Colibria launched its App Center,
designed to enable mobile operators to deploy multiple application
services through their existing messaging infrastructure. The Colibria App Center can
deliver a number of internet communities, covering social networks and
instant messaging services, to mobile devices through one simple
interface.
With access to a number of featured applications, including Twitter,
Google Talk, Facebook and flickr, Colibria's App Center is compatible
across a number of existing handsets, opening up potential new revenue
opportunities with markets and subscribers not previously able to
access mobile applications. Providing extensive features and
applications generally associated with high-end smartphones, mobile
users can now access applications on handsets that previously could not
support such services, for instance mobile email on a non-email phone.
The Colibria App Center also hosts internet IM Apps, which give
access to Windows Live Messenger and other services, Content
Applications including news feeds and access to 3rd party applications
and Value Added Services including games, translation services and
weather updates. Once these apps have been selected on the phone they
will sit in the users contact list, giving them immediate access to the
application and updates when information associated with the
application changes. For example subscribers are updated when their
social network receives a post or status change.
Demand for mobile applications and social networking become more
prevalent, as seen with predictions that mobile social network users
will grow to 800m by 2012* and from the recent news that Apple has
recently passed one billion downloads through its application store.
The Colibria App Center has been designed as a cost effective way
enabling operators to mobile such services with easy access to
frequently used applications, premium services and paid for content,
driving additional new revenue streams.
Keith Gibson, CEO at Colibria said "Operators are beginning to see
the importance of broadening the mobile community experience, and the
new App Center will go a long way to improving this as well as operator
revenues. With a single integration point to access multiple social
networks, internet IM services and content, the App Center is already
showing from early indications across Colibria's customer base that
traffic can double when applications are introduced. Customer
expectations are shifting, and operators need to be able to respond
quickly to these expectations with innovative new services such as
those available through the Colibria App Center."