Many telecom operator around the world are either offering or trying to offer location-based and local search services to their users. The Indian operators have also woken up to the power of local search. Airtel, India’s largest private telecom service provider is all set to power city search services in India. The operator partnered with asklaila, India’s first local information service on 13 November 2008. With this strategic partnership, Airtel has pioneered to be the first telecom company in the world to deploy a multi-mode, multi-platform local search service; the service is available across 3 screens – the mobile (Airtel’s mobile service), the PC (Airtel’s broadband service) and the TV (Airtel DTH); and within the mobile service, across 4 modes – SMS, USSD, WAP and Airtel Live.

The service will enable Airtel customers to get up-to-date information about their city, free of cost, through asklaila’s extensive city information database. The asklaila-powered ‘Airtel city search’ will reach more than 30 million users across the six cities where asklaila is available, including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Bangalore. The mobile-based local information search will be supported by targeted, relevant advertising, based on the users’ intent identified through the search query.

Sanjay Gupta, Chief Marketing Officer, Mobile Services, Bharti Airtel said, “It is Airtel and asklaila’s joint belief that a non-intrusive, intent-driven advertising model, with the consumer in mind, is the way forward on the mobile platform. This partnership has the potential to revolutionize the market dynamics in mobile advertising.”

Kiran Konduri, co-founder, asklaila added, “We have seen tremendous growth in the usage of our service and having telecom leader Airtel as our partner will help us reach many more users, besides giving a significant fillip to mobile advertising and the use of mobile devices to search for city information.”

How the Airtel AskLaila Service Works:

• SMS: Airtel users can text the keyword to get accurate city information. For example, ‘locate pizza gurgaon’ and SMS it to 54321 to get relevant local information free of cost.
• Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD): USSD is a faster channel than the text-messaging platform and GPRS. This is an instant messaging type phone service and can be used in even basic phone models. This is accessible under Airtel Live USSD portal by dialing *321#
• Airtel Live: Local search will be integrated in the Airtel service menu, under the Airtel Live brand.
• WAP: A special, mobile-friendly user interface powers the asklaila WAP portal that is available through any Airtel GPRS-enabled handset

The mobile search features of asklaila are optimized to make local information more user-friendly and accessible to Airtel customers. The key points that have to be noted about this service are:

• proximity search – Results include not only the searched-for locality but also the locality nearby
• syntax-free search option - ‘Pizza Cannaught Place’ and ‘Cannaught Place Pizza’ will give the same results
• support for Indian SMS lexicon (ex. nr – Near, Nxt – Next, CCD – Café Coffee Day)
• understands locality short forms (CP - Cannaught Place)
• address compression that enables users to see more results in less SMSs
• enables users to choose the level of details they want to see
• landmark information that provides last mile locators 
• allows attribute-tagged search like ‘24 hours pharmacy’, ‘Roof top restaurant’
• hyperlinks to help navigate quicker within result set

The multi-mode mobile version of Airtel city search, powered by asklaila, will effectively address two major challenges - providing accurate, credible and actionable local information; and ground-up mobile-specific enhancements to leverage the advantage of multiple mobile modes. This partnership will enable users’ phones across price ranges – from an entry level INR 2,000 handset to a high-end, feature rich INR 35,000 mobile phone. The user experience is consistent and simple across all 4 modes, giving the user freedom to select an appropriate mode based on need and context.

Source: moneycontrol.com

New Delhi, India — HT Media Ltd., one of the largest publication company in India, has announced a new venture to provide mobile marketing services to other brands, ad agencies and network operators, in collaboration with Velti Plc, a London Stock Exchanged-listed applications and services firm.

HT’s digital subsidiary, Firefly e-Ventures Ltd, will have a 65% stake in the venture, which will be based in Gurgaon, outside Delhi, India. Amit Garg, the head of Firefly, will also manage the new venture, HT Media said in a statement.

Financial terms of the agreement, signed on Friday, 21 November 2008, were not disclosed.

The venture marks HT Media’s entry into mobile marketing, and the publisher said the new venture will provide solutions to other media houses as well.

