FROMMER’S EMBARKS ON MOBILE ADVENTURE WITH PARTNER, EMBIENCE
Promotional WAP Site Debuts At Book Expo Of America
Los Angeles, CA – May 29, 2008 – Blazing trails in the mobile landscape, Frommer’s®, today announced a new relationship with mobile strategist and developer, eMbience Inc. In the coming months, Frommer’s, the market leader in travel guides and a branded imprint of Wiley Publishing, Inc, will introduce dynamic, off-the-beaten path travel content to the mobile community using eMbience’s Brand Builder platform. At the launch of Book Expo of America (BEA) starting tomorrow, Frommer’s will unveil a free, promotional mobile web application to over 4,000 registered attendees. “A key component of our mission to consistently deliver new and unique content is finding progressive distribution channels that complement our customers’ lifestyles,” said Craig Schickler, Director of E-Business Development, Wiley. “Through our new partner eMbience, we’re able to creatively package and present our rich depth of travel content into a really wonderful mobile experience where our customers always have something unique to discover and explore. This is what they have grown to expect from our printed guidebooks and our Web site, and what we discovered can also be a reality on their mobile phones.” This year, instead of receiving the annual printed promotional gift from Frommer’s, BEA attendees can look forward to a mobile guide giveaway of Los Angeles. For one month, the free WAP site will offer a variety of Frommer’s-branded content on Los Angeles including Favorite Experiences and Best Bets, as well as points of interest (POI) data rated and reviewed by the experts at Frommer’s. This site, and all future Frommer’s mobile products, will also include content unique to the wireless channel and will be updated weekly. “Our Brand Builder platform was developed for marquee brands just like Frommer’s,” said Nimish Shrivastava, President & CEO of eMbience. “The mobile landscape continues to evolve so rapidly, forward-thinking companies like Wiley need to be able to create, port and serve mobile products and promotions quickly. Brand Builder makes it possible to affordably author and execute these mobile products, portals and promotions across carriers, platforms and hundreds of devices, which often is an insurmountable obstacle to companies not experienced in the mobile sector.”
About eMbience
eMbience is a mobile technology company that equips mobile operators, brands, advertisers and content providers with its Brand Builder platform that helps design, create and execute robust, on-device portals, multimedia and LBS applications and marketing promotions. The Brand Builder platform includes a suite of web-based authoring tools and a robust engine that support forward-looking mobile and advertising strategies with deployment across BREW, J2ME, Windows Mobile, iPhone, RIM and WAP platforms reaching over 450 devices.
About Frommer’s®
The market leader in travel guides, Frommer’s has a guide for every type of traveler—from the sophisticated world traveler to the first-time student traveler on a tight budget. Frommer’s publishes more than 300 guides and sells 2.5 million guides annually, reaching 7 million travelers who count on Frommer’s for exact prices, savvy trip-planning, sightseeing advice, dozens of detailed maps, and candid reviews of hotels and restaurants in every price range. Frommer’s—the best trips start here. Frommers.com is a comprehensive, opinionated travel resource featuring more than 3,500 world destinations. For more information, visit frommers.com. Frommer’s is a registered trademark of Arthur Frommer. Frommer’s is a branded imprint of Wiley.
Contacts:
Mariko Zapf, eMbience,
760-525-1324,
mariko@embience.com
Frommer’s Contact:
Mike Onorato
Wiley
monorato@wiley.com
201-748-6361
IUSACELL WOWS SUBSCRIBERS WITH ADVANCED ‘MUSIC BOX’ SERVICE, IN PARTNERSHIP WITH EMBIENCE
eMbience’s Platform Delivers New Revenue Streams Through Rental Model
San Diego, CA – May 28, 2008 – Iusacell is leading the pack by offering one of the first rental mobile music services whereby users can play, rewind and file as many songs as their devices can hold for the length of time they pay for the service. Iusacell today announced a unique full music download service, Music Box, developed by eMbience Inc. Music Box is a comprehensive music service for the Mexican market, delivering full songs from Sony and Warner Bros. that can be downloaded across all handset levels. Subscribers can also access ringtones, wallpaper and other assets related to the downloaded music.
