Synchronica Predicts Surge in Mobile Instant Messaging Use During World Cup

Football fans from both emerging and developed regions will use mobile IM as a handy way to communicate with friends and family and to access online communities, such as themed soccer chatrooms.

Carsten Brinkschulte, Synchronica's CEO, comments: "As World Cup fever takes hold, even the most ambivalent of football fans will find themselves drawn into discussions on the highs and lows of their team's performance. Being able to IM with friends and family and on soccer chat rooms from their mobile phone allows people to communicate in realtime as goals are scored and matches are won and lost. I'm confident that IM chat services will see a significant rise in popularity during the tournament."

Synchronica's mobile IM solution allows subscribers to send one-to-one messages and pictures to friends, as well as to chat with like-minded fans on themed chatrooms. The service offers a superior user experience while driving up average revenue per user (ARPU) with features, such as the ability to express emotions, set moods and communication contexts, initiate one-to-many communications, facilitate chatrooms and other more bandwidth-intensive file exchanges including picture messaging.

Synchronica's solution provides an IM client for all major mobile platforms including those based on Symbian and Java 2 ME platforms. For legacy non-J2ME handsets, there is a WAP client, while for basic handsets that cannot download the IM client, IM messages are converted into SMS / MMS messages. There is also a PC client which extends the usability of the service.

Data plans vary, but for many post-paid subscribers, this type of service is offered free as part of a flat monthly data plan.

Synchronica's mobile IM technology arises from its acquisition of Colibria's IMPS instant messaging business earlier this year. Synchronica will continue to develop, market, and support Colibria's open standards-based IM technology as a stand-alone product. The software will also be integrated into Synchronica's Mobile Gateway messaging suite and will be pre-installed on the recently launched MessagePhone, a low-cost, messaging-centric handset powered by Mobile Gateway.

About Synchronica

Synchronica plc is a leading developer of next-generation mobile messaging solutions based on open industry standards. The award-winning product portfolio includes the flagship product Mobile Gateway, providing push email, synchronization, instant messaging (IM), backup and restore, and mobile connectivity to social networks. Synchronica's products are white-labeled and offered by mobile operators in emerging and developed markets to provide mass market messaging services, increasing data revenues and reducing churn.

Synchronica Mobile Gateway provides a unique multi-protocol gateway combining Push IMAP, SyncML, ActiveSync, Email to MMS, and Email to SMS, delivering push email and synchronization to literally any mobile phone currently in the market without requiring an additional client to be downloaded. Expanding instant messaging to mobile devices, Mobile Gateway establishes carrier-branded IM communities, using the industry standard XMPP and provides gateways to popular internet IM communities, connecting any IMPS-enabled handset.

Headquartered in England, Synchronica also maintains a development center in Germany, in addition to a regional presence in the USA, Hong Kong, and Dubai. Synchronica plc is a public company traded on the AIM list of the London Stock Exchange (SYNC.L). For further information, please visit http://www.synchronica.com

For more information, please contact:

Nicole Meissner
Chief Operating Officer
Tel.: +44 1892 552 780
Mobile: +44 7977 256 412
Fax: +44 1892 552 721
nicole.meissner@synchronica.com