The Palringo press office

What do people use mobile IM for?

2009-07-20T14:00:00.001+01:00

Here is a selection of real-life ways [case studies] in which people have told us they use Palringo’s instant messaging service:

“I use Palringo both to send myself reminders at home (I have an account for my cellphone as well as for my home connection) and to stay in touch with friends all over the world. One of our favourite things to do is have 'movie showings' where two or three of us all watch the same movie or tv show and use Palringo to send comments back and forth... it's almost like having a friend there in person to share the show with you.” - RP
“Palringo is the only way I can use Google Talk on my phone. I have a lot of friends that sit on their computers and don’t answer their phones and, if I wanted to talk to them, I had to go home and log on Google Talk - or go to their houses. Palringo has saved me a lot of gas money!” - XW
“I was recently on a snowboarding trip to Vail, Colorado. With the nice weather on the mountain I was able to chat it up with a few online friends. I could send them instant, high-quality pictures of the snowboarding and scenery. I enabled the GPS function and my wife could get a good idea where I was on my trip! I’ve also used Palringo to send instant pictures of IT-related issues I am troubleshooting at work. I have recorded small conversations and sent them to co-workers in real time.” - MS
“Ever since I’ve had my iPhone 3G I’ve used Palringo with my MSN account when I'm on the road for my job. Because Palringo is very stable I can always be in touch with my colleagues, no matter were I am.” - BV
“Besides my full time desk job, I also have a part-time, 'home health' job. Palringo is very handy as the patients I see contact me via whichever service they use.” - KN
“I’m a long haul truck driver from North Carolina. My wife and I use Palringo to stay in instant contact and it allows me to send her pictures from the road. Your service allows me to be 2000 miles from home but be able to say ‘hello’ in milliseconds.” - WB
“Palringo keeps me in touch with my husband who lives in another country. With Palringo, we can manage the 4-5 hour time difference; I’m on my iphone at work while he is at home. It's a relationship-saver.” - D
“My daughter got married in Cancun last month and it seemed like our only option to talk to each other in Mexico was paying 59 cents per minute with a monthly additional charge from our phone company of US$4.99 for the service... until my son-in-law found Palringo. We talked to each other across the resort the whole time with no charge!” - L
"My daughter has some health issues. We allow her to spend time on her computer, but I instant message with her often, just to make sure she’s alright. I use Palringo to continue to IM with her even when I'm out of the house. That connection makes me feel better, and I've not used anything else which offers me the options Palringo does.” - TR

Please contact us for further information on these.

Palringo now available in BlackBerry App World

2009-06-01T15:00:00.001+01:00

Palringo's Webby Award-winning, multi-service, Instant Messaging application is newly available in the BlackBerry App World.

Palringo users exchange voice, picture and text-based messages with contacts on many popular messaging services including Microsoft’s Windows Live/MSN Messenger, Facebook™, AOL® Instant Messenger®, Google Talk™, Yahoo!® Messenger®, Apple’s iChat®, Gadu-Gadu, ICQ®, Jabber® and QQ. This means that Blackberry users can chat, and share photo and voice messages, with all of their friends on many different IM and social networking services using just one application instead of switching between multiple, single-service applications.

Palringo first became available on BlackBerry devices in April 2009 [see here].

Video demonstration: click here.

UK’s Palringo wins Webby People’s Voice Award for ‘Best Use of GPS or Location Technology’

2009-05-05T14:00:00.001+01:00

Newcastle, UK-based Palringo has won the Webby People’s Voice Award, voted for online by the global web community, in the Best Use of GPS or Location Technology category of the 13th Annual Webby Awards.

Hailed as the “internet’s highest honour” by the New York Times, the Webby Awards is the leading international award honouring excellence on the Internet.

Palringo’s founder and CTO, 23 year old Martin Rosinski, said: “The People’s Voice Awards are voted for by ordinary people, people who use the services or products concerned. To win one suggests we have developed a mobile service that people not only use, but love.”

Palringo adds Groups Gallery, enabling anyone to find and join the Palringo community through groups more easily

2009-04-29T10:30:00.008+01:00

Key information

Palringo’s Groups Gallery is a browsable directory that makes it easy for people to find Palringo groups they’d like to join and participate in.
The addition of Groups Gallery means that Palringo groups are significantly more useful than before: until today there was no way to find out about specific groups other than by word of mouth or guesswork.
Now, the Groups Gallery enables people to meet others who share similar interests, all in the same virtual place.
Groups are also a useful way for groups of friends or colleagues to stay in touch. Businesses are using Palringo groups as well as the location functionality to enable better communications between staff and to respond more quickly to customer needs.
Using a Palringo group for messaging enables voice, text and photos to be shared simultaneously with everyone in the group.
Statistics: there are more than 21,000 groups on Palringo, and 50,000 Palringo users are members of at least one group. More than 4 million group messages were sent last month. The largest group has 1,995 members.
Group owners manage how their group is seen in the Groups Gallery by editing the description, adding a photo and selecting the most appropriate category for the group. For privacy, group owners may designate their group as ‘ex-directory’, ensuring their group is excluded from the Groups Gallery.
Group owners also have tools to manage their community of group members, by promoting other members to help them administer the group or removing rowdy group members.

