October 7, 2005
Weathernews available on i-mode®
-- Weathernews joins O2’s growing number of i-mode content providers --
O2 has today announced it has partnered with Weathernews to provide weather content services using the i-mode service to consumers in the UK.The partnership will see Weathernews available from 1st October 2005 and will feature colourful five days forecasts for 27,000 worldwide locations, along with satellite images, and video forecasts.The site will offer mobile consumers access to weather content services on its i-mode site from £0.75 per month.As an official partner, Weathernews will be available through i-mode’s intuitive interface under News & Weather.
The partnership forms part of i-mode’s unique content structure through which Weathernews will be able to quickly develop and deploy sophisticated, secure commercial content to consumers. It allows Weathernews to expand its revenue opportunities by selling its content through O2’s generous revenue sharing model.Weathernews will collect its revenue from subscription based services billed directly through the user's phone bill permitting it to concentrate on its core business. i-mode is a flexible business model that facilitates both subscription based and non-subscription based content.
The Weathernews service is graphical, dynamic and accurate.It provides a broad range of services such as the traditional provision of 4 day forecasts, satellite images, precipitation charts and max/min images for the UK and around the world.The service does not stop there though with dynamic forecasts which link directly to forthcoming events for many sports, such as rugby, cricket and F1 as well as providing forecasts for the major football leagues.Outdoor activities such as skiing are covered with over 900 locations worldwide with information on the number of pistes open and current snow conditions. If you are a walking enthusiast then we provide forecasts for all the major walking areas with both lower and upper forecasts available.The Weathernews philosophy is one of making weather services accessible, relevant and useful and the site reflects this with its broad range of data and services.
Grahame Riddell, Head of i-mode Marketing for O2 UK said: “We are pleased to be working with Weathernews to offer its weather content services to our customers.Weathernews has managed to capture the benefits of i-mode and joined the i-mode ecosystem to offer its users a compelling mobile experience.O2 wants to make developing mobile content as attractive and as easy for businesses as possible.The building of a strong content community both on and off portal will be critical to the success of the services.Our research clearly shows that consumers are willing to look at and pay for mobile content, and expectations are tied closely to a user’s experience of the Internet.Use will be driven by periods of downtime, communication applications, like e-mail, and situational driven use, when information is needed instantly.The overriding point for consumers is that convenience is key.”
Oliver Hughes, Mobile Business Development for Weathernews adds “Weathernews is delighted to partner with O2 and offer content for their launch of i-mode in the UK. We both share the same vision for mobile services, and i-mode provides us with an additional distribution channel, allowing more people access to weather information wherever they are”.
About i-mode®
The i-mode service, exclusively from O2, marks a departure from the closed ‘walled-garden’ approach to content provision to an open environment, encouraging community building and innovative content services.It is easier for content partners to develop commercially viable customer-focused services with a low incremental cost model – i-mode sites can be built for less than £10K, reducing the immediate pressure for subscription revenues, and encouraging a diverse range of original services and content.
i-mode builds on O2’s market-leading position in the provision of mobile messaging and content services.With one in three text messages in the UK sent across the O2network nearly 22 per cent of the group’s service revenues now derive from data.The addition of the i-mode capability to O2’s service portfolio in the medium term will complement the highly successful O2Active WAP portal, which now has well over 3 million customers and represents more than 50 per cent of UK mobile internet traffic.
-Ends-
Notes to Editors
About i-mode®
'i-mode' and the 'i-mode' logo are trade marks or registered trade marks of NTT DoCoMo Inc. in Japan and other countries.
About O2
O2 is a leading provider of mobile services to consumers and businesses in the UK. It is the leader in non-voice services, including text, media messaging, games, music and video, as well as always on data connections via GPRS, 3G and WLAN. Each month O2’s 15 million plus customers send a billion text messages. O2 (UK) Ltd is a subsidiary of O2 plc, which also owns O2 branded mobile operators in Ireland and Germany as well as the Airwave O2 emergency services network in the UK.
O2 and the O2 logo are registered trade marks of the O2 group of companies.
About Weathernews
WEATHERNEWS U.K. LTD. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Weathernews, Inc. Based in Japan, Weathernews, Inc. is the world's largest full-service weather company (Tokyo Stock Exchange number 4825). A global organization with 37 offices in 15 countries, Weathernews delivers customized, risk communication services to businesses and individuals whose lives or livelihoods are affected by the weather. With over 12,000 business customers and over 1.5 million Mobile subscribers worldwide, the company consistently evaluates and evolves existing applications for weather information while exploring additional markets and industries which would benefit operationally and financially from specific weather information and delivery methods. Currently, Weathernews delivers weather information, analysis and risk communication services to some of the largest companies in mobile phone, aviation, shipping, offshore oil, marine, retail, media and more.
For further information please contact:
Weathernews UK Ltd
44 (0)207 061 6406
oliverh@wni.com
O2 Press Office
01753 565 656
pressoffice@O2.com
