Campus firm makes ‘web-on-the-go’ a Sprint in the park

12 Aug 2008

US telecoms giant Sprint – which has over 53 million customers – has deployed technology developed by UCD campus company ChangingWorlds to boost personalisation and content search across more than 40 different mobile handsets.

Sprint is investing substantially in boosting its mobile browsing experience in the US by allowing existing handset owners to enjoy a mobile internet experience, without changing their handset.

Sprint Web is available on over 40 different mobile handsets, including the RAZR2 by Motorola, the Centro by Palm, the Rumor by LG, the Upstage by Samsung and the Katana DLX by Sanyo.

The company plans to make Sprint Web available on all web-capable Sprint phones over the coming weeks.

Sprint Web is being described by the company as a more PC-like open internet browsing experience, with more user-friendly website rendering.

The technology, deployed by Dublin company ChangingWorlds, provides each Sprint user with dynamic, relevant content and information based on their past usage.

This makes each Sprint customers’ homepage unique depending on their interests, whether its sports or politics, based on what they access the most.

“Sprint Web automatically learns what content the customer likes and puts it on their homepage, along with real Google search of the full internet,” explained Kevin Packingham, senior vice-president of product and technology development at Sprint.

“This makes it even easier for Sprint customers to get the most from the internet on their phones, when and where they want to, with the Now Network,” Packingham said.

By John Kennedy

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com