Quotes
Martin Rosinski, CTO of Palringo, said:

“The number and variety of groups in existence on Palringo is fabulous. Because it’s easy and free to create a group, if you can’t find what you’re looking for you can simply create your own group. Then you can promote your group in the gallery to attract new members.”
“The versatility of Palringo, the way it works across all sorts of mobile phones and operating systems, means it’s extremely inclusive – no-one is excluded because they’ve got the wrong handset, for example. The group functionality takes that a step further because everyone in a group can communicate with everyone else yet only needs to send one actual message. Now, by adding the Groups Gallery, Palringo has just made it a million times easier for new members to find and join any group.”

Links and resources

Palringo nominated for ‘Best Use of GPS or Location Technology’ Webby Award

2009-04-17T10:30:00.001+01:00

Fans can vote online to help Palringo win internet’s top honour

Palringo has been nominated in the Best Use of GPS or Location Technology category in the 13th Annual Webby Awards. Hailed as the “internet’s highest honour” by the New York Times, the Webby Awards is the leading international award honouring excellence on the Internet.

“Webby nominees set the standard for innovation and creativity on the Internet,” said David-Michel Davies, executive director of the Webby Awards. “It is an incredible achievement to be selected among the best from the nearly 10,000 entries we received this year.”

Palringo’s founder and CTO Martin Rosinski said: “Being shortlisted for a Webby Award is a sure signal to our users and customers that the outstanding location functionality we’ve built into Palringo is at the leading edge of what’s currently possible and useful in a messaging service.”

Nomination also makes Palringo eligible to win a Webby People’s Voice Award, voted for online by the global Web community. From now until April 30th, all admirers of Palringo can cast their votes in The Webby People’s Voice Awards at http://pv.webbyawards.com.

[ends]

Notes to editors
The Webby Awards is presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a 650-person judging academy whose members include Internet co-inventor Vinton Cerf, R/GA’s Chief Bob Greenberg, “Simpson’s” creator Matt Groening, Arianna Huffington, and Harvey Weinstein.

Winners will be announced on May 5th, 2009 at a ceremony in New York City on June 8th hosted by Seth Meyers. Winners will be able to share one of the Webby’s famous five-word speeches with the world. Past Webby Award winners - and their speeches - include Al Gore (“Please don’t recount this vote.”), Beastie Boys (“Can anyone fix my computer?”), and Stephen Colbert (“Me. Me. Me. Me. Me.”).

About Palringo
The Palringo service combines walkie-talkie style voice (vocal instant messaging), the real-time text chat functionality of instant messaging, the ability to share pictures, location and presence - all within the context of a discussion. Supporting connections to other popular instant messaging services, it enables both one-on-one and group discussions, and enables real-time dialogue, for users from across the globe, on any mobile network or connected PC. Palringo is a privately-held company based in Newcastle, UK.

About The Webby Awards
Hailed as the “Internet’s highest honor” by the New York Times, The Webby Awards is the leading international award honouring excellence on the Internet, including Websites, interactive advertising, online film and video, and mobile web sites. Established in 1996, the 13th Annual Webby Awards received over 10,000 entries from all 50 states and over 60 countries worldwide. The Webby Awards is presented by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. Sponsors and Partners of The Webby Awards include: Microsoft Silverlight; The Creative Group; .ORG; Getty Images; The Barbarian Group; Digital Kitchen; Wired; IDG; PricewaterhouseCoopers; 2advanced.Net; KobeMail and Museum of the Moving Image.

Palringo goes gold on BlackBerry® smartphones

2009-04-14T12:00:00.000+01:00

A new gold edition of Palringo for Blackberry® was launched today adding location functionality and support for Facebook™, iChat® and QQ.

Key points

Palringo for BlackBerry now includes the option to share your location with other Palringo users. Location and proximity [distance] of contacts are shown, both on the buddy list screen and on map displays for even greater precision.
User feedback on the initial beta version of Palringo for BlackBerry has been instrumental in refining the gold version. In particular, the connection issues identified in the beta version have been resolved.
Palringo is available now for the BlackBerry Pearl™, BlackBerry Curve™ and BlackBerry 8800 series. The application is free and downloadable from http://www.palringo.mobi/.
Palringo users can exchange voice, picture and text-based messages with contacts on many popular messaging services including Microsoft’s Windows Live/MSN Messenger, Facebook™, AOL® Instant Messenger®, Google Talk™, Yahoo!® Messenger®, Apple’s iChat®, Gadu-Gadu, ICQ®, Jabber® and QQ. This means that Blackberry users can chat, and share photo and voice messages, with all of their friends on many different IM and social networking services using just one application.
Palringo enables users to form and administer groups. Many businesses use Palringo Groups as an additional tool to enable communication with staff, whether they’re out in the field or in the office.
There are presently thousands of active groups on Palringo, ranging from entire businesses to special interest groups to sports clubs. There is no need to be online to receive messages; the conversation history can be read whenever a user logs in.
Palringo is designed for use on mobile phones, but versions are also available for Windows-based PCs and for Mac OS.
At the recent Mobile World Congress in Barcelona [February 2009], Palringo was shortlisted for a 2009 GSMA Global Mobile Award – the most prestigious annual awards in the world of mobile. The shortlist of five, in the Best Mobile Internet Service category, also featured Nokia and Bharti Airtel.

Quotes

Martin Rosinski, CTO of Palringo, said:

“We know of businesses using Palringo to gain a business edge over their competition, simply because it enables them to react more quickly to a situation: they either get to the customer first, or they keep the customer happier. Palringo shows [via status] which staff members are available and their location indicates whether they’re near or far away – so colleagues can send the right person the right message at the right time.”

