TELECOMS & MOBILE
Tecnomen, Vodafone sign messaging deal
29-10-2002
by
Vodafone is shifting the focus of its integrated messaging service away from SMEs, in anticipation of a surge in consumer interest in multi-media messaging.
Vodafone announced its 'Vodafone Mail' integrated messaging system as part of its 'Vodafone Live' offering last week, in advance of its launch in November. According to Finnish company Tecnomen, which developed the underlying software for the service, Vodafone Mail is significantly technologically superior to the software that it previously developed for Vodafone's Message Bank offering.
Vodafone launched Message Bank in January 2000 as an integrated on-line messaging solution that allowed people to check their combined voice, fax and e-mail messages on a dedicated Web site. Vodafone, trading as Eircell at the time, targeted Message Bank at the SME market as a paid subscription service, whereas the new Vodafone Mail service is free to all Vodafone subscribers.
According to David Madden, product marketing manager at Vodafone, the company plans to offer a Vodafone Mail Professional Version aimed at the business market in the future.
"Vodafone Mail includes tighter integration of the messaging services," Kai Kauto, vice president of messaging solutions at Tecnomen told ElectricNews.net. He said that previously users had to check separate Web pages to view each type of message. Now, users will be able to view a single page that shows at a glance all of their voice, fax and e-mail messages, as well as text and multimedia messages. Vodafone Live also includes a personal calendar, which was not part of Message Bank.
Vodafone Mail is also customised for the MMS-enabled handsets that Vodafone is marketing in conjunction with the launch of Vodafone Live. These colour-screen handsets are MMS-enabled camera-phones, and Vodafone Live will provide users with photo albums that will allow them to store and manipulate their pictures on-line.
Vodafone Live, MMS and camera-phones are focused on the consumer market, demonstrating a shift in Vodafone's focus in the integrated messaging market.
Other Vodafone Live services include ringtones, logos, news, entertainment and other content categories. It also includes downloadable Java games, location-based services and mobile shopping channels.
The new Vodafone deal will be welcome news at Tecnomen, which announced in early September that it was to cut 15 percent of its global workforce. Just over 7 percent of the firm's Irish workers, or 11 people, have been cut, leaving the business with around 140 Shannon-based workers.
Irish workers may have been shielded from the majority of the company's cuts because of the fact that most of the work carried out here is focused on the development of MMS and pre-paid mobile systems and software.
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