Date published: 01.09.08 - not release date

From newsstand to the palm of your hand - mobile magazines launch today

•Mobizines™ launched today - branded content pushed to your mobile
•Mobizines™ opens up mobile advertising stream
•Available now to 75% of UK mobiles

Mobile magazine publishing becomes a reality today. Following a successful pilot scheme, media houses ranging from Condé Nast to ITV are for the 1st time ever offering consumers access to mini versions of their content called “Mobizines™”, which are pushed to their mobile phones.

Developed by Refresh Mobile, Mobizines™ allow mobile phone users to receive ‘snack sized’ versions of their favourite magazines in a rich, colourful format and in a style they know and trust. Costing just pennies, each edition is cheap, quick to download and can be read without a network connection – on the bus or tube, for example. Mobizines™ are available to all, regardless of mobile operator.

As well as giving consumers access to a well-branded and growing content portfolio, Refresh Mobile also aims to re-empower the brands by giving them the tools to talk directly to their customer base.

Content partners that feature in the current portfolio of Mobizines™ are Condé Nast (GQ and Glamour), OK!, TimeOut, ITV, Daily Snack (celebrity news), TV Genius (TV listings) and sports news from TeamTalk.

According to Refresh Mobile Chief Executive Officer Scott Beaumont: “We know that the mobile is ubiquitous but, until now, neither brands nor advertisers have been able to take advantage of the intimate relationship that consumers have with their mobile.

“By working directly with content publishers, we aim to bring integrity back to the mobile space, allowing mobile users to engage for the 1st time in a trusting relationship with their favourite brands. At the same time, advertisers can begin to target their customers directly and build a relationship through contextual adverts which are meaningful to the reader.”

“we are making mobile publishing profitable. Media publishers can use Mobizines™ to stimulate sales of their own titles, cross-promote other media assets and provide a gateway to third party content sales. By developing a platform for high quality content that the consumer actually wants to read, we are providing a compelling medium for advertisers.”

“To achieve this, we’ve turned the industry upside down by working with publishers directly to develop what their customers ultimately want. As a result, Mobizines™ actually look like their parent magazines, unlike WAP content. The editions are quick to download, easy to use, cost the consumer pennies and whether you are travelling or just killing time they provide the perfect content ‘snack.’”

According to Abigail Chisman, Editor-in-chief, Condé Nast Interactive: “What we are doing with Refresh Mobile represents the next step in presenting our brands to a wider audience in a dynamic environment. It offers the capacity to integrate engaging ad formats and build a new business stream. Mobizines™ also allow us to reach our most loyal readers directly so they need never be without us.”

David Pepper MD for TimeOut London, comments: “The TimeOut Mobizine™ complements the magazine and website perfectly, by providing our readers with instant updates on what’s going on in London wherever they are. Refresh Mobile has opened up promotion and advertising opportunities in the mobile sector, which were previously unavailable, making the service an attractive business offer as well.”

The company’s long-term goal is to make Mobizine™ publishing completely democratic whereby even the smaller players can create their own Mobizine™ to reach their specific audiences. Scott Beaumont adds: “Mobizines™ provide a platform where anything from a local club newsletter to a national magazine can be made available to a mobile phone audience.”

Mobizines are typically made up of 4 sections and each of these sections contains 5 stories. For example, the TimeOut Mobizine™ sections are Films, Restaurants, Music and Tip Of The Day. At the bottom of each story a user will find links to other stories, downloadable content or other relevant merchandising pertinent to that particular brand.

To download Mobizines™ to the handset, the consumer texts 'Mobi' followed by the name of the Mobizine™ (e.g. TimeOut) to 63333 and follows the instructions to download. The consumer can read each Mobizine™ as often as s/he likes at no extra cost and only pays once per edition. This edition automatically gets updated when the next edition is published. Subsequent connections are even faster and consumers can see other Mobizines™ available for download.


Notes to editors:

About Refresh Mobile:
Refresh Mobile provides quick and easy to use publishing solutions for mobile.
Refresh Mobile's unique Mobizines™ Builder allows publishers to deliver multiple branded titles and multiple editions to the consumer without the need for constant redevelopment or significant publishing resource.

Refresh Mobile was founded by two former members of the T-Mobile global management team. It has closed a round of funding with Accel Partners.

Accel Partners manages more than $3 billion with offices in Silicon Valley and London. Over the last twenty-one years, Accel has invested in over 200 internet and technology companies and have helped create many category defining companies such as Walmart.com, Macromedia, UUNet and RealNetworks. In addition, Accel are very active investors in The Facebook, Brightcove, Glam.com, comScore and many others.

Bruce Golden, general partner, Accel Partners:
“We were immediately excited by the potential of Refresh Mobile. As well as having a compelling vision and a clear strategy, the company owns an innovative technology that is likely to have a huge impact on the mobile publishing sector. We all know that content on mobile will be one of the next big things - it just hasn’t happened yet. We think Mobizines™ could be the catalyst in the mobile content world”

Refresh Mobile is a privately held UK Limited Company that began trading in 2005.

Pricing:
Mobizines™ are free - there's no up front subscription cost to Mobizines™ or lengthy registration process required. The customer only pays per edition and a one off fee to download the software reader. The cost per edition varies by network but on average costs between 3 and 10p. Further information can be found online at www.mobizines.com.

Refresh Mobile has worked carefully to ensure that content, no matter how rich and colourful, is highly compressed in order to ensure fast download rates and hence to give maximum value to customers. Unlike WAP where the customer can never be sure what the service is costing and where simply finding your way to the operator’s home page may cost 20p, Refresh Mobile works to ensure that the customer can receive a Mobizine™ for minimal costs.

Technical Information
Mobizines™ operate on Symbian (using Macromedia Flash Lite technology) and Java-based mobile handsets. Each handset can store multiple Mobizines™, and some handsets can store up to 50 individual Mobizines™.

For further info
Please contact:
Russell Williams or Ane Olesen at Cow PR on +44 (0)20 7684 6969
Elaine Devereux at Refresh Mobile on +44 (0)7950 396249
www.mobizines.com or www.RefreshMobile.com