The venture will use Velti’s mobile marketing platform to deliver mobile marketing and advertising services throughout India, which is now the world’s fastest growing mobile market in terms of number of new subscribers added each month.

“We look forward to offering breakthrough and patented mobile based marketing services to our valued customers. It also reinforces our position as India’s leading media house, providing a multi-channel advertising platform across print, radio, internet and mobile,” Rajiv Verma, chief executive officer of HT Media, said in the statement.

HT Media publishes the Hindustan Times, Hindustan and Mint, which together reach some 12 million readers every day. HT also owns Fever 104FM radio network as well as digital offerings such as Shine.com, a jobs portal, and DesiMartini.com, a social networking offering, in addition to hindustantimes.com and Mint’s web offering, LiveMint.com.

“India is a key market for Velti and establishing this JV (joint venture) with the Hindustan Times represents a significant strategic move in our global expansion,” Alex Moukas, CEO of Velti, said.

Source: livemint

About HT Media

HT Media found its beginning in 1924 when its flagship newspaper, Hindustan Times was inaugurated by Mahatma Gandhi. HT Media (BSE, NSE) has today grown to become one of India’s largest media companies.

Produced by an editorial team known for its quality, innovation and integrity, Hindustan Times (English) and Hindustan (Hindi), have a combined daily circulation of 2.25 million copies and a readership base of 12.4 million readers to their credit. Both dailies enjoy a strong brand recognition among readers as well as advertisers.

HT Media, through its subsidiary HT Music and Entertainment Company Ltd., has made its foray into electronic media. Diversifying its ambit of operations, the company in a consulting partnership with Virgin Radio, has launched the FM radio channel - Fever 104. Currently available in Delhi and Mumbai, Fever 104 has established a strong presence as being one of the most vibrant channels on air. In a short span of two years, the channel’s rise has been meteoric considering its position in Delhi as the No. 2 station on the popularity charts.

HT Media reported FY 2007 annual revenue of USD 245 million. For the fiscal third quarter ended March 31, 2007, the company reported a 13% increase in revenue to USD 82 million and a 10% increase of profit after tax (PAT) to USD 9 million from the year-ago quarter.

Source: HT Media

WeSeed features an innovative, proprietary search tool – WeSearch™ – designed to deliver stock ideas based on what users know – whether it’s their passions, professions, or location. Whether your are passionate about a greener world? A tech junkie? Or just a hot fashionista? WeSearch gives you instant ideas and then lets you “test drive” them in a safe, risk-free place before investing in the real world.

In essence, WeSeed brings the Peter Lynch approach of investing in what you know to the Internet, providing an opportunity for the 100 million Americans who don’t directly own stock to understand what it means to be an owner – and not just a consumer – of American companies.

WeSeed, slated to launch mid-December, features stock ideas, expert commentary, community networking, and a virtual trading platform so users experiment with their stock ideas using fake WeSeed dollars. For more information about WeSeed, visit WeSeed.com

Contacts
WeSeed
Jennifer Openshaw, President
310-980-9252 (mobile)
203-542-7223 (office)
jopenshaw@weseed.com

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/331594/converged_devices) has announced the addition of the “Converged Devices Perspective / Vol. 1, Issue 6, Edition 9″ report to their offering.

We argue that the iPhone 3G is not as disappointing as the recent press would have you believe, and while there is certainly room for improvement, we rank it right on top today for its capabilities and features. What is more, its ongoing impact on the development and adoption of both Smartphones and mobile data services in the US and beyond is unprecedented. Indeed, the iPhone together with the BlackBerry have popularized the Smartphone among consumers, making Smartphones the fastest growing segment of the US device market. By our estimates, Smartphones will account for 20% of total US handset sales in 2008, up from 14% in 2007, and will continue to gain share, reaching 30% of sales by 2013. The implication of an increasing base of Smartphones has been positive for mobile data revenue growth, and the iPhone 3G data pricing model suggests that they will come if you build it.

