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OZ Communications provides mobile instant messaging gateway to T-Mobile USA for mass-market launch of services on mobile devices with IM clients
January 21, 2004
LONDON -- OZ Communications, the leading enabler of standards-based mobile Instant Messaging and Presence Services, announced today at the IBC Mobile Instant Messaging conference in London that T-Mobile USA has selected OZ’s Mobile IM Gateway to enable the mass-market launch of existing IM services on mobile devices with standards-based mobile IM clients. As part of the agreement, T-Mobile USA has licensed both OZ’s Mobile IM Gateway and OZ’s mobile IM client solutions.
T-Mobile’s IM service gives subscribers access to their favorite IM services through OZ’s Mobile IM Gateway using a single, standards based IM interface on a new generation of IM capable mobile phones now offered by T-Mobile USA. These phones are based on the Open Mobile Alliance specifications for Instant Messaging and Presence Services (IMPS), formerly known as Wireless Village. The OZ Mobile IM Gateway has already been deployed commercially and is in active use by T-Mobile’s subscribers.
Instant Messaging is one of the most popular means of communication today with hundreds of millions of desktop IM users worldwide and billions of IM messages sent each day. Despite its popularity, PC based Instant Messaging has generated little or no revenues so far. Mobile operators are now in a key position to capitalize on the Instant Messaging craze by giving subscribers access to existing IM services on IM capable phones, thereby increasing mobile data traffic.
To successfully deploy mobile IM services, mobile operators however face a number of challenges, including billing, customer support interfaces, IM protocol conformance and overall control of mobile IM services. The OZ Mobile IM Gateway is designed to address these issues and to simplify the process of extending existing IM services to standards-based IM capable mobile phones.
“Mobile Instant Messaging services are a core part of T-Mobile USA’s service offerings and therefore we need to carefully select the partners we work with,” said Joerg Zender, Senior Product Manager for Messaging Applications at T-Mobile USA. “OZ has proven its expertise and truly understands our needs when it comes to mobile IM. The OZ Mobile IM Gateway enables T-Mobile to effectively bill for mobile IM services and to efficiently control our subscribers’ mobile IM experience.”
“T-Mobile USA has been very successful at mobilizing existing IM services to date and it is a privilege to power the next version of T-Mobile’s IM offering with our Mobile IM Gateway,” said Skuli Mogensen, CEO of OZ. “The gateway is a truly unique product that addresses the challenges mobile operators and IM providers face when deploying mobile IM services, and is a result of OZ’s extensive work on mobile IM standardization.”
T-Mobile USA
OZ Communications Inc.
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