fido retail locations, retail partners and online at Fido.ca for $75, including a 1G Memory Card, with a three-year Fido Agreement.

SAMSUNG Anycall L258 - Imagine Self Expression Through Touch

(Hong Kong) – Samsung Electronics introduced its latest glossy candy-bar phone, SAMSUNG Anycall L258. This stylish model comes with handwriting recognition to bring mobile users’ greater and more personal connectivity with friends.

The slim and compact SAMSUNG Anycall L258 comes in a metallic-silver and black exterior, giving the phone an added sense of sophistication and glamour. With its touch screen and handwriting recognition capabilities, users will be able to enjoy the fun of writing and sharing Chinese messages; they can also select a range of tools by using the track ball navi-key control

The L258 is equipped with a 2.3” QVGA TFT touch screen color display, 2.0 Mega-pixel camera, music player, FM radio and Bluetooth V2.0/ A2DP to deliver excellent imaging performance and multimedia experiences. This model supports an expandable microSD memory slot (up to 2GB) for quality photos and music.

Specifications and Key Functions of SAMSUNG Anycall L258:
Band^: Tri Band (GSM 900/1800/1900MHz)
Dimensions: 113 (L) x 50 (W) x 14.5 (D) mm
Weight: 97g
Display: 2.3” 262K TFT Touch Screen Color display (240 x 320 pixels)
Camera: 2.0 Mega-pixel
Memory: Built-in : 5.8 MB
External: microSD (up to 2 GB)
Colour+: Silver black
Battery Time*: Talk time: up to 3.5 hours
Stand-by time: up to 370 hours
Codec:
• Audio Play Format: MP3/ AAC/ eAAC+/ WMA
• Video Play Format: H.263/ MPEG4
Internet Browser: Openwave
Other Functions: Music player, speakerphone, handwriting recognition, touch screen feature, FM radio

Connectivity
Data Transfer: EDGE / GPRS Class 10
Bluetooth: V2.0 / A2DP

New Mobile Phone Technology Stops Card Fraud Cold

BRENTWOOD, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A new Israeli technology brought to the U.S. by Secure Identity Systems (SIS) thwarts credit and debit card fraud, and potentially stops ID thieves in the act. This in turn helps banks better protect customers, stem losses due to fraud, and attract new depositors with free identity protection services.
The technology, dubbed mConfirm, uses any mobile phone to match the location of a consumer and their payment card. If the locations don’t match, the transaction is flagged and risk systems alerted, so that action can be taken immediately. Already proven highly successful at Visa CAL, a major Israeli credit card issuer and processor, mConfirm significantly improves fraud detection and reduces false alert rates without slowing down the transaction process.

“mConfirm turns any mobile phone into a front-line defense in the war against identity fraud,” says Bryan Ansley, CEO of Secure Identity Systems. “The instant a payment card is swiped, mConfirm pinpoints the location of the card holder’s mobile phone. If they’re not in the same place, and the activity doesn’t match the consumer’s usual buying patterns, we know the transaction is fraudulent, and we stop it. There’s never been a faster or more accurate way to put the brakes on credit and debit card fraudsters.”
The mConfirm technology, which is being provided to U.S. banks exclusively by SIS and offered to consumers free of charge, does not require GPS-enabled phones or changes to existing card processing systems. The system uses two factors—location-based behavior analysis and cellular phone location analysis—to develop a fraud risk score, which is the chance a transaction is fraudulent. The system works with some of the most popular commercially available cell phones and domestic wireless networks, including Apple iPhone, RIM Blackberry, LG, AT&T, Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, and even prepaid services.

