Movirtu is a provider of mobile identity management (MIM) for the wireless telecommunication market. Bringing its revolutionary identity manager capability to oversee subscribers identity across multiple devices, the company will debut ManyME at Mobile World Congress taking place in Barcelona on 14-17 February.
The explosive growth during 2010 of tablet and smart phone usage looks set to continue into 2011 and beyond. This brings with it a new challenge for many people who now find themselves owning multiple SIMs and devices and using them at different times; for example, an iPad here and there, a BlackBerry during office hours, and an iPhone socially. Bringing these devices together and flexibly managing the calls, messages, mobile payments and other mobile data is the role of Mobile Identity Management.
“Worldwide, there were 4.6 billion mobile phone subscribers at the start of 2010. Out of those, 1.2 billion were duplicate global mobile phone subscriptions,” said Tomi T Ahonen, CEO of TomiAhonen Consulting. “This is a global trend and it is a huge trend.”
There is a clear case for MIM unlocking key emerging challenges. Handling multiple phones simultaneously is unmistakably inconvenient, especially when switching between the phones or taking phones apart to switch SIM cards. Business mobile customers commonly accumulate multiple SIM cards. A problem made worse if they travel globally with SIMs for a network operator in each country, many of which lie off line and dormant for many months.
Movirtu's ManyME allows subscribers to use and manage, in real time, multiple phone numbers and accounts from a single authenticated mobile device with a single SIM card. After signing up to the service a subscriber can make and receive voice calls and messages on all their numbers either through the identity management app, or on more basic phones by prefixing calls with a code to dictate which account the call is to be made on.
Most importantly for multi-national operators is the ability to offer the use of different numbers from each of their regional operations on a single mobile device and bill to a single home account. The big advantage to subscribers is that they do not need to purchase extra SIM cards or additional mobile handsets, and they have the convenience of all their ManyME numbers being active at the same time. For the operators, this enables them to extend loyalty beyond their traditional country barriers and reduce the cost of selling and distributing the SIM cards, making ManyME a truly global product.
“Movirtu is committed to continuous innovation because we see an ever growing demand for more and more personalised identity solutions for network subscribers and we know operators see this as highly important to their customer relationship,” said Nigel Waller, founder and CEO of Movirtu. “From personal experience I know how inconvenient it can be to own and carry multiple SIM cards and mobile phones while travelling. I am confident that ManyME will solve problems for many people worldwide.”