The eMbience platform includes a BREW®-based music player for downloading full-track stereo songs, which can be stored for the subscriber on a carrier-based web server for delivery on-demand. Songs purchased on-demand will be immediately downloaded over-the-air. Users can store an unlimited number of songs or music clips. Iusacell subscribers also enjoy customization and personalization software enabling customers to create play lists. In addition, eMbience’s platform makes it possible to author, port and serve interactive advertisements and promotions anywhere in Music Box, across handsets.
“Our customers are savvy and look to Iusacell for the next trend in mobile content and technology,” said Gustavo Guevara, director of applications 3G Iusacell “eMbience was the perfect partner, because they have an excellent, robust music platform and because they get the industry and where it is going and also truly know today’s mobile subscribers.”
“Iusacell prides themselves on being a cutting-edge carrier and it was gratifying to help bring a full music download service to their customers that put them a step ahead of their competition” said Nimish Shrivastava, President and CEO of eMbience. “Through our platform, Iusacell is also opening up the possibility for next generation mobile advertising to take off in Latin America with fewer obstacles and overhead costs.”
About eMbience
eMbience is a mobile technology company that equips mobile operators, brands, advertisers and content providers with its Brand Builder platform that helps design, create and execute robust, on-device portals, multimedia and LBS applications and marketing promotions. The Brand Builder platform includes a suite of web-based authoring tools and a robust engine that support forward-looking mobile and advertising strategies with deployment across BREW, J2ME, Windows Mobile, iPhone, RIM and WAP platforms reaching over 450 devices.
About Iusacell
Grupo Iusacell, a wireless cellular services and PCS supplier in Mexico, with national and international coverage, offers more and better voice communication and data transfer solutions through technologies recently developed like the exclusive 3G network. In addition to its main mobile services, it also provides a wide range telecommunication offer; mobile high speed data transmission, long distance and local services. For more information, please visit www.iusacell.com.
Contacts:
Mariko Zapf, eMbience,
760-525-1324,
mariko@embience.com
Marisel Ramírez Antonio,
Iusacell,
044 553030018,
mramirezan@iusacell.com>
Tele Atlas Names Finalists in LBS Innovators Series Event
WEBWIRE – Wednesday, December 12, 2007 Tele Atlas (FSE: TA6, EUNV: TA), a leading global provider of digital maps and dynamic content for navigation and location-based solutions, today announced the finalists of the Tele Atlas LBS Innovators Series event held in conjunction with the VentureWire Mobile Technology Summit, produced by Dow Jones. The finalists span mobile calendaring, shopping/retail, social networking, advertising/promotional and real estate applications.
“As consumer awareness and interest in LBS grows, the possibilities for new services are endless. Through the Tele Atlas LBS Innovators Series and our ongoing collaboration with Dow Jones, we are able to independently foster the development of innovative applications that will benefit the wireless industry as a whole,” said Darren Koenig, Tele Atlas’ Wireless, Internet and Telecom Director. “It’s exciting for us to work with these entrepreneurs to create fun and useful mobile applications for consumer experiences based on location.”
Based on the business potential of their LBS applications and attractiveness to venture capitalists, five companies were nominated by Tele Atlas and selected by Dow Jones to present their new location-based solutions to venture capitalists and industry experts at the 2007 conference. This exclusive opportunity is a key component of Tele Atlas LBS Innovators Series, an ongoing program held in conjunction with Tele Atlas DeveloperLinkSM to help foster innovation and enable application developers to expand their visibility, credibility and success with key participants in the industry including investors, carriers and technology providers. The featured finalists are:
§ Embience, Inc., a mobile technology company that equips brands, advertisers and content providers with a robust platform and authoring tools to build on-device portals, rich mobile applications and promotions;
§ GPShopper, the distributor of Slifter, a mobile local product search engine focused on using wireless and location based technologies to connect consumers with products at retail stores;
§ RoboCal, a service that allows users to access calendar application information via any phone, as well as turn-by-turn spoken driving directions, based on calendar appointments;
§ Smarter Agent, a service that combines mobile location technology, such as GPS, with information about real estate, neighborhoods and interesting places around a given location; and
§ Socialight, alocation-based social media platform that lets mobile phone users access and share local information, personal experiences and promotions from any source, including the community around them.
