Wireless Mobile Portal - MobileID - Launches to Deliver Email and Personalized Internet Content to Mobile Phones; Company Kicks Off With Super Bowl Promotion

    MobileID, Inc., the world's first wireless mobile portal to provide access to Email and personalized Internet content to mobile phones and PDAs, launches their company and Internet site today. Targeting the growing segment of mobile consumers and professionals, MobileID enables the wireless Internet by delivering truly personalized content and providing direct access to POP3 Email, straight from a user's mobile phone or other wireless handheld device.

    "By 2003, there will be over 500 million mobile phone subscribers worldwide and over 30% of these will be Internet-ready," says Andrew Seybold, noted wireless authority and industry analyst. "The wireless web is not about news, sports and weather, but more about personalized Internet content and messaging that companies such as MobileID are delivering to mobile users," he adds. According to Strategy Analytics, over 134 million Internet-ready wireless phones will be shipped next year; and IGI Consulting concurs, in a report entitled Wireless Web Wonders, that the number of smart phones produced will increase by an astounding 88 percent to 330 million units in 2003, up from 175 million in 2002.

    When a user signs up for the free MobileID service, they get a personalized MobileID Email and web site address for life. With their MobileID, users can receive their personal or corporate Email, personalized content channels, smart mail forwarding, as well as a public and private online address book. The smart mail-forwarding feature allows a Mobile ID subscriber's circle of contacts to send a message to one central Email address that will be intelligently routed to the subscriber. The online address book allows a subscriber to publish their contact information to their circle of contacts, and facilitating simplified communications.

    "They say that the Internet changes everything, but just wait until you see what the wireless web will bring," states David Hayden, President & CEO of MobileID. "MobileID is enabling the wireless Internet by delivering anytime, anywhere access to mobile relevant content and e-killer applications such as messaging," Hayden adds. There are very few applications available today for these Internet-ready mobile phones and other wireless handheld devices. With the exception of generalized information such as news, sports and weather, the available content and services for these devices is sparse. MobileID is a wireless application service provider (ASP) that delivers dynamic, real-time, personalized Internet content to mobile users through a variety of mobile devices including a new generation of smart phones with integrated Internet microbrowser.

    From a strategic standpoint, MobileID is partnering with leading Internet content and e-commerce providers to aggregate content and extend e-commerce Internet models to the wireless world. Through patent-pending content conversion technology, Mobile ID is enabling any Internet site to extend to wireless devices. "Just as we have seen the evolution of brick and mortar stores migrating to the online world, we will see an even more aggressive migration to the wireless world among online entities," says Hayden. "Today, companies that have a wireless strategy are perceived as cutting-edge. Tomorrow, a wireless strategy is a matter of keeping up with the Jones," he adds.

    MobileID is focused on delivering a very simple, interactive user interface with the minimum number of key presses. According the Phone.com, for every key press an application requires, you lose 50% of your users for that feature. For this reason, MobileID chose to deliver content and services via WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) instead of SMS (Short Messaging Service). In the U.S., there are many issues using SMS as a delivery vehicle for content and services. Less than 10% of mobile phones provide two-way interactive messaging capabilities and most carriers disable SMS unless a user specifically requests this premium service. Additionally, there are inherent delays in the delivery of SMS messages, sometimes as long as three days. "Our strategy is built around delivering a compelling, interactive, on-demand user experience such that WAP provides," says Hayden.

    MobileID has entered into a strategic e-commerce partnership with Cellmania.com, a leading online cellular phone and accessory reseller. Through this joint agreement, Cellmania.com and MobileID will work together to add the MobileID bookmark to every Internet-ready mobile phone that is sold through Cellmania.com. "We believe that the strategic alliance between MobileID and Cellmania.com provide both companies with the ability to extend our collective reach in the wireless arena," says Ronjon Nag, President of Cellmania.com.

    MobileID has secured its first round of funding through AsiaTech Management LLC, a Santa Clara, California-based venture capital firm focused on wireless startups "Our philosophy is to bet on smart, experienced people, with a clear plan to success in a hot emerging market," says Louie Liu, General Partner at AsiaTech Management. "It was clear to us, after the initial meeting, that MobileID delivered in all three areas," Mr. Liu adds.

    Super Smart Super Bowl Promotion

    To demonstrate the unique content and applications that MobileID will deliver to mobile users, MobileID is launching an application designed for tracking the players that will score in Sunday's big game. From their Internet-ready mobile phone or from the MobileID web-site, MobileID subscribers from around the U.S., and the world, users will be able to compete for prizes by predicting which player will score next throughout the game. Winners will be announced on the MobileID web site.


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