ASUS P320 Featured at CeBIT 2008

Revolutionary Graphic User Interface for Fashion and Function Combine For a Unique Handheld Experience
Taipei, Taiwan, March 3, 2008 – The latest range of handhelds from ASUS was made to captivate the user´s attention not merely by their mesmerizing good looks but also their total experience when in use. Designer cuts, touch screen capability, high speed downloads, and unique and user-friendly interfaces built upon Windows Mobile software are all present in this new lineup.
"We hear over and over again that people want just one phone for their life, and that is what we aim to deliver with the Windows Mobile platform," said Scott Horn, General Manager, Mobile Communications Business, Microsoft Corp. "With this latest, innovative range of Windows Mobile smartphones from ASUS, there is something for everybody; whether for work or for play, these stylish devices will put the power of true mobility in the hands of consumers everywhere."
"ASUS´ handhelds have been well received in North America and Asia Pacific regions, and continue to grow in popularity worldwide. With ASUS´ push into the European mobile market well underway, ASUS looks poised to achieve great success in this high end market segment." Said H C Hung, Head of ASUSTeK´s Handheld Business Unit. "The new ASUS P320 with its trendy and compact outlook looks set to be extremely popular. These new phones and more in the new ASUS range will definitely provide our European consumers with a wide variety of innovative handhelds choices for the future."
ASUS P320–Experience the ´Mini´ with the ´Most´ A compact PDA phone housed in a range of trendy shades and smooth curves, the ASUS P320 is definitely an eye-catcher. As the smallest Windows Mobile GPS PDA phone, this super compact PDA phone brings handheld design to a new level of ´sleek´. Not just a pretty face, it also comes with the ´smarts´ – an intuitive interface design that makes it even more attractive.

Mobile Ticketing Goes Mainstream

HAMPSHIRE, UNITED KINDOM--(Marketwire - March 5, 2008) - New research has estimated that over 2.6 billion mobile tickets will be delivered to just over 208 million mobile phone users by 2011. This is one of the key statistics from a landmark study by Juniper Research. The report found clear evidence that the sector is gearing up for major launches over the next few years. Early trials, mainly led by mobile network operators, are now migrating into commercial services that are controlled by the ticketing issuers themselves.

Benefits for the ticketing issuers include reduced cost, better security to help the fight against fraud and improved environmental footprint by reducing paper. Early use of mobile barcode technology will be gradually complimented by the emergence of NFC (Near Field Communications), in particular for the transportation ticketing sector where there are already commercial deployments in the Far East and important trials in Western Europe and North America.

Most encouraging for the sector is the wide adoption by some of the major organisations that control the issuance of tickets, such as Ticketmaster, British Airways and Tickets.com. This is coupled with the involvement of the key operators and technology providers such as O2, NTT, DoCoMo, Vodafone, Nokia and Samsung.

Juniper Research illustrates the current and near-future status of mobile ticketing with analysis and interviews from representatives of some of the leading organisations in the growing mobile ticket industry.

Key findings from the report include:


-- Savings for the airline industry of $500 million each year by
migrating to mobile boarding passes
-- A total of almost $87 billion worth of mobile ticketing transactions
by 2011
-- NFC will start to create traction from 2009 onwards.

Overview of Russia’s Mobile Market

Research and Markets has announced the addition of Russia - Mobile, Mobile Content & Applications Overview & Statistics to their offering.

Russia’s has the largest mobile market in Europe. The rapidly growing sector is dominated by three major service providers (MTS, VimpelCom and MegaFon) which have expanded nationally through acquisitions of smaller regional service providers. Mobile Virtual Network Operators have also launched services. Competition in the key markets of Moscow and St Petersburg is fierce, due to higher ARPU and MOU levels. Mobile SIM card penetration has surpassed 100% although actual mobile user penetration is lower. Both new subscriber growth and declining ARPU levels have stabilised although MOU levels are on the rise, partly attributed to improved marketing. Future mobile growth will continue to be driven by voice in the short to medium term until availability and penetration of recently launched UMTS/3G services is high enough to sufficiently offer affordable and desirable mobile data and content services on a sufficient scale. This report provides a concise overview of Russia’s mobile market, covering regulatory developments, the major mobile operators, technologies used and mobile data, content and applications provided in addition to offering a variety of financial and operational statistics.

