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Communications Tool for Mobile Communities
... AirFlash Selected to Demo At Vortex 2001
Posted by WDN, May 24, 2001
Today at Vortex 2001, the exclusive conclave of Internet, telephone and television networking professionals, Rama
Aysola, founder and CEO of AirFlash, Inc., presented a pioneering new communications feature for wireless devices
that combines today’s seamless ease of talking over a cell phone with the empowering data from the Internet.
Targeted at mobile carriers and available only from AirFlash as part of the AirFlash SmartZone platform, the mobile
groups feature allows a cellular user to create group digital lists with controlled access, either as a closed or open
group record. Similar to email group addresses, users can define a set of personal addresses and easily share
information within their defined community (family, friends, co-workers etc.), all through a continuous user interface
that permits users to move from one query or action to another without leaving their original location.
On stage at Vortex 2001, Aysola demonstrated an example communication between a mobile digital user and his
defined “local” group of friends, inviting them, with one message, to join him at a movie later that evening. Once users
retrieve their message, they are offered the ability to perform an “action” on that data such as reply or forward the
invitation via Short Message Service (SMS) or mobile email, make a phone call if the number is provided, save the
location for later retrieval and find other services nearby. One of the recipients was able to get a digital map showing
walking directions from his locale to the movie and another was able to find a nearby bar to go to afterward the
movie and post the information back to the m-Groups list of recipients.
“Though the industry is learning the lessons of the early WAP deployments, a new sophistication is emerging because
the primary focus is shifting away from the technologies and onto what the end-user actually experiences,” said
Aysola. “A continuous flow of new integrated mobile location-based services will help carriers increase revenue per
user, reduce churn rates, differentiate their brand, and build easy-to-use services.”
Despite recent warnings from some industry analysts, the mobile data industry continues to grow exponentially.
According to a new report by Washington, D.C.-based market research firm The Strategis Group, mobile data will
have a U.S. population penetration rate of nearly 60 percent by 2007, about 175 million subscribers.* As the leader
in providing development platforms for building location-based wireless applications, AirFlash was selected by the
Vortex committee to present its newest offerings because of its quality of current customers and partnerships,
differentiation from its competition and potential for long-term growth.
* Population Projections Program, Population Division, U.S. Census Bureau, Department of Commerce 1/00
“AirFlash leverages the precision of geolocation, the power of the Internet, and the global prevalence of the mobile
phone to create compelling services for mobile users,” commented Jim Forbes, co-producer, DEMO@VORTEX
2001. “We are pleased to have AirFlash to demonstrate its latest location-based services at the Vortex 2001
conference.”
VORTEX 2001, sponsored by IDG conferences, is being held from May 22-24 at the Ritz Carlton in Laguna Niguel,
CA. AirFlash is also demonstrating its family of SmartZone platform and applications at the conference.
AirFlash designs, builds and deploys a comprehensive family of software solutions, collectively called SmartZone, that
enable wireless carriers and portals to offer location-based services to their mobile customers. SmartZone-enabled
location-relevant applications are available on AT&T PocketNet service in the U.S., the Orange service in the U.K.,
Viag Interkom and E-Plus Mobilfunk services in Germany and through the Mviva portal throughout Europe. AirFlash
also recently signed a worldwide agreement with Vodafone to provide location-based services for its mobile
customers.
For more information on AirFlash, visit www.airflash.com or contact me at marcy@airflash.com, 408-864-6736.
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