Mobispine corporate news

Helio and Mobispine boosting phone blogging says MIT

Mon, 08 May 2006 22:00:00 GMT

Blogging might seem to be uniquely broadband-centered, with its emphasis on links, searchability, and now video. But, at the same time, the live, journalistic nature of the medium suggests it could work well on highly mobile devices -- cell phones with cameras, for instance. And two recent developments -- the introduction of the Helio wireless service and the addition of blogging to Sweden's Mobispine platform -- suggest that mobile blogging is on the rise.

One barrier to the use of mobile blogging has been that most services handle blog posts via MMS (multimedia messaging service), which is costlier and more difficult to use than simple text-messaging.

But Sweden's Mobispine solves the problem of expensive mobile blogging. It lets users post blog entries without using SMS or MMS (although phones must have a data service, which does have a cost). Mobispine's new blog tool is an extension of its free instant-messaging application, released last year to let callers use instant messaging without paying SMS fees.

Mobispine's cofounder and head of sales, Joakim Hilj, says the company added mo-blogging because users wanted the service. "It's starting to be really cool," he says. Mobispine hosts the blogs and sells advertising around it, which provides revenue for the company.

The biggest challenge for any cell-phone application developer is the fragmented nature of the market: each wireless network uses different technical specifications, so even an application written in a supposedly universal development language like Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME) needs to be tweaked for each phone offered by each carrier.

"In the phone, Java is not as compatible as it is on the PC," says Joacim Boivie, CEO of Stockholm-based Mobispine. Mobispine is now available for 57 different mobile phones, and next week will add the RIM BlackBerry to its list.

Mobispine will also add new blogging capabilities, Boivie says. Right now, users who shoot video using their phones cannot post it to their blogs. That will change in about two weeks, he says.

IDC's Ward says it's unusual to find applications that circumvent the cellular carriers entirely, in part because it adds a level of risk: cellular carriers can ban communications out of their network. Thus, if Mobispine is too successful in selling ads to its blogging site, it could risk seeing its users cut off from their blogs, since cellular carriers tend to resent third parties who make money from their networks.

Instead, he's betting they'll care a lot about blogging on the go.

IDC has not gathered statistics on mobile blogging, but Ward says the market is developing enough that he expects to put together a market forecast on the phenomenon before the end of the year.

Helio represents the latest MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator): a company that resells service from a current wireless provider, in this case Sprint. A partnership between the Internet service provider Earthlink and South Korea's SK Telecom, Helio offers a variety of services, including the ability to blog photos and text to the wildly popular social network MySpace. As Ward points out, Helio is also notable because its service requires expensive phones, costing between $250 and $275, whereas current MVNOs tend to be focused on low-end markets.

Read the full article here

Press release: Mobispine deliveres mobile services to Hemnet

Thu, 18 May 2006 22:00:00 GMT

Hemnet, using technology from Mobispine, has just launched an exciting new service that sends pictures and descriptions of homes directly to your mobile phone the moment they hit the market. The service is free, and works with all mobile operators. It means that prospective home buyers no longer have to sit in front of their computers to get updates about new homes and showing times.

This is a long-awaited mobile service. Looking for a place to live can be stressful – people don’t have hours to spend in front of their computers. We’re making it easier for people to look for their future home and still go out and do the things they need to do without worrying about missing something, says Björn Dietmann Hemnet’s CEO.

Anyone who has created a profile with Hemnet can choose to receive mobile updates, and then full pictures and descriptions of homes fitting their personal profile can be sent directly to their mobile phones.

By using Internet technology instead of Text messaging, Hemnet can provide the kinds of pictures and texts that people usually only see on the Internet. "Of course it’s possible get information with text messaging, but this is more interesting because it is closer to what users experience online. We could never have delivered a service like this using text messaging."

Hemnet uses Mobispine, a platform that lets companies or content providers use IP-technology to reach out to mobile phones. As with Hemnet, customers can decide themselves what they want sent directly to their mobile phones, and companies can provide a whole new valuable service tailored to the customer’s preferences. Customers never have to pay to use Mobispine in their phones.

"People are increasingly using their mobile phones to access the internet, and we want to be at the forefront of this development. Hemnet understands that there is no reason people should have to sit in front of a computer when they can get the same information with the same high quality from wherever they are" says Joacim Boivie, CEO for Mobispine.

