News

Colibria brings rich mobile messaging to iPhone

Colibria has announced that its successful messaging and social networking client will now be available for the iPhone, allowing operators to take advantage of this rapidly increasing market to expand their current revenue streams. The client is designed exclusively for operators to brand as their own and offer to their iPhone subscribers.

Colibria clients have been deployed by over 30 operators worldwide, and Colibria has now extended the same experience to the rapidly growing base of iPhone owners. The client at its core allows the operator to offer its own mobile instant messaging service while also providing access to multiple social networks and Internet Instant Messaging services from within one single application.

A number of social and messaging networks are supported including Facebook, Hi5, Twitter, Orkut, Windows Live Messenger, GoogleTalk, Yahoo, and ICQ, from which mobile operators can select the services that are most suitable for their customers. An interactive social networking and messaging experience allows users to easily access their different profiles through one client interface. Subscribers also remain constantly updated through push-updates from their networks, thus encouraging further interaction.

The Colibria client is the type of value added service that will become more important as iPhone operator exclusivity comes to an end in certain regions, and operators look for ways to differentiate. As well as increasing ARPU through additional communication, the client gives operators the opportunity to boost revenues through advertising, with space built-in for banner ads on the main screen of the application.

Guy Reiffer, VP of marketing for Colibria commented: “Apple has an ever increasing share of the smartphone market, having sold 3.9 million iPhones in the first three months of 2009. It is clear that the iPhone is a key device for our customers. The aim of this new client is to expand on the iPhone’s fantastic usability and give people integrated access to messaging and to their favourite communities, whilst providing more revenue opportunities for the operator.”