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/331594/converged_devices

Contacts
Research and Markets
Laura Wood
Senior Manager
press@researchandmarkets.com
Fax from USA: 646-607-1907
Fax from rest of the world: +353-1-481-1716

Source: Pyramid Research, Inc. via

Bell Canada and TELUS Sign on with LOC-AID; U.S. Carriers Next

Boca Raton, FLorida, USA — LOC-AID, Inc., a leader in location-based services and innovator of end-to-end location aggregation, today introduced the first carrier-class aggregation platform for location-based-services information. The platform, which is attracting the attention of North America’s leading wireless carriers, finally unlocks for carriers the full potential of the location data resident on their wireless networks, while exponentially increasing the quality and quantity of location information available for LBS developers by encompassing all of North America’s mobile subscribers.

The LOC-AID platform is comprised of two key products: Xchange Gateway and Portal. The Xchange Gateway interconnects messaging and network geo-elements and manages location data from any carrier network, while the LOC-AID portal makes that information available – and relevant – to developers as a set of easy to use GUI APIs. The combination of the two enables LOC-AID to effectively “wholesale” location information in a highly-organized, precise and secure manner – an industry first.

“While the LBS market has shown flashes of potential, particularly in navigation, its growth has been slowed by our industry’s piece-meal, application-centric approach to it and an over-reliance on a limited number of GPS-enabled devices,” said Isaias Sudit, CEO of LOC-AID. “As of today, that changes. The LOC-AID LBS aggregation platform sits at the intersection of two big needs: that of carriers to unlock the utility and value of the location information inherent in their networks – and in which they have invested hundreds of millions of dollars – and that of developers to obtain that information quickly and easily, in a way that promotes innovation for the total pool of wireless subscribers.”

Proven Business Model

The LOC-AID platform builds on the proven business model of messaging aggregation, which helped issue in a new era in wireless data use, application development, and carrier revenue enhancement. Messaging aggregation helped expedite the standardization and interoperability of messaging in North America, the same way location aggregation is poised to help the location market. Industry analyst firm ABI projects the LBS market will reach USD 13.3 billion by 2013, up from USD 515 million in 2007.

“Location holds great promise for interacting more meaningfully with customers,” said Boris Fridman, CEO, Crisp Wireless. “A platform such as LOC-AID’s new offering, that aggregates and manages location information from across multiple carriers, provides major cost efficiencies and benefits. It allows companies to focus their time expenditures and human resources on servicing and meeting the location needs of their customers.”

With over 15 years experience in the space, LOC-AID has worked closely with carriers and developers to hone its platform. Initially, LOC-AID will focus its sales, development and channel-partnership efforts on growth areas within LBS, including mobile messaging, advertising, alerts and validation, and content. The company is also monitoring a broad swath of promising LBS-application activity in areas such as social networking and billing.

Concluded Sudit, “On behalf of the mobile industry, I am happy to say LBS Aggregation is here now in 2008. I am extremely excited about the positive reaction we are getting from all the major carriers and the seemingly limitless number of ways companies across markets envision applying location-based services in their businesses.”

About LOC-AID Technologies
LOC-AID Technologies Inc. is an award-winning, privately-owned company, backed by Tier 1 venture firms, that specializes in location-aggregation platforms and customized wireless mobile-data solutions. The company’s technology integrates wireless location information into any service or application, making it easier to deliver location into any development environment and help optimize and monetize LBS revenue. LOC-AID is headquartered in Boca Raton, FL.

For more information visit www.loc-aid.net. 

LOC-AID is a registered trademark of LOC-AID Technologies Inc.

Source: LOC-AID via

MySpace, the world’s premier social network, and Research In Motion (RIM), a global leader in wireless innovation, have announced record download numbers of the MySpace for BlackBerry® smartphones application in its first week of availability.

Since the application’s launch on November 13, 2008 there have been more than 400,000 downloads which represents an all-time high for both MySpace and RIM in terms of first week application downloads. Through the MySpace for BlackBerry® smartphones application, users collectively sent and received more than 15 million messages and updated their mood and status over two million times in the first week.

“We established an innovative and collaborative partnership with RIM to address a key desire of consumers to have greater mobile connectivity and interaction with their friends and the global community at large,” said Chris DeWolfe, co-founder and chief executive officer of MySpace. “This record shows just how much of a force in the mobile consumer space RIM and MySpace have become.”