“Getting Palringo right on BlackBerry is obviously an important step because so many business users have a BlackBerry and the device itself is the ‘permanent fixture’.”

“The new version of Palringo is a huge improvement on the previous beta version. Some elements of the application have been completely rewritten, particularly where we were unhappy with the quality of the original user experience. We’re confident that BlackBerry users will find it a valuable, useful, and fun addition to their device.”

Links and resources

Screenshots (Flickr): Palringo for BlackBerry
Video (YouTube): Palringo for BlackBerry

Microsoft and Windows Live are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Symbian and all Symbian-based trademarks and logos are trademarks of Symbian Software Limited. Java™ and all Java-based trademarks and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. The BlackBerry and RIM families of related marks, images and symbols are the exclusive properties and trademarks of Research In Motion Limited. iPhone and iChat are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. ICQ is a registered trademark of ICQ Inc., a division of America Online, Inc. JABBER is a registered trademark of Jabber Inc., and its use is licensed through the XMPP Standards Foundation. Other product or service names mentioned herein may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Palringo launches its multi-service IM application on Android Market

2009-03-24T09:00:00.003Z

Popular mobile instant messaging application Palringo is now available on the Android Market. Using Palringo, Android users can chat to their friends on Google Talk, MSN, Facebook, Yahoo! Messenger, AIM, iChat, QQ and other popular messaging services and social networks.

Key points

Palringo also enables Android owners to send photo messages to their friends in just two clicks [see video].
Android users can share their location with friends on Palringo: buddies see each others’ location and proximity (distance away) right beside their status in the Palringo contact list. Users may also view a map showing the whereabouts of all of their contacts who have chosen to share their location.
Using Palringo’s Group capability, people can chat with all of their friends at the same time. Groups also offer the opportunity to meet new people who share similar interests.
The Palringo application is designed specifically for mobile. This means that it takes account of limitations such as smaller screen size, and is considerate of battery life issues.
Palringo for Android runs in the background on the phone and notifies the owner when they receive new messages from their buddies. This means they need never miss a chat message.
Palringo for Android is built by the same, experienced team that has already made Palringo popular on the iPhone, Windows Mobile, Java, Symbian, as well as Mac, PC and Linux desktop environments.
Palringo for Android will be available as a free download through the T-Mobile G1 phone via the Android Market.

Quotes

Martin Rosinski, Palringo’s CTO, said:

“Android is a 21st century platform and it deserves a 21st century messaging application that’s not confined just to text messaging. Palringo is that application.”
“If you’re on a bus or in a library, then by all means stick with typing. But if you want them to see something, then it’s one click to take the picture and one to send it - and they're receiving the photo already.”
“By integrating the messaging capabilities of popular IM applications and social networks into a single application, Palringo has created a messaging community that runs to hundreds and hundreds of millions of users.”
“We’ve brought all our experience to bear on Android in order to make it available to people as soon as possible. We’re delighted to be the first to all users to connect to all of their friends no matter what IM or social network they use, as we were for the iPhone last year.”

Video: Palringo for Android

Links and resources

Video: Palringo for Android (YouTube)
Other Palringo videos (YouTube)
Screenshots: Palringo for Android (Flickr)
Palringo web site

Palringo is launch partner for Gigafone’s new digital advertising solution, Ochre

2009-02-16T09:30:00.001Z

Rich messaging service Palringo is one of nine launch partners announced today by mobile marketing solutions group Gigafone at the launch of its Ochre digital advertising solution. Palringo will provide targeted, profiled ad inventory to brands and their agencies via Ochre.

Ochre provides brands, agencies and mobile operators with a holistic and simplified view of the advertising ecosystem. The intention is for Ochre to tackle the market fragmentation which, to date, has largely prevented the development of effective and creative digital campaigns. The aim is to unify, into a single platform, the four major parts of the mobile advertising ecosystem: campaign creation, planning, distribution and result measurement.

Palringo’s role in the ecosystem is as a distribution mechanism. Kerry Ritz, Palringo’s CEO, said: “The location and profile information of the Palringo user base will enable Gigafone and its Ochre solution to provide content that our users will find both relevant and useful. Palringo inventory is a real alternative to the failed experiment of replicating the banner advertising of the web in the mobile environment.”

With demography requirements and purchasing characteristics changing on a campaign basis, Ochre has been designed to reduce the risk of mobile advertising. Advertisers can now switch delivery channels at the click of a button, making sure content-rich information gets to the right person at the right time. In turn this means consumers receive relevant and timely information about products that they are interested in, and advertisers can reduce wastage generated from blanket campaigns.

“Palringo has always been more than simply a messaging service; it has always been a marketing platform-in-waiting. During 2009 we expect to be making real progress towards targeted, contextual content,” added Kerry Ritz.

“We’ll design its insertion carefully so that our partners’ attractive marketing content is consumed, but we’ll also be ensuring that we don’t detract from the usability of the service. Usability is one of the reasons that Palringo has been successful to date,” said Ritz.

“The fact that content will be targeted will, if it changes anything, add to our users’ enjoyment of Palringo. This personalisation is why mobile is different: people will look at content if it’s engaging and interesting and relevant,” he concluded.

[ends]

About Gigafone
Gigafone, the mobile marketing solutions group, enables operators to monetise mobile marketing. It employs more than 100 mobile technology and marketing experts around the world with offices in Russia, Asia-Pacific and Europe. It is a member of the Mobile Marketing Association and an Associate Member of GSMA. For further information, visit www.gigafone.com.

