hellomagazine.com, the online extension to HELLO! magazine, has launched two exclusive new mobile services to help further its brand.
SMS celebrity news and Java celebrity news will allow subscribers to receive a message containing the latest four headlines from hellomagazine.com each weekday. Java service users will be able to download daily updates of photos and stories and then read them at their leisure without having to enter a browser session.
Commenting on the new services, Tree Elven, website editor said: “This is really exciting. We’re proud to be in the vanguard of quality content providers delivering right into the hands of consumers. It’s a great moment, as consumers are becoming more demanding with regard to mobile content and accessibility, and we’re ready to meet their needs.”
She continues: “We always keep an eye on the latest trends but we only invest in those we believe will be attractive to our readers in the long-term. The fact that we’re going mobile proves our commitment to and belief in this very exciting new content delivery method.”
Research published at the end of last year by the Mobile Data Association (MDA) revealed a rapid increase in the take-up of both GPRS and MMS enabled handsets (see Mobile Internet And Picture Messaging Enjoy Massive Growth).
The MDA claimed that from a total active customer base of over 53 million, GPRS enable devices reached 26 million during September 2004, an increase of 10% on the previous quarter and double that of the last quarter of 2003.
The figure represents a 50% penetration rate for GPRS handsets in the UK market, showing the popularity of using internet via mobiles is growing fast (see WAP Popularity Continues To Grow Into 2005). WAP usage in January 2005 rose by 18% year on year to a massive 1.42 billion, according to the MDA.
Last year mobile users accessed 14.6 billion pages of information, creating a new record and surpassing the MDA’s previous forecast of 13 billion for the year.
Early last month, hellomagazine.com forged two new partnerships with broadband providers ntlworld.com and tesco.net, providing celebrity news to millions of additional internet users (see hellomagazine.com Strikes Deal With ntlworld and tesco.net).
Mobile Data Association: 01922 419600 www.mda-mobiledata.org
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