Acquisition Launches Company in New Direction of Mobile Web Communications
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- iSkoot, the leading provider of
carrier-friendly mobile VoIP solutions, today announced that the company has
acquired Social.IM, the social network IM client. This acquisition positions
iSkoot to grow beyond mobile VoIP and create a compelling and valuable
consumer solution with a growing lineup of Web communications that can be
integrated and pushed to your phone.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080905/AQF020)
"Social.IM has served as an instant Web communications desktop platform
and we see a clear consumer integration with iSkoot's upcoming suite of Web to
mobile push services," said Mark Jacobstein, iSkoot CEO. "Acquiring Social.IM
is a key step in our path to introduce later this year a groundbreaking new
communications platform that will revolutionize the mobile landscape."
Social.IM built a customizable desktop application and Web service that
adds real-time communication and desktop notifications for social networks,
online communities, and Web sites. The technology includes a desktop IM client
and also the capability to deliver new message alerts, information, and
content to social network or online community members. Social.IM also released
a developer API that allows for social network application developers to reach
their users on desktop.
"iSkoot is ideally positioned to become the leading push services
communications provider, both on the mobile platform and the Web," said
Yan-David Erlich, Social.IM CEO. "We are excited to see Social.IM participate
in enabling the next step in their growing lineup of valuable consumer
solutions."
iSkoot already delivers mobile VoIP solutions for carriers and millions of
consumers around the world. But this year, the mobile VoIP leader has begun to
focus on the development of mobile products and services that integrate the
mission-critical Web services that consumers value most into mobile handsets.
The acquisition is the latest in a series of significant developments for
iSkoot. Earlier this year, the company hired CEO Mark Jacobstein, an
experienced mobile services executive who played key roles at Digital
Chocolate and Loopt. Also, after the success of the iSkoot powered Skypephone,
Skype and iSkoot announced a new five-year agreement. As part of the deal,
iSkoot received for the first time the exclusive rights to offer the Skype
mobile services though carrier partners in eight countries.
About iSkoot
San Francisco-based iSkoot, with offices in Cambridge and Israel, brings
leading internet services like Skype(TM) to mobile handsets around the world,
delivering rich consumer experiences with minimal impact on operator networks.
iSkoot launched the first and only carrier-grade, carrier-deployed
Skype-for-Mobile application in 2006, and now powers the Mobile World Congress
award-winning 3 Skypephone currently sold in eight countries on three
continents. iSkoot takes advantage of the voice-optimized circuit-switched
network for delivery of voice communications, in keeping with its mission to
engineer elegant and operator-friendly solutions to the challenge of bringing
resource-intensive internet services to mobile handsets. For more information,
visit http://www.iskoot.com
iSkoot is a trademark of iSkoot Inc. All other trademarks, service marks
and company names are the property of their respective owners.
Contact:
Erica Jostedt
SutherlandGold Group for iSkoot
415.848.7172
erica@sutherlandgold.com
SOURCE iSkoot
Erica Jostedt of SutherlandGold Group, +1-415-848-7172,
erica@sutherlandgold.com, for iSkoot