“This rapid adoption is a reflection of an evolving consumer lifestyle where social connectivity and information access are more important than ever,” said Jim Balsillie, Co-Chief Executive Officer at Research In Motion. “This powerful new mobile application combines social networking and mobility in a highly personalized and empowering manner and we are very excited to see such a positive response in the first week.”

The MySpace for BlackBerry smartphones application is fully optimized to deliver rich content and data to users on the go. MySpace for BlackBerry smartphones integrates MySpace’s primary social networking components with the BlackBerry platform to provide instant, push-based messaging to users. It is available for download at www.blackberry.com/myspace or m.myspace.com from your BlackBerry® Browser. The application is available for a wide variety of BlackBerry smartphones, including the BlackBerry® Bold™, BlackBerry® Curve™, BlackBerry® Pearl™ and BlackBerry® 8800™ Series, and will be available to BlackBerry® Storm™ users beginning November 24, 2008.

About BlackBerry® Hub
The BlackBerry hub on MySpace empowers the MySpace community to access the latest BlackBerry smartphone news, content, videos, games, ringtones, and skins.

About MySpace
MySpace, a unit of Fox Interactive Media Inc., is the premier lifestyle portal for connecting with friends, discovering popular culture, and making a positive impact on the world. MySpace has created a connected global community by integrating web profiles, blogs, instant messaging, e-mail, music streaming, music videos, photo galleries, classified listings, events, groups, college communities, and member forums. MySpace’s international network includes more than 30 localized community sites in the United States, Brazil, Canada, Latin America, Mexico, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Australia, India, Japan, and New Zealand. Fox Interactive Media is a division of News Corp.

About Research In Motion (RIM)
Research In Motion is a leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of innovative wireless solutions for the worldwide mobile communications market. Through the development of integrated hardware, software and services that support multiple wireless network standards, RIM provides platforms and solutions for seamless access to time-sensitive information including email, phone, SMS messaging, Internet and intranet-based applications. RIM technology also enables a broad array of third party developers and manufacturers to enhance their products and services with wireless connectivity to data. RIM’s portfolio of award-winning products, services and embedded technologies are used by thousands of organizations around the world and include the BlackBerry® wireless platform, the RIM Wireless Handheld™ product line, software development tools, radio-modems and software/hardware licensing agreements. Founded in 1984 and based in Waterloo, Ontario, RIM operates offices in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. RIM is listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market (Nasdaq: RIMM) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: RIM). For more information, visit www.rim.com or www.blackberry.com.

Source:

A new research by, Mobile Behavior’s Next Great Thing, a wireless communications agency tries to understand the latest trends among the youth. NGT’s Global Youth Survey quizzed a panel of 108 respondents between the ages of 14-29 in seven countries (Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, the UK and the US). The survey quizzed them on entertainment choices, communications preferences, social media habits, cultural influences, noteworthy fads and thoughts on advertising. In its 60-page report, NGT boils down the answers and teases out the resounding trends and themes.

The results of the Mobile Behavior’s NGT’s Global Youth Survey reveal some interesting trends from the younger generation.

Making mobile the "first screen": Young people all over the world are deserting the PC straight  make the mobile phone their "first screen" for entertainment, communications, news, and social interaction. For tweens, teens and 20-somethings, the "Connected Class," the phone is becoming an extension of themselves, a part of their identity. 68% of the survey respondents said that their mobile device is their most essential personal device (followed by Laptop/PC at 40%).

SMS still leads the way: The mobile phone is still predominantly used amongst the youth for text messaging, an easy, discrete and often cheaper way to chat. 48% of survey respondents said that their most frequent use of their mobile is SMS/text messaging, compared to 40% who picked voice conversation. The survey also found that text messaging was especially popular in Singapore, among the other regions.

Social influence of choosing networks: According to the survey, most respondents choose the social networks they use based upon what is popular among their friends and peers. While some like Facebook because it is very easy and enjoyable to use,  others preferred MySpace for its customization options.

