Synchronica, a provider of mobile email and synchronization solutions, today announced the launch of Synchronica Mobile Gateway 4.0, a multi-protocol gateway that extends mobile email and data synchronization to virtually any mobile phone on the market. The solution is based entirely on industry standards, does not require any additional software to be installed on the handset and now enables mobile email on even the most basic of handsets.
Mobile Gateway 4.0 introduces email-to-SMS and email-to-MMS gateways and Push-to-WAP/xHTML browser access – ideal for emerging markets, where PC-based access is limited and entry-level devices dominate. Users of entry-level handsets send and receive emails as a standard SMS or MMS; their replies are then converted back to email. Mobile Gateway 4.0 includes a document transcoding gateway, which allows a variety of attachments – such as Word, Excel and Powerpoint documents – to be displayed on mass-market phones. This gateway also optimizes images for display on a mobile phone, thereby reducing bandwidth requirements.
Additional functionality in Mobile Gateway 4.0 includes:
- Multiple accounts
Allows up to 5 email accounts to be managed using a single Mobile Gateway account. - Google Contacts and Calendar synchronization
Google Mail users can now synchronize their Google contacts and calendar with any SyncML-enabled device, providing mobile synchronization for an estimated 2 billion SyncML handsets worldwide.
Mobile Gateway 4.0 also includes a new connector for Windows Live/Hotmail, allowing users to access their Hotmail email and synchronize contacts with any SyncML handset.
Carsten Brinkschulte, CEO of Synchronica, comments: "New mobile email solutions seem to be announced almost every week, but Mobile Gateway 4.0 represents a real breakthrough. Our vision is to enable mobile email and synchronization on virtually any handset and for any user, business or consumer, high-end N95 or entry-level Nokia 1100. This product truly delivers on the promise of a "Crackberry" for the mass-market."
Forecasts point to emerging markets as a breakthrough area for mass market mobile email. Informa predicts that there will be 4.81 billion mobile phone subscribers by 2012, with the next billion subscribers coming from emerging markets, where PC and fixed-line penetration is low.
Synchronica says that, unlike other solutions, Mobile Gateway does not require users to install additional software on the handset or behind the firewall. The combination of this "zero footprint" architecture with an additional over-the-air provisioning module for service activation increases adoption rates and improves the overall user experience.
Mobile Gateway 4.0 uses open industry standards such as Push IMAP and SyncML to integrate with the native email and synchronization clients built into more than 2 billion devices from all major handset manufacturers including Nokia, SonyEricsson, Samsung, Motorola and others. It includes connectors for mayor consumer mailservices such as Google Mail, Yahoo or MSN/Windows Live as well as for business servers such as Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Domino.
Synchronica will be at Mobile World Congress.