AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 12, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- DigitalTown, Inc. (OTC:DGTW), the operator of Austin.city, and the leading provider of People-centric Solutions for Smart Cities, provided an update on the launch of Austin.city, Austin’s innovative Smart City Cooperative, and on the issuance of CityShares for shared ownership of Austin.city.
Austin.City Portal is Live
The Smart Search engine for Austin is live. Unlike conventional search engines, Austin.city is designed to help you search local. Find a person or place, book a table, reserve a room, make a retail purchase, or find a service provider, all with one login. Austin.city is also blending the conventional economy with the sharing economy so that you have one place to search all of the best local alternatives. Authentic reviews and ratings along with personal relevance determine which search results appear first. There are no paid search ads.
Making Austin Smart. Making Austin Personal.
The goal of Austin.city is to make life better for residents and visitors. For people on the go, there is an Austin.city mobile application for iOS and Android that make it easier to know things like where to go, what to do, where to eat, and who to meet. Residents of Austin are encouraged to get to know Austin.city as a trusted Smart Agent for helping you get the most out of your day. And when you travel to other cities that are DigitalTowns, you will be better equipped than ever to see the world through local eyes, but through the lens of personal preference.
151,910 CityShares issued in the first week
During the first week of the claim period, a total of 38,300 free CityShares were claimed. In addition, 113,610 CityShares were purchased at the discounted price of $0.16 per share. Residents of Austin may claim their CityShares through February 11, 2018 or until all of the CityShares have been claimed. To claim a CityShare, residents should visit Austin.city and click on CityShare.
Rob Monster, CEO of DigitalTown commented on the announcement, explaining, “In conversations with Austinites, we learned that there are a lot of people in Austin who had this idea before we did. We feel particularly fortunate to have an operating presence in Austin and to have the opportunity to partner with the people of Austin. The people of Austin will be showing the world a sustainable way to grow communities in the Digital Age. We look forward to an exciting time of cooperation and co-creation as Austin shows the world its remarkable innovative capacity.”
Your Forever Digital Address
As a registered user of Austin.city, each resident of Austin is able to secure a permanent digital address. Users have the option of selecting a branded Austin.city address such as the name of a person, business or brand. There is also the option of securing this digital brand forever as a digital web address that will never expire. You can refer people to it so that no matter how many times your phone number, physical address or social media handles change, people can have an authoritative place to find you online or offline. Homeless persons and persons in transition are also eligible to secure a permanent Austin.city address, through which they will be able to receive payments, messages, as well as find work opportunities in the community.
Tools for Smart City Innovation
Austin.city includes an open API that gives approved developers secure access to the DigitalTown SmartWallet services which include User Management, Verified Identities, User Profiles, Preferences, as well as a Blockchain-based Payment Wallet. These components work together to make it easy for developers to focus on what is about their solutions, while ensuring compatibility with the Austin Smart City platform as well as the larger Global Smart City Network powered by DigitalTown.
Help make a Smarter Austin - Introducing Smart City Innovation Fellowships
Co-creation is at the heart of every most people-centric Smart City initiatives. In the coming months, DigitalTown will be partnering with the community in Austin to help identify and solve issues that affect the city and its residents. Developers with a passion for making Austin better can propose development ideas to be supported through an Innovation Fellowship. In cases where there is no other private or public sponsor, participating developers will be compensated with CityShares to be released to the developer either upon completion of the project, or over an agreed period of time as defined in Blockchain Smart Contracts.
About DigitalTown
Austin.city is a service of DigitalTown. DigitalTown, Inc. (OTC:DGTW) powers Smart Cities to succeed in the Digital Age. The company provides turn-key hosted solutions to power "Digital Towns", which improve Quality of Life for residents and visitors through locally owned solutions for economic development, civic engagement and digital inclusion for cities around the world. For more information about the company, please visit www.digitaltown.com.
Safe Harbor Language: Any statements contained herein related to future events are forward-looking statements and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act 1995. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. DigitalTown, Inc. undertakes no obligation to update any such statements to reflect actual events.
Media Contacts:
Rob Monster, Chief Executive Officer
(425) 295-4564; rob@digitaltown.com
Frank Robles, VP Operations
512-900-2428; frank@austin.city