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The cards, known as Zipcards, are messages that users can send using a mobile phone and that include colour, animations, images and sounds. Based on Multimedia Messaging (MMS) standards, the library of Zipcards will be accessible to German Vodafone users via WAP. Users can then enter their details and send the card on to recipients who have MMS enabled phones.
It is understood that the deal is being struck between Alatto and the multi-access Internet portal Vizzavi, which is joint venture of Vodafone Group and French media company Vivendi Universal.
The company says it is in discussions with another telecom in Europe to roll out the service. The Zipcards service, which took 8 months for Alatto to develop, is available in culturally localised formats for the UK, Spanish and German markets.
According to John Kelly, marketing manager at Alatto, the firm will share revenues with operators for the service. Kelly also explained to ElectricNews.Net that the 16 to 35-year-old consumer market would be targeted for take-up of the application.
"Consumers have already demonstrated their willingness to pay for wireless content including SMS, ringtones and basic logos," said Neil Flanagan, head of product development at Alatto. Flanagan said Zipcards will help mobile operators generate new revenue streams from existing customer bases and attract new customers.
Developed with Alatto's proprietary C-Spark software, Zipcards are one of a number of consumer oriented products in the pipeline, explained Kelly.
MMS and other next-generation mobile messaging technologies, such as EMS, represent the evolution of the highly popular SMS service offered by almost all mobile operators currently. In fact MMS, and all of the applications that will be based on it, is projected to be at least as popular as SMS in the coming years. Currently it is estimated that over 15 billion SMS messages are sent around the world each month, with numbers rising steadily.
The company says that Zipcards consume little bandwidth, with typical file sizes of just 10Kb. This makes them usable on more advanced UMTS (3G) and GPRS (2.5G) networks as well as on existing GSM systems. Moreover, they are independent of messaging platforms and networks and are compatible with existing and future MMS handset standards.
Founded in 1999, Alatto employs around 27 and is based in Dublin. The company, as well as some examples of its Zipcards, can be found on-line at http://www.alatto.com
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