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Gmail adopte IMAP : des emails gérés et synchonisés

Le célèbre service de boîte aux lettres électronique Gmail de Google continue de se bonifier avec le temps. La preuve, aujourd'hui le numéro 1 de la recherche sur Internet nous fait savoir que son service prend désormais en charge le protocole Imap très prisé par certains puristes.

Comme l'explique Google, l'IMAP permet notamment de répercuter les actions qui sont effectuées sur différents clients emails. Par exemple, si vous vous connectez à Gmail (que ce soit depuis un navigateur Web, un client email ou depuis votre téléphone) et que vous décidez de placer un mail dans le dossier travail, ce changement sera automatiquement répercuté sur tous les clients que vous utilisez pour lire vos courriers. Pour illustrer cela, on peut aussi prendre l'exemple d'un email que vous aurez lu depuis votre PC et qui apparaîtra ensuite comme lu sur tous vos clients email, y compris sur votre téléphone.

En plus de cela, le protocole IMAP offre une meilleure façon de consulter ses emails depuis plusieurs machines / clients. IMAP se charge effectivement de libérer la boîte pour qu'elle puisse être consultée à tout moment et depuis n'importe quel client.

Pour activer l'IMAP, il faudra se rendre sur la page de configuration d'un client Gmail (en s'identifiant). Pour le moment, seul le service américain permet d'activer l'IMAP, mais cette possibilité devrait s'étendre aux comptes français dans les jours à venir. D'autres services d'emails comme celui de Laposte.net proposent depuis longtemps une prise en charge de l'IMAP et il était temps que Google franchisse le pas. C'est donc une bonne chose de faite pour les très nombreux utilisateurs de Gmail.

Pour en savoir plus sur Gmail, n'hésitez pas à consulter notre dossier Gmail : guide pour une meilleure utilisation.

Via: NetEco

Un site Internet Mobile en 1 journée !

SBW (ex CellCast Interactif) proposera à compter de la mi-octobre Wap Builder, un générateur de sites Internet mobile "easy to use", destiné aux agences et aux annonceurs.

Sans aucune connaissance technique ou informatique, il devient désormais possible de créer un site mobile via une interface web caractérisée par sa souplesse d’utilisation. Wap Builder offre une large gamme de fonctionnalités et d'options (texte, jeux, photos, vidéos, questionnaires, localisation, etc.). L’utilisateur gère directement son site (possibilité de le visualiser adapté aux différents formats mobile) et sa diffusion sur l'internet mobile ou sur Gallery. Le Wap Builder est connecté à la plateforme d’adserving de SBW (l’Ad-Inside v1.0,) permettant à l’utilisateur d’aménager des espaces publicitaires (bannières…) et donc de générer des revenus.

"Avec cette offre d’entrée de gamme, accessible à tous, nous souhaitons convertir le plus grand nombre d’annonceurs, de régies et d’agences au marketing mobile", déclare Paul Amsellem, directeur du réseau international d’agences de marketing mobile SBW.

Via: Services Mobiles

InfoSpace to Sell Mobile Services Business for $135 Million in Cash

Net Proceeds Expected to be Distributed to InfoSpace Shareholders as Special Cash Distribution Following Close of Transaction

BELLEVUE, Wash., Oct 15, 2007 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- InfoSpace, Inc. (NASDAQ:INSP) today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its mobile services business to Motricity, a privately held provider of mobile content services and solutions, for $135 million in cash.

"This transaction is another opportunity to unlock value for our shareholders," said Jim Voelker, Chairman and CEO of InfoSpace. "Like the previously announced sale of our online directory business for $225 million in cash, this transaction is extremely tax efficient, allowing us to capitalize on our net operating losses to significantly maximize the cash proceeds from the sale."

Prior to anticipated cash distributions, after completion of the sale of the online directory business and upon completion of the sale of the mobile business, the Company expects to have in excess of $550 million in cash.

"With these transactions, InfoSpace will be solely focused on online search. We will maintain a strong financial position and a solid distribution network with over 100 private label partners as well as our award winning branded websites such as Dogpile.com. Based on results for the first half of the year, our search business represents over 60% of InfoSpace's revenue. Our search business is highly scalable and continues to generate strong cash flow," concluded Mr. Voelker.

