Phone.com and Snaptrack Team to Provide High-Performance Wireless Location Solutions for Mobile E-Commerce & Value-Added Location Services
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Effort to Result in Wireless Assisted GPS-Based Products for Global Location Market
PCIA Global Xchange, CHICAGO, Sept. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Phone.com, Inc. (Nasdaq: PHCM - news), a leading provider of mobile Internet software, applications and services, and SnapTrack Inc., pioneer of Wireless Assisted GPS(TM) location systems and a wholly owned subsidiary of QUALCOMM Incorporated (Nasdaq: QCOM - news), today announced that they are teaming to develop and market SnapTrack's SnapSmart(TM) location server software and Phone.com's Mobile Location Server (MLS) platform in a coordinated manner for the wireless industry. The companies will work together to ensure that the two products are interoperable and will support each other's efforts to market the combined
solution to wireless carriers worldwide.
(Photo: newscom.com
The Phone.com(TM) Mobile Location Server enables wireless network operators to take advantage of a unique aspect of the
mobile network -- the ability to determine the location of the phone. The MLS platform provides a universal application
interface for developers, along with extensive end-user privacy management functionality. SnapTrack's SnapSmart location
server software provides highly accurate location determination. The combination of these two technologies affords an
integrated, end-to-end solution for wireless service providers.
``By working together, Phone.com and SnapTrack will be able to combine SnapTrack's leading wireless location server
software with our Mobile Location Server to provide a very compelling mobile location solution offering to our carrier
customers,'' said Michel Quazza, vice president of product marketing for Phone.com. ``We intend to position ourselves as the
foremost provider of carrier-class location solutions to wireless operators worldwide. We see mobile e-commerce and
location-based services as a great new market opportunity for wireless operators around the world. We believe that highly
accurate location information will be the enabler of a whole new range of lucrative value-added services, such as mobile
information services and location relevant advertising, as well as mobile e-commerce for consumers on the go.''
The collaboration demonstrates Phone.com's commitment to providing enhanced mobile Internet capabilities and applications
to its customers, and leverages SnapTrack's implementation experience and resources, including those of its parent company,
QUALCOMM, in the wireless location field. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
``We're very excited to be collaborating with Phone.com on this project, as it is a highly innovative company with global reach
and a tremendous list of partners and customers,'' said Steve Poizner, president of SnapTrack. ``We believe that the
combined SnapTrack/Phone.com solution will provide a best-of-breed mobile location solution to wireless operators around
the world. When the SnapTrack/Phone.com solution is coupled with highly integrated chipset products for cellular phones,
such as QUALCOMM's MSM3300(TM) multimedia Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) product, many new services
become possible, including mobile yellow pages and mobile e-commerce applications, and personal and enterprise location
services. For example, stranded motorists could send their location directly to an auto club, or to their families. Or consumers
could get walking directions to their favorite fast food restaurant right from where they're standing. And in the enterprise
world, companies could use this product to track their sales or delivery teams and more closely coordinate their efforts.''
SnapTrack's Personal GPS(TM) wireless location solutions fuse the intelligence and power of networks in the mobile
environment with the accuracy and coverage of the Global Positioning System. SnapTrack's solutions are based on its
Wireless Assisted GPS and QUALCOMM's gpsOne(TM) technology, and improve upon conventional GPS by combining
information from GPS satellites and wireless networks to accurately and reliably pinpoint a wireless phone. While traditional
GPS receivers may take several minutes to provide a location fix, SnapTrack's solutions generally locate callers within a few
seconds. With SnapTrack's Location Indoors(TM) capability, callers are typically located to within 3-20 meters in a wide
range of challenging call environments where other GPS-based wireless location systems fail to perform, including inside
houses and moving vehicles, under heavy foliage, and in urban street canyons.
SnapTrack's wireless location technology products permit the design of cellular phones, pagers, PDAs, and other wireless
devices that operate in multiple GPS navigation modes, allowing out-of-network location coverage and a variety of thin-client
applications. SnapTrack's solutions require no additional cell sites or modifications to existing network equipment, and are
designed to have minimal impact on cost and handset form factor. Furthermore, SnapTrack's technology is air-interface
neutral and is applicable in any two-way wireless system: cellular/PCS, satellite, or paging; 800/900 MHz or 1800/1900
MHz; GSM, CDMA, TDMA, PDC or 3G air interfaces. SnapTrack technology is featured in the industry's first fully
integrated wireless position location solutions, the QUALCOMM MSM3300 and MSM5100(TM) chipsets. |
