DUEBENDORF-ZURICH, Switzerland – 22 April 2010 – Myriad Group AG (SIX: MYRN), a global leader in mobile technology with software in over 2 billion phones, today announced that Australian mobile network operator, Optus, has signed a commercial agreement to offer its eight million customers social networking services, powered by Myriad. This is the first social networking deal announced by Myriad since acquiring Xumii, Inc., the company that pioneered the use of cloud-based technologies to simultaneously connect mass-market phones to multiple social networks.
Now live, the Myriad-powered Optus SocialView service seamlessly adds social networking features to Optus’ existing mobile portal, Optus Zoo. Using a mobile phone browser, Optus users can now view friends’ messages from Australia’s most popular social networking sites – Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and Flickr. Users can also post their own updates and tweets, either to a specific site, or to all of their social networks simultaneously.
The new service offers unique advantages to Optus, as it only requires a standard mobile browser, providing access to SocialView for all customers, not just those with smart phones. As an added feature of the new service, customers are also given the option to receive free text alerts, which include social network updates and one-click access to SocialView.
“Social networking services are a sure-fire way for Optus to increase the appeal and popularity of Optus Zoo,” commented Jennifer Zanich, Myriad’s general manager for Xumii services. “Viewing friends’ updates and changing status are the most common actions on social networks. Enabling these features on a single screen creates a quick and easy way for mobile users to stay in touch throughout the day, which will increase visits to Optus Zoo and ultimately drive the adoption of other services on the portal.”