Leading Chinese mobile search provider partners with leading English-language media publisher to help users get more out of Mobile
SHANGHAI, Aug. 10 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- mInfo(R) Inc. (http://www.minfo.com ), the leading Chinese mobile search provider and operator of the popular Guanxi(TM) Mobile City Guide, announces a strategic partnership with Urbanatomy Media, the publisher of the highly successful That’s Shanghai, That’s PRD magazines, the Urbanatomy City Guides and Urbanatomy.com. The two market leaders will cooperate in the mobile arena by delivering fuller content to the Guanxi(TM) Mobile City Guide and bring more advanced mobile functionality to Urbanatomy’s various media properties. The partnership between the two companies will be extensive, and will include areas ranging from content sharing, co-op marketing and technology integration.
mInfo’s Guanxi(TM) Mobile City Guide has been the preferred mobile search service of foreign expatriates in China since 2002 offering SMS information look-up in English or Chinese throughout China. Guanxi originally started as a directory search service, but now has expanded to include a myriad of functions including: translation, weather, events, discounts, mobile shopping, and now even a mobile social network (http://www.mGuanxi.com ). The strategic partnership between the two English-language market-leaders will work on a multitude of levels to help develop this community further and create a fresh approach for Web, print and mobile integration.
“Urbanatomy is the leader in its space with huge amounts of valuable content and a loyal readership in major Chinese cities,” said Alvin Wang Graylin, CEO, mInfo Inc. “By working together, we can offer our joint users a new mobile channel to access and receive this content in a seamless manner. This also enables our respective advertising clients a non-intrusive way to reach their target audience via the mobile medium. This is certainly a win-win partnership for all parties involved.”
The partnership will start in three areas, firstly a weekly MMS mobile newsletter called the Friday Five, providing subscribers the top five things happening in their city during the coming weekend right in your hand at 5pm on a Friday, and all at no cost to them. Secondly, the listings on Urbanatomy.com can now be sent directly to readers’ mobile phones with a simple click of a button. If you ever need to show a taxi driver where to go, just send the listing to your mobile and you’re on your way. Lastly, Urbanatomy listings and events will also be available on the Guanxi Mobile City Guide via SMS (1066-9588-2929) or with the new mGuanxi mobile applet that can be downloaded for free at m.mGuanxi.com via any mobile browser.
The cooperation plans to expand with more functions and across more cities in China, something that clearly excites Urbanatomy Media General Manager, Leo Zhou, “It’s the next stage in the development of Urbanatomy Media’s brands. We have been the sector leaders in the print magazine market since 1997 and this is our first foray into mobile technology, a move long overdue, but a move carefully plotted. Urbanatomy.com is now improving at a rapid rate and will be further enhanced with mInfo’s technology. We are delighted to be doing this cooperation with mInfo who know exactly how our readers work and think, and has many years of experience operating mobile solutions in China.”
About mInfo Inc.
mInfo Inc. is the leading provider of mobile search services to China’s 680 million wireless subscribers and the leading provider of mobile pull-advertising solutions for branded and SME advertisers throughout China. mInfo operates both the mInfo(TM) and Guanxi(TM) brands of search services. mInfo delivers instant answers and mobile internet content on dozens of types of life-oriented search categories, and its services are available nationwide on all three major carriers in China via SMS, WAP, Instant Messenger, and embedded clients. mInfo is a strategic partner of China Telecom enabling its mobile search services, and was selected as the official mobile search provider for the Beijing Olympics in 2008. mInfo’s mobile search services are based on patent-pending natural language and personalization technologies, making its services truly intuitive to use and its search results highly relevant. mInfo was founded in early 2005 and headquartered in Shanghai, with offices in Beijing, Guangzhou, Chengdu, and Seattle. For more information, please visit: http://www.minfo.com
About Urbanatomy
Urbanatomy Media is the largest producer of English-language media in China, behind the magazines That’s Shanghai and That’s PRD (Shenzhen and Guangzhou), the Urbanatomy guide series and the new improved Urbanatomy.com. Since 1997, That’s Shanghai has been the most popular English-language magazine on the Chinese mainland, now distributing 62,500 copies for free every month. The Urbanatomy Guide Series includes the most comprehensive city and family guides to Shanghai, and now is to produce pocket guides to other cities across China and is working closely with the Shanghai Expo 2010. Urbanatomy.com is the online home for the company’s entire portfolio, offering a one-stop place for the vast amounts of content every day. Its headquarters are in Shanghai with offices in Shenzhen and Guangzhou. For more information, please visit: http://www.urbanatomy.com
