24th Apr 2008 09:00
Vodafone Group Plc24 April 2008 China Mobile, SOFTBANK and Vodafone in agreement to establish a Joint Innovation Lab to develop mobile internet services 24 April 2008 China Mobile, SOFTBANK and Vodafone have agreed to establish a Joint InnovationLab (JIL) to promote the development of new mobile technologies, applicationsand services. The three companies expect the initiative will help to acceleratethe commercial deployment of mobile internet services. The three companies will use the JIL as a platform to develop mobile servicesand drive innovation and synergy in the industry to the benefit of theircombined global customer base. The JIL will launch projects based on emergingtechnologies and market demand. The JIL will focus on the rapidly growing areas of mobile internet services,such as mobile widgets*. Initially, the JIL plans to develop a platform formobile widgets to encourage the development of innovative new services that canleverage mobile operators' unique capabilities. This move is expected to enable different widgets and applications to runseamlessly on different handset platforms and operating systems across differentmobile operators, while safeguarding customer security, data privacy and billingsystems. The development of a widget platform is expected to benefit bothdevelopers and users. The JIL also welcomes the co-operation of vendors anddevelopers in the creation of new applications and services. The establishment of the JIL and completion is subject to regulatory approvalsand certain customary closing conditions. - ends - * EDITOR'S NOTE: A widget is a highly functional, small, web-based application that gives customers access to useful services. For media enquiries please contact: China Mobile Public RelationsTel: +86-10-6600-6688Email: [email protected] SOFTBANK Public Relations Tel: +81-3-6889-2300 Email: [email protected] Vodafone Group Media Relations Tel: +44-1635 664444 About China MobileChina Mobile is the world's largest mobile operator with more than 392 million subscribes (as of March 31, 2008). China Mobile has been a leading player in the mobile communications industry. In 10 years, China Mobile has established aworld class mobile network with over 300,000 base stations, best coverage and best customer services. It ranks the first in the world in terms of the network scale and the customer base. For more information, please visit http://www.chinamobile.com About SOFTBANKSOFTBANK GROUP offers its customers a range of services including mobilecommunications, broadband infrastructure, fixed-line telecommunications,internet culture, e-Commerce, and others. SOFTBANK MOBILE achieved the No. 1position in net additions for FY 2007 in the Japanese market, with a total of18,586,200 subscribers as of March 2008. For more information, please visitwww.softbank.co.jp About VodafoneVodafone is the world's leading international mobile communications group withover 252 million proportionate customers as at 31 December 2007. Vodafonecurrently has equity interests in 25 countries across five continents and afurther 41 partner networks worldwide. For more information, please visitwww.vodafone.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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