Press Release
SEVEN® Networks Helps Carriers Bring Mobile Messaging Into The Social Age with Ping®; New Innovative Android App Shifts Focus from Apps to People
Ping Features first Carrier–Deployable Chat Service, Integrated with Email, Voice Calls, Facebook, SMS, IM and More
REDWOOD CITY, California – May 11th, 2011 – SEVEN Networks, a provider of Real Life, Real Time™ innovative mobile software, today announced Ping®, a new Android app that helps wireless carriers bring their messaging services into today's social age with a new level of usability and convenience.
Ping’s user interface shifts the focus from applications to people helping them easily find relevant conversations. Ping also includes SEVEN’s first text chat functionality, a carrier–deployable service that is integrated with other forms of messaging, and gives wireless carriers an opportunity to participate in a hot market now dominated by start–ups and social networking companies.
"Today’s users can easily use six or more messaging apps on their mobile devices, which can overload them with notifications and messages," said Michael Luna, SEVEN chief technical officer. "Our new innovative messaging interface gives consumers an easy and automatic way to navigate their contacts and messages by relevancy. Ping simply shifts the focus from applications back to people and conversations."
The main innovation of Ping’s user interface is a contact carousel that automatically organizes messages by contact and allows users to view, read and send messages in one convenient place. Consumers no longer have to check Facebook, email, IM, SMS, MMS and voicemail to see who has reached out to them. With one glance and one app they can see all communications from their best friends, spouses or important clients. Touching the icon brings up the message, while holding on the button launches the app for that service.
Ping’s integrated chat functionality allows operators to offer their own branded text chat service that can be extended to any Ping–enabled device. The service includes a one–button invite system that makes it easy for a consumer to leverage Ping Chat without having to build yet another community.
At launch, Ping will support SEVEN–powered chat, email and IM apps which includes access to Facebook Chat, Gmail and Gtalk; SMS; phone and voice mail and all mail providers that are relevant for the carrier (including Yahoo!, Windows Live™ and carrier–branded email). The app also features a hot button™ carousel that carriers can configure with their own push–content services or with real–time pushed content from news, weather, auction or other sites.
"Carriers in developed markets are finding that their SMS revenues are under increasing pressure, and this is partly as a result of the adoption and use of IP–based messaging applications by smart–phone users," said Pamela Clark–Dickson, senior analyst, Mobile Content & Applications, Informa Telecoms & Media. "However mobile operators could potentially seize the opportunity that the IP–based messaging market represents by launching their own–brand portal and messaging aggregation service."
To help build momentum around Ping, SEVEN will also make a special version of the app available on the Android Market that features access to SEVEN Chat, SMS, voice mail, Facebook Chat and Gtalk.
Availability
Ping is available now for carriers to embed on upcoming devices and to distribute over-the-air on existing ones. The Android Market version of the app is expected by June 2011. More information is available at http://ping.seven.com where users can sign-up for early access to Ping.
About SEVEN Networks
Founded in 2000, SEVEN Networks helps carriers and handset manufacturers deliver a Real Life, Real Time™ mobile experience through its push-based software platform and applications that deliver data to devices in a way that is network efficient. Its SEVEN Open Channel™ is a breakthrough mobile traffic optimization software solution that cuts the data consumption of smartphones and mobile devices by up to 70 percent. SEVEN’s flagship application, push email, and its underlying platform are in production in 14 languages across the five continents, and support more than 800 device models across eight operating systems. More information is at www.seven.com.