Chikka, fastmobile to develop Messenger for Globe Telecom

i.t. matters
Friday-Saturday April 07-08, 2006 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES

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Chikka, fastmobile to develop Messenger for Globe Telecom

CHICAGO, IL -- fastmobile, a leader in mobile instant communications solutions, today announced that it is teaming up with Chikka Asia Inc. to develop a downloadable, mobile-to-mobile version of the popular real-time messaging application Chikka Messenger.

This version will be launched with Globe Telecom as part of an integrated client being developed for Globe Telecom by fastmobile.

Already, around 25 million customers have signed up for a PC-to-mobile Chikka Messenger service. This enables computer users to send messages to mobiles, and vice versa.

The fastmobile-developed Globe Messenger service will put many of the features and functionality of the Chikka Messenger-PC service into the hands of Globe mobile customers.

Users will be able to utilize the Globe messenger application on pre-loaded and existing Nokia handsets, then seamlessly connect to the Chikka community as easily as with a PC.

fastmobile has also created similar mobile messenger clients for Yahoo!.

Dennis Mendiola, chief executive officer of Chikka Asia said: "Our collaboration with fastmobile is another important milestone in Chikka's growth. Creating a Chikka Messenger client for Symbian phones is a major step forward in bringing more Chikka mobile applications and solutions to a greater international market."

For fastmobile, chief executive officer John Hoffman said: "We are very pleased to form this partnership with Chikka Asia. Like fastmobile, Chikka is a company at the forefront of innovation in mobile applications. We also share Chikka's passion for creating services that delight mobile customers, increase operators' revenues and reduce their churn."

Chikka's intuitive user interface and connectivity to carriers in very high SMS-traffic countries has made it one of South East Asia's most popular real-time messaging services. Since launching in 2001 in the Philippines -- widely acknowledged as the text capital of the world -- the Chikka Messenger service has been deployed by mobile operators in Japan, Guam, Thailand and India, where it is supported by 90% of the country's operators. Chikka services are also supported by several US mobile carriers, including Cingular, AT&T, Sprint and Alltell, with services on T-Mobil, Verizon, Nextel and Boost soon to follow.

The fastmobile application will be compatible with mobile handsets that incorporate the Symbian and Java operating system and are compatible with GPRS, EDGE and 3G mobile networks.

Chikka Asia, Inc. is a leading provider of enhanced mobile messaging services to mobile carriers around the world. Chikka is engaged in important markets around the world, with international affiliates and partners employing licensed patented methods for various mobile product offerings.

Chikka's mission is to bring together wired and wireless communities, otherwise separated by differences in information and communications platforms and by geographical boundaries, into one Chikka community.

fastmobile Inc. is a leader in the development, hosting, and delivery of value-added instant communication services over GPRS and other 2.5G and 3G mobile networks.