"Collective Individualism" makes networkers stay together: Communicating with like minds online, whether they are friends or strangers, is one of the main drivers of social networking. The survey also found that that the older a person is, the more likely he or she is to contribute on the online communities and social networks as a forum for creating and sharing content.

Advertising should be rewarding and non-annoying: The survey found that TV commercials were the most popular form of advertising, though the experiential approach–giving free trials and samples–are equally as effective in Hong Kong. According to respondents, the best kind of advertising would be giving free samples and television ads that use interesting and new ideas. Limited editions are popular in places like South Korea and Hong Kong. Advertisements supported by celebrities and stars are viewed to be more exciting. The respondents also voiced that "an ad shouldn’t pop up and annoy you while you are trying to get something done online, it should intrigue you when you want to be intrigued".

Understanding consumer behavior is always so important form brands to be able to develop a relationship with them. The youth, as a customer base presents both opportunities and challenges with every dynamic nature. For mobile marketing to really come up a level, where it can compete head-on with the big media and eventually overtake them, it has to have the youth on its side. Issues related to privacy and interference have to be addressed to achieve that. "Pop-ups" or unwanted "Spam SMS" are not acceptable to these users…and don’t forget the REWARD!

The NGT’s research report is available for purchase at Ypulse Research. We would also like to have a special mention of Allison Mooney, director of trends & insights at Mobile Behavior’s Next Great Thing, who revealed the key highlights of the research in her blog post on Ypulse. To read her post, visit Ypulse

Ypulse is a media platform for youth media and marketing professionals. Ypulse publishes a blog, Ypulse.com; a newsletter, the Ypulse Daily Update; and produces several conferences each year, the Ypulse Mashup events.

Next Great Thing is a wireless communications agency and a part of Mobile Behaviour, an Omnicom Group company managed by Fleishman-Hillard. It aims to help brands deliver relevant, compelling, made-for-mobile advertising to consumers when and where they want it.

Sources: Ypulse, Next Great Thing

Doro^®, the IDEA^® award-winning phone design company from Sweden has launched its handsets targeted to baby boomers and senior citizens in the US. The mobile phones have been designed by experts in ergonomics and in communications technology to meet the needs of consumers seeking design simplicity and functionality in mobile handsets. At a time, when phone manufacturers are competing to bring out advanced, yet sometimes complicated handsets in the market, the simple handsets offered by Doro will surely be received well among those who want easy-to-use, yet better looking handsets.

Two Doro HandleEasy models available in the U.S., the HandleEasy 330gsm and the HandleEasy 326i gsm, are GSM-compatible, include large easy-to-view display screens and keypads, features that baby boomers and active seniors use most, and none of the complicated features that often go unused.

The palm-sized Doro HandleEasy 330gsm features a high-contrast color screen, text messaging, FM radio, a variety of ringers, a speakerphone, and easy access to phone directories stored on the user’s SIM card. Doro HandleEasy 326i gsm features a conveniently larger keypad, four prominently positioned speed-dial buttons, a phone directory, a speakerphone, and a special coating that creates an easy-grip surface on the entire phone.

Especially created for senior citizens

According to, Jerome Arnaud, CEO of Doro, “Many senior citizens still believe that mobile phones are difficult to use with complicated functions and therefore are reluctant to buy new ones. In contrast to other mobile phones on the market, we carefully design our phones according to the needs of active seniors and combine ergonomic demands with functions and simplicity. Baby boomers and active seniors don’t have to adapt their lives to our technology; we’ve already adapted it to their needs.”

John Donnelly, a 65-year-old business management consultant based in New York and a relieved Doro HandleEasy 330gsm user, confirmed, “Finally, a phone that is intuitive to use and uncomplicated. I turned on the HandleEasy 330 and began using it immediately without having to read through the manual. From the first minute I turned-on the Doro phone, I could easily navigate through the large, brightly colored screen, look through my phone book without reading glasses, check voicemails, and I especially like the cool, sleek design. It’s much nicer looking, lighter, and easier to use than the three-year-old phone I was carrying around.”

