MobilityWire

Just in time for the holiday season, Talkster is offering the first 10,000 people who sign up at Talkster.com $5 in free calling credit. To participate, visit www.Talkster.com, and sign up before it’s too late. Callers should use the promo code “TALKSTER” to get their $5 in free calling credit.

With $5 in free calling credits, people can speak more than 2 hours to India, more than 4 hours to China and 5 hours to Mexico (time based on calling rates from the United States).

Under this promotion, callers get access to 50 countries with the lowest calling rates in the industry. Current Free World Dialing customers will enjoy access to new calling areas through this partnership, including Brazil, Japan, South Africa, and Pakistan.

“Talkster understands the holidays are the time of year when connecting with friends and family, especially those away from home, is important to all of us,” said James Wanless, COO of Talkster. “This special holiday offer gives our customers even more to celebrate. With international calling rates as little as .08 cents a minute to call places like Thailand, we are making the whole world that much closer. People can talk for as long as they want without worrying about being hit with a huge phone bill.”

For more information visit Talkster at www.Talkster.com.

About Rebtel
Rebtel makes it possible to call any phone, anywhere in the world, for just cents per minute. Rebtel services can be used with any phone – landline or mobile. There is no charge to set up an account. No contract. No monthly fees. No connection fees. No hidden costs. Anyone may make a free five minute call to test the service. Thereafter, customers only pay for the minutes they use. Free Calls between more than 50 counties served by Rebtel are always free and only one of the two people on a call have to be a Rebtel customer.

About Talkster
Talkster is revolutionizing communications with award-winning ad-supported and software-based technologies. Through its Free World Dialing™ service and talki™ mobile application Talkster is giving consumers highly affordable alternatives to long distance and international calling, plus text and picture messaging. Talkster’s talki white label application allows companies to create new opportunities for revenue and marketing by offering customers compelling services delivered through a branded mobile interface. From your mobile phone visit http://m.talki.me to download talki. For more information visit Talkster at www.Talki.me.

Aicent Inc. (www.aicent.com) announced today that its mBridge MMS virtual delivery service has been chosen as the Best Operator Software for application or service delivery in the eighth annual Mobile Star Awards™ program, hosted by mobile technology news portal MobileVillage.com.

As in past years, the Mobile Star Awards program showcases “best of” entries in dozens of categories including mobile apps, enterprise mobile software, wireless network products, enterprise success stories, and mobile industry visionaries.

mBridge MMS Virtual Delivery enables mobile operators worldwide to offer subscribers a seamless method to easily send multimedia messages to any non-MMS enabled phone anywhere. mBridge works by allowing the recipient to download and reply to incoming MMS messages directly from the mobile phone, allowing subscribers the ability to reach anyone in the mobile world regardless of networks or technology.

mBridge version 2.0, released in January this year, has been deployed by over 30 tier one mobile operators around the world including the largest GSM operators in China, North America and India. In its first year of operation the virtual delivery service has increased message volume by more than 80 percent from Q2 to Q3 2009.

“Winning a Mobile Star award is further proof that mBridge is an important service, and further validates our innovation and overall success at offering the most advanced products for MMS and SMS delivery on the market,” said MK Chang, vice president of product marketing at Aicent. “Unlike similar products, mBridge enables mobile operators to instantly offer worldwide reach for successful MMS delivery, a service their subscribers are increasingly using. By allowing subscribers to deliver messages globally, mobile operators can increase user satisfaction while they expand revenue through MMS service growth.”

Winners were chosen by subscribers of MobileVillage’s Go Mobile™ – a free e-newsletter that delivers headlines and links from top mobile technology stories on popular websites such as CNET, Engadget, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Computerworld, AppScout, and others. “Go Mobile” was launched nearly 10 years ago and is now published every three weeks for thousands of readers.

“Aicent’s mBridge meets a very real and growing demand for seamless MMS delivery,” said Jon Covington, MobileVillage founder and president. “Our ‘Go Mobile’ readers clearly saw the importance of offering successful MMS delivery and because our readers are savvy mobile business users and vote based on results, not hype, it’s clear that Aicent is a market leader and company to watch in 2010.”

In addition to MobileVillage, the Sponsors for the 2009 Mobile Star Awards were Clickatell, Funambol, MobileFrame, Nadel Phelan, OnPoint Digital, and Syclo.

All categories and winners are listed on MobileVillage.com at www.mobilevillage.com/awards.htm. For more information about the annual Mobile Star Awards, visit MobileVillage.com.

