VANCOUVER, British Columbia—Social networking vendor AirG said it expanded its customer list to include Alltel and Amp’d Mobile.
The company said it launched a mobile social networking community service with Alltel Corp. called Coolchat. Using the service, Alltel customers can chat with friends and family and participate in promotions and contests that use product features such as instant messaging, photo profiles and public and private messaging lounges. The service will work on BREW handsets including Motorola Inc.’s RAZR V3c and Kyocera Corp.’s Slider.
AirG and Alltel began working together five years ago on community products like games and messaging applications on Alltel’s Axcess Wireless Web service, said the companies.
AirG also announced a similar service with mobile virtual network operator Amp’d Mobile Inc. The service, called Amp’d Lounge, is designed to allow users to join a mobile community and is tailored to Amp’d Mobile’s targeted youth and young adult categories. The service is scheduled to be available on BREW-enabled handsets.
AirG said its mobile community currently has 7 million registered users. The company said it already has contracts with Sprint Nextel Corp., Virgin Mobile Group and Orange.
The idea of mobile social networking is attracting increasing attention. Planned MVNO Helio L.L.C. recently announced a partnership with social networking Web site Myspace.com that is expected to allow subscribers to share pictures, update their blogs and add or delete friends from their Myspace lists via their Helio phones. Another mobile social networking player, Intercasting Corp., last year raised $5.5 million in venture-capital financing that it said would fund development of its Rabble mobile blogging and social networking application. The company said the application would allow customers to use their mobile phone to create, publish and share media and connect with other users based on proximity or areas of interest.
