Market Leaders Combine Expertise to Launch an Unsurpassed Mobile Search and Advertising Platform for the World's Largest Mobile Market
SEATTLE and SHANGHAI, China, Nov. 12 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Seattle-based Medio Systems Inc. ( http://www.medio.com ) and Shanghai-based mInfo Inc. ( http://www.minfo.com ) today jointly announced a long-term strategic partnership between the two mobile search market leaders. Under the agreement, Medio and mInfo will work together on both technical and business levels to develop a flexible mobile search, advertising and content delivery platform for the Chinese market. The partnership will combine the technical and operational strengths of both companies to deliver unsurpassed value for Chinese operators, advertisers and over 520 million mobile subscribers in the world's fastest growing market.
The strategic agreement will help both companies to extend their reach into new markets. Medio's exclusive focus on mobile has helped it become the leading white-label provider of mobile search in North America and Europe, delivering content recommendations and search advertising solutions for mobile operators, including Verizon Wireless, and T-Mobile USA, T-Mobile International and Telus Mobility.
mInfo, exclusively focused on the Chinese mobile arena, has deployed market-leading mobile search services designed from the ground up to meet the needs of Chinese mobile subscribers. The only mobile search company to offer natural-language mobile search in both Chinese and English via SMS, WAP and instant messaging, mInfo's services are accessible through every Chinese operator, including China Mobile, China Unicom, China Netcom and China Telecom.
"In China, there are four times as many mobile phone users as Internet users. Very soon, when people on the street talk about search, they will mean mobile search," said Alvin Wang Graylin, CEO of mInfo. "Search advertising will fuel the mobile internet just as it has on the Web. With a combined mobile search platform that fuses both companies' technical and operational strengths, our joint offering will offer unmatched value to operators, consumers and advertisers. This partnership between two market leaders is truly a win-win situation. mInfo's strength in messaging-based search and operational experience in the world's largest mobile market, together with Medio's rich mobile internet search technology and International deployment experience, makes for a truly complementary relationship that will give both parties an edge in our respective markets."
While natural language queries are seldom used in searches by Western subscribers, this is not the case in China. In the Chinese market most subscribers have never used a PC or typed keywords into a search box, but they all use SMS and are very comfortable phrasing mobile search queries the way they would ask a friend. By returning direct answers to search queries instead of links, and by personalizing recommendations and advertising for each user, mobile subscribers using the mInfo/Medio search solution in China will find a simple-to-use experience and highly relevant results when and where they need them. The combined Medio/mInfo solution delivers the information or content these subscribers need within seconds. The combined search platform will also benefit mobile operators, enabling them to generate enhanced revenues from advertisers through highly targeted advertising that leverages consumer behavioral data.
"In the context of today's fast-growing mobile data market, Medio and mInfo will deliver a mobile search and advertising platform to enable Chinese mobile operators to establish an important new revenue channel and create a path for advertisers to reach the largest consumer market in the world with highly relevant messages," said Medio CEO Brian Lent. "With a best-in-class consumer search and advertising offering that delivers a seamless, navigationally and graphically rich mobile experience optimized specifically for the mobile phone and the Chinese marketplace, this partnership will enhance discovery of mobile content for subscribers while also delivering long-term benefit to operators."
About mInfo(R) Inc.
mInfo Inc. is the leading provider of mobile search services to China's 520 million wireless subscribers and a leading mobile advertising platform for branded and SME advertisers throughout China. mInfo operates both the mInfo and Guanxi(TM) brands of search services.
mInfo delivers instant answers and mobile internet content on dozens of types of life-oriented search categories, and its services are available nationwide on all four major carriers in China via SMS, WAP, Instant Messenger, and embedded clients. mInfo's mobile search services are based on patent-pending natural language and personalization technologies, making its services truly intuitive to use and its search results highly relevant. mInfo was founded in early 2005 and is headquartered in Shanghai, with offices in Beijing, Guangzhou, Chengdu, and Seattle.
For more information visit: http://www.minfo.com .
About Medio Systems Inc.
Medio Systems delivers best-in-class mobile search and mobile advertising solutions that help mobile operators implement the best customer experience and allow advertisers to reach their intended target audiences. Created specifically for mobiles, Medio Mobile Search combines an intuitive, effortless user interface with powerful recommendation and personalization technologies. Medio's exclusive focus on mobile is also the key to delivering the most relevant answers across all categories, including downloadable content, local search and the mobile web.
Leveraging the precise targeting capabilities of the mobile search platform, Medio enables advertisers to identify and reach audiences who are interested in what they're selling -- at just the right time -- and achieve the best results for their campaign. Through unique partnerships with mobile carriers, ads are integrated into the mobile search experience, where increased relevance drives maximum response.
Medio's customers and partners are leading mobile operators, publishers and advertisers, including: Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile International and USA, Telus Mobility and CBS Mobile.
For more information visit: http://www.medio.com .
