IMImobile: IMImobile joins Wholesale Application Community

IMImobile to bring 15 years’ experience of operators and consumer engagement strategy to WAC

IMImobile, a leading provider of core technology infrastructure for mobile data, voice and video services to mobile operators, today announced that it has joined the Wholesale Applications Community (WAC) as an associate member. Under the terms of membership, IMImobile will provide input to WAC working groups and the WAC advisory council.

With the industry leading DaVinci Evolved Service Platform (ESP), IMImobile will help WAC members and operator clients shape application development and seeding. The DaVinci Evolved Service Platform builds the foundation in the development of a WAC-compliant application development and deployment platform environment and is being used by multiple customers in multiple territories.

With applications now at the heart of the mobile experience, WAC represents a unification of the global mobile community to create an open, standards-based application market. IMImobile shares the vision of an “open mobile marketplace” where mobile operators globally can leverage their core subscriber and content assets to improve the user experience and open new revenue streams.

“In recent times we have witnessed a sizeable shift in consumer behaviour towards an insatiable demand for mobile applications and services. Our partners and customers are responding to this shift by developing new consumer engagement strategies,” said Vishwanath Alluri, Founder and Chairman of IMImobile. “Core to these strategies is a focus on application delivery and monetisation. We very much believe that our expertise will be beneficial to WAC and the interests of its operator, media and enterprise members, in creating an open mobile marketplace.”

Very early in the application revolution, IMImobile recognised the challenges posed by device platform and network technology fragmentation. Fragmentation puts constraints on developers, restricts scaling and hampers innovation. IMImobile’s DaVinci Evolved Service Platform was built to solve exactly such fragmentation issues by providing a cross-platform application development environment, and a standards-based approach to leveraging network assets. Carrier deployments of DaVinci ESP have already enabled 3rd party developers, service providers and content owners to create and launch revenue generating services that utilise core operator assets. By joining WAC, IMImobile expects to fully realise the shared vision of both organisations.

“The momentum and significance of WAC continues to grow. IMImobile is joining a growing list of important industry players from across the mobile ecosystem, taking membership levels to 73 companies,” said Peters Suh, CEO, WAC. “IMImobile has gained fantastic experience with its work in application development and deployment for operators, and has both the skills and knowledge that will bring value to WAC.”

About IMImobile

IMImobile is a pioneer in the mobile data space offering a rich portfolio of managed services for mobile operators, media companies and enterprises.

The industry leading DaVinci Evolved Service Platform™ powers a wide range of services created, delivered and managed by IMImobile including: social aggregation, contact management, mobile advertising, mobile marketing, messaging, storefronts, ring back tones and digital music services.

These services are enabled through robust technology platforms including carrier grade messaging platforms and gateways, voice platforms, content management and 3rd party application aggregation systems. IMImobile’s modular product portfolio delivers a ‘connected experience across consumers’ digital lives.

With recent 100 per cent acquisition of UK mobile content and services company WINplc, IMImobile has now over 600 employees and a global presence across Asia, Europe, Latin America, Middle East and Africa. The company hosts its technology platforms and services in data centers worldwide and currently enables 71 operator and blue-chip enterprise customers in 59 countries around the world generating 40 million billing transactions every month and reaching over 780 million subscribers worldwide.

For more information www.imimobile.com

About the Wholesale Application Community (WAC)
Launched in February 2010, the Wholesale Applications Community (WAC) is an open global alliance formed from leading organisations within the telecoms sector. Uniting a fragmented applications marketplace, WAC will create an open industry platform that benefits the entire ecosystem, including applications developers, handset manufacturers, OS owners, network operators and end users.

The Wholesale Applications Community will:

• Accelerate and expand the market for applications – Simplify application development by giving developers the opportunity to write applications that can be deployed across multiple platforms and multiple operators and address a potential global market of more than 3 billion users.

• Create more compelling applications – Enable developers to utilise both device and network capabilities to create the next generation of applications.

• Provide greater choice for users – Enable portability of applications across devices, operating systems and network operators.

Current WAC members are as follows: Accenture, Adobe, Aepona, Alcatel-Lucent, Aplix, Amdocs, América Móvil, ASPire, AT&T, Bell Mobility, Borqs, Bouygues Telecom, Camber Tech Inc (BVI) Limited, Capgemini, China Mobile, China Unicom, Deutsche Telekom, Ericsson, Eyeline, France Telecom, Fujitsu, GClue, Gemalto, HP, Huawei, Hutchison 3 Group, IBM, IMI Mobile Infraware, Innoace, Intel, KDDI, KT Corporation, KT Innotz, LG Electronics, LG Uplus, LiMo Foundation, Minigate, MTS, Myriad Group, NEC, Neustar, NTT DOCOMO, NTT MSE DATA, Oberthur Technologies, Obigo, Opera Software, Orascom Telecom, Oracle Corporation, Panasonic, Qualcomm Incorporated, Research in Motion, Rogers Communications, Saggezza, Samsung, SanDisk, SAP, SFR, Sharp, SK Telecom, Smart Communications, SOFTBANK MOBILE, Sony Ericsson, Telecom Italia, Telefónica, Telekom Austria Group, Telenor, Verizon, Vimpelcom, Vodafone, ZTE and the GSMA.

For a list of members and more information, please go to www.wacapps.net

For further information please contact:
CCgroup for IMImobile
Daniel Lowther
Tel: +44 7747 636 687
imimobile@ccgrouppr.com