Palringo launches instant messaging hotline for MWC2009 delegates to contact Mobile World TV

2009-02-11T09:45:00.002Z

Also previews vocal IM on Android platform in Barcelona

For the first time, Mobile World TV is enabling real-time interaction with visitors to Mobile World Congress – powered by Palringo.

Simply by downloading the free Palringo application [from www.palringo.com/mwc] and joining the MWTV [Mobile World TV] group, Congress visitors open up a direct line to the producers and editors of Mobile World TV, enabling them to explain what they’re interested in this year, what they like (or what they don’t), send them a picture of something they’ve seen, or relate something they’ve heard… anything they like, in fact.

In between scheduled programmes, the Mobile World TV anchor will broadcast to the whole Congress about exciting news arriving into the studio via Palringo, ensuring delegates are kept more informed than ever, by their own peers at the show.

Guy Daniels, director of content for Telecom TV, said: “We can’t know for certain what is going to catch people’s eye at this year’s Congress, or what they’ll be most interested in. So, using Palringo will help to make the whole Mobile World TV experience far more interactive: delegates can tell us what’s going on at any time, anywhere in the Congress, meaning we can go and investigate the things they really want us to look at.” As in previous years, Telecom TV produces Mobile World TV for the GSMA.

In a first of its own, Palringo will be demonstrating its rich messaging service at the Congress on an Android handset. Palringo is the first multi-platform, multi-service (voice, picture, text-based, location/presence) - “rich” - messaging service that ‘works’ on any major mobile platform, and is already supported on BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Symbian, Java and iPhone. Visit Palringo in the UK Trade & Investment pavilion on the Avenida (AV26) for a demonstration.

In integrating location and maps into its rich messaging application last October, Palringo beat Google’s Latitude to the punch by several months.

Palringo’s unique location capability is fully integrated into the messaging platform, enabling users to see both location and proximity of all of their contacts on any device, any network, anywhere in the world - all without the need for GPS. Palringo displays this information visually on real maps on the device itself.

[ends]

Notes to editors

Palringo is the first multi-platform, multi-service (voice, picture, text-based, location/presence) - “rich” - messaging service that ‘works’ on mobile. It integrates into a single, easy-to-use interface the messaging services of popular PC-based instant messaging services including AOL’s AIM, Google Talk, Yahoo! Messenger, Gadu Gadu, ICQ, Jabber and Microsoft Windows Live. Users of any of these can exchange messages with each other via any mobile phone.
Intuitive and easy for users to grasp in just a few seconds, Palringo is used in over 100 countries around the world and has been a Top Ten application on the iPhone in over 20 countries. For operators, Palringo generates revenue: an exchange of vocal instant messages typically leads to a phone call. Palringo can also be added into a wide range of other applications, integrating communications with communities.
Palringo provides a communications channel to suit different circumstances; for example, people use voice if they’re somewhere private, text if they’re somewhere public. Vocal IM is also a great service to offer users who have difficulty typing, and for users with complex languages such as Chinese, Japanese, or Arabic.
Palringo has been developed for mobile first, and then adapted to the fixed environment - rather than the other way round. Palringo is available on most handsets, whatever the operating system, with a consistent interface across devices and platforms.

About Palringo
Palringo is designed specifically to make instant messaging work on mobiles. It combines walkie-talkie style voice (vocal instant messaging) with the ‘chat’ functionality of instant messaging and offers the ability to share pictures too. Both one-to-one and group discussions are enabled, on any mobile network or connected PC. Palringo connects with other popular instant messaging services.

Microsoft and Windows Live are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Symbian and all Symbian-based trademarks and logos are trademarks of Symbian Software Limited. Java™ and all Java-based trademarks and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. Google and Google Latitude are trademarks of Google, Inc. The BlackBerry and RIM families of related marks, images and symbols are the exclusive properties and trademarks of Research In Motion Limited. iPhone and iChat are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. ICQ is a registered trademark of ICQ Inc., a division of America Online, Inc. JABBER is a registered trademark of Jabber Inc., and its use is licensed through the XMPP Standards Foundation. Other product or service names mentioned herein may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Palringo adds location, distance and maps to its rich messaging application for iPhone

2009-01-28T09:30:00.003Z

See me/see you; message me/message you

iPhone users looking for their nearest friends need only to glance at their screen, thanks to the addition today of location functionality to Palringo’s popular rich messaging application.

From today, a user looking down their contact list sees not only the location of his or her Palringo contacts – typically a town name - but also how far away that contact is.

In the next update [due soon] a further click will bring up a map showing the location of that contact and also the location of any other Palringo contacts within a 10km radius.

In the same update, the location function will allow a user to display his/her own location on a map – highly convenient if visiting somewhere for the first time.

Location and proximity information adds an interesting new layer of social network connectivity. A Palringo user can choose to reveal location to any, all or no contacts, changing this selection at any time. Location can be set manually by the user, or Palringo can detect location automatically, keeping it continuously updated.

“Just knowing where someone is can be really useful, and knowing how far away they are is even better. The prospect of knowing where someone is before you start adds a whole new dimension to your conversation,” said Kerry Ritz, Palringo’s CEO. “It can eliminate worry and will probably mean the end of a lot of unnecessary ‘Where are you?’ calls. And soon you’ll pretty much be able to watch your friend, a few minutes late for your rendezvous, approaching on a map,” he added.

