Synchronica Targets Emerging Markets with Mass Market, Zero Footprint Mobile Email Solution That Works on Any Phone - First Mobile Operator Launched and Another 15 Currently Trialling Solution in Emerging Markets

 

GSMA Mobile World Congress, Barcelona, Hall 2.0, Stand 2J25, February 8, 2008. - Synchronica plc, the international provider of mobile email and synchronization solutions, announces that the latest version of its ground-breaking mobile email software, Mobile Gateway 3.5, now works with more than three billion phones in use around the world today. For emerging markets such as the Indian sub-continent and the Middle East and Africa (MEA), mobile operators can now offer mobile email to all of their prosumer / consumer subscribers, regardless of which handset they use.

Synchronica is making significant in-roads into emerging markets, with the first mobile operator having launched Mobile Gateway and another 15 operators currently trialling the software.

Carsten Brinkschulte, Synchronica's CEO, comments: "Mobile operators in emerging markets have been telling us that they see a strong market for mass market mobile email and look at mobile email as a way to get around the inherent problems caused by low fixed-line and PC penetration. The challenge has been finding a mobile email solution that works with all phones in use today and does not need additional client software to be installed on the device. With Mobile Gateway 3.5, we have added the last piece of the jigsaw by enabling any mobile phone user, regardless of which handset they use, to access their email easily from their phone."

Brinkschulte continues: "All forecasts point to emerging markets as the breakthrough area for mass market mobile email. India, for example, saw a 97 percent year-on-year growth in new mobile subscribers during 2006 to 149.5 million*, and forecasts point to a total of 300 million mobile users by the end of 2008. The number of mobile phone subscribers in developing countries has almost tripled in the last five years, and they now account for 58 percent of subscribers worldwide**. All of this bodes well for mobile email when you consider that the number of email users in India outstrips the number of PCs in the country. Recent trips to emerging markets convinced me that mobile operators in these regions now have the opportunity to make the mobile phone the primary device for accessing the internet, and our 'mobile email for all' solution can become the most popular data service generating recurring revenues and preventing churn."

New features in Mobile Gateway 3.5 include:

Support for all phones: Even very basic phones can receive email - via an SMS notification showing header and body text in a text message
Mobile signup: Users can register from their handset via WAP, removing the need to sign up via a PC in countries where PC penetration is low
New business back-ends: Support for Microsoft Exchange 2007 and Sun Communications Suite 5.0
Easy billing integration: New billing API for integration with billing systems (post- and pre-paid)
*Data from Light Reading, March 2007 (statistics show growth between December 2005 and Dececember 2006). Other countries that feature in Light Reading's Top Ten Emerging Mobile Markets report include: Pakistan (up 147 % to 48.3 million), Bangladesh (up 135 % to 21.8 million), and Nigeria (up 38 % to 30 million)

**Data from study of world trade and development conference of the United Nations (UNCTAD), February 2008

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About Mobile Backup

Synchronica's Mobile Backup solution includes support for OMA DS (SyncML) for backing up and restoring contact, calendar, and other data on the majority of mobile phones in the market today. It also features an automatic client provisioning module (OMA CP) that enables remote, over-the-air, automated setup of the service for subscribers through web, WAP, and SMS interfaces.

About Synchronica

Synchronica plc develops and markets industry standard mobile email and synchronization solutions for the vast majority of devices in the market today. Mobile operators, device manufacturers, and service providers in emerging and developed markets use Synchronica products to offer mobile email, PIM synchronization and backup and restore services to their consumer and corporate customer base. Products include the push email and synchronization solution Mobile Gateway and the mass market device backup solution Mobile Backup. Headquartered in the U.K., with a development center in Germany and presences in the USA, Hong Kong, and Dubai. Synchronica plc is a public company traded on the AIM list of the London Stock Exchange (SYNC.LN). More information is available at www.synchronica.com