Privately-held Oz Communications of Montreal has announced Oz Mobile Social Networking, a new wireless messaging product which will enable mobile phone users to access social networking sites like MySpace and YouTube in a way which “mirrors the PC-based experience.” Oz plans to offer the system to mobile network operators and handset manufacturers as a way to let the mobile phone industry tap into the popularity of social networking and community-based Web sites…and, of course, drive revenue through sales of handsets and data transfer services.
“The phenomenal growth of user generated content and social networking on the Internet clearly demonstrates peoples desire to express themselves and communicate. The mobile phone goes with you everywhere and it is on pretty much 24/7, as such, it is the perfect tool for capturing and sharing your life and experiences with your friends and family in real time,” said Skuli Mogensen, Oz’s CEO and founder. “We are very excited to be working closely with many of the social networking sites and look forward to delivering a great user experience on mass market phones in close collaboration with our mobile operator partners.”
The Oz Mobile Social Networking system operates using a single client program which gives users access to multiple sites, and Oz touts the service as “mirroring the PC experience” while being optimized for use on mobile devices. Users will be ble to upload photos and video, post comments, engage n messaging, and receive pings when buddies update their profiles or blogs.
Oz already offers solutions which enable users to tap into email and instant messaging services via mobile phones, and has partnerships with Cingular, Sprint Nextel, and T-Mobile, with more than 70 million client applications already “in the wild.” The company plans to roll out Mobile Social Networking in the first half of 2007, and is already in talks with mobile operators.
