Aspiro improves Mobile Chat for Vodafone D2

Aspiro has agreed to further develop its Mobile Chat solution and expand its cooperation with German operator Vodafone D2. Aspiro is adjusting its Mobile Chat service to be newly launched as a Vodafone branded service. At the same time Aspiro is upgrading the functionality of the Mobile Chat to fully support colour and taking full advantage of colour enabled terminals’ functionality.

Aspiro Mobile Chat is a real-time chat service that enables users to chat mobile-to-mobile and mobile-to-web. The Aspiro Mobile Chat brings all the familiar Internet chat functionality right down to the mobile terminal. Up to date, Aspiro's Mobile Chat is one of the most demanded mobile data services ever launched in terms of users and traffic, as it implies long mobile data sessions and a loyal user base among the operator’s 22 million subscribers. Mgage Systems, which was acquired by Aspiro in December last year, delivered the first Mobile Chat solution to Vodafone D2 at CeBIT 2001. Instantly the chat service turned into one of Vodafone D2's most popular WAP services. Aspiro/Mgage has worked closely with Vodafone D2 during an 18 months period under a license based agreement, whereas Aspiro has continuously supported Vodafone to upgrade the functionality, to further increase usability and to drive traffic to the service. "The very nature of chatting, plain and simple communication and interaction between people, quite similar to the SMS behaviour of today, is one of the factors behind the success of Aspiro's Mobile Chat in the market place,” says Håkan Persson, CEO of Aspiro. “We are of course delighted to work closely with Vodafone and supporting them in their success with mobile data services. At the same time we are proving that Aspiro has the ability to earn good money over time on our services at the same time as we are getting paid, by the hour, for our expertise in the wireless space”. For more information, please contact: Henrik Åquist, Key Account Mgr, Aspiro AB, tel: +46 70 836 8102, e-mail: henrik.aquist@aspiro.com Helena Gynnerstedt, Head of Information, Aspiro AB, tel: +46 40 630 03 18, e-mail: helena.gynnerstedt@aspiro.com