About MobileVillage / PDA Inc.
Founded in 1993, MobileVillage is a market and solution development company dedicated to advancing mobile and wireless technology in a wide range of industries. MobileVillage accomplishes this by fostering education and alliances through “Best of Breed” solution identification, event partnerships, an online industry directory, industry job postings, daily online news, its widely respected Go Mobile™ newsletter, a Mobile Mentors™ program, and popular annual Mobile Star Awards™ program. Visit MobileVillage online at www.MobileVillage.com.

MobileVillage^®, the Mobile Star Awards™, and Go Mobile™ are trademarks or registered trademarks of MobileVillage / PDA Inc.

About Aicent Inc.
Serving almost 2 billion mobile users around the world, Aicent Inc. is a leading provider of network infrastructure, interworking and roaming services for mobile operators globally. Aicent currently operates one of the world’s largest 3G/GPRS roaming network and messaging exchanges, counting over 150 mobile operators on a single network, including four of the world’s five largest. Through extensive peering and interconnect arrangements, the Aicent network reaches over 700 mobile operators globally, providing its customers with integrated mobile messaging services, including one of the world’s first and largest multimedia messaging exchanges, and offers other value-added services to help carriers maximize revenue opportunities. Founded in 2000 and headquartered in San Jose, Calif., Aicent has regional offices in the Americas, Asia Pacific and Europe. For more information, please visit: www.aicent.com.

Talkster (www.talkster.com) announced today its talki™ mobile software took top honors in the eighth annual Mobile Star Awards™ program, winning the SUPERSTAR award in both the Consumer App: Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and Consumer App: Email or Messaging categories.

Other nominees in the Consumer App: VoIP category included Skype, Skype Lite and Fring. In the Consumer App: Email or Messaging category, nominees included Synchronica’s Mobile Gateway, emoze and Momail.

The Mobile Star Awards recognize the top mobile products, success stories and visionaries as chosen by thousands of readers of technology news portal MobileVillage’s Go Mobile™ newsletter. The SUPERSTAR award is the highest honor given to Mobile Star Award winners.

Built on Talkster’s award-winning Free World Dialing™ service, the talki software is built in the Java programming language for use on the widest number of phones possible. Talki gives users unlimited free text and picture messaging and delivers long distance and international calls for the cost of a local call.

“Talki is ideal for people looking to save money on calls, picture sharing and text messaging, especially this holiday season,” said James Wanless, the COO of Talkster. “I’d like to thank the entire Talkster team for their great contributions to making talki a simple and affordable dialing and messaging solution that our customers love to use.”

Talki was selected as the SUPERSTAR winner by subscribers of MobileVillage’s Go Mobile™ – an e-newsletter that delivers headlines and links from top mobile technology stories on popular websites such as CNET, Engadget, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Computerworld, AppScout, and others. “Go Mobile” was launched nearly ten years ago and is now published every three weeks for thousands of readers.

Today, people pay for both sending and receiving text (SMS) and picture (MMS) messages, and the cost can be high. In Canada one might expect to pay 20 to 25 cents for each text message and 50 cents or more for each MMS message either sent or received. But with talki the cost of these messages is drastically reduced. If both the sender and the recipient are using talki, messages between them are free. If the recipient isn’t using talki, then Talkster sends your message by SMS and you save up to 80% over regular SMS rates. Talkster gives you 25 free SMS to start, which you can send anywhere in the world. While SMS text messages are limited to 160 characters each, talki messages have no character limit.

“‘Go Mobile’ readers are the industry’s most savvy mobile business users, meaning Talkster can declare that talki was truly the users’ choice,” says Jon Covington, MobileVillage founder and president. “talki was chosen based on genuine results, not hype. Talkster was up against tough competition in these categories and has shown true leadership in innovation in the VoIP and messaging space.”

Visit http://www.talkster.com/Countries.aspx to see where the Talkster service is available.

For more information about the annual Mobile Star Awards, visit MobileVillage.com.

About Talkster
Talkster is revolutionizing communications with award-winning ad-supported and software-based technologies. Through its Free World Dialing™ service and talki™ mobile application Talkster is giving consumers highly affordable alternatives to long distance and international calling, plus text and picture messaging. Talkster’s talki white label application allows companies to create new opportunities for revenue and marketing by offering customers compelling services delivered through a branded mobile interface. From your mobile phone visit http://m.talki.me to download talki. For more information visit Talkster at www.talkster.com.

