STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Feb. 19, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- Aspiro's collaboration with Ericsson has been extended to include a joint development involving EMS and MMS applications. Since the beginning of the year, eight major operators have started trials with Aspiro's MMS applications.
Ericsson has been marketing and selling Aspiro's mobile applications since May 2001. The collaboration between Ericsson and Aspiro was extended still further last fall to include a joint development of applications that support EMS and MMS.
Eight operators in Europe, the Americas and Asia are presently carrying on trials by giving a limited number of its subscribers the chance to try out and use the MMS applications: "My Photo Gallery", "Tarot Reading", "My Soap Opera" and "Cocktail Recipes".
"Sunrise is at the forefront of the Mobile Internet applications market. These MMS applications and the combination of Ericsson and Aspiro working together will help Sunrise remain in this position", says Reto Caduff, Senior Product Developer at Swiss operator Sunrise, which is presently testing the MMS services.
"With these new applications we demonstrate how involved Ericsson is these days with application development and consumer needs", says Jan Lindgren, Vice President, Ericsson Internet Applications. "These applications play an important role in Ericsson's end-to-end MMS offering, by supporting operators to test new service concepts towards their consumers in their MMS market tests."
MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) is a powerful and more advanced version of SMS and EMS. In addition to text messaging, MMS allows users to send photos, graphics and small video clips. Picture messaging, such as Aspiro's "My Photo Gallery" application, is well positioned to be the next big volume application and a natural extension to one of the current killer applications -SMS text messaging.
The MMS applications will be demonstrated by Ericsson and Aspiro at the 3GSM exhibition in Cannes, France, during February 19-22 (booth E41).
About Aspiro
Aspiro offers mobile telecom operators, portals, companies and organizations a wide range of attractive services designed to meet the individual's needs for information, entertainment and communication via mobile media. The company's vision is to create the leading department store for mobile services in a global market.
Founded in 1998, Aspiro is today an important player in the global mobile Internet market. Some 70 people currently work for the company, which has offices in Sweden and USA. Aspiro's business concept, organization and operations are based on many years of experience gained in the mobile telecommunications and IT sectors.
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