Location and proximity information complement Palringo’s rich messaging service, which already provides the option to send/receive vocal instant messages, picture messages and text-based messages. The Palringo service is designed for use on mobile phones, but versions are also available for Mac OS and other desktop environments.

[ends]

Resources

Screenshot: Palringo with location on iPhone
Screenshots: Palringo on other platforms

Notes to editors

While the iPhone has its own location service (and Palringo on iPhone takes full advantage of it), Palringo on other platforms calculates location using all available radio signals, including those from mobile network base stations and also from Wi-Fi access points known to Palringo’s database. The database is updated with new information constantly, so Palringo’s location algorithm becomes more accurate every day. Location can be calculated accurately to within a single street in towns and cities.
Palringo integrates with most popular IM services: AOL® Instant Messenger®, Google Talk™, Yahoo!® Messenger®, Gadu-Gadu, ICQ®, Jabber® and Microsoft’s Windows Live. People can also use Palringo to contact their friends using iChat®, Apple’s IM application.
Palringo is free to download from the App Store. There are no subscriptions or other hidden charges.

UK tech company bucks “doom and gloom” trend with nomination for prestigious global award

2009-01-21T10:41:00.007Z

Newcastle-based Palringo shortlisted with Finland’s Nokia and India’s Bharti Airtel

Newcastle-based Palringo has been shortlisted in the Best Mobile Internet Service category in the 2009 GSMA Global Mobile Awards – the most prestigious annual awards in the world of mobile.

Revealed by the GSMA today, the shortlist pitches Palringo against Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia, Indian telecoms giant Bharti Airtel, Germany’s Blue Lion Mobile and, also from the UK, Volantis Systems.

Kerry Ritz, CEO of Palringo, said: “This is a terrific achievement for Palringo. These awards are open to companies from just about any country in the world, so even to make the shortlist – to be up against companies like Nokia and Bharti – is a terrific indicator of just how good the UK is at ‘mobile’.”

Palringo’s service is rewarded for successfully making instant messaging 'work' on mobile phones. Instant messaging is hugely popular on desktops around the world, with an estimated 1.5 billion instant messaging ‘accounts’ in existence.

Palringo enables not only text-based messaging, but also makes it possible to send voice messages and picture messages to another phone user or a group – or even to someone sitting at their home computer. Mobile users can also permit their current location – computed by the software – to be displayed for their friends to see.

Award winners will be announced on Tuesday 17th February 2009 at the GSMA Global Mobile Awards Gala Dinner, held in The National Palace (Palau Nacional) in Barcelona.

Mobile World Congress – the world’s largest mobile industry show – is held annually in Barcelona, and this year runs from 16th-19th February.

[ends]

Palringo nominated by Mobile Monday - London Chapter

2009-01-20T10:30:00.003Z

Palringo has been nominated by the London Chapter of MobileMonday to to be its nominee for the Mobile Peer Awards. Palringo is part of a select group of 42 winners chosen out of 164 candidates from all over the world.

Kerry Ritz, CEO of Palringo, said: "We're crossing our fingers and hope that the international jury will choose Palringo as one of the 20 finalists that will present at the Mobile Peer Awards at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona."

Palringo Local available for Symbian phones

2008-12-03T10:00:00.001Z

As promised at the end of October, Palringo has added Palringo Local to its Symbian client software.

Palringo Local enables the user to choose to display their location to their Palringo contacts - location can either be set manually, or can be set to change dynamically. Helpfully, Palringo also calculates and displays the distance between the user and each contact – useful for deciding whether or not you are likely to be able to meet in person.

Location is calculated by a proprietary algorithm which uses a variety of data sources to fix location, including cell tower location, GPS (if available) and Wi-fi hotspots.

Also in the latest Symbian version, more settings have been added and the user interface has been simplified.

Visit www.palringo.mobi to download the latest version.

Top mobile IM application Palringo adds location information to new edition

2008-10-21T08:30:00.002+01:00

Palringo, one of the most popular instant messaging applications for mobile phones, has added live location information to the latest version of its application - Palringo Local.

Accurate to the suburb or even street-level in a city, and to the closest named town in rural areas, Palringo users can opt to display their location alongside their status, for fun, personal, social, business or any other purpose.

Palringo Local goes live today for Microsoft® Windows Mobile® users, and will be delivered as an automatic update for existing users. Roll-out will follow for other popular mobile device operating systems - including Symbian OS™-based phones, Java™, BlackBerry® and iPhone™ - completing before the end of 2008. Palringo Local for desktop/laptop editions of the Microsoft Windows® operating system also goes live from today and will be automatically updated.

Palringo enables vocal instant messaging and picture messaging, as well as text-based instant messaging. Knowing the location of contacts adds further richness to the experience and brings benefits in all sorts of scenarios. For example, it may help simply when meeting a friend, or in more sophisticated ways such as assessing whether a conversation will be cheaper to conduct via Palringo than by phone, if to call someone will clearly cause them to incur roaming charges. Palringo is extremely cost-effective to use, even from abroad.

Kerry Ritz, Palringo’s CEO, said: “Since the dawn of the mobile phone era, we’ve all listened into or been part of mobile phone conversations in which the two parties have asked each other where they are - or, with SMS, spent a message establishing those facts. Now, people won’t need to do that; provided someone wishes to ‘show’, then the basic instinct to ‘know’, even if it doesn’t matter, is satisfied.”

