Navigon investment General Atlantic partners

NAVIGON wins general Atlantic as a shareholder

Capital basis and authority for fast growth strengthened

Hamburg, 23 November 2005 - NAVIGON, one the offerer of mobile navigation systems leading in Europe, strengthens its capital and its business strength by a participation of general Atlantic. NAVIGON increases the capital and takes part general Atlantic, those world-wide in the financing of growth enterprise active private Equity company, with approximately 25 % in NAVIGON. Chief partner remains Dipl. Ing. Peter Scheufen, who is also a chairman of the executive committee of the NAVIGON AG.
A crucial growth factor for the industry and for NAVIGON will be the product development. For success remains further crucial to bring the fastest and best innovation into the market. In addition the international development and the development of partnerships with prominent mark enterprises of the electronics industry are located in the focus, which will integrate in the future of always frequent navigation software into their devices for the mass-market.
"with general Atlantic we won just as experienced as investor oriented on a long-term basis, who recognized our outstanding growth potential and with the development of our market position and the realization of an international expansion", says Peter Scheufen, CEO of the NAVIGON AG will support us.
The market of mobile navigation developed with the technical ripe one and affordableness for a broad consumer layer rapidly: In the year 2003 European-wide 700,000 devices were sold, already to 2004 2.6 million navigation systems. Up to the end of the 3. Quarter this yearly already mobile navigation systems a customer found, to the year end 2005 the number of sold devices in the comparison to the previous year therefore again to more than will have doubled themselves over 4.4 million. NAVIGON expects the fact that in boom-end themselves superproportional growth segment of navigation will continue and would like to further remove its prominent role in Germany and Europe.
Dr. Klaus Esser, Managing Director with general Atlantic and chairman of the supervisory board of the NAVIGON AG says in the future: "mobile navigation is useful for everyone and affordable by the enormous technical progress owing to NAVIGON and other one now also for everyone. Therefore there are a very fast rising demand and high requirements to the young and innovation-strong team of NAVIGON to use the large wachstumschancen. We will support Peter Scheufen and its team with this forthcoming task gladly, in Europe and world-wide."

Over NAVIGON:

With the development that world-wide first mobile government inspection department navigation carried NAVIGON out pioneer work and sets with its products to today quality yardsticks. It is a European-wide leading enterprise in the mobile navigation industry (in accordance with CANALYS, 11/2005). The German system manufacturer with company headquarters in Hamburg and peppering castle employs over 150 coworkers. Beyond that NAVIGON is in central and Western Europe, represent as well as in the USA and Canada with local selling. In the center of the business philosophy mobility is located for humans and enterprises, always and everywhere, surely and comfortably, simply flatable and efficiently.

TomTom Garmin GPS Slugfest

Garmin's GPS Slugfest

Garmin and TomTom are battling to bring GPS to consumers. Who has the tools to take the advantage?

By Jim Gillies
October 31, 2005

The latest "must-have" personal electronic gadget is the Personal Navigation Device (PND). Combining global positioning system (GPS) navigation capabilities with preloaded maps featuring millions of points of interest (gas stations, restaurants, local attractions), these little devices are expected to be big sellers this holiday season. Leading the PND wave are Motley Fool Stock Advisor pick Garmin (Nasdaq: GRMN) and European upstart TomTom, both of whom released their third-quarter earnings last week. Despite expectations for a massive earnings blowout, results from both companies were only extremely good. Consequently, Garmin was down nearly 12% in the day following its report, and TomTom, trading in Europe, was off over 18%.

Competition is good for companies, so long as they don't self-immolate in a rush to beat down their competitors. In this respect, TomTom looks like Garmin's biggest challenge to date. Other competitors such as Lowrance Electronics (Nasdaq: LEIX) are too small to mount an effective threat, and other GPS specialists such as Trimble Navigation (Nasdaq: TRMB) are sticking to applications outside of the PND sphere.

Comparing the products
I believe Garmin is at least temporarily playing catch-up here. On the PND front, TomTom's GO products got the jump on the market, before Garmin responded with their c-Series and now i-Series of product lines. Both sets of products offer 3D graphical navigation and turn-by-turn voice instruction, but the TomTom units also built in hands-free calling via a Bluetooth™ connection to your similarly equipped mobile phone. While Garmin's iQue M5 PDA (personal digital assistant) offering has Bluetooth™ capability, their PND offerings don't -- yet.

