Picofun first to enter the scene with top class entertainment for the mobile Internet

Former CEO of Ericsson moves into the entertainment business

Picofun is one of the first to unlock the full potential of mobile Internet technology. Together with venture capitalist Startupfactory, and a number of leading players on the mobile Internet market, Picofun has developed technology that turns mobile terminals, such as WAP-phones, into a platform for games and entertainment.

Today there are a number of interesting and useful applications using phones to fetch and display information such as stock quotes, time tables and so on. But the market for entertainment has until now been rather undeveloped. Picofun is going to tap that potential by supplying the market with creative, challenging and fun quality entertainment applications for the mobile Internet users.

– A great deal of the mobile phone users today play the simple games that most new cellular phones have built in, such as Snake and Tetris. Picofun's concepts for games and entertainment are leading edge and will change people's perception of mobile entertainment. Japan is the world's leading mobile Internet market, yet our products are far more advanced, says Picofun’s CEO Johan Lenander. Looking ahead, we believe entertainment will be a killer application for mobile Internet and that entertainment in three years time will account for at least 50% of the operators' revenues.

The mobile Internet penetration is increasing rapidly. According to recent research findings, some 1,000 million people will have mobile Internet access five years from now compared to the 400 million who will be able to access the Internet through personal computers.

– We believe that entertainment, for example high quality games and music, will be the driving force behind this development, says Sven-Christer Nilsson, Picofun's chairman of the board, and former CEO of Ericsson.

Today, Picofun has also qualified to the finals of e-challenge 2000, a competition for the most promising new Internet and wireless companies in Europe. The 16 finalists competing for the title Internet Company of the Year have been chosen from 600 participating business plans from Internet entrepreneurs in 19 countries. E-challenge is aimed at finding the companies with the highest yield potential for their shareholders. According to Lars Bern, the chairman of the jury, the competition is very tough this year:

– After a thorough selection process we have now found the companies who we think will become the brightest stars on the Internet sky. On the 16th to 17th May we will present the finalists and choose three winners and Picofun, with its vision of mobile Internet as a platform for entertainment, stands a good chance.

The seed capital for Picofun has been provided by Startupfactory, an early stage value adding investor focused exclusively on ideas and startups related to wireless communication and mobile lifestyle. Picofun has two offices in Sweden, and the company is planning for international expansion during 2000. 


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