Following the close of the transaction, the Company expects to return a significant portion of the net proceeds from the sale to shareholders as a special cash distribution. The Company will utilize a portion of its net-operating loss carry-forwards to offset substantially all of the taxable gain resulting from the sale, increasing the cash available for distribution to shareholders.

The transaction is expected to be completed within the next 90 days, upon the satisfaction of customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals, including expiration or termination of the applicable waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended.

Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC is acting as financial advisor and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati is acting as legal counsel to InfoSpace in connection with the transaction.

About InfoSpace's Mobile Business

InfoSpace's mobile is a leading developer of mobile technologies and infrastructure services to help mobile users quickly and easily discover and enjoy content and information on the go. InfoSpace's mobile platform offers carrier partners a customizable, scalable solution for the programming and delivery of mobile content, helping build stronger brands and generate revenue. The company's mobile products and services are available to over 200 million consumers through mobile operators such as AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, and Virgin Mobile.

About InfoSpace(R)

InfoSpace, Inc. is a leading developer of tools and technologies to help people discover and enjoy content and information - whether on a mobile phone or on the PC. InfoSpace uses its proprietary metasearch technology to power a portfolio of branded Web sites, including Dogpile (www.dogpile.com) and Zoo (www.zoo.com), a kid-friendly search engine, and provide private-label search and online directory services to consumers on a global basis. The company's mobile platform and applications, such as InfoSpace Find It! (www.infospacefindit.com), create revenue opportunities for carriers, while satisfying consumer demand for a highly relevant mobile user experience. More information can be found at www.infospaceinc.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains forward-looking statements relating to InfoSpace, Inc.'s proposed sales of its directory and mobile businesses that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. The words "believe," "expect," "intend," "anticipate," variations of such words, and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements, but their absence does not mean that the statement is not forward looking. Forward-looking statements include without limitation statements regarding the expected completion of, and timing of, the proposed sales, utilization of InfoSpace's net-operating loss carry-forwards (NOLs), and the prospects of InfoSpace's online search business. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Factors that could affect InfoSpace's actual results include satisfaction of closing conditions, including governmental and third party consents, the effect of taxes, balance sheet working capital adjustments and indemnity obligations on InfoSpace's total proceeds, general economic, industry and market sector conditions, the progress and costs of the development of our products and services, the timing and extent of market acceptance of those products and services, and our dependence on companies to distribute our products and services. A more detailed description of certain factors that could affect actual results include, but are not limited to, those discussed in InfoSpace's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on form 10-Q as filed from time to time, in the section entitled "Risk Factors." Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this release. InfoSpace undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements to reflect new information, events or circumstances after the date of this release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

SOURCE: InfoSpace, Inc.

InfoSpace, Inc.
Stacy Ybarra, 425-709-8127
[email protected]

Musique en ligne : Deezer signe avec Sony BMG

Deezer, site gratuit de musique illimitée crée en juin 2006, a passé un accord (après celui avec la Sacem) avec la maison de disque Sony BMG. La deuxième major mondiale met ainsi à disposition un catalogue de 165.000 titres, que ses utilisateurs pourront librement et légalement écouter. Avant de s'appeler Deezer, Blogmusik.net, avait été fermé par la Sacem en février 2007. Le surlendemain de sa réouverture, Universal Music avait mis en garde ses fondateurs contre l'exploitation illégale de son répertoire
(Lire article : Deezer.com s'attire les foudres d'Universal Music, 28/08/07).

Via: JDN

Microblogging Platform Jaiku Acquired by Google; Emphasis On Mobile

Finnish microblogging service Jaiku has been acquired by Google (NSDQ: GOOG) for an undisclosed sum, according to an announcement on the company's site. Like its main competitor Twitter, Jaiku allows users to share short messages and presence alerts with each other, using either a computer or a mobile device. A FAQ on the deal offers few details on the deal's terms, saying only that Jaiku's employees will be joining Google and that Google is interested in doing more with activity streams and mobile presence. Google had an early start with its 2005 purchase of mobile social networking service Dodgeball, but the founders left the company publicly frustrated earlier this year.

