Synchronica Launches SimpleMail Consumer Push Email Solution for Low-End Phones

Synchronica plc, the international provider of mobile email and synchronization solutions, today announced Synchronica SimpleMail, a new consumer push email (CPE) solution that brings mobile email to almost 100 percent of handsets in use today. Based on technology from the recent acquisition of former competitor AxisMobile and available immediately, Synchronica SimpleMail extends the addressable market for push email to even the most basic handsets.

Synchronica has already signed license agreements for the new technology with two mobile operators in emerging markets and has received an expansion order from a mobile operator in Russia / CIS for additional licenses.

Synchronica SimpleMail includes email-to-SMS and email-to-MMS gateways and a clientless solution for WAP / XHTML browser access. It also features the patented Optimizer transcoding gateway which reduces the size of pictures and allows a large variety of attachments, such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents to be displayed on feature phones that would otherwise be unable to support this functionality. Users can register for the service from their mobile handset rather than having to register via a PC - a key benefit in emerging markets where broadband connectivity is rare.

Carsten Brinkschulte, CEO of Synchronica, comments: "There are more than 3.5 billion mobile users and more than two billion mailboxes in use worldwide. Our mission is to bring mobile email to the mass market on the widest range of devices. Synchronica SimpleMail which is based on technology from our recent acquisition of AxisMobile extends our reach from smartphones and feature phones right down to even the most basic of handsets. This is a key proposition for emerging markets and has already brought us two new mobile operator customers, one in Africa and one in India."

Forecasts point to emerging markets as a breakthrough area for mass market mobile email. Informa predicts that there will be 4.81 billion mobile phone subscribers by 2012, with the next billion subscribers coming predominantly from emerging markets where PC and fixed-line penetration is low.

Key features of Synchronica SimpleMail include:

* Email-to-SMS and Email-to-MMS gateways;
* Clientless solution for WAP / XHTML browser access;
* Email transcoding and compression engine reduces network traffic and enables standard mobile phones to display a variety of attachments;
* Support for DOC, ZIP, PDF, MPEG, MP3, and HTML attachments;
* Supports Gmail, Yahoo Mail, MSN Hotmail Plus, and any POP3 or IMAP4 mailbox;
* Realtime device auto-detection;
* Multi-lingual support (English, Cyrillic, Chinese, Arabic, Kanji);
* Support for multiple email accounts on one device.

About Synchronica

Synchronica plc develops and markets mobile email and synchronization solutions for mobile operators and device manufacturers. Products include the award-winning push email and synchronization solution Mobile Gateway and the device backup solution Mobile Backup. Based on industry standards, Synchronica can reach the built-in email and synchronization clients of more than 1.5 billion mobile devices on the market today. Service providers in emerging and developed markets use Synchronica products to offer mobile email, PIM synchronization, and backup and restore services to consumer and business subscribers.

Synchronica recently acquired AxisMobile and is set to become the leading player in mass market mobile email and synchronization middleware. The enhanced Synchronica Mobile Gateway will offer the most comprehensive multi-protocol mobile email solution in the market today, introducing email-to-SMS and email-to-MMS, as well as WAP and XHTML gateways. Document transcoding will add the ability to display a large variety of attachments, such as Word, Excel, and Powerpoint on standard feature phones.