What's the big story?
Sybase has just completed the acquisition of mobile messaging and content delivery firm Mobile365. As a result it is being renamed Sybase365 and comes under a new mobile services division within Sybase that will also include AvantGo and mFolio.
Is this a big deal for Sybase?
Certainly because it allows us to offer a much more complete offering beyond our core of data management and enterprise mobile software. We saw the increasing role of carriers and we wanted to get closer to the carrier business. Sybase365 sells directly to carriers and to enterprises. So now if a customer wants more than messaging we can do that.
What's the revenue model?
Currently 60 per cent of the revenue comes from direct business with operators. Delivering and accounting for messaging betweeen operators. The remaining 40 per cent is with enterprise customers like Nike and Sony. We're not going to change that, just augment it - particularly with AvantGo and mFolio. AvantGo provides content to high-end devices and mFolio is our embedded software that drives content to mobiles.
AvantGo gives you experience of mobile advertising?
Yes. AvantGo users tend to be high income individuals who are interested in advertising from the likes of BMW and other luxury brands, but we have worked with Yahoo and Google too, so we are not often in direct competition with the newer entrants to mobile advertising.
What about banking?
Yes, we work closely with Citibank and many others. Banks are early adoptors. They are using messaging to reduce churn and give customers more timely information . It will get really interesting when we start to have 'two-way' banking - by that I mean where you can buy things with your phone, for example an alert that allows you to buy stock based on a share move.
What are the key trends in messaging?
Surveys show that people that are familiar with messaging want their suppliers to interact with them on their mobile. Yet less than 5 per cent of suppliers do that. We are starting to find that enterprises get that and want to work out how to move in that direction now. Security is also becoming a key part of the business.
What about MMS?
I think it will move beyond pictures. It will be a way for enterprises to get out more information. It could be a graphic or a video clip. Yes price has to come down as does file size, but you can see what is happening on the internet - its all going that way.
Do operators have to wake up to a more open approach?
Yes, they do, and we are already seeing carriers more willing to let users access the world outside the walled-garden. mFolio does that and initially carriers said they didn't want to do that. But the world is moving that way, there's no doubt.
Verdict: Sybase has a huge customer footprint. Bringing Sybase365 into the fold will undoubtedly expose a whole new tier of enterprise customers to the benefits of messaging in its many forms. The move also gets Sybase closer to carriers at a time when it needs to be more closely integrated to all the players in this sector.
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