About MobileVillage / PDA Inc.
Founded in 1993, MobileVillage is a market and solution development company dedicated to advancing mobile and wireless technology in a wide range of industries. MobileVillage accomplishes this by fostering education and alliances through “Best of Breed” solution identification, event partnerships, an online industry directory, industry job postings, daily online news, its widely respected Go Mobile™ newsletter, a Mobile Mentors™ program, and popular annual Mobile Star Awards™ program. Visit MobileVillage online at www.MobileVillage.com.

MobileVillage^®, the Mobile Star Awards™, and Go Mobile™ are trademarks or registered trademarks of MobileVillage / PDA Inc.

Alternative mobile communications company, Talkster (www.talki.me), today announced its mobile application, talki™, won Technology Marketing Corporation’s (TMC) 2008 Communications Solutions Product of the Year Award. Talkster’s talki™ mobile application gives consumers affordable alternatives to traditional long distance and international calling, plus text and picture messaging without the hefty SMS and MMS charges. Since introducing its award-winning consumer communications services in 2007, Talkster has saved callers millions in international calling fees.

The Communications Solutions Product of the Year Award recognizes Talkster’s vision, leadership and attention to detail which are the hallmarks of the prestigious award. Talkster has been awarded TMC’s Communications Solutions Product of the Year Award for the last three years; having won for its innovation in voice over instant messaging (VoIM) technologies in 2006 and for its innovative Free World Dialing™ ad-supported calling service in 2007.

“Talkster has been recognized with our 2008 Product of the Year Award for its excellence in the advancement of voice and data communications,” said Rich Tehrani, TMC President and Group Editor-in-Chief. “Talkster has proven it is a company committed to quality and excellence in solutions that benefit consumers worldwide. Especially key in this trying economy are solutions like talki that leverage mobile technology to save consumers money. With this award TMC is honoring the innovations of Talkster’s team for the third year running as the company continues to successfully evolve its alternative communications offerings to meet the needs of consumers and VNOs around the globe.”

talki is a new lightweight software application from Talkster, available as a download or accessible through a mobile browser. It offers free or low-cost international calling, plus text and picture messaging, all in one convenient and easy to use mobile app. Talkster incorporated its award-winning Free World Dialing service into talki so people in 37 countries can place long distance calls at the same rate they pay for local calls, meaning no more expensive international mobile phone charges. For calling to countries where Free World Dialing is not yet supported, calling can still be done at rates 80 percent to 90 percent less than typical mobile calling rates. What’s more, the talki mobile app offers consumers unlimited global text messaging without SMS charges and global picture messaging without MMS charges.

Also available as a white labeled service, talki allows VNOs to deliver new voice, text and multimedia services to mobile subscribers without relying on carrier infrastructure. With talki, VNO’s can easily deliver new communications services, such as free or low-cost international calling or unlimited text and picture messaging, opening up new opportunities for revenue and marketing, independent of carrier capabilities and without the need for capex investments. The talki white label service includes a complete portal with tools for managing subscribers, subscription packages, advertising campaigns and monitoring usage statistics. Plus, Talkster’s mobile billing system gives VNOs an easy way to offer their customers the ability to purchase calling and messaging credits directly from their mobile phones via SMS or PayPal.

The 2008 Communications Solutions Product of the Year Award winners can be found on the INTERNET TELEPHONY and Customer Interaction Solutions Web site.

About Talkster
Talkster is revolutionizing communications with award-winning ad-supported and software-based technologies. Through its Free World DialingTM service and talkiTM mobile application Talkster is giving consumers highly affordable alternatives to long distance and international calling, plus text and picture messaging. Talkster’s talki white label application allows companies to create new opportunities for revenue and marketing by offering customers compelling services delivered through a branded mobile interface. From your mobile phone visit http://free.talkster.com to start using Free World Dialing, and http://m.talki.me to download talki. For more information visit Talkster at www.Talkster.com.

About TMC
Technology Marketing Corporation (TMC) is a global integrated media company helping our clients build communities in print, in person and online. TMC publishes Customer Interaction Solutions, INTERNET TELEPHONY, Unified Communications, and NGN Magazine. TMCnet, TMC’s Web site, is the leading source of news and articles for the communications and technology industries. TMCnet is read by two to three million unique visitors each month worldwide, according to Webtrends. TMCnet is ranked as 2,921 in Quantcast’s Top U.S. Sites placing TMCnet in the top .03% most visited Web sites in the US. In addition, TMC produces ITEXPO, 4GWE Conference, Digium|Asterisk World and Communications Developer Conference.
TMC’s Green Blog has been ranked on the “100 Best Blogs for Those Who Want to Change the World”. TMC also recently launched new industry-specific Web sites: IT.TMCnet.com, Cable.TMCnet.com, Robotics.TMCnet.com, Satellite.TMCnet.com, Green.TMCnet.com. New services offered by TMCnet include the Tech Jobs site, TMCnet iPhone News and Facebook connections. For more information about TMC, visit www.tmcnet.com.

