Date published: 01.09.08 - not release date

Mobile Blogs Become Reality for Germany 2006

Press Release - May 17, 2006

In a sports and technology ‘first’ the blogging phenomenon is set to hit UK’s mobile phones during the World Cup. From June 8 the majority the UK’s mobile phone users, will be able to receive four Germany 2006 mobile blogs produced by Mobizines™ (www.mobizines.com) and blogging network Shiny Media (www.shinymedia.com).

Sports fans have the chance to make both football and blogging history, by sending in a 300 word entry about their ideal World Cup blog through a special website (www.germany2006mobizine.com). The 20 best entries will be unveiled online on 24 May with four winners being chosen by a vote of website visitors. The winning four mobile sports bloggers will have their content produced and published by Mobizines™ with the best blog comments also being carried by Shiny Media’s World Cup fanzine “Who Ate All The Bratwurst”. (www.whoateallthebratwurst.com)

Mobizines™, which are developed by Refresh Mobile, allow mobile phone users to receive ‘snack-sized’ versions of their favourite content in a rich, colourful format and clearly branded style. Already there are 17 titles live today including traditional publishing brands such as Conde Nast, BBC and Time Out, and this portfolio is steadily growing.

The Mobizine™ costs just a few pence, each edition is cheap, quick to download and can be read without a network connection – on the bus or tube, for example. The consumer can read each Mobizine™ as often as s/he likes at no extra cost and only pays once per edition. This edition automatically gets updated when the next edition is published.

Shiny Media is one of the fastest growing media companies in the UK. Its blog network presently has 20 blogs in many key areas – tech, fashion, TV and sport – which between them attract 1.1 million unique users per month.

The partnership between Mobizines™ and Shiny Media is the 1st to take citizen journalism to the mobile platform. This will allow contributors to find an audience via mobile phones in the same way as they can via traditional blogs. Just like blogs, Mobizines™ offer a new communication channel for aspiring journalists as well as businesses. Mobizines™ also give the reader a portable method of receiving the latest news and views.

Ashley Norris, Shiny Media founder said: “This is an exciting opportunity for wannabe mobile bloggers to get involved with the latest technology in the sector and make their publishing debut via Mobizine™. Shiny Media has a commitment to moving away from the traditional blog model and innovating wherever possible. Our partnership with Refresh Mobile will allow us to use Mobizines™ to make our blogs mobile.”

Scott Beaumont, Refresh Mobile Chief Executive Officer said: “Mobizines™ give a mobile audience to people with something to say – and everyone has an opinion on the World Cup. By becoming the 1st blogging network to go mobile, Shiny Media is enabling fans to stay in touch with the latest news and views from Germany 2006 wherever they are. In the long-term, the Shiny Media and Mobizines™ partnership is the 1st step towards the uptake of widespread mobile citizen journalism.”


About Shiny Media

In a year and a half Shiny Media has developed into the most exciting new media company in the UK. It has developed the most read and highest profile technology blogs in Europe and created a series of fashion, technology and entertainment blogs that are read across the globe. It now boasts 1.1 million unique readers across its 20 blogs each month and has quadrupled in size in one year.

Its biggest blogs, Shiny Shiny and Tech Digest, regularly attract between 10-12,000 readers per day. The same two blogs were recently chosen by PR Week, as two of the four most influential gadget sites in the UK (along with The Sun and the BBC).

About Refresh Mobile:

Refresh Mobile provides quick and easy to use publishing solutions for mobile.
Refresh Mobile's unique Mobizines™ Builder allows publishers to deliver multiple branded titles and multiple editions to the consumer without the need for constant redevelopment or significant publishing resource.

Refresh Mobile was founded by two former members of the T-Mobile global management team. It has closed a round of funding with Accel Partners. Accel Partners manages more than $3 billion with offices in Silicon Valley and London. Over the last twenty-one years, Accel has invested in over 200 internet and technology companies and have helped create many category defining companies such as Walmart.com, Macromedia, UUNet and RealNetworks. †In addition, Accel are very active investors in The Facebook, Brightcove, Glam.com, comScore and many others.

Bruce Golden, general partner, Accel Partners:

“We were immediately excited by the potential of Refresh Mobile. As well as having a compelling vision and a clear strategy, the company owns an innovative technology that is likely to have a huge impact on the mobile publishing sector. We all know that content on mobile will be one of the next big things - it just hasn’t happened yet. We think Mobizines™ could be the catalyst in the mobile content world”

Refresh Mobile is a privately held UK Limited Company that began trading in 2005.

Pricing:

Mobizines™ are free - there's no up front subscription cost to Mobizines™ or lengthy registration process required. The customer only pays per edition and a one off fee to download the software reader. The cost per edition varies by network but on average costs between 3 and 10p.

Further information can be found online at www.mobizines.com.

Refresh Mobile has worked carefully to ensure that content, no matter how rich and colourful, is highly compressed in order to ensure fast download rates and hence to give maximum value to customers. Unlike WAP where the customer can never be sure what the service is costing and where simply finding your way to the operator’s home page may cost 20p, Refresh Mobile works to ensure that the customer can receive a Mobizine™ for minimal costs.

Technical Information

Mobizines™ operate on Symbian (using Macromedia Flash Lite technology) and Java-based mobile handsets. Each handset can store multiple Mobizines™, and some handsets can store up to 50 individual Mobizines™.

For further info about Refresh Mobile please contact:

www.mobizines.com or www.RefreshMobile.com

Elaine Devereux
Refresh Mobile
Tel: +44 (0)7950 396249

Russell Williams or Ane Olesen
Cow PR
Tel: +44 (0)207 684 6969

For further info about Shiny Media please contact:

www.shinymedia.com