New Chapter Ahead for UK Mobile Media Company as Industry Award Wins Round-Out Successful Year
LONDON, December 1 /PRNewswire/ — Mippin, the leading mobile media company (http://www.mippin.com), today learned that it has won Google’s annual Android Developer Challenge. Its Buzz Deck mobile application was awarded first prize in the Media Category. The Google Challenge recognises and awards developers writing the very best applications for the Android mobile platform.
Mippin has developed applications for Android since the platform’s launch and is delighted to be recognized with such a prestigious prize. Buzz Deck (http://www.mippin.com/buzzdeck) provides a simple, elegant and fast way to get all of your favourite web content in one place, perfectly optimised for mobile use. You can flick through your daily hit of favourite news topics across more than twenty different content categories from Tech to Entertainment. Buzz Deck learns what you like and recommends cool new stuff. And you can even get Twitter & Facebook updates alongside. An iPhone version is to follow soon.
The Google win comes hot on the heels of another major award for Mippin’s Buzz Widget application in Forum Nokia’s recent Calling All Innovators competition. Buzz Widgets deliver content directly to a phone’s home screen, and are available across both the Nokia and Android platforms. Buzz Widgets were also a finalist in the UK’s technology innovation industry awards, the iAwards in November 2009.
Mippin’s achievements this year speak to the company’s founding commitments to deliver the best, most compelling mobile content services and user experience to all mobile users, regardless of device, market or operating system.
“One competition win could be regarded as good fortune, but winning two major awards in the space of two months shows the momentum we have established at Mippin. The fact that that we’ve won these awards for different products across different platforms, truly demonstrates Mippin’s skills and passion to deliver fantastic user experiences built upon our world leading content aggregation platform.” Said Richard Hyndman, CTO.
In keeping with this commitment, Mippin is also announcing that Nick Barnett has joined as Mippin’s new CEO. Nick brings a wealth of relevant experience to the role, most recently as Managing Director, Phorm UK, which provides targeted online content and advertising solutions. Previously Nick was Vice President, Corporate Strategy and Development at O2/Telefonica for five years and prior to that at McKinsey & Company.
“The explosion of mobile applications and services over the last two years creates a really exciting future for Mippin. We play a central role in mobilising the vast range of web content and delivering compelling mobile application experiences, not just to iPhones and smart phones, but to any mobile device, legacy or new. With demand growing so rapidly, I’m excited about new opportunities for Mippin, working with established players in the industry to deliver mobile application experiences for all of their customers. Given my background – a combination of telecoms, technology, online media and advertising – Mippin is the perfect fit and I’m really looking forward to driving the company forward. Obviously, I am absolutely delighted that the team’s accomplishments have been recognised in winning both the Google and Nokia developer competitions – it’s a really great time to come on-board” says Nick Barnett.
Judy Gibbons, Mippin Chairman and Venture Partner at the company’s investors Accel Partners, commented: “It’s great to see the team recognised in this way and to have Nick on-board – his experience of working with major operators, equipment manufacturers and online publishers is really valuable and will help Mippin take a major step forward in this truly dynamic and high-growth market. Mippin’s innovative and highly scalable technology platform aggregates content from over 90,000 individual publishers and mobilises it in real time, perfectly optimised for the capabilities of every mobile handset. Combined with its award-winning application technology, Mippin can offer a wealth of content to any existing app-store, and to companies with an existing customer base who are looking to give their users a compelling content offering on mobile.”
About Mippin
Mippin is the trading name of Refresh Mobile Ltd, and is one of the worlds most advanced, scalable, and accessible mobile content platforms offering solutions for content packaging, discovery, distribution and delivery across the mobile web and mobile app stores.
The service aggregates content from over 90,000 individual internet publishers – major titles and niche sites alike – and uses proprietary crowd-sourced algorithms plus editorial input to manage over 100 content categories ranging from entertainment to sports to breaking news.
Mippin optimises content for mobile consumers, delivering it real time through a range of compelling user-experiences tailored to over 3,500 different devices across multiple platforms, from the latest generation of Apple iPhones and Android handsets to the ‘long tail’ of current and legacy mobile devices.
The company provides its services both directly under the Mippin brand across over 210 countries and through major 3rd party distribution partners on a white label basis, by providing tools for publishers, handset manufactures and network operators to enable the rapid large scale delivery of mobile optimised web content to their customers.
The company is funded by the leading venture capital company Accel Partners, who are also investors in companies such as Facebook, AdMob, GetJar, Digg and Real Networks.
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