GyPSii Launches iPhone Platform

GyPSii takes social networking mobile for Apple iPhone

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands--(BUSINESS WIRE)--GyPSii, the world’s leading geo-location and social networking service provider for mobile phones and Internet devices, is now available on the iPhone – Apple’s market-leading high-end mobile device. The iPhone has shipped more than five million units worldwide since its launch in 2007.

The new web-based GyPSii iPhone application integrates its multiple services into a single interface, making it easy for users to enjoy a wide range of new and exciting location-based features and services, along with social networking – all using the fluid, intuitive touch-screen user interface of the iPhone.

GyPSii also confirmed that it would produce a “native” version of its application using Apple’s Software Developer Kit (SDK) which is scheduled to be launched later this week, providing seamless access for all Apple users, from the desktop, to the iPhone.

GyPSii CEO, Dan Harple, said he didn’t want iPhone users who were keen social networkers to have to wait any longer for the only social networking platform specifically designed for location-enabled mobile phones to be available for their handset.

“We’ll work with the SDK as soon as it becomes available,” he said, “and then we will be uniquely offering both web and native versions of our application for iPhone users.”

GyPSii is taking advantage of its extensible product architecture enabling use of technologies (like Apple’s Safari) to make its advanced, geo-location features possible on the iPhone. In supporting these advances in web technology, GyPSii delivers an optimal location-based experience on a mobile device, or on a desktop computer, or even via a set-top box.

Some of the new GyPSii for iPhone features enabled include:

Improved UI: The application provides users a desk-top-like web experience that is easier to activate, navigate and use via Apple’s intuitive touch-screen.
Expanded People/Places layout: GyPSii users can have easy access to complete information on their favourite people and places that appear on the iPhone. Users simply choose their favourite People or Places, bringing up all relevant information such as proximity, details and their position on a map, all on one continuous screen. Users can also access one click dialling to phone People and Places.
Integrated directions from the mapping interface. Users can navigate to and from their favourite People and Places.
Improved location based search: Users can search by proximity using new easy to use categories for both People and Places.
Seamless user interface menus which take advantage of the progressive touch screen interface that comes with the iPhone.
Commenting on the launch of GyPSii for iPhone, GyPSii CEO Dan Harple said, “With the iPhone, Apple created a game-changing handset that revolutionized the mobile device market. We are doing the same with our geo-location technologies to connect people and content to places, events, and social networks in exciting and never-before-seen ways.”

iPhone owners can use GyPSii to create and share experiences; photos, videos, audio and other content in real-time with friends, family and other network members, wherever they are in the world. Users can also search and locate people and places, as well access directions, maps and information on Points-of-Interest (POIs) - both in their immediate area and worldwide as well.

“With GyPSii on your iPhone, it becomes your mobile personal digital life recorder,” continued Harple. “You can record and share every aspect of your life as it happens with your friends, family and your online community – all via your mobile. GyPSii for iPhone makes social networking dynamic, mobile, and real-time. We’ve integrated with the deep feature set on the iPhone, with the result being an entirely new way to communicate.”

GyPSii for iPhone puts the application within reach of more than five million iPhone users worldwide, and advances GyPSii’s global strategy to be the market-leading geo-location and social networking services platform running on the broadest range of high-end and mass-market consumer mobile devices. This commitment is device-independent, with the company working to develop new mobile technologies that are faster, easier to use, and available on more devices. GyPSii is already available on other market-leading mobile phones and platforms – including BlackBerry, Symbian and Windows Mobile-powered devices.

The addition of the iPhone to GyPSii’s list of compatible handsets follows hard on the heels of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona where the combination of Location-based services with mobile technologies, and the award-winning GyPSii application in particular, seized widespread industry attention.

"Initiatives like GyPSii may ultimately reach a status comparable with existing social networking sites, such as Facebook and MySpace," said ABI Research principal analyst Dominique Bonte.

Praising his development team for their achievement leading up to the launch of GyPSii, CEO Dan Harple said: “Our mission is to enhance every person’s mobile experience; blending their lifestyle and how they share their lives with each other and their chosen social networks. Our first iPhone release version brings us one step closer to that goal, and adds further to our momentum.”