Eighty-two-year-old Manuel Machado – who lives in Modesto, California, travels extensively in retirement, and has limited vision from a medical condition, macular degeneration, said of the Doro HandleEasy 326i gsm, “This is a phone I can actually use! I can read the screen, see the directory, and easily make calls. This is the first phone I’ve had in several years that I will use more frequently.” Dr. Steven A. Machado of Los Angeles, Manuel’s son, explains, “Macular degeneration can be especially frustrating for patients like my father because it puts a blank spot in the center of their field of vision, making it nearly impossible to see details right in front of them, like when dialing a phone. So, this phone from Doro is a godsend for Dad.”

With its presence in almost every household in Sweden for 35 years, Doro is well known for innovatively incorporating the latest technologies while maintaining simplicity of design and functionality. Consumers in over 30 countries already enjoy the inclusive designs and easy functionality of Doro’s phones. Doro HandleEasy 330 and 326i are the company’s first products available in the U.S.

Doro HandleEasy phones are currently available at all Centennial Wireless retail stores in six states (www.centennialwireless.com). “We are thrilled to offer Centennial customers Doro mobile phones designed especially for baby boomers and active seniors,” said Philip Mayberry, President of Centennial Wireless. “Doro’s long history of design innovation in Sweden is legendary in the telecommunications industry and now Doro’s user-friendly phones are popular all across Europe. Centennial is proud to be the first place in America that Doro phones are available.”

Doro’s U.S. Representative, Christopher Lundstrom, further explained, “Doro’s goal is to make its products available through a national delivery model in the months ahead, we want everyone to have the opportunity to enjoy Doro products. We are very pleased and fortunate to have Centennial Wireless offering our products in the U.S. market, Centennial created an excellent custom rate plan for the HandleEasy 330. This is a very attractive offering for both baby boomers and seniors alike, a tailored rate plan is key for this demographic and the overall customer experience.”

About Doro
With over 30 years’ experience in telephony, Doro is today characterized by its innovative and user-friendly telecom products. The company develops, markets, and sells a wide range of telecom products in more than 30 countries through a variety of retail outlets, including electronics stores and online stores. The company had sales of US$54 million in 2007. Doro’s shares are quoted on the Stockholm Stock Exchange, Nordic list, Small Cap list. Read more about Doro at www.doro.com.

Source:

As the global sponsor of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, Visa wanted a multi-screen approach to promote their association with the event. This included sponsorship of Yahoo’s Olympic site on the PC as well as the coverage of the Games on Yahoo Mobile!. As described by David Katz, vice president of mobile advertising and publisher services at Yahoo, Visa created banners driving users to a site it created specifically for the Olympics. The landing page was fairly interactive and gave users the opportunity to get to know the players better through anecdotes about the athletes.

At "Campaigns Watch", we take a look at Visa’s mobile advertising campaign, the tactics used and the final results.

Client Objective

• As a global sponsor of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, Visa wanted a multi-screen approach to promote their tie in with the Games.
• This included sponsorship of Yahoo!’s No. 1 Olympic site on the PC as well as the coverage of the Games on Yahoo! Mobile, the No. 1 mobile site in the US.

Campaign Goal

• Drive traffic to Visa’s mobile site (http://visa.mobi/goworld) and engage users with a rich mobile experience, including background stories on featured athletes.

Tactics

• Combination of sponsorship media on Yahoo!’s Beijing 2008 Olympic Games mobile site and premium inventory on Yahoo! Mobile including the front page.

Success Metrics

• Visa’s sponsorship was successful on many levels.
• Sponsorship placements throughout the site combined with Visa’s Beijing 2008 Olympic Games specific banners created a highly relevant experience for users.

Yahoo! Mobile’s audience response was positive demonstrated by an above average click-through rate

• Creative Relevant to the Sponsored Content – Visa developed ad creative specifically for the mobile user. Brands should think through the messaging they’d like to deliver into the smaller ad unit, whether that be a text link, banner or video.
• Mobile Integrated Into Overall Marketing Campaign – Visa maximized their mobile investment by integrating with your non-mobile (PC, print, and other) campaigns.
• Keep It Simple – In mobile, less is more. Inherent limitations of mobile )typing, navigation, latency) require that mobile web sites make it easy to find information that users are looking for. Visa kept the call-to-action obvious, simple, and capable of being fulfilled from a mobile device.
• Embrace the Medium – Mobile users are on-the-go. They use the mobile web to communicate, because they are bored, or because they are looking for specific information, quickly. Use mobile to address these needs.
• Refresh the Creative – Visa kept the experience fresh with a rotation of three banners. As in any other medium, try and refresh the creative as often as feasible or your budget will allow.