To learn more about the Tele Atlas LBS Innovators Series and upcoming events, as well as information on Tele Atlas DeveloperLink and LBS development resources such as sample applications, sample map data and a series of Digital Mapping Webinars, visit http://www.teleatlas.com/LBSseries.
Tele Atlas experts will also be featured this week in several high profile speaking venues. Koenig will address how advanced digital mapping technology and content can further LBS innovation on the LBS panel at the Mobile Technology Summit on Tuesday, December 11 in New York City. On the same day in Hollywood, Florida, Tele Atlas’ Wireless and LBS Director David Nevin will participate in a Roundtable Discussion at the Sprint Open Development Conference focused on significant industry activities and trends.
About Tele Atlas
Tele Atlas delivers the digital maps and dynamic content that power some of the world’s most essential navigation and location-based services (LBS).The information is the foundation for a wide range of personal and in-car navigation systems and mobile and Internet map applications that help users find the people, places, products, and services they need, wherever they are. The company also works with business partners who trust its digital map data to delivercritical applications for emergency, business, fleet, and infrastructure services. Through a combination of its own products and partnerships, Tele Atlas offers digital map coverage of more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. The company was founded in 1984 and today has approximately 2,500 full-time staff and contract cartographers at offices in 24 countries and uses a sophisticated network of professional drivers, mobile mapping vans, and more than 50,000 data resources to deliver highly accurate and up-to-date digital maps. Tele Atlas is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (TA6) and on Euronext Amsterdam (TA). For more information, visit www.teleatlas.com.
About VentureWire
VentureWire produces the leading daily newsletters and industry events for the venture capital market (www.venturewire.com or www.venturecapital.dowjones.com). VentureWire is a unit of Dow Jones Financial Information Services, which produces sector-specific products and events for the private equity, venture capital and diversified markets including VentureSource, Private Equity Analyst, and Daily Bankruptcy Review.
About Dow Jones Financial Information Services
Through its Financial Information Services group, Dow Jones produces focused, sector-specific online databases, newsletters and industry events for the private equity, venture capital and diversified markets. Newsletters published include Private Equity Analyst, VentureWire and Daily Bankruptcy Review. In addition, Dow Jones & Company (NYSE: DJ; www.dowjones.com) is a leading provider of global business news and information services. Its Consumer Media Group publishes The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, MarketWatch and the Far Eastern Economic Review. Its Enterprise Media Group includes Dow Jones Newswires, Factiva, Dow Jones Licensing Services, Dow Jones Indexes and Dow Jones Financial Information Services. Its Local Media Group operates community-based information franchises. Dow Jones provides news content to CNBC and radio stations in the U.S.
PRESS CONTACTS:
Erin Delaney
Tele Atlas North America
617-570-6352
erin.delaney@teleatlas.com
Adam Wade
Dow Jones VentureWire
(415) 439-6666
adam.wade@dowjones.com
San Diego, CA – June 20, 2007 – eMbience, Inc., a seasoned mobile technology company that equips brands, advertisers and content providers with tools to build wireless applications and promotions, today announced that AccuWeather.com is using its Brand Builder technology to expand their mobile web presence and expand the functionality of their downloadable applications.
AccuWeather.com selected eMbience’s Brand Builder solution, because it complements their forward-thinking strategy of continuing to deliver feature- and media-rich BREW®, J2ME and mobile web products for their customers. In addition to deploying these robust applications quickly, AccuWeather.com will be able to easily update and maintain their mobile web site and applications. New AccuWeather.com applications will be ported across platforms using Brand Builder’s Flash-like player which has been optimized for a wide range of handsets.
“AccuWeather.com has built its position of leadership in the mobile space since 1997, and today is among the top providers of downloadable applications and mobile video as well as one of the leading mobile web sites,” said Jim Candor, Senior Vice President of New Media for AccuWeather.com. “Working with industry technology leaders like eMbience allows us to respond with more agility to the needs of the marketplace and to ultimately deliver a greater value to our mobile web users.”
