September 28, 2004 -
ZaptoPhone Opens the Web
to Cell Phones
Boston MA, - September 28, 2004 -- Unwired Appeal announced
the launch of ZaptoPhone, a mobile entertainment service
designed to easily enable websites to offer their photos,
graphics, sounds, and music files to cell phone users.
Websites can begin using the service by simply following
the instructions on www.zaptophone.com.
"We were kicking around some ideas on how to help new
independent bands promote their music as ringtones,"
recalled Stephen Nye, director of business development
at Unwired Appeal, "when it quickly became apparent
that managing such a diversity of files from a large
number of bands just wasn't realistic. So we came up
with the idea of simply letting the individual websites
host and manage their own content and we developed Zaptags
that are inserted in their web pages to identify their
files and make them accessible to cell phones."
The ZaptoPhone service now supports audio/visual content
in standard file formats (MP3, MID, GIF, and JPEG).
The cornerstone of the service is Unwired Appeal's Adaptive
Content Server (ACS) that processes the conversion of
the source files to formats suitable for individual
cell phones. When a website visitor clicks on a Zaptag,
the ACS platform retrieves the content from the host
website and places it in a special off-site webcart.
New users need only perform a quick compatibility check
to verify the precise capabilities of their individual
cell phones. The music or graphic is then optimized
to fit the playback capabilities or screen size of the
cell phone. The optimized file is then transferred directly
to the cell phone where it can be used as a ringtone,
wallpaper, screensaver, or simply stored for later playback/viewing.
Unwired Appeal charges a small delivery fee to end-users
of ZaptoPhone and also makes it possible for websites
to charge for their premium content. "From a business
standpoint, ZaptoPhone can also provide an excellent
revenue stream for websites that own unique content."
continued Nye, "And we have created a web interface
that connects directly to our billing platform so that
websites can track in real-time their ZaptoPhone activity
right down to the individual file names of accessed
content".
Recents wireless market studies show that mobile-enabling
services like ZaptoPhone will see substantial growth
especially in mature internet markets like the USA.
Websites are continually seeking ways to not only gain
additional revenue, but also extend their marketing
and branding efforts beyond the PC environment. The
ZaptoPhone solution furthers these efforts by providing
access to millions of cell phone users and is easily
integrated into existing websites.
About Unwired Appeal
Unwired Appeal is a mobile technology firm specializing
in mobile content delivery and interactive SMS/MMS events
for the USA market. For more information, visit
www.unwiredappeal.com.
About ZaptoPhone
ZaptoPhone (a service mark of Unwired Appeal) is a service
for websites offered by Unwired Appeal. The service
is based on Unwired Appeal's mobile content provisioning
platform and proprietary Adaptive Content Server (ACS)
technology. User interfaces including cell phone compatibility
testing and billing screens are provided through
www.toneguys.com
- a commercial mobile content website provided by Unwired
Appeal.