Mobispine already makes it possible for a number of companies, including Hockeyligan, to send real-time information and updates to mobile phones using inexpensive IP-technology. "The mobile phone is already one of our most personal belongings – it’s only natural to have your personal favourite Internet services right next to your contact lists and favourite music."

Mobispine appoints Dusyant Patel as CEO

Sun, 05 Nov 2006 23:00:00 GMT

Mobispine, the leader in bringing the rich interactivity and real-time information of the Web to mobile devices, has further cemented its vanguard position within the area of multimedia. “We are today proud to announce that Dusyant Patel will be joining the company as CEO” says Joacim Boivie, Founder of Mobispine.

“The Internet has become an integral part of today’s lifestyles,” says Patel. “And many consumers want to extend the Internet’s unbelievable breadth of information and services to their back pockets. Mobispine offers a ‘wallet of content,” if you will, that allows consumers to go mobile with Internet content.”

Patel brings more than fifteen years of sales and marketing experience to the position, drawing from his latest global experience at ERICSSON, where he among his positions served as vice president of marketing of the Americas. Mr. Patel used his vision and leadership to grow the market in a challenging environment, reorganizing and streamlining his organization to run with optimal effectiveness. He regards Mobispine’s carrier independent, IP-based service as a low cost method for content providers to deliver limitless content, allowing consumers to interact with the mobile Web much as they would at home.

By joining Mobispine, Patel can apply his entrepreneurial character to a business model that can be expanded worldwide. “Consumers, who ever they are, worldwide consider the Internet an indispensable part of their lives,” says Patel, “and that applies regardless of where and when they need it.”

Post video blogs from your mobile

Tue, 21 Nov 2006 23:00:00 GMT

Now anyone can post their own videos directly from their mobile phone by using the Mobispine application. Mobispine makes it possible to send videos directly from your mobile phone to your online blog. This means that spontaneous, personal videos can be online within seconds of being recorded.

Now users can simply use the mobile network to publish videos made with their mobile phones. It takes only seconds, and users can be anywhere.

Visit www.mobispine.com/blog to see the videos posted by some of mobispine’s users, including well known artists such as Patrik Isaksson and Markindapark. Isaksson has posted videos directly from his concerts, which puts him in control of his own publicity. Mobile blogging is something that allows individuals to circumvent the press by publishing personal, uncensored videos online instantly.

“This is a fantastic development,” says Patrik Isaksson. “It’s important for me to be able to be spontaneous, and be able to film whenever I want wherever I am. Mobispine makes it easy.”

At a time when personal videos can now easily be distributed online, Mobispine is making it even simpler by eliminating the need for a video recorder and a computer. Anyone can be ready to video blog with just a mobile phone.

Some examples of mobile video blogs:
www.mobispine.com/blog/Isaksson
www.mobispine.com/blog/Markindapark

SwimmingWorldMagazine.com Joins Forces With Mobispine.com to Offer Cell Phone RSS Feed

Thu, 25 Jan 2007 23:00:00 GMT

SwimmingWorldMagazine.com has partnered with Mobispine.com in another digital media venture along the lines of SwimmingWorld. TV and Swimming World Radio – all of which allow our readers the ability to obtain news through a variety of exciting digital vehicles.

"The partnership with Mobispine.com allows our readers with supported cell phones to feed the latest breaking news posted on SwimmingWorldMagazine.com directly to their cell phones," Swimming World Magazine Publisher/CEO Brent Rutemiller said. "This feature allows those in the swimming community that are always on-the-go to keep abreast of news going on throughout the world of swimming."

Aston Villa news and opinion on your mobile

Wed, 07 Feb 2007 23:00:00 GMT

You can now get all the latest posts from us direct to your mobile phone, so you don't have to be in front of your PC to pick up the latest posts.

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Report from 3GSM - Mobispine free mobile RSS reader

Tue, 20 Feb 2007 23:00:00 GMT

The goal of this Swedish based company is to bring the RSS to the mass market mobile audience. By providing users with a very easy to use interface, they may be onto something. More...

Mobispine AB (publ) Opens a Local R & D Center in Cluj, Romania To Further Enhance the Companies Growth.

Tue, 29 May 2007 22:00:00 GMT

Mobispine AB (publ) has opened a local R&D center in Cluj, Romania in order to further enhance the growth of the company. The company has set up one local office and hired a team of experienced system developers. This team’s goal is to focus on the core product development of the mobile client and therefore further improve the overall user experience. "This is according to our original plan of expanding the Mobispine R & D team internationally to other sites" says Dusyant Patel, CEO of Mobispine AB (publ).

