Airwide adds Colibria’s IM to its SMS and MMS portfolio

by: admin Monday, March 19th, 2007

Rating: IM is the future

Messaging guru Airwide and teamed up with Colibria for a solution that seamlessly integrates SMS, MMS and mobile IM.

So what?
Despite the fact that SMS is already huge and MMS uptake has increased 400% in the past year – IM is still an essential part of community interaction. It’s a must faster way of chatting to friends and the presence features of IM make for easy interaction.

Mobile operators are desperate for interoperable messaging solutions to fuel community and user generated mobile content services. IM, SMS and MMS all provide a way that enhances and bolsters interaction.

From the press release: “SMS services continue to drive substantial revenues for the mobile operators,” said Kevin Wiant, vice president of business development, Airwide Solutions. “Operators are looking to build on this foundation by integrating other messaging options that appeal to the diversity of subscriber preferences and handsets. With Colibria, we can provide operators an easy way to implement Mobile IM services that can communicate with their SMS community. This service acceleration is possible due to the next generation messaging approach being taken by Airwide and Colibria.”

“Addressing subscribers’ needs must be at the core of every mobile service. For MIM to be successful, existing SMS and MMS users must be able to communicate with MIM users and vice versa,” said Matt Hooper, EVP of Marketing, Colibria. “This means that operators and technology providers are critical in building compelling, mobile IM and converged messaging services and ensuring their interoperability. Our partnership with Airwide helps operators easily overcome the challenges of implementing a next generation messaging solution”.

Read a BKI Media report on Mobile IM and Setting Communities on Fire.
Read an interview with Airwide in the December issue of The Mobile Search Analyst.