TELECOMS & MOBILE
Irish operator launches phone blogs
01-10-2003
by
O2 Ireland is the first company in the world to deploy new software from NewBay that allows users to update Web logs from their mobile phones.
The companies said on Wednesday that FoneBlog has been deployed by O2 Ireland, making the Irish operator the first to roll out the software that ties wireless multimedia messaging (MMS) to the much-hyped trend of "blogging." Dublin-based NewBay Software first announced the technology in early 2003 and following an initial deal with O2, the company says it hopes to sign up more operators in the months ahead.
The most notable aspect of FoneBlog is its ability to allow users to upload images to their blog from a camera phone, as well as text in the form of SMS messages. To use the service, subscribers must pay a monthly EUR2.50 subscription fee -- excluding a 30 day free introductory period -- and each uploaded image or text message is charged at a standard rate with updates being sent via the five digit short code "53663."
Web logs, commonly called blogs, are simply Web sites that allow users to post news and hyperlinks, or just personal musings, in chronological order. These sites have become the latest trend among avid Web users and the mainstream media's interest was piqued earlier this year after search giant Google purchased a firm named Blogger.
Estimates of the number of Blogs on the Web vary widely with Blogcount.com estimating 2.4 million to 2.9 million and BlogCensus.net reckoning that there are about 660,000. Nevertheless, most industry watchers and analysts agree that the fad has now become an emerging industry sector, ripe with opportunities for clever entrepreneurs.
Sophisticated bloggers have already figured out ways to upload images and text from wireless devices however NewBay's technology makes the process simple enough for anyone with a mobile phone to participate. NewBay Software's CEO, Paddy Holahan, told ElectricNews.Net that although users of other blogging services would not be able to update their pages using FoneBlog, he pointed out that the facility is a full blogging service allowing subscribers to create the same highly-developed Web sites that can be built using other Web logging technology.
He also said that the company already has about 1,500 users of FoneBlog in Ireland and feedback has so far been good. Still, Holahan was reluctant to make predictions about how many operators he expects to sign up over the next 12 months. "What I will say is that in the next two to three years, practically every mobile phone operator in the world will be offering some kind of phone blogging service."
For more information on NewBay, visit the company's Web site. To see examples of the FoneBlog service, check out the new foneblog.ie Web site.
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