“But there are also quite practical reasons for showing your location: if you’re part of a group all meeting in one place, like a sports team; or you want to know where your delivery drivers are without investing in expensive systems. Whatever your reason to show your location, now you can,” he explained.

Anyone using Palringo Local must specifically opt in to display their location; users can opt in and out at will. Even opted-in, users retain control over which contacts can see their location. Location may also be set manually.

The popular instant messaging services with which Palringo integrates are: AOL® Instant Messenger®, Google Talk™, Yahoo!® Messenger®, Gadu-Gadu, ICQ®, Jabber® and Windows Live. People can also use Palringo to contact their friends using iChat®, Apple’s IM application.

Palringo is free to download from www.palringo.com. There are no subscriptions or other hidden charges.

[ends]

Microsoft, Windows Mobile, Windows and Windows Live are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Symbian and all Symbian-based trademarks and logos are trademarks of Symbian Software Limited. Java™ and all Java-based trademarks and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. The BlackBerry and RIM families of related marks, images and symbols are the exclusive properties and trademarks of Research In Motion Limited. iPhone and iChat are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. ICQ is a registered trademark of ICQ Inc., a division of America Online, Inc. JABBER is a registered trademark of Jabber Inc., and its use is licensed through the XMPP Standards Foundation. Other product or service names mentioned herein may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Links and resources

Palringo Local screenshots
Palringo website
Video: Kerry Ritz describes Palringo

Notes to editors
To calculate location, Palringo Local uses a proprietary algorithm that picks up cell site (2G, 3G, etc) locations, Wi-Fi access points and other identifying signals. There is an element of triangulation in the calculations, but the algorithm makes a significant level of adjustment to identify the location accurately. The algorithm also ‘learns’ over time, through the addition of new location data that is added to the database.

Palringo CEO Kerry Ritz on Telecom TV

2008-09-17T20:52:00.001+01:00

Palringo brings first push-to-talk application to the iPhone

2008-08-19T08:00:00.002+01:00

Vocal instant messaging now available for the iPhone

‘Push-to-talk’ — the voice equivalent of text messaging (SMS) — has come to the iPhone™ for the first time.

Promised as ‘soon’ when it launched its service for the iPhone on July 29, Palringo has added the vocal instant messaging functionality to its rich messaging application available from Apple’s App Store.

Kerry Ritz, CEO of Palringo, said: “We’ve completed the suite of ways in which people can communicate with each other using an iPhone, adding voice, text-based and picture instant messaging to the standard phone call, SMS and e-mail functionality of the phone. This functionality really adds value to the already-terrific iPhone experience.

“When we launched Palringo for the iPhone, we said that our vocal IM functionality would be added imminently. We’ve kept the promise we made to the thousands and thousands of iPhone users who downloaded Palringo and made us one of the most popular free applications from the App Store,” he added.

The concept of push-to-talk varies in popularity around the world. Currently, in the United States, both Verizon and Sprint are promoting their push-to-talk services as alternatives to each other. However, both of these options lock customers into both a specific device and a specific network.

Palringo does neither of these things, being entirely operator-independent and also working on almost every handset released in the last two years. Most recently the company added RIM’s BlackBerry platform to a list that already includes Windows Mobile, Symbian and Java-based devices from manufacturers including Nokia, Motorola, LG, Samsung, HTC, HP and Sony Ericsson.

“Some of the big carriers tout their PTT services, but they have the ‘carrier barrier’ limitation of locking their customers into their networks and only the handsets the carriers support,” Ritz said. “That sort of lock-in is a 20th century business model and it doesn’t wash with savvy mobile users today.”

Palringo integrates with several existing popular instant-messaging services: AOL’s AIM, Google Talk, Yahoo! Messenger, Gadu Gadu, ICQ, Jabber and Windows Live Messenger. People can also use Palringo to contact their friends using iChat, Apple’s IM client.

Palringo for the iPhone is free and easy to download and install from Apple’s App Store. There are no hidden costs, catches or other charges.

[ends]

Apple, iPhone, and Apple Store are trademarks of Apple Inc, registered in the United States and other countries. All other product or service names mentioned in this announcement may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Palringo brings the first ‘rich messaging service’ to the iPhone™

2008-07-29T11:30:00.002+01:00

iPhone owners can now download Palringo’s rich messaging service (RMS) application from Apple®’s new App Store. Palringo enables picture messaging, text-based messaging and, soon, vocal instant messaging over the iPhone’s data connection.

Palringo integrates with several existing, popular instant messaging services: AOL’s AIM, Google Talk, Yahoo! Messenger, Gadu Gadu, ICQ, Jabber and Windows Live Messenger. People can also use Palringo to contact their friends using iChat, Apple’s instant messaging (IM) client.

Palringo offers two unique advantages to iPhone owners:

people can stay connected to the most popular messaging services at the same time, without the need to switch between applications or use web-based messaging services
in the current absence of MMS capabilities on the 3G iPhone, Palringo offers the ability to send and receive picture messages using the iPhone’s data connection

Palringo launches and connects within seconds, with a single screen-tap. Palringo then presents a person’s IM contacts in a single, combined, presence-aware list, whichever IM service their contacts are using. Sending a voice, picture or text-based message, whether to an individual or a group, are also single screen-tap operations.

Vocal IM, which is already available on all other Palringo-supported platforms, will be added in the second release of Palringo for the iPhone.

