Press Release, Dublin, 26 February 2002


Alatto announces launch of full colour, multimedia greeting cards for mobile phones.

Cost-effective ZipCards^TM will enable European operators to increase Average Revenues Per User (ARPU).

Alatto Technologies Ltd, the wireless strategy and implementation specialists, today announced the international launch of ZipCards - a library of engaging greeting cards which take advantage of Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) standards.

Mobile phone users with MMS enabled handsets will be able to send and receive rich multimedia greeting cards that include animated colour images and audio clips. ZipCards can be sent from handset to handset, from Internet sites to handsets or as emails between users. In addition, they are available in culturally localised formats for the UK, Spanish and German markets.

According to Neil Flanagan, Head of Product Development at Alatto, "Multimedia messaging builds on the successful business model of SMS (short message service), which accounts for 10-20% of mobile operators’ revenues. However, MMS’s richer user experience and increased ease of use will mean that operators can significantly broaden their service offerings."

"Consumers have already demonstrated their willingness to pay for wireless content including SMS, ringtones and basic logos", continued Flanagan. "By providing rich content that consumers will readily understand and enjoy, ZipCards will help mobile operators to generate new revenue streams from existing customer bases in addition to attracting new customers."

Developed with Alatto’s proprietary C-Spark software, ZipCards are available in a range of arresting designs. The powerful rendering techniques used ensures that ZipCards consume little bandwidth (typical filesizes are only 10Kb). This makes them ideal for existing GSM and GPRS networks as well as the high-speed wireless broadband UMTS networks. They are also independent of messaging platforms and networks and are compatible with existing and future handset standards.

ZipCards can be provided to operators on either subscription or per-message billing models. This flexibility provides reduced risk, cost and time to market with robust, premium content. Alatto can host a card server or can work with client hosting arrangements. 200 different designs are available at launch in a number of themed categories including birthdays, comedy, moods, sporting events, new phone number etc. Additional designs will be made available on a continuous rolling basis or in response to clients’ requests.

Full details of ZipCards are available here.

High resolution examples are available for download (tif format)

Paddys day
New number
Podge
Hello!

For more information please contact:

John Kelly
Alatto Technologies Ltd
E-mail: press@alatto.com
Tel: +353 (0)1 209 0700


About Multimedia Messaging Service
MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) is a universally accepted standard that lets users of MMS enabled mobile phones, send and receive messages with formatted text, graphics, photo-graphic imagery and audio and video clips.

Currently being adopted by most network operators and handset manufacturers, MMS soon will be a standard feature and the default messaging mode. Examples of MMS enabled handsets currently available include the Sony Ericsson T68 and Nokia 7650 series. MMS supports standard image formats such as GIF and JPEG, video formats such as MPEG 4, and audio formats such as MP3, MIDI and WAV. MMS technology works in existing GSM networks (over WAP, the industry standard protocol for mobile data exchange) and with the new high speed 3G technologies that will take it to its fullest extreme.


About Alatto
Alatto Technologies Limited is a leading supplier of consultancy on revenue generating services and applications in the wireless space.

Alatto is a privately funded company based in Dublin, Ireland and was founded in 1999. Clients include leading 2G and 3G telcos in Europe and Asia, suppliers of mobile applications, system integrators and enabling technology companies.