Aicent, Inc. (www.aicent.com) announced today that Network Products Guide, the industry’s leading publication on information technologies and solutions, has named mBridge a winner of the 2009 Product Innovation Award. This venerable annual award recognizes and honors the innovative and ground-breaking products from vendors from all over the world that are bringing essential and incremental changes and are setting the bar higher for others in all areas of information technology.

“Innovation is clearly an important factor to greater success and has the most impact on staying competitive,” says Rake Narang, editor-in-chief of Network Products Guide. “Aicent’s mBridge allows operators to provide the absolute best MMS delivery, even to non-enabled MMS phones, which proves not only product innovation but also ground-breaking technology benefitting the entire mobile community.”

mBridge MMS Virtual Delivery is the newest version of Aicent’s multimedia messaging service (MMS) that enables global carrier partners to offer subscribers a way to easily send multimedia messages to any non-enabled MMS phone, including the iPhone, across any network, any time. mBridge works by allowing the recipient to download and reply to incoming MMS messages from a web URL link embedded in an SMS notification, allowing subscribers who send the message to use their normal sending procedures.

“Winning the best mobile service solution for this year’s Product Innovation award is further validation that new approaches to solving the communications challenges brought about by a fragmented mobile marketplace are not only possible but will meet the high expectations of our customers,” said MK Chang, vice president of product marketing at Aicent. “As services like MMS swiftly gain momentum in the market, we look forward to offering the best solutions to help our carrier customers meet the messaging and data needs of their mobile subscribers.”

To read more about Aicent’s mBridge, please visit http://www.networkproductsguide.com/innovations/ or visit Aicent’s MMS products page at http://www.aicent.net/products_services/mms/.

About Network Products Guide Awards
Network Products Guide is a media sponsor of Interop and Technosium Executive Alliance Forums engaging Chief Information Officers (CIOs) and Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs). As industry’s leading technology research and advisory publication, it plays a vital role in keeping decision makers and end-users informed of the choices they can make in all areas of information technology. You will discover a wealth of information and tools in this guide including the best products and services, roadmaps, industry directions, technology advancements and independent product evaluations that facilitate in making the most pertinent technology decisions impacting business and personal goals. The guide follows conscientious research methodologies developed and enhanced by industry experts. To learn more, visit www.networkproductsguide.com.

About Aicent, Inc.
Serving more than one billion mobile users around the world, Aicent Inc. is a leading provider of data network services and solutions for global mobile operators. To enable interoperability between Aicent customers and other networks, Aicent operates one of the world’s largest GPRS and 3G network exchanges, connecting to over 50 operators, including four of the world’s five largest. Through extensive peering arrangements, the Aicent network reaches nearly all GPRS/3G operators around the world. Aicent also operates integrated mobile messaging services, including one of the world’s first and largest multimedia messaging exchanges, and offers other value-added services to help carriers maximize revenue opportunities. Founded in 2000 and headquartered in San Jose, Calif., Aicent has regional offices in the Americas, Asia Pacific and Europe. For more information, please visit: www.aicent.com.

Talkster (www.Talkster.com), the company delivering brands and publishers instant mobile content delivery services including text, video, calling and web, announced today it will be exhibiting and conducting business development meetings at World Telemedia 2009 (WT09), in Malta, April 26-28.

About World Telemedia 2009
Held on the beautiful island of Malta, World Telemedia 2009 is the only European event for premium content and services companies focused on linking the power of the media and marketing with network billing collection and delivery. As many markets enter a period of economic uncertainty, WT09 focuses on areas that represent a genuine opportunity for service providers and media groups alike and showcases the content, services and applications that consumers will continue to demand.

Talkster at World Telemedia 2009
Talkster executives will join leading telemedia players at WT09 to conduct business development meetings and demonstrate the ways brands and publishers can create new revenue streams using talki, Talkster’s mobile application.

With talki, companies can deliver mobile content and advertising to their customers’ existing phones with no SMS opt-in issues and zero cost to push new content updates, along with value added communications services such as texting, picture messaging and worldwide calling.

Talkster will be exhibiting at WT09. To schedule a meeting with Talkster executives at WT09 email partners@talkster.com or call +44 (0) 871 2400112.

