About 4INFOPress Releases4INFO Launches Open PlatformEnables Developers, Content Owners, and Individuals to Mobilize and Monetize InformationPALO ALTO, and SAN DIEGO, Calif. – September 25, 2006 – 4INFO, Inc., the leading mobile search service, announced today from the DEMOfall conference the launch of its mobile Open Platform™. Open Platform is built for any company or content owner seeking an easy, free way to build a mobile service. A first for the mobile industry, Open Platform allows developers, content owners, and individuals to leverage 4INFO's search infrastructure to make information and applications of their choosing accessible on 4INFO's SMS and WAP search platform by anyone with a cell phone. 4INFO will be demonstrating the new mobile Open Platform at the renowned DEMOfall conference taking place in San Diego, CA. Learn more about the Open Platform at http://open.4info.net.Open Platform features the ability to designate content as searchable, create text alerts for updated news, offer menu-driven information, and more. This search or alerts service can either be an extension of online content or a brand new application. Developers, content owners, and even individuals can integrate with the Open Platform using open standards such as RSS or XML feeds to avoid the cost and time required to build a proprietary mobile delivery platform. Open Platform delivers all the benefits of 4INFO's infrastructure, including the administrative features, interactivity, alerts, and personalization, minus the hassle of dealing with billing, subscriber management, and setting up a shortcode. "People use blogs and Web sites to get information, but they can't be in front of their computers constantly. Giving them access to the same information on their cell phones that they could previously only get online is incredibly valuable," said Chris Shipley, executive producer of DEMOfall. "4INFO's platform provides this value free to anyone with a data feed." "Building a mobile platform is complicated and costly. With Open Platform, 4INFO has removed the barrier for companies and individuals who have a pressing need to make their content mobile, but who can't afford to build it themselves," said Zaw Thet, CEO of 4INFO. "Making it easy to use the Open Platform with standard web services will extend the breadth of 4INFO's already robust mobile search and alert service, making 4INFO even more valuable to our users and the mobile community." Developers and Content Owners Creating a new service on 4INFO's Open Platform begins with the selection of a unique keyword for an information source. This keyword is the term that is sent to 4INFO via text message or a mobile web browser when a user is searching for information. Developers and content owners can publish and distribute this keyword as they wish. There are currently four ways for content owners to provide access to information: About 4INFO 4INFO, Inc. (www.4INFO.net), the leading mobile search company, enables the search, discovery, and delivery of information and content to a mobile phone. 4INFO's comprehensive suite of mobile services (Text Message Search to 44636, Mobile Web at http://m.4INFO.net, and Text Alerts) provides access to business listings, sports scores, fantasy sports stats, weather, flight information, movie times, horoscopes, hotspot locations, news, stock quotes, hotel reservations, package tracking, and mobile downloads. The services are available free of charge to users on all major U.S. carriers. 4INFO's investment partners include U.S. Venture Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and Gannett Company, Inc. 4INFO is headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif. Back to All Articles |