Kerry Ritz, Palringo’s CEO, said: “Just as Apple has changed people’s view of what it should be like to use a mobile phone, so Palringo aims to change the way people see messaging. Billions of people already use instant messaging on their home or work computers to communicate with each other. Palringo has added vocal instant messaging and picture messaging and has put IM on the iPhone – that’s a great combination.”

Using Palringo will barely make a dent in an iPhone customer’s data usage: just one megabyte is sufficient for Palringo to send/receive the equivalent of about 4,500 SMS messages, send/receive about 32 picture messages, or send/receive up to 15 minutes of vocal instant messages.

The service is available worldwide, which means conversations can incorporate people from across the globe, on any mobile network or connected PC or Mac. This makes it very attractive for multi-national corporate users or extended family use.

Palringo for the iPhone is free, and is easy to download and install from Apple’s new App Store. There are no hidden costs, catches or other charges.

As well as the iPhone – both the original and new models - Palringo works on almost all models of mobile phone released in the last two years – visit www.palringo.com.

[ends]

Additional links/resources

Screenshots: Palringo on the iPhone
Alternative picture: Kerry Ritz, Palringo CEO

Kick the SMS habit this summer, urges Palringo

2008-07-02T09:00:00.002+01:00

Texting too expensive and just too basic says instant messaging expert, as EU prepares to act on prices

As Europe’s mobile firms hit the EU’s deadline yesterday to cut the cost of sending an SMS from abroad, mobile instant messaging company Palringo has urged people to kick the texting habit and move on to more flexible, more natural and cheaper ways to stay in touch while abroad.

“There are simply smarter alternatives,” argues 23 year old Martin Rosinski, Palringo’s founder and chief technology officer. “Rich messaging on mobiles offers vocal instant messaging, picture messaging and text-based messaging, making it a better option, and does so at a fraction of the price of texting – making it an even smarter option.”

“And many millions of people in the UK already use instant messaging [IM] on their home or work computer,” he said.

Rosinski cites simple facts to back up his point. Using Vodafone UK, sending and receiving data costs up to £5 per megabyte (MB) of data while travelling in the EU. One megabyte [1MB] is sufficient for Palringo to send and receive:

around 100,000 words by text-based message. This approximates to roughly 4,500 SMS messages and means that, using Palringo, it costs about 0.11 PENCE to send the equivalent of an SMS message [at £5 per MB]
up to 15 minutes of vocal instant messages. This is equivalent to about 33 pence per minute [at £5 per MB] - but means a personal, vocal instant message can be sent for just 5 pence
about 32 picture messages using a typical cameraphone - i.e., just under 16 pence per picture [at £5 per MB]

By way of comparison, Vodafone UK’s standard charges to a customer using their phone within the EU are:

25 pence per text message
38 pence per minute to make a phone call and 19 pence per minute to receive a call
36 pence per MMS [picture] message PLUS the data charges

“So why stick to ordinary text messages?” asks Rosinski? “IM is a better way of messaging and it’s better value. You can indulge yourself and your friends in the luxury of a sending and receiving picture messages or vocal instant messages, for less, even when you’re abroad.”

Anyone using social networking sites such Facebook, MySpace or Bebo probably uses instant messaging. There are one and a half BILLION instant messaging accounts worldwide, almost 1 in 4 of the world’s population. Popular services include Microsoft’s Windows Live Messenger, AOL’s Instant Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger.

So while instant messaging isn’t itself new any more, what is new is that people can do it on their mobile phones - meaning they can, for example, keep down the costs of using their phone while on holiday in Spain, Greece or France – or even the USA - this summer.

Mobile instant messaging service Palringo works on almost all models of mobile phone sold in the last two years. Palringo is free, and is easy to download and install from www.palringo.com. There are no hidden costs, catches or other charges.

[ends]

All product or service names mentioned in this announcement may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Palringo brings Rich Messaging Service (RMS) to BlackBerry smartphones

2008-06-19T06:00:00.000+01:00

Text, voice, and images can be sent as Instant Messages from the Blackberry® to users of many IM services

Palringo, a messaging service that extends to mobile devices all the powerful functionality of PC-based IM services, has released its software client for BlackBerry® smartphones from Research In Motion (RIM). Palringo’s Rich Messaging Service (RMS) is available for the BlackBerry® Pearl™, BlackBerry® Curve™ and BlackBerry® 8800 series smartphones.

BlackBerry smartphone users can now easily chat using voice and picture messages as well as traditional text. Further, they can do so with other users of many of the popular PC-based IM services - such as AOL's AIM, Windows Live Messenger and Google Talk - through one, easy-to-use Palringo interface. Equally important, they can do so whether sitting at a computer, tapping with a smartphone or Pocket PC stylus, or using a Blackberry.

Palringo presents a user's contacts from all services into a single, combined, presence-aware list, eliminating the need to continually switch between multiple IM tools. In addition, Palringo combines walkie-talkie style vocal instant messaging, the real-time text functionality of IM and the ability to share pictures, all within the context of one 'threaded' discussion.

Palringo lets the user set up an unlimited number of groups and send a voice, text, or picture message to all group members at once - a feature with obvious value for corporate as well as social use - such as fellow employees, project team members, alumni, sports team players. Neither does it limit recipients to simply those on the same wireless network.

