Facts About Personal E-M@il

By Carsten Brinkschulte, CEO of Synchronica

Does Personal E-M@il come from an Argentine market need or a strategy to increase data consumption?

I think this question will have to be answered by Telekom Personal. However, what I can say is that our mobile operator customers generally see our push email and synchronization solution as an addictive, value-added service that can create customer stickiness and help to reduce churn, as well as to raise average revenue per user (ARPU).

How secure is the Personal E-M@il application when compared with other services, such as push email from BlackBerry and Nokia Messaging?

The Personal E-M@il service is based on Synchronica Mobile Gateway which functions as a link between the user's email server and his handset - it does not store any emails, calendar, or contact data. Instead, Mobile Gateway acts as the gateway synchronizing the user's device with his mail system.

Communication between Mobile Gateway and the user's mail system can be encrypted, using industry-standard SSL (Secure Socket Layer) technology which provides the same level of security used by many online banking systems.

Depending on device capabilities, the wireless link between Mobile Gateway and the device can also be encrypted, using SSL (IMAPS), providing additional security over the standard data encryption provided by the GSM network.

What will be the main attribute of Personal E-M@il: Price or safety?

Again, probably a question for Telecom Personal to answer, but the flat monthly fee of ARS 9 (USD 2.3) makes it a very competitive value-added service.

How is the quality of the network affected by a possible exponential increase in data traffic?

As it says in the press release, Telecom Personal is investing heavily in data-oriented value-added services and is increasing its transmission and bandwidth infrastructure to support the expected increase in data traffic from these initiatives.

However, Synchronica Mobile Gateway implements several optimization technologies which significantly reduce the network bandwidth requirements for mobile email. In particular, Mobile Gateway supports filtering and document transcoding which automatically converts heavy email attachments and dramatically reduces bandwidth requirements.

What is Synchronica's position concerning the bet of the mobile operators, held at the Mobile World Congress, to opt for a store of applications not tied to one manufacturer or software house?

Device manufacturers are increasingly introducing device-specific value-added services only available for their proprietary platforms. In particular, premium device manufacturers, such as Nokia, Apple, and RIM, invest heavily in their goal of offering device-specific services as a means of establishing direct relationships with end-user subscribers.

In such a situation, operators would find it difficult to improve their competitive position, resulting in uncontrollable increases in subscriber churn and exposure to cut-throat price wars.

Basically, device manufacturers are putting the mobile operators at risk of being reduced to a dumb bit pipe. The most effective way for operators to overcome this threat is by offering a range of operator-hosted, device-neutral value-added services.

Synchronica Mobile Gateway is an example of a white-labeled solution that can help operators to offer mobile email, synchronization, social networking, and instant messaging (IM) on a wide range of devices, putting the operator back in control, providing significant differentiation and value add.

What other applications of this type are developed to stimulate the consumption of data offered directly by the operator?

Mobile instant messaging (MIM) is another example of an addictive, value-added service that operators can use to raise ARPU and improve loyalty.

Synchronica Mobile Gateway 5 allows operators to aggregate multiple IM communities, from Google Talk to Facebook Chat. In addition, Mobile Gateway allows operators to establish their own IM community and regain control of their subscribers' identities.

What other Latin American nations will use a similar version of Personal Em@il on their devices?

In addition to Argentina, Synchronica messaging services are deployed in Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Panama, Mexico, Peru, and Colombia.

What kind of mobile phones are suitable for using Personal Em@il?

Any phone! One of the main reasons that mobile operators in Latin America choose Mobile Gateway is because it supports the entire device landscape, from basic handsets to smartphones.

Mobile Gateway is device-neutral and platform-agnostic, so mobile operators can offer their own operator-branded mobile messaging service to their entire subscriber base, not just to subscribers with a certain type of phone.

About Synchronica

Synchronica plc is a leading developer of next-generation mobile messaging solutions based on open industry standards. The award-winning product portfolio includes the flagship product Mobile Gateway, providing push email, synchronization, instant messaging (IM), backup and restore, and mobile connectivity to social networks. Synchronica's products are white-labeled and offered by mobile operators in emerging and developed markets to provide mass market messaging services, increasing data revenues and reducing churn.

Synchronica Mobile Gateway provides a unique multi-protocol gateway combining Push IMAP, SyncML, ActiveSync, Email to MMS, and Email to SMS, delivering push email and synchronization to literally any mobile phone currently in the market without requiring an additional client to be downloaded. Expanding instant messaging to mobile devices, Mobile Gateway establishes carrier-branded IM communities, using the industry standard XMPP and provides gateways to popular internet IM communities, connecting any IMPS-enabled handset.

Headquartered in England, Synchronica also maintains a development center in Germany in addition to a regional presence in the USA, Hong Kong, and Dubai. Synchronica plc is a public company traded on the AIM list of the London Stock Exchange (SYNC). For further information, please visit www.synchronica.com

For more information, please contact:

David Clark
Tel.: +44 1892 5527 20
Fax: +44 1892 5527 21
david.clark@synchronica.com