Ms. Gilby: We have a particular focus, which is making information mobile, actionable and, most important, profitable for both content providers and mobile operators. We use a different type of a metaphor for the mobile Internet that leverages users' existing behavior. Early adopters worldwide, even in Japan, use the fixed based Web to find all kinds of information. Once they find something specific, they do different things with that information depending on geography. But all in all, they find a way to take that specific information with them. What we've learned from our user studies is that 99.9% of the time it's the same three pieces or three types of information: an address, a phone number and a shopping list. We want to make that basic information easily mobile, more mobile than writing it on a piece of paper or printing it out, and, most important, allow people to take action on it without having to do a lot of work. So we have an underlying solution based on a patented technology platform that we sell to mobile operators as a white-labeled solution. The operators usually call it 'Pocket' to give it a name that makes sense for storing information that's most personal to you. We've deployed it quite aggressively in Europe, starting with the UK. We have over 350 content partners that are using our 'Send to mobile' software on their websites to allow their users to mobilize entertainment, travel, or property information or even pictures and works of art. We've formed partnerships with the market leaders in travel entertainment, different types of ticketing and classifieds, including property.
TWST: What is the marketplace for your company's products?
Ms. Gilby: This is a very early market, with positives and negatives.
The good thing is that the market is starting to increase in terms of
performance and revenue driven quarter-by-quarter by quite a significant
amount. So we're getting some good signs of a strong market to come. Our
market is primarily in Europe. It's interesting that this technology is
starting in Europe vs. the United States, but it's because in Europe,
the mobile market is saturated. Over 70% of the European market has a
mobile phone. Now, European operators need to start driving revenue from
data, not just from voice. All the CEOs of the major wireless operators
have made statements that they'll get 25% of their revenue from data
services by 2005; some of them are really cutting it close as we come to
the end of 2003. So, it's gotten to be a rather urgent situation. The
operators must figure out how to leverage what has been good SMS revenue
into mobile Internet revenue. It's a fantastic marketplace right now
with very large, very aggressive mobile operators trying to figure out
what things will drive real, sustainable revenue. The best services
focus not on ringtones and other casual use solutions, but on the
information people find really useful and have to have while they are
mobile. We are in an early market, and these operators are our only
channel at the moment. Our strategic objective is to get the major top
two or three operators in every geography that we serve and we have a
great distribution mechanism as we continue to build the content in each
one of the vertical categories that we go after.
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