Palringo does not charge at all, unlike other wireless-carrier-supplied text messaging services that charge for each recipient and in some cases per message. While a mobile data plan or Wi-Fi access is required to use Palringo, the service's instant messages take up very small amounts of data, minimising costs.

Palringo’s service is also available worldwide, which means discussions can incorporate users from across the globe, on any mobile network or connected PC. This makes it very attractive for multi-national corporate users or extended family use.

"As users increasingly expect to take their applications with them wherever they go, they also expect to pack them into fewer devices," said Kerry Ritz, CEO. "By putting our rich messaging service on the BlackBerry platform, we at Palringo increase messaging reach and depth for the greatest number of users. We also reduce the number of installed applications they need to have on their mobile device or PC."

Palringo's Rich Messaging Service for BlackBerry smartphones is available now for free download at www.palringo.com. The service is also compatible with Windows Mobile, Symbian and Java-based clients, including devices from Nokia, Motorola, LG, Samsung, HTC, HP and Sony Ericsson.

[ends]

The BlackBerry and RIM families of related marks, images and symbols are the exclusive properties and trademarks of Research In Motion Limited.

Multi-platform instant messaging makes leap from PC to mobile

2008-06-12T07:20:00.004+01:00

Palringo today brought multi-platform instant messaging to mobile phones for the first time. Palringo users can exchange not only text and picture messages but also vocal instant messages with users of seven other popular PC-based instant messaging services: AOL’s AIM, Google Talk, Yahoo! Messenger, Gadu Gadu, ICQ, Jabber and Microsoft Windows Live Messenger. Palringo is the first independent vocal IM service available in Europe.

Until now, instant messaging for mobiles has been limited to support for a single IM service. The Palringo user simply sees a single, easy-to-use interface, eliminating the need to continually switch between multiple IM tools.

To send a vocal instant message, the Palringo user simply chooses a contact to whom to send a quick message, hold down a key and speaks, releasing the key to send the message instantly. Sending pictures is similarly a one-click process - an industry first.

Worldwide, one and a half billion instant messaging accounts across the major platforms testify to the global popularity of instant messaging. As a result of IM’s availability on mobile devices, Palringo foresees significant changes in mobile messaging behaviour.

Kerry Ritz, CEO of Palringo, said: “Firstly, instant messaging on mobiles is clearly going to be highly attractive to those who enjoy its rich functionality on desktops and laptops. Second, it will bring messaging choice to people who find SMS difficult for some reason or who just don’t like it. Thirdly there is an element of discovery: people who currently send text messages will quickly realise that Palringo is often a better, more convenient way to send a message on a mobile – people especially love the vocal IM functionality.”

Palringo describes its service as a Rich Messaging Service – RMS – and says it’s the natural evolution of messaging. Kerry Ritz said: “Palringo is the first service to bring together the ability to exchange text, voice messages and pictures – together these elements constitute a rich messaging service. The experience will only get richer as we add more functionality and layers to what people can do – but we will always keep it stunningly simple to use.”

Palringo works by making available several existing, popular messaging services on a mobile, in a single application. This makes it straightforward to engage in multiple simultaneous ‘chats’: perhaps one with someone using Windows Live Messenger, one who’s using Yahoo! Messenger and one who’s using AOL Instant Messenger. Or, the Palringo user can add them all to a group and send the same message or photo to all of them simultaneously. Like the Palringo user, contacts may be using their messaging service at their computer or on a mobile device.

Palringo has been piloting its service quietly and has made many improvements based on user feedback. Already compatible with Windows Mobile, Symbian and Java-based devices, the company will soon introduce compatibility with Apple’s Mac OS and the popular iPhone. BlackBerry users will also be able to take advantage of Palringo’s Rich Messaging Service soon, as will Facebook users.

[ends]

Notes to editors

The service is compatible with Windows Mobile, Symbian and Java-based clients, including devices from Nokia, Motorola, LG, Samsung, HTC, Sony Ericsson and HP.
Palringo is free and easy to download and install and there are no hidden catches or other charges.
Users pay their mobile operator (GPRS/EDGE/3G) or service provider (Wi-Fi) only for the data used to send/receive messages.
All product or service names mentioned in this announcement may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Additional media resources

Palringo web site
Video: Palringo CEO discusses Palringo
Pictures: Palringo screenshots and executives

Mobile start-up Palringo unveils high-profile CEO

2008-06-12T07:15:00.005+01:00

Kerry Ritz, until recently the UK head of Voice over IP (VoIP) services company Vonage, has joined mobile instant messaging start-up Palringo as CEO.

Palringo makes Instant Messaging work on mobile phones, bringing together friends, family and colleagues across all popular instant messaging services, whether they’re sitting at a computer or on the move, using a mobile phone or a PDA.

Ritz said: "We’ve all become familiar with SMS on mobile phones; we’re also familiar with MMS, which took things a step further. Palringo is a Rich Messaging Service – RMS - and is a step further on again, enabling people to exchange text, voice messages and pictures just like they do on a PC. I am focused on revolutionising mobile communications by developing richer communications experiences, so we are thoroughly aligned in every way."

Prior to Vonage, Kerry Ritz was the first director of customer strategy at 3 (Hutchison 3G), which he joined in April 2000. During his time with 3, he was at the heart of the pioneering thinking around convergence of the internet, telecoms and media, and the creation of a new mobile world including dealing with issues of convergence, open access, mobile advertising and communities.

He’s a well-known speaker and panelist at conferences and events around the world and has advised a range of start-ups in the communications and online space.