STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Jul 10, 2002 -- AccuWeather, Inc., the world's leading commercial weather company, announced today that it has partnered with AvantGo, Inc., the leading provider of mobile enterprise software, to offer AccuWeather.com Mobile(TM) for PDAs on the AvantGo Mobile Internet Service, the largest Web-based, interactive mobile service available today. This unique service will enable the 11 million consumers nationwide using Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) and other wireless devices to access AccuWeather industry- leading weather forecasts on wireless devices using Avantgo services. According to information from Jupiter Research, the number of wireless users is expected to soar to 100 million by 2005.
AccuWeather.com Mobile (http://mobile.accuweather.com) offers weather forecasts designed specifically for PDAs, featuring the most popular services of AccuWeather.com ( www.accuweather.com ) - including highly accurate, five-day detailed, localized forecasts for all 43,000 U.S. ZIP codes, high-resolution local radar images, and satellite maps. The AvantGo Mobile Internet Service provides interactive and personalized content and applications to over five million registered users with mobile devices based on the Palm OS and Pocket PC platforms, as well as Internet-enabled phones. Currently, there are over 2,000 optimized channels on the AvantGo service.
As a result of the agreement, AccuWeather.com Mobile will be featured in the AvantGo Mobile Internet Service's "Top Sites" category, as well as in a drop-down menu for users seeking sites that specialize in weather. "The AvantGo service is an exciting new tool that will help us increase the number of visitors to AccuWeather.com Mobile and extend our brand to the fast-growing wireless population, many of whom are business travelers who rely heavily on weather information," says Dr. Joel N. Myers, AccuWeather founder and president.
"We're pleased to be working with AccuWeather.com to provide the AccuWeather.com Mobile site to our mobile community," says Neil Versen, vice president of sales for AvantGo's Mobile Marketing division. "By distributing its updated weather data on the AvantGo Mobile Internet Service, AccuWeather is providing added value to its current customers, as well as acquiring new customers and generating incremental revenue from mobile advertising, sponsorships and subscriptions."
AccuWeather.com Mobile offers the most popular features of AccuWeather.com, custom-designed to meet the viewing and navigation requirements for PDA users. AccuWeather.com Mobile offers five-day forecasts for each of the 43,000 U.S. ZIP codes a user selects, along with national summaries, and national, regional and state satellite images and radar views. Radar and satellite views are updated frequently to allow accurate tracking of storms and other weather conditions that may be headed toward a user's location.
AccuWeather.com Mobile for PDAs is the first in a series of new wireless weather products AccuWeather.com Mobile will introduce in 2002. Additional products will be launched from the AccuWeather.com Web site, offering services for products ranging from pagers to cell phones.
AccuWeather.com Mobile will debut on the AvantGo service on July 10, 2002 and will be available to all registered users of the service. AccuWeather.com Mobile is also available to other wireless users at http://mobile.accuweather.com.
About AccuWeather(R) and AccuWeather.com(R):
AccuWeather, Simply The Most Accurate(TM), provides a portfolio of products and services through the airwaves, via the Internet, in print, and behind the scenes that benefit hundreds of millions of people worldwide. AccuWeather services 15,000 customers in media, business, government and institutions, and millions more through AccuWeather.com. AccuWeather also provides content onto more than 1,200 Internet sites including CNN Interactive, FOX News, ABC's owned and operated stations, The Associated Press(R), The Washington Post and the New York Times.
For additional information on AccuWeather and AccuWeather.com, please contact Emily DiTomo or Tony Defazio at 610-642-8253.
For more information: AccuWeather, Inc. 385 Science Park Road State College, PA 16803
CONTACT: AccuWeather, Inc., State College
Dave Rice, 814/235-8638
riced@accuwx.com
