Saturn Media, leading New Zealand developer and marketer of mobile and internet applications, services and communications technology, has used innovative mobile phone technology to take the best of New Zealand to the globe at the World Expo 2005 in Aichi, Japan.
Saturn Media’s New Zealand Mobile technology is a mobile portal web site that is an exciting showcase of New Zealand viewed on your mobile phone. The site educates users about New Zealand, while providing an interactive and fun experience on your mobile – and the best part is that it’s free.
Key features of New Zealand Mobile include; over 90 pages of information and corresponding pictures, 20 high quality wallpaper downloads, screen savers, 5 custom-made video clips, picture frames, ring tones including Kiwi accents and sayings, and a sheep game where users can win tickets to the expo.
According to Stephen Weir, CEO of Saturn Media, the ability to showcase New Zealand using this innovative technology took a lot of hard work.
“In order to do this we used a mobile content management system which recognises the phone type each consumer is using. From there, the technology accesses a database of mobile phone specifications to deliver the optimal footage and information to each phone”, Weir said.
This meant that Saturn Media had to create up to 50 variations of the same information for each media type.
“For example, one wallpaper picture of Auckland needed to be re-sized and uploaded as 40 different images in order to be viewed on all the different mobile phone types”, Weir said.
One of the new technologies displayed through New Zealand Mobile at the Expo, has been the Quick Response bar codes. Similar to a barcode you’d see on a product in a supermarket, Quick Response bar codes hold a lot more information and when scanned by a mobile phone camera at the New Zealand pavilion, allow a user fast access to the New Zealand Mobile web site on their mobile phone.
Aiming to show-off New Zealand’s innovative know-how at the Expo, New Zealand Trade and Enterprise commissioned Saturn Media and Jonathan Hendriksen, a kiwi based in Japan, who is one of the founding entrepreneurs of internet and mobile in the Japanese market and a partner of Saturn Media, to help achieve their goal.
“We are so proud to be able to help bring the New Zealand to the world in this inventive and novel way. It really has been a great experience for us”, Weir said.
In an effort to accelerate the development and market deployment of other innovative applications and services, NBR and Ericsson have launched the Frontier competition.
Frontier offers developers and content providers the chance to enter anything from multimedia animation to business automation solutions, in a bid to find the latest in next generation services. New Zealand developers and content providers with demonstrable mobile and/or broadband applications are eligible to enter.
The winner of Frontier receives a trip to meet leading network operators and industry heavyweights at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, in February 2006. It also includes, for the New Zealand winner, consulting advice from leading business incubator The ICEHOUSE.
Applications close on Friday 29th July. Entries need only be market-ready or demonstrable. Further information and entry forms can be found at http://www.ericsson.co.nz/frontier.
Ericsson is shaping the future of Mobile and Broadband Internet communications through its continuous technology leadership. Providing innovative solutions in more than 140 countries, Ericsson is helping to create the most powerful communication companies in the world. Read more at http://www.ericsson.com/au/ericsson/press.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Sarah Blunt
Ericsson New Zealand
Phone: +64 9 5237460
Fax: + 64 9 355 5501
Mobile: +61 438 018 557
Stephen Weir
Saturn Media
Ph: +64 9 308 6243
Fax: +64 9 309 9713
Mobile +64 21 328 787
