Smart Communications Goes Live with Synchronica-based Push Email Service

Highlights:

• Philippines carrier Smart Communications launches GoMail.
• Based on Synchronica’s Mobile Gateway, GoMail is the country’s first flat-rated mobile push email service.
• Two subscription options exist – Unlimited Monthly (USD 4.45) and Unlimited Daily (USD 0.45).

Synchronica plc, the international provider of next-generation mobile messaging services, announces that Smart Communications, Inc., the largest mobile operator in the Philippines, has launched GoMail, a mass market push email service based on Synchronica's award-winning Mobile Gateway middleware.

Smart is the first and only operator in the Philippines to launch a flat-rated mobile push email service which is targeted specifically to the consumer market and is compatible with all handsets.

GoMail is available to all Smart subscribers and is based on Synchronica’s award-winning Mobile Gateway product. Mobile Gateway provides 100% device compatibility by using the built-in email and synchronization clients found in a wide range of handsets, in addition to Email-to-MMS and Email-to-SMS for basic handsets. Competing operators in the Philippines use client-based solutions which are suitable for a limited range of handsets, dramatically decreasing their addressable market.

Smart’s subscribers can register for the service by sending the word ‘Mail’ and their handset model, as a text to 7077. The service is billed at a low monthly rate of P199 (USD 4.45), or a daily rate of P20 (USD 0.45). Smart has embarked on a major print and radio advertising campaign to support uptake of the service.

“Being able to provide push email to any of our 45.3-million customers was a compelling prospect for Smart,” said Danilo Mojica, head of Smart’s Wireless Consumer Division. “In the same way that Smart’s innovative but affordable offerings made the use of voice and SMS ubiquitous in the Philippines, we would like to turn email into another universally available service on a mobile phone from which the everyday Filipino may benefit. With the launch of GoMail, we’ve turned that prospect into a reality. Synchronica’s Mobile Gateway was the ideal choice to power GoMail, giving our subscribers a user-friendly way of sending and receiving email on any kind of handset.”

Carsten Brinkschulte, CEO of Synchronica, adds: "We’re really pleased that Smart chose our award-winning Mobile Gateway to bring their innovative GoMail push email service to market. Synchronica’s Mobile Gateway has been designed for markets like the Philippines, where operators are increasingly introducing addictive data services to the mass-market as a means of increasing ARPU levels, and combating churn".