“Visa’s sponsorship of Yahoo!’s 2008 Beijing Games mobile experience was a true success. Throughout the games in Beijing, Yahoo!’s mobile experience proved to be a valuable channel through which we were able to reach our customer base of mobile users.” - Visa

Source: MMA Global ; Images Courtesy: MMA Global; Mobile Marketer

Denver, Colorado, USA — MapQuest announced the launch of My MapQuest, a personalized mapping experience that lets MapQuest.com users save maps or routes and access them anytime from any browser or Internet-enabled mobile device. This latest enhancement to MapQuest.com, delivers on the MapQuest promise of helping users discover: where is it, how do I get there and what’s nearby.

“The launch of My MapQuest continues MapQuest’s commitment to innovation and improving the user’s experience. Our studies have shown that our customers want a personalization feature that includes the ability to save previously searched addresses,” said Christian Dwyer, Senior Vice President and GM, MapQuest. “Giving our users the ability to save not just maps but also their routes sets us apart and extends MapQuest’s commitment to offering users choice and flexibility.”

Users can easily set up an account by using a new or existing AOL Screen Name or OpenID login. My MapQuest users have the ability to configure and retain personal site preferences, such as miles versus kilometers, preferred language, user data such as cell phone numbers (for the Send to Cell feature), make and model of their vehicle, and addresses for friends and family. Users can also take advantage of the recently released Draggable Routes feature by customizing their directions, then saving them to their My MapQuest account.

My MapQuest also introduces an innovative feature that will automatically calculate the estimated fuel cost of a trip, based on the users saved vehicle information, route distance and average gas prices in the route area.

In addition, My MapQuest will soon be available to MapQuest 4 Mobile (MQ4M) BlackBerry users, further extending the MapQuest.com experience to mobile handsets by enabling users to access saved maps and routes via their mobile phones. Users will be able to plan their routes online and take their directions on-the-go. In addition to the currently supported handsets, the MQ4M service will also be available on new handsets including the AT&T BlackBerry Bold, Verizon BlackBerry 8830 and 8330, and T-Mobile BlackBerry 8300, 8800 and 8820, with more models coming soon.

My MapQuest is the latest addition to the new MapQuest experience which includes the recent launches of a new MapQuest.com website; MapQuest Local, a unique set of local features that have been integrated into MapQuest.com; the MapQuest 4 Mobile downloadable application; and an optimized version of MapQuest.com for the iPhone. MapQuest is the leading online mapping site in the U.S., according to the October comScore Media Metrix report.

MapQuest is part of the AOL Network, which re-launched its entire line-up of key vertical channels and commerce sites, and has launched more than a dozen new niche sites to appeal to targeted audiences. As a result, AOL has seen steady growth in unique visitors and page views on its content sites, and a dozen of AOL’s sites are in the top three in their respective categories, according to comScore Media Metrix (October 2008).

For additional information about My MapQuest please visit http://blog.mapquest.com or http://www.mapquest.com/mq4m.

About MapQuest, Inc.
MapQuest offers Internet, wireless and business solutions that help people find places. MapQuest.com is one of the most recognized and trusted brands on the Internet, and offers the leading consumer Web site for maps and directions, serving more than 46 million users in October 2008, according to comScore Media Metrix. MapQuest, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of AOL LLC, is based in Denver, Colorado.

About AOL
AOL is a global Web services company that operates some of the most popular Web destinations, offers a comprehensive suite of free software and services, runs one of the largest Internet access businesses in the U.S., and provides a full set of advertising solutions. A majority-owned subsidiary of Time Warner Inc., AOL LLC and its subsidiaries have operations in the U.S., Europe, Canada and Asia. Learn more at AOL.com

Source:    Images Courtesy: MapQuest