About Talkster
Talkster is revolutionizing communications with award-winning ad-supported and software-based technologies. Through its Free World DialingTM service and talkiTM mobile application Talkster is giving consumers highly affordable alternatives to long distance and international calling, plus text and picture messaging. Talkster’s talki white label application allows companies to create new opportunities for revenue and marketing by offering customers compelling services delivered through a branded mobile interface. From your mobile phone visit http://free.talkster.com to start using Free World Dialing, and http://m.talki.me to download talki. For more information visit Talkster at www.Talkster.com.

Aicent Inc. (www.aicent.com) announced today that Smart Communications, the Philippines’ leading wireless services provider, has selected mBridge to enhance multimedia message service (MMS) delivery for their over 35.2 million subscribers.

MMS lets mobile subscribers send messages with pictures and videos as easily as they do text messages. As a large majority of new mobile phones come equipped with both still and video cameras, mobile operators have experienced increased demand for rich content messaging from customers.

SMART is using both Aicent’s MMS Gateway service along with the enhanced mBridge Virtual Delivery. The MMS Gateway Service provides SMART with a convenient and efficient way to rapidly establish global MMS interoperability with reliable, cost-effective commercial MMS delivery and termination capabilities, while mBridge takes the service one step further by offering subscribers a way to easily send multimedia messages to any non-enabled MMS phone, including the iPhone, across any network at any time. With mBridge, SMART subscribers can now send pictures and videos to friends and family anywhere in the world.

The growing popularity of MMS messaging has rapidly made it an in-demand service for global mobile subscribers. Aicent’s mBridge solution easily allows carriers like SMART to upgrade their messaging infrastructure to enable their subscribers with global MMS delivery, extending multimedia message delivery to phones not equipped to receive MMS messages as well as to subscribers on networks that currently do not support MMS.

Aicent’s mBridge solution complements Aicent’s MMS Gateway service. The MMS Gateway service provides SMART seamless MMS interoperability with over 200 wireless operators on the industry’s largest MMS eXchange while Aicent’s mBridge virtual delivery capability extends MMS delivery to non-interconnected networks.

mBridge works by allowing the recipient to download and reply to incoming MMS messages from a web URL link embedded in an SMS notification. Subscribers who send the message use their normal sending procedures. A new feature of mBridge extends this service even further by letting the subscriber browse the text parts and images on the web or a PC using the same URL, and then download the message if desired via the mobile phone.

“The success Smart Communications has had with our mBridge service proves not only how committed they are to continually offering the most cutting-edge services to their customers, but also how efficient mBridge is for flawless MMS delivery, ” said Lynn Liu, president and CEO of Aicent. “As MMS continues to swiftly gain momentum in the market, SMART can now easily meet this demand from subscribers, enabling them to maintain their leadership role as one of Asia Pacific’s most advanced wireless service providers.”

About Smart Communications, Inc. (SMART)
Smart Communications, Inc. is the Philippines’ leading wireless services provider with 35.2 million subscribers on its GSM network as of end-December 2008. Of its total subscriber base, 20.9 million subscribers are served under the brands Smart Buddy, Smart Gold and Smart Infinity and another 14.3 million subscribers are served through its subsidiary, Pilipino Telephone Corp., under the brand Talk ‘N Text. SMART has built a reputation for innovation, having introduced world-first wireless data services, including mobile commerce services such as Smart Money, Smart Load and Smart Padala. SMART also offers a 3G service, Smart 3G. Its Smart Link and Blue Ocean Wireless services provide communications to the global maritime industry. Another subsidiary, Smart Broadband, Inc., offers a wireless broadband service, Smart BRO. SMART is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Philippines’ leading telecommunications carrier, the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company. For more information, visit http://www.smart.com.ph/.

About Aicent, Inc.
Serving more than one billion mobile users around the world, Aicent Inc. is a leading provider of data network services and solutions for global mobile operators. To enable interoperability between Aicent customers and other networks, Aicent operates one of the world’s largest GPRS and 3G network exchanges, connecting to over 50 operators, including four of the world’s five largest. Through extensive peering arrangements, the Aicent network reaches nearly all GPRS/3G operators around the world. Aicent also operates integrated mobile messaging services, including one of the world’s first and largest multimedia messaging exchanges, and offers other value-added services to help carriers maximize revenue opportunities. Founded in 2000 and headquartered in San Jose, Calif., Aicent has regional offices in the Americas, Asia Pacific and Europe. For more information, please visit: www.aicent.com.

Aicent Inc. announced today that it has connected its 100th direct international multimedia messaging service (MMS) customer, an accomplishment that further affirms the company’s leadership role in the global mobile multimedia messaging business.