Mobile Email for the Mass Mkt

Synchronica PLC 06 February 2007 Embargoed until 07.00, 6 February 2007 Synchronica Brings Mobile Email to Mass Market with Push-IMAP and SyncML New Mobile Gateway 3.0 supports Push Email and synchronisation with the widest range of phones on the market 6 February, 2007 - Synchronica plc, an international provider of mobile synchronisation and device management solutions, has integrated Push-IMAP functionality into its Mobile Gateway 3.0 (formerly SyncML Gateway) enabling service providers to bring push Email to the widest range of mobile devices on the market. Synchronica believes that this will set the stage for mobile email to replace SMS messages as the communication medium of choice for prosumers and consumers. Synchronica estimates that the number of consumers and prosumers using mobile email will outnumber business users in 2008 and enjoy exceptional growth thereafter. While proprietary solutions, such as RIM's Blackberry and Visto, may continue to be popular with business users, Synchronica believes that the mass-market requires industry-standard based solutions and thus will see a different breed of vendors succeed. Delivering Push-Email to prosumers and consumers requires support for mass-market devices from a wide variety of manufacturers. However, proprietary Push-Email solutions require special client software to be installed on the device and are mostly limited to high-end Smartphones - a small fraction of the mobile phone market. In contrast, industry-standard solutions like Synchronica's Mobile Gateway do not require additional software installation on the device and instead use the built-in Email and synchronisation clients addressing the vast majority of devices. Synchronica is among the first to combine both SyncML (OMA DS), which is optimised for synchronisation of calendar, contacts and Push-IMAP (LEMONADE), which is optimised for mobile Email. While the majority of devices in the market supports SyncML, it is limited in delivering Email since only a small number of devices support Email synchronisation over SyncML. On the other hand, millions of devices support Email over IMAP, but IMAP does not support calendar or contact synchronisation. Thus, combining Push IMAP for mobile Email with SyncML for synchronisation of calendar and contacts provides ideal synergy supporting the widest range of devices. Commenting on the decision to add support for Push-IMAP, Emma Mohr McClune, Senior Analyst Wireless Services Europe at Current Analysis said: "Unlike other vendors that have opted for either Push-IMAP or SyncML for mobile email, Synchronica's Mobile Gateway supports both SyncML and Push-IMAP, enabling business and consumer users to benefit from the optimisation delivered by both technologies." Carsten Brinkschulte, CEO of Synchronica plc, adds: "With such a wealth of mass market devices supporting mobile Email now available, the time is right for Push Email to expand to the prosumer and consumer markets. Virtually every mobile phone user has an Email account and most of them by now have an Email-enabled device. With the right marketing and technology, Push Email for the mass-market will become the next generation SMS." Synchronica's Mobile Gateway provides carrier-grade Push Email and synchronisation services for both consumers and business users. Serving consumers, it includes back-end support for POP3 and IMAP connecting to popular mail services such as MSN or Yahoo. For business users, it provides a unique "zero footprint" architecture where users simply register their devices with Mobile Gateway and instantly start to receive Email on their devices. No connectors behind the firewall required. It includes built-in support for Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Notes and Sun JES, thereby reaching the majority of business user mail systems. About Synchronica plc Synchronica plc develops and markets synchronization and device management solutions for mobile operators, device manufacturers, and enterprises. Its product portfolio ranges from data synchronization (DS) to device management (DM) and firmware update over-the-air (FOTA). The company has deployed the world's first live installation of a device management suite in a carrier-grade environment. Products include the mobile device management suite Mobile Manager and the Push Email and synchronization solution "Mobile Gateway". Headquartered in the UK with a development centre in Berlin, Synchronica plc is a public company listed on the London Stock Exchange (SYNC.LN). More information is available at www.synchronica.com For more information please contact: Nicole Meissner Chief Marketing Officer Tel.: +44 1892 552 780 Mobile: +44 7977 256 412 Fax: +44 1892 552 721 nicole.meissner@synchronica.com Clemmie Carr Tavistock Communications Tel : +44 207 92 0 3150 ccarr@tavistock.co.uk This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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