Background
Mobispine AB develops a client application used for mobile Internet. With Mobispine, users can personalize the selection of news and updates that they like to read in their mobiles. Users get the mobile application and mobile news and blog updates for free in exchange to a small piece of mobile advertising.

The IT-industry is very hot at the moment and there are challenges for most companies to find and recruit the best talent on the market. Growth companies such as Mobispine must therefore open up R & D centers in international markets where there is an available pool of talent.
Benefits with Romania
The main reason why to establish a local R & D office in Cluj, Romania is the immediate closeness to two major universities in the region and the quality of the talent in that area.

Mobispine in the press

Mon, 04 Jun 2007 22:00:00 GMT

Kristen Nicole writes:
"Sweden-based Mobispine is looking to build the world’s largest feed directory for mobile phones. Users can contribute to the database by adding feeds, which other users can also subscribe to."

More...

Tim Green writes:
"Its free-to-download intelligent agent is updated only when the site changes. It includes a search function and a ‘you–may-also-like’ function, with the option to view similar news and blogs to the one being read. Unlike an RSS feed browser; Mobispine’s client can also learn a user’s preferences."

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Tele2 signs agreement to offer the Mobispine agent for direct download to mobile phone via their mobile portal.

Wed, 11 Jul 2007 22:00:00 GMT

Mobispine AB and Tele2 Sverige AB have signed an agreement to make Mobispine’s intelligent agent for mobile phones available on their mobile portal site (mobil.tele2.se). Tele2 has always strived to offer their Swedish customers the best-priced mobile services in the market, and Mobispine will give them access to over 100,000 feeds and 4 million articles in news & blogs on their mobile phone.

“Mobispine is very proud to offer our service for browsing news & blogs through a major operator such as Tele2,” says Joakim Hilj, CMO. “Tele2 is known for being innovative and its subscriber base will now have extensive access to free news & blogs”.

“We aggregate the web content and information that is being transmitted by RSS feed, to make sure users get fast, cost effective access. Mobispine is free to download, so to start ‘murfing’ (mobile surfing) all users need is a mobile phone that is internet-enabled and accepts Java programs,” says Hilj.

Mobispine allows users to view web content on their mobile phone and to save data-time, this intelligent agent gets updated only when the news article or blog changes. There are in excess of 100,000 feeds being monitored for updates and users can also add new feeds instantly. The unique search function also ensures a quick, effortless experience when exploring all the content on these feeds.

“Linking up with an important operator like Tele2 is important for Mobispine's goal of reaching 10 million users in the next year,” says Duysant Patel, CEO of Mobispine. “Tele2’s customers can now download the agent directly to their mobile phone via the Tele2 mobile portal and instantly get a high quality news & blog experience on their phone.”

This easy to use application for the mobile phone is planned to have 10 million new phone downloads, especially amongst heavy data users and bloggers who want to keep in touch with their communities when away from their computer.

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Swedish operator TRE launches Mobispine agent for direct downloads to mobile phones

Wed, 01 Aug 2007 22:00:00 GMT

Stockholm, Sweden, August 2 2007 – Swedish operator TRE has launched Mobispine’s intelligent agent for mobile phones available on their mobile portal site (mobil.tre.se). The partnership gives TRE’s customers easier and more cost-effective access to over 200,000 feeds and 12 million articles in news and blogs on their mobile phone.

“Mobispine is very excited to offer our service for browsing news and blogs through another major telecommunications operator such as TRE,” says Joakim Hilj, Chief Marketing Officer of Mobispine. “TRE strives to offer their Swedish customers the most innovative mobile services in the market. By making Mobispine accessible for download via the TRE mobile portal, its customers can now get a high quality news and blog experience directly on their mobile phones. All they need to start ‘murfing’ (mobile surfing) is a mobile phone that is internet-enabled and accepts Java programs.”

Mobispine is an easy to use, free download application that allows users to view web content on their mobile phone. The intelligent agent is also cost-effective as it saves data-time by updating only when a news article or blog changes. The unique search function also ensures a quick, effortless experience when exploring content on the feeds.

“Linking up with another major operator like TRE is another proof that operators are getting more and more interested in finding innovative methods for its customers how to access and discover mobile content” says Duysant Patel, Chief Executive Officer of Mobispine.

