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Mobile Content Distribution Pioneer Now Certified to Test and Sign Third-Party
Symbian Applications; Will Accelerate Time-to-Market for Content Provider Partners
SAN FRANCISCO-- Oct. 11, 2005-- WideRay (www.wideray.com), a worldwide pioneer and market leader in mobile content distribution, today
announced it has been granted Publisher Certifier status from Symbian, a software
licensing company that develops and licenses Symbian OS(TM), the global open industry
standard operating system for advanced, data-enabled mobile phones. This agreement
enables WideRay to approve both its own software content browser as well as third-party
applications and content, speeding time-to-market for its content provider partners.
The announcement comes on the heels of WideRay's recent deal with Trans World
Entertainment Corp. to provide "Download & Go" mobile entertainment stations
at f.y.e. -- For Your Entertainment retail locations in New York, Los Angeles
and Boston. WideRay has also been deployed at U.K.'s Vue Cinemas and London retailers.
Symbian Signed is the industry-endorsed application signing program that promotes
best practices in Symbian OS(TM) content and application development. The program
tests applications against industry-agreed criteria in support of network operator
and mobile manufacturer requirements. Utilizing the Symbian Signed program, WideRay
will now tag consumer content delivered to Bluetooth and/or infrared-enabled mobile
with the "for Symbian OS(TM)" logo. Additionally, signed content delivered through
WideRay will not trigger the end-user warnings that occur during the installation
of unsigned third-party content. The "for Symbian OS(TM)" logo provides confidence
to users that the application they are downloading has been tested and approved,
is of high quality, and does not represent a security risk.
"We are excited about our relationship with Symbian. The Symbian Signed status
will allow us to bring content to mobile consumers with even greater effectiveness,"
said Grant Wakelin, Chief Executive Officer, WideRay. "Consumers will see the
`for Symbian OS(TM)' logo when the WideRay application is loaded, which will immediately
reassure them that the content they are about to receive is legitimate and approved.
Additionally, with our status as a Symbian `Publisher Certifier,' we now will
be able certify our partners' content in-house, which will significantly improve
our time-to-market."
Symbian Signed delivers the infrastructure and process necessary for identifying
and verifying applications, known as "application signing." This is a secure way
of identifying an application, authenticating the developer of the application,
testing the application against a defined set of criteria, and ensuring the application
has not been changed since it was tested and signed. The Symbian OS(TM) (operating
system) supports a wide range of rich programming environments, including C++,
Java, VB, C#, OPL, and Flash.
About Symbian
Symbian develops and licenses Symbian OS(TM), the global industry standard operating
system for smartphones, to the world's leading handset manufacturers.
About Symbian Signed
Symbian Signed is the mobile industry-endorsed certification program that promotes
best practice in designing applications to run on Symbian OS(TM) phones. Symbian
Signed applications follow industry-agreed quality guidelines and support network
operator requirements for applications and content. The program was created to
satisfy the mobile industry's demand for a reduced cost to developers by providing
the community with a single generic certification program that all parties can
benefit from. For more information, please visit www.symbiansigned.com or email
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About WideRay
WideRay (www.wideray.com) is a worldwide pioneer and market leader in mobile marketing and content distribution
that enables retailers, advertisers, and other location owners to distribute and
sell rich media and promotions directly to consumers' mobile devices. WideRay
utilizes free short range wireless networks that operate on protocols such as
Bluetooth, WiFi, and Infrared. WideRay partners with movie studios, music record
labels, game developers, and other content owners and aggregators to provide a
strong source of rich media that is a complete end-to-end solution for the growing
retail category of mobile content distribution. To date, WideRay has been deployed
by leading consumer retailers in Europe and North America, including EB Games,
Trans World Entertainment's f.y.e. stores, and Loews theatres. Founded in 2000,
the company is privately held and headquartered in San Francisco. For more information
about WideRay, please call 877-WIDERAY or visit www.wideray.com. |