In San Francisco yesterday at CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment 2008, NewBay Software announced the availability of its LifeCache Social Networking v2.0 solution.
So who is NewBay, what is Lifecache, and why should we care?
Well if you are a social media junkie, like me, this new toy may have just made it possible for us to once again feel the sun on our faces. If all that they are saying is true then The Brave New World of social networking is really and truly mobile. Finally!
First Who is NewBay?
NewBay is based in Dublin, Ireland; London, UK; Dusseldorf, Germany; and Bellevue, USA. NewBay was founded in 2002 and is privately held. Investors include Balderton Capital and Fidelity Ventures.
Next NewBay Clients?
NewBay is delivering commercial services for operators including T-Mobile, Telefonica O2, Alltel Wireless, Orange, Vodafone, Swisscom, Bell Mobility, Maxis and SETAR NV.
Finally NewBay Software?
NewBay LifeCache Social Networking Solution is the technology behind the mobilization of www.bebo.com. It also powers several other carrier services such as Vodafone My Communities and Orange’s Social Networking service. Its LifeCache services have been launched to over 250 million subscribers. LifeCache uploads millions of media a day and over the past 5 years has processed billions of photos and videos.
Now What Does That Do For Us?
LifeCache Social Networking v2.0 solution provides users with an aggregated mobile social networking experience, delivering information from multiple online communities, including Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, Bebo, YouTube, MySpace and Match.com in a single feed. It includes a “one-click media” upload client which enables subscribers to post and share user generated content, such as photos and videos, with a single click. Users can also update their status in real time; view friends’ profiles; browse, download and comment on online media; and send private messages.
Because I am a geek that loves statistics:
Sad but true, living in the United States we seem to be the last to get all the new tech toys, and I was curious about which countries have already gone mobile on the social scene, so I did some digging. Newbay Software released statistics on the mobile social networking usage pattern in the UK.
Average number of visits per person per month is five.
Busiest days of the week are Tuesday, followed by Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday.
Quietest days of the week are Monday, followed by Friday and then Saturday.
Busiest time is between 10pm and 11pm, with a 17-fold increase in mobile social networking activity between the busiest time of day (11pm) and the quietest time of day (5am).
Average duration of each mobile social networking session is 13.7 minutes.
There has been a 280% increase in MMS traffic to mobile social networks since January 2008.
Top five mobile social networking activities are:
- View & update own profile
- Update status
- View own home page
- View comments on profile
- View friends’ profile
How Do You Get This Nifty Technology?
Well NewBay works directly with the mobile carriers not with the consumer, i.e. you and me. LifeCache enables carriers to selectively integrate with multiple social networking sites through the client, WAP or a desktop PC web browser. Carriers do not have to administer each individual relationship – they connect to LifeCache and NewBay takes care of the rest.
LifeCache is available over-the-air and is pre-loaded on a range of handsets. It supports J2ME, Symbian, Windows Mobile, iPhone and RIM platforms.
When Can We See The Sun Again?
Well that boys and girls is the kicker, it has to come from your carrier at this point, which is why NewBay will be demonstrating its complete range of LifeCache solutions at CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment 2008 at booth #1239. Maybe I should call Verizon and tell them to get on over there, Verizon currently is not a customer of NewBay like T-Mobile and Alltel. So for now this is interesting news, and possibly something to look forward to, but not a toy we can play with just yet.
