Available soon this year on Hutchison Telecom’s Orange GSM dualband and CDMA networks, ICQ Mobile for SMS provides Hutchison Telecom’s mobile users wireless access to the ICQ instant messaging service.
ICQ (I Seek You), a wholly-owned subsidiary of America Online, Inc., is the world’s largest online communications community and biggest international service with 93 million registered users worldwide.
With ICQ Mobile for SMS, ICQ users will be able to send and receive instant messages from their SMS-enabled phones with friends, family, and business associates who are connected from a PC, mobile phone or other wireless device and ICQ users will also have the ability to send messages directly between mobile devices. Hutchison Telecom’s mobile users on ICQ Mobile for SMS will have access to many of ICQ’s convenient features, including the Contact List feature that indicates to users when friends, family and business associates are available. Later versions of the service will include access to instant text message alerts with timely, personalized content such as weather and stock quotes. The companies have also agreed to promote the service across a variety of online and offline channels.
In addition, as a result of this agreement, users of the current ICQ product, 2000b will be able to send SMS messages to Hutchison Telecom’s mobile users in a number of different ways both on the ICQ client and Web site. Almost instantly the recipient will receive the text message and can respond in real time.
Donn Davis, President of AOL Interactive Properties, said: We are thrilled to invite Hutchison Telecom’s wireless community of more than 1.6 million users into the ICQ global family. Already ICQ’s 93 million registered users around the world use the service to conveniently stay in touch with their friends, family and business associates virtually anywhere in the world at any time. With this enhanced ability to send messages across a number of platforms, this underscores ICQ’s leadership in robust instant messaging and communications services.
Dennis Patrick, President of AOL Mobile, said: We are excited to help build the market’s leading instant messaging service’s wireless offerings. This is an important extension of the AOL family of brands into the mobile environment. Already a central part of their daily lives, ICQ users will find the ability to send instant messages directly between mobile devices an invaluable communications tool.
Ariel Yarnitsky, co-General Manager of ICQ, said: ICQ Mobile for SMS enables ICQ users to take the service’s convenience with them wherever they go. ICQ users are Web savvy and mobile. We are excited to see ICQ further extended to new platforms, underscoring our commitment to enhancing our wireless offerings around the globe.
ICQ Mobile for SMS will be available on Hutchison Telecom Mobile Networks in the second quarter 2001.
