The Sun Launches Mobile Website
The Sun has become the first UK national newspaper to launch a .mobi web site with content made specifically for mobiles.
thesun.mobi site gives readers access to the paper from any mobile phone or device that can access mobile internet services.
Readers now have free access to the top 10 online stories for news, sport, Bizarre and Sun Woman as well as daily Mystic Meg horoscopes and Page 3 of The Day.
Other content available for download includes Page 3 wallpapers and videos, a host of ringtones, and other videos such as the Sun Virals. Readers can also sign up to receive alert services including news, sports, Bizarre, football, Mystic Meg, lottery results and racing tips.
Andrew Bagguley, head of Mobile Strategy, News Group Newspapers, said: “There are more than eight million consumers of mobile news and information services in the UK in any given month, and The Sun is keen to get a head start in extending its brand into the mobile space and reaching new audiences.
“The flexibility and ease-of-use of the .mobi domain and open standards has enabled us to create content which is just as exciting and usable on a mobile as it is on a PC.”
“Thesun.mobi gives readers access to the paper wherever they happen to be – on a bus, at the beach, at a football game. The Sun is always there, in their pockets, on their mobile,” said David Ryder, dotMobi’s VP of Marketing and Business Development.
“thesun.mobi creates a strong brand presence for the Sun in the mobile environment and enables the paper to launch exciting cross-channel marketing initiatives and extend partnerships and product offerings with advertisers.”
Readers can either type ‘thesun.mobi’ into their phone’s browser to access the site or text SUN to 85080 to receive a link to the site. The alert services will be advertised on thesun.co.uk site.
In August, ABCe figures showed that the Sun‘s website had broken the 10 million unique user barrier*, with a record figure for August (see Sun Website Gets 10 Million Unique Users)
Meanwhile, the latest ABC figures, for September 2007, show that the title’s print version shed just over 3,100 issues year on year, leaving its total at over 3.2 million (see ABC National Newspaper Round-Up: September 2007).
*ABCe defines unique users on each of their certificates as “The total number of unique combinations of a valid identifier, Sites may use (i)IP+UserAgent, (ii) Cookie and/or (iii) Registration ID.” Note that where users are allocated IP addresses dynamically (for example by dial-up Internet Service Providers), this definition may overstate or understate the real number of individual users concerned.
News International: 020 7782 3922 www.newscorp.co.uk