“AccuWeather.com is one of the most recognized mobile brands and to work along side them as a mobile technology partner is an honor,” said Dr. Nimish Shrivastava, President, eMbience. “In today’s noisy mobile marketplace, our Brand Builder technology makes it simple to quickly and affordably respond to the needs of millions of mobile users.”
AccuWeather.com has used Brand Builder to expand one of its mobile web sites and is currently using it to implement upgrades on its highly successful downloadable application.
Brand Builder Features:
• Web-based visual authoring tool
• Drag-and-drop controls
• Automatic plugin for designating spaces for interactive advertisements
• Support for entertainment, information, content, media and LBS-based content
• Easy-to-implement, pre-defined templates provide the framework for content that reflects a branded look and feel
• Integrated approach substantially reduces time-to-market across platforms.
About AccuWeather.com
AccuWeather, The World's Weather Authority®, presents accurate, localized, branded forecasts and severe weather bulletins to over 106 million Americans each day via the Internet, mobile devices and IPTV, through the airwaves, and in print. The 113 meteorologists at AccuWeather deliver a portfolio of customized products and services to media, business, government, and institutions, and inform millions of visitors worldwide through the free AccuWeather.com website. AccuWeather also provides content onto more than 20,000 third–party Internet sites, including CNN Interactive, ABC's owned and operated stations, The Washington Post and The New York Times. Visit www.accuweather.com for more information.
About eMbience, Inc.
eMbience is a mobile technology company that equips brands, advertisers and content providers with web-based tools and templates to design, create and execute robust, multimedia applications, ads and promotions. Our suite of products supports forward-looking mobile and advertising strategies with deployment across BREW, J2ME and WAP platforms on over 250 devices. eMbience build and publishes innovative information, entertainment, media and location-based applications for mobile phones based on its Brand Builder technology. As an Elite BREW Developer®, eMbience has key partnerships with brand partners and, additionally, offers its own diverse portfolio of applications.
QUALCOMM
and BREW are registered trademarks of QUALCOMM Incorporated. uiOne,
QPeer, the BREW logo and the Short Voice Service logo are trademarks of
QUALCOMM Incorporated.
eMbience Licences Mobile Advertisement Platform
San Diego, CA – June 20, 2007 – Tata Indicom, India’s premier telecom operator and Mast Mobile Media Pvt. Ltd., an India-based mobile ad media and technology company, today announced the distribution of interactive advertisements in key Tata Zone BREW® applications. These ads from internationally-recognized brands are currently being served in Tata Indicom’s downloadable music, ringtone and wallpaper applications with Infotainment products slated for mobile ads next quarter. Mast Mobile Media provided Tata Indicom with ad-serving technology licensed from eMbience Inc., a U.S.-based mobile technology company which equips brands, advertisers and content providers with tools and templates to design, create and execute robust, multi-media campaigns. Ads in Tata Zone’s BREW applications support many “click-to” actions including interactive voting, free ringtone download, coupons, SMS and call.
With the successful launch of mobile ad campaigns in Tata Indicom’s products, the company will also open the ad-serving technology up to their developer partners. eMbience’s platform includes two unique mobile software development kits (SDKs) that make it possible to receive dynamic ads pre- or post-roll or deeply linked within BREW applications. Through Tata’s developer program, publishers will be able create mobile marketing opportunities for both existing and future applications.
`“We are delighted with the creation of this unique mobile marketing service on BREW. With a booming mass market in India, mobile advertising holds tremendous potential and value for both customers and brands”, commented Pankaj Sethi – President of Value Added Services at Tata Teleservices. “We first tested the interactive ad delivery service on our Song Download Express and are now rolling it out to mid and mass market customers, which form the significant and large addressable base. We have been careful when creating this unique advertising delivery service, to ensure an undisturbed customer experience and advertisers have been delighted with the way the highly interactive ads have been blended into the content experience”
“Tata Teleservices is officially the first operator to offer mobile ads within BREW downloadable applications. We are proud to have partnered with them in this exciting development in the world of mobile advertising,” said Dr. Nimish Shrivastava, Founder, Mast Mobile Media. “Once Tata publisher partners take advantage of the technology to place ads in their own products, Tata Indicom will host the first vibrant mobile ad marketplace for worldwide brands ready to make mobile part of their marketing programs.”