In addition, Garmin's "Mobile" offering, allowing smartphone users to turn their phones into in-car navigators, was just launched this past September. TomTom's comparable offering launched nearly a year earlier. It shouldn't be surprising that TomTom appears so adept at mobile wireless offerings; their background lies in software and application development for smartphones and PDAs.

It's one thing to take a lead, but it's another thing to hold it, and that's where I think Garmin has the advantage.

Keep the pipeline moving
As I wrote in my last article on Garmin, the pace of GPS development is getting faster and faster, increasing pressure on R&D and manufacturing. This works in Garmin's favor; the company designs and manufactures its goods in-house, which lowers its costs while increasing its ability to redesign existing products or launch new ones. Its steady stream of new products indicates that Garmin isn't afraid of cannibalizing its own product lines to keep pace with development.

Supporting this, look at how new products have influenced Garmin's sales year to date:

	Q1 '05	Q2 '05	Q3 '05
Sales ($million)	$192.7	$264.5	$251.3
Units Sold (thousands)	583	707	708
% of Sales from Products released in past 12 months	31%	38%	44%

Anyone else see an accelerating trend? As consumer appetites continue to seek the "latest and greatest," and R&D and manufacturing remain key, how do our players stack up? The answer overwhelmingly favors Garmin; they outstrip TomTom by a factor of seven in new spending.

	R&D Spending 2004 TTM*	R&D as % of Rev. 2004 TTM	Spending Q3 '05	% of Rev. Q3 '05
Garmin	$61.6	8.1%	$72.8	7.8%
TomTom**	$6.8	2.6%	$10.5	1.7%

* Dollar figures in millions.
** TomTom results translated from Euros using exchange rates of 0.7357 EUR/USD and 0.8294 EUR/USD, as at 31-Dec-04 and 30-Sep-05 respectively

True, Garmin's product offering is much wider than TomTom's, but since the PND market promises to be the bread-and-butter space for GPS participants in the future, they'll likely be directing a disproportionate amount of their R&D spending toward that segment.

The other point to consider is that Garmin controls nearly every step in the design, engineering and manufacture of its products, while TomTom outsources most of these functions. Outsourcing may help TomTom cut costs, but Garmin's in-house processes and overall nimbleness still keep it ahead. Garmin's consumer division enjoys fatter margins, at 31% to TomTom's 28.2%.

Getting the word out
It's great to develop new and exciting products -- but only if folks are aware of them. This is especially true for a product line like PND's, which are now just entering the average consumer's price range. As a company largely made up of engineers, Garmin has been a little light on the marketing side in the past. (I say that as an engineer myself; we have a predilection for doing cool work and assuming customers will come to us.)

Both companies have promised high-priced multimedia advertising blitzes for the holiday season, but TomTom has been rather aggressive on the marketing front all along. They've recently partnered with Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) AOL-owned Mapquest unit to launch a Mapquest-branded PND, and have popped up on NFL broadcasts in recent weeks. Take a look at recent efforts of both companies:

	Mktg./ Advtg. Spending 2004 TTM*	Mktg./ Advtg. as % of revenue 2004 TTM	Spending Q3 '05	% of revenue Q3 '05
Garmin	$29.6	3.9%	$38.3**	4.1%
TomTom***	$26.7	10.2%	$45.4	7.2%

* Dollar figures in millions.
** Estimated based on historical spending levels (Garmin doesn't break this number out quarterly).
** TomTom results translated from Euros using exchange rates of 0.7357 EUR/USD and 0.8294 EUR/USD, as at 31-Dec-04 and 30-Sep-05 respectively.

What are the companies aiming for with these efforts and promised greater expenditures? To me, it looks like aggressive attempts on the part of each company to better penetrate the other's core market: TomTom into North America, and Garmin into Europe. So how have they fared?

Garmin Geographic Sales (in millions)	2004 TTM (Q3 '04)	2005 TTM (Q3 '05)	% of 2005 Total
Europe	$195.9	$270.1	29.1%
N. America	$532.5	$614.7	66.1%
Asia / Rest of World	$34.2	$44.7	4.8%
Total	$762.5	$929.4

TomTom Geographic Sales	2004 TTM (Q3 '04)	2005 TTM (Q3 '05)	% of 2005 Total
Europe	€186.8	€497.7	95.6%
N. America	€ 5.6	€ 19.0	3.7%
Asia / Rest of World	N/A	€ 3.9	0.8%
Total	€192.4	€520.6

The historical results, at least, favor Garmin. Admittedly, Garmin's numbers include their Aviation division, as well as