ACL Wireless Instant Messenger goes for global penetration by David Minto
Europemedia, July 7, 2003

ACL Wireless has teamed up with SmartTrust to distribute its Wireless Instant Messenger application globally over the SmartTrust platform.

The WIM solution offered by SmartTrust and ACL enables mobile users to exchange instant text, photos and group messages in real time with friends on PCs or mobile phones, anywhere in the world. ACL WIM, under the service mark 'myChatline', works with Yahoo, MSN and ICQ accounts as well as with operator's own WIM communities.

The companies' claim that the first commercial launches of the application over the SmartTrust infrastructure show service take-up amongst users to be 100 per cent greater than the same service delivered via standard SMS. The application is multi-channel, and can be provided over SMS, WAP/GPRS, J2ME and PC Clients, as well as WIG/WIB.

" Instant Messaging is expected to become a huge growth area for mobile operators, leveraging consumer demands for peer-to-peer communication. Therefore, we have partnered with ACL to offer this unique multi-channel service to our operator customers," said Andrew Dixon, director of VAS marketing at SmartTrust.

Sanjay K Goyal, CEO of ACL Wireless added: "Our association with SmartTrust is an important breakthrough, as it will enable us to enter the global GSM market. Furthermore, the application is expected to have a high penetration rate as it can be delivered over a variety of technologies and devices."