About Tata Teleservices:
Tata Teleservices is one of India's leading private telecom service providers. The company offers integrated telecom solutions to its customers under the Tata Indicom brand, and uses the latest CDMA 3G1X technology for its wireless network. Tata Teleservices operates in 3400 towns across 20 circles i.e. Andhra Pradesh, Chennai, Gujarat, Karnataka, New Delhi, Maharashtra (including Goa), Mumbai, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Bihar, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh (E), Uttar Pradesh (W), Kolkata, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal. The company has a customer base of over 17.1 million.
About Mast Mobile Media:
Mast Mobile Media is a media and publishing company leading mobile marketing and advertising in South Asia with a comprehensive advertisement ecosystem for third-party portals and mobile operators. Additionally, Mast Mobile is seeding the mobile advertisement market with ad-supported, white-labelled solutions such as its proprietary full music download solution in the infotainment industry, as well its own branded products leveraging unique content for the worldwide South Asian community. The digital music download solution is part of Qualcomm’s Direct Music Download (DMD) service targeted towards low-end handsets in emerging markets. eMbience’s proprietary mobile ad platform was licensed to Mast Mobile Media.
Short Voice Service Provides Opportunities to Extend Messaging Revenues
SAN DIEGO, CA – June 21, 2007 – eMbience Inc., a seasoned mobile technology company that equips brands, advertisers and content providers with tools to build wireless applications and promotions, today announced that it will license, customize and distribute QUALCOMM’s Short Voice Service™ (SVS) to wireless operators and OEMs.
SVS is a versatile, user-friendly consumer messaging service consisting of a BREW® application resident on the handset. The sender launches the application and records a voice message, which is delivered via a peer-to-peer mode (using QUALCOMM’s QPeer™ protocol) to SVS-equipped devices or in an integrated server mode where messages can be sent to non-SVS equipped devices.
“We are excited to build on QUALCOMM’s SVS to create a truly exciting addition to the world of messaging,” said Nimish Shrivastava, PhD, President and CEO, eMbience. “We are confident that SVS has the capability to drive new, long-term revenue streams for operators and handset vendors while offering advanced capabilities for the consumer.”
“SVS allows operators and device manufacturers to create customized solutions to meet the unique demands of their partners,” said Mitch Oliver, vice president of solutions and marketing for QUALCOMM Internet Services. “With SVS, eMbience will aim to drive customer usage and satisfaction, as well as leverage the potential to evolve SVS by building it into the device menu and eventually using it for emergency or broadcast situations.”
SVS solution features:
• SMS-like, one-way messaging with voice packets instead of text
• Capability to send messages to single or multiple recipients
• Utilization of available ringtones for notification
• Integration with the subscriber’s device contact list
• Messaging management options that include Inbox/Outbox, Play, Reply, Forward Add to Contacts, Lock, Delete and Info
BREW solutions change the way people relate to wireless data services. By enabling discovery and delivery of high-value content, BREW creates opportunities for the wireless industry to enhance consumers’ mobile data experience. QUALCOMM’s comprehensive and targeted BREW Signature Solutions offer reduced time to market and lower capital investment for companies providing mobile products and services. Customers also can benefit from several modular BREW offerings, including uiOne™, deliveryOne™ and QPoint™, which provide the foundation for customer-differentiated wireless data capabilities.
About eMbience Inc.
eMbience is a mobile technology company that equips brands, advertisers and content providers with web-based tools and templates to design, create and execute robust, multimedia applications, ads and promotions. Our suite of products supports forward-looking mobile and advertising strategies with deployment across BREW, J2ME and WAP platforms on over 250 devices. eMbience build and publishes innovative information, entertainment, media and location-based applications for mobile phones based on its Brand Builder technology. As an Elite BREW Developer®, eMbience has key partnerships with brand partners in addition to offering its own diverse portfolio of applications.
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QUALCOMM and BREW are registered trademarks of QUALCOMM Incorporated. uiOne, deliveryOne and QPoint are trademarks of QUALCOMM Incorporated. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.