Zain selects Mobinex’s Smartface Platform to empower mobile data services Barcelona, 11 February 2008
Mobinex, the leading On-Device Portal (ODP) solution provider, today announced Zain as a new customer win. Zain will implement Smartface Platform, the market leading ODP publishing solution, to its local operators in Middle East and Africa. Zain is present in 7 Middle Eastern and 15 sub-Saharan African countries, and the solution is planned to be rolled out in H1 2008 in Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Mobinex’s Smartface Platform will enable Zain to raise its value added services to a higher level while providing a greater brand exposure across regions. Smartface powered On-Device Portals will offer easier access to operator services and premium content by providing subscribers an interactive interface on the mobile device. Zain targets to reduce complexity for accessing services for encouraging more frequent service usage. Smartface Powered ODP solution will be a user-friendly interface for subscribers and it will combine operator services, phone functionalities, mobile Internet, rich-media and content downloads into an intuitive user experience. The operator branded ODP will be available in both Arabic and English to maximize market reach. “We already know that, each new handset feature or mobile service makes subscribers’ life even more complex. What we are offering now is simplifying how subscribers find and consume operator services. Zain branded ODPs provide a single entry to “services world” across our Zain network in different countries.” said Rafat Nawawi, Group Marketing Director at Zain. “In subscribers’ perception, handset features and operator services are separated from each other. This is because a subscriber should send an SMS to access a location based service, instead of simply clicking one of their contacts in the phone menu. Smartface powered ODPs provides a more connected mobile experience to power Zain’s mobile service offerings.” declared Murat Bahar, VP of Marketing at Mobinex. Smartface Platform enables mobile users to access rich-media services from a wide range of mobile devices. One click access through an intuitive mobile user interface reduces complexity, encourages more frequent service usage and boosts service revenues.
About Mobinex Mobinex, as the leading provider of ODP publishing technology, is mainly dedicated to increasing mobile data revenues of mobile providers globally. Companys flagship product Smartface Platform enables mobile providers to publish “On Device Portals”, a new breed of mobile applications for the mobile devices, which combines handset functionality, network features and rich media to create a compelling user experience for mobile subscribers. Smartface Platform helps Mobile Operators to offer rapidly and cost effectively advanced mobile data services and to remotely customize the look and feel for the end user. Mobinex’s customers are major operators and VAS providers including Vodafone, Turkcell, KKTCell and Zain .
About Zain Group The Zain Group is a pioneer in mobile telecommunications in the Middle East and on the African continent. The company was incorporated in 1983 in Kuwait as the region’s first mobile operator and since the initiation of its “3x3x3” profitable expansion strategy in 2003, it has grown very rapidly. Zain is a leading mobile operator, now in 7 Middle Eastern and 14 sub-Saharan African countries with over 15,000 employees, providing a comprehensive range of mobile voice and data services to over 42.4 million active individual and business customers (as of December 31, 2007). The company already operates in Kuwait, Jordan, Bahrain, Iraq and Sudan as Zain, in Lebanon as mtc touch, in Sudan as Zain and in 14 sub-Saharan countries in Africa as Celtel: Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. Commercial services in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Ghana will be launched as Zain in 2008.