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Mobispine keeps Facebook friends up on news

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 22:00:00 GMT

October 4 2007 – Ah yes, Facebook, the social community Web site that some cannot survive a day without, while others can't wait to see it go down in history as yet another failed Web 2.0 attempt. It's anything but going away for now. And if the huge database of applications (some utter crap) isn't enough to impress, Mobispine is here to add to your joy, or headache, or both. The mobile media browser allows you to share news with your friends via traditional SMS method or publish it as a feed on your Facebook account from the convenience of your mobile phone. Of course, data traffic charges still apply, and if you already have tons of apps on your Facebook, what's another?

Written by: Damian Koh

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Planet 3 udvider nyhedssektionen

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 23:00:00 GMT

Så er der godt nyt til nyhedssultne 3-kunder. I Planet 3’s nyhedssektion kan du nu læse nyheder fra endnu flere danske nyhedsmedier og abonnere på over 250.000 RSS feeds og ca. 12 millioner internationale og lokale nyhedsartikler og blogs med Mobispine. Og så kan du se, hvordan vejret er i dit lokalområde.

Derudover kan du nu hente programmet Mobispine, der giver dig overblik over og adgang til underholdning og nyheder om stort set alt på det mobile netværk. Dine favoritter kan du samle som RSS feeds, der gør det nemmere for dig at følge med i strømmen af information på hyppigt opdaterede hjemmesider som nyhedstjenester og weblogs.

”Vi er meget stolte af at kunne præsentere den nye nyhedssektion, der både giver adgang til en række kendte nyhedsmedier og samtidig giver kunden mulighed for selv at udvælge og abonnere på relevante nyheder og artikler via Mobispine,” siger Christiane Vejlø, underholdningschef i 3. ”Mobispine er på den måde med til at gøre 3Mobilen mere personlig, og nyhederne mere vedkommende for vores kunder”.

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Mobispine goes live on 3neXt

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 23:00:00 GMT

Our friends from Mobispine have managed to get “inside” 3neXt portal. Run by Hutchinson Whampoa’s 3 network, 3neXt is an online community for customers of 3 that allows them to leave comments, rate software, write reviews and more. Plus, it’s also a catalog of useful and cool mobile apps.

Back to Mobispine… If you still haven’t download it, I really don’t know what you’re waiting for. It’s probably THE best Java-based mobile news reader which doesn’t just let you go through your favorite RSS feeds, but also optimizes images for faster download. At the moment, they have more than 250,000 feeds and 15 million international news articles and blogs in their database.

Written by: Dusan

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Mobispine gets into Sony Ericsson's Fun & Downloads portal

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 23:00:00 GMT

Our friends from Sweden, Mobispine, announced that their popular Java ME based news reader is now available through Sony Ericsson's Fun & Downloads portal. Mobispine's success to get into the major handset maker's is also tremendous value for Sony Ericsson device owners, who will now be able to easily download Mobispine and get ahold of the latest news and articles from their favorite sources, while on-the-go.

Written by: Dusan

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RSS: Made simple for mobile

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 23:00:00 GMT

ONCE THE DOMAIN OF EARLY ADOPTERS on high-tech smartphones, mobile RSS is quietly moving into the mainstream.

RSS, or Really Simple Syndication, first came to the Internet in 1999, and the format has become a must-have for savvy Web users looking to keep tabs on their favorite sites. RSS readers serve as a kind of content aggregator for the predetermined sites, allowing users to view updates from predetermined sites on a single page and giving them the option to drill down for more information.

Written by: Colin Gibbs

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Our take on the Mobispine RSS reader

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 22:00:00 GMT

If ever there was a Web application that seemed tailor-made for mobile, it is the RSS feed. The constant roll of short text blurbs coming from blogs and news feeds is perfect for the limited capabilities of all but the most bare-bones phones. But like so many other Web apps, RSS has had trouble adjusting to the demands and restrictions of the mobile Web.

Written by: Kevin Fitchard

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Mobispine ties up with OnMobile for India and Asia-Pacific foray

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 22:00:00 GMT

Mobispine AB (MOBS) and OnMobile Global Limited announced a tie-up which will involve OnMobile to oversee distribution of Mobispine''s mobile content aggregation products and solutions in India and Asia-Pacific region.

Mobispine specializes in offering simplified user-friendly mobile web content including news and RSS feeds to end-users.

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