The acquisitions comes just a few months after Twitter raised its initial funding. Because neither that investment nor the acquisition price are known, it's difficult to do a valuation comparison between the two. Of course, Google's purchase is more than simply an investment, as it likely plans to integrate Jaiku's functionality into a range of social and mobile applications.

Via: Moco

Twitter Planning Mobile Ads?

Cnet blogger Caroline McCarthy is suggesting that Twitter is planning to generate revenue with ads attached to messages sent to mobile phones, based on her own experience. When a friend received a tweet (Twitter message) from her on his mobile phone he noticed "a "tip" below my "tweet," utilizing the remaining characters of the text message length allocation to say "Wow, you look good.". It's a pretty shaky premise to go from there to advertising, but I can't think of any other reason Twitter would add that.

The Guardian has a different take, claiming that Twitter will seek revenue through "branded channels, so companies like Woot would pay to reach those very valuable, loyal users". There is no reason they won't try both, although the Guardian quotes founder Ev Williams as saying: "Rather than attach advertising to a personal communication channel...we want to make it a benefit so that there are people or entities you want to follow. We think those things have potential, so as the userbase grows we'll flesh out which of those things work and the business model and revenue will fit in."

Click-To-Video Mobile Advertising

Mobile advertising company AdMob and mobile video company mywaves have teamed up for a click-to-video mobile advertising system to launch this summer. Users who click on an ad will go to a landing page where they will have the option to watch a video, as well as save the video or pass it to their friends via MMS if they feel so inclined. At the lease this will encourage advertisers to create interesting ads. The ads will be viewable in over 160 countries—but of course very few of those countries will have unlimited data plans available, although they are slowly becoming more common. The duo have signed up Coca Cola as an inaugural user of the service.

Via: Moco

Mobile Social Net Service Intercasting Gets $12 Million Second Round Funding

Intercasting, the company behind mobile social network app Rabble, has received about $12 million in its second round of funding, MocoNews has learned. This round in the San Diego-based company was led by Venrock, though not sure if previous first round investors also participated. The first round was completed in fall 2005, and was $5.5 million.

The company’s apps have been on Cingular, Verizon and MetroPCS in U.S, but it has recently added Sprint and VMUSA to power their mobile social networking services, we’ve learned. It also recently announced a deal with 3 UK. We’ll have more later as we get it.

At our recent EconSM conference, Intercasting CEO Shawn Conahan among others discussed mobile social networking on a panel...writeup from that panel is here.

Via: Moco

Mobile Services Market $11.2 Billion At 2006 End; Operators Two Years Capex Estimated At $20 Billion

A Research and Markets report pegs the Indian Mobile Services market at $11.2 billion at the end of 2006.The research expects significant growth in mobile connections until 2010, but that will primarily be in the prepaid connections. Bollywood will be significant for growth of VAS content. [via release] (Not) Surprisingly, the story doesn’t mention Cricket as the other significant factor impacting the growth of VAS. No mention of the proverbial long tail and niche markets…
A PTI report (via the Statesman) quotes a Maquire Research, which suggests Indian telecom operators intend to invest around $20 billion of capital expenditure over the next two years. Revenue for operators from the mobile business is expected to be $33.1 billion by 2010. They believe at at the end of two years, mobile services will cover around 80 percent of the population.

Via: Moconews

Mobile Advertising Hits Mobile Web First

CNet has a good piece on mobile advertising and marketing, pointing out that in the US advertising on mobiles is via the mobile websites of big brands, with Jeremy Steinberg, vice president of digital media sales and business development at Fox News Channel, saying that Fox started the practice because advertisers were asking for it. The current issue is that the carriers pretty much own the customer, able to control what content all (or a large portion that don’t have browser capable phones) of their customers sees, and controlling the information about the customer such as habits, location, as well as billing. And they’re pretty cautious about not annoying their customers… It’s expected that the walled gardens will eventually open up, but how long that will take is unknown. Mobile advertising seems to have entered the zeitgeist pretty heavily recently.

Via: Moco