Synchronica predicts Surge in Mobile Instant Messaging Use During WorldCup

Synchronica, the company behind the technology used for services, such as South Africa's noknok mobile instant messaging (IM) service, is predicting a significant surge in the use of IM chat services as the country hosts the World Cup.

According to Synchronica, Football fans from both emerging and developed regions will use mobile IM as a handy way to communicate with friends and family and to access online communities, such as themed soccer chatrooms.

Carsten Brinkschulte, Synchronica's CEO, comments: "As World Cup fever takes hold, even the most ambivalent of football fans will find themselves drawn into discussions on the highs and lows of their team's performance. Being able to IM with friends and family and on soccer chat rooms from their mobile phone allows people to communicate in realtime as goals are scored and matches are won and lost. I'm confident that IM chat services will see a significant rise in popularity during the tournament."

Synchronica's mobile IM solution allows subscribers to send one-to-one messages and pictures to friends, as well as to chat with like-minded fans on themed chatrooms. The service offers a superior user experience while driving up average revenue per user (ARPU) with features, such as the ability to express emotions, set moods and communication contexts, initiate one-to-many communications, facilitate chatrooms and other more bandwidth-intensive file exchanges including picture messaging.

Synchronica's solution provides an IM client for all major mobile platforms including those based on Symbian and Java 2 ME platforms. For legacy non-J2ME handsets, there is a WAP client, while for basic handsets that cannot download the IM client, IM messages are converted into SMS / MMS messages. There is also a PC client which extends the usability of the service.

Synchronica's mobile IM technology arises from its acquisition of Colibria's IMPS instant messaging business earlier this year. Synchronica will continue to develop, market, and support Colibria's open standards-based IM technology as a stand-alone product. The software will also be integrated into Synchronica's Mobile Gateway messaging suite and will be pre-installed on the recently launched MessagePhone, a low-cost, messaging-centric handset powered by Mobile Gateway.