At the world 3GSM exhibition in Cannes yesterday new Irish tech firm NewBay Software, whose CEO is former Baltimore marketing head Paddy Holahan, paraded what it claims is the world’s first blogging system for mobiles.
FoneBlog will allow camera phone users to instantly publish their pictures and comments to their personal website.
Holahan is claiming significant interest from mobile operators and phone users since the product was announced last month.
“Operators throughout the world see FoneBlog as the perfect application to drive MMS and data traffic and increase camera phone and PDA (personal digital assistant) sales,” he said. “FoneBlog offers consistent, long-term revenue for network operators and unmatched loyalty from consumers.”
Using FoneBlog, mobile network operators can provide unique web addresses for their customers who can then update their personal websites by simply sending images, audio and text from their mobile phones using MMS or SMS messaging. The website can be viewed from any internet browser, PDA or Wap browser.
FoneBlog is targeting camera phone users who want to share their pictures and experiences over the internet, but who don’t have the skill, time or desire to manually manage a website using complicated PC-based tools.
Blogs, or weblogs, are personal websites that are updated regularly, similar to a public diary. Blogging has become a mainstream internet activity in the past few years, with individuals creating websites on topics as diverse as politics, movies, religion, travel, family and technology.
Dublin-based NewBay Software was founded in late 2002 and is privately held. NewBay employs 10 people out of its Baggot Street offices.
Marketing director Aisling O’Brien told siliconrepublic.com that the company is in discussions about FoneBlog with several mobile phone operators in Europe and the US and that the company expects to sign its first customer “within weeks”.
By Brian Skelly
