Affle establishes strategic relationship with Microsoft to strengthen its mobile media biz worldwide

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) February 10, 2009 --

Singapore, 10 February 09: Affle, a leading mobile media company today announced a global strategic relationship with Microsoft. This relationship is expected to add significant value to both companies. Affle will be able to leverage Microsoft’s expertise and relationships in the mobile media eco-system to quickly scale its business globally. Affle’s SMS2.0 service will also be able to help boost the usage of many of the Windows Live services and MSN content on mobile, and also create a large volume of new mobile advertising inventory. As part of this working relationship, Microsoft has also become a minority shareholder in Affle.

Affle’s primary business has been related to creating significant mobile advertising opportunities through the development, deployment and commercialization of the SMS2.0 service across various Asian markets. In markets like India SMS2.0 has had unprecedented success and has already become the largest mobile media in India delivering over 120Mn monthly targeted impressions. SMS2.0 is an upgrade to the SMS/Text Messaging application on the mobile phone and resides as the default messaging application on the handset. It offers users many exciting new personalization and instant messaging type features on SMS. This includes personalization features like colours, emoticons and signature as part of the messaging experience. However, the most unique aspect of this upgrade is that it unifies messaging, content browsing and a search experience on the default text messaging screen itself. Users thus have access to the best of rich content services on the default messaging screen, thereby significantly boosting consumption of mobile media. It should be noted that Affle’s SMS2.0 is not a SMS protocol standard, but rather it is leveraging the existing standard in a unique way.

Mr. Anuj Khanna, CEO, Affle, said about the association: “We are confident that both Affle and Microsoft will derive significant strategic mileage from this strategic relationship. This will translate into a richer consumer experience, wider distribution as well as significant revenues for both companies. We are confident that Microsoft’s expertise and relationships in the Mobile media eco-system, will help Affle scale this business globally at a very rapid pace.”

Sanjay Chheda, Regional Vice President of Microsoft’s Consumer & Online business for the Greater Asia Pacific Region, said: “Microsoft is delighted to be working with Affle on this innovative and unique offering, especially with the immense growth potential for mobile advertising. SMS2.0 is a great channel for us to help further spur the adoption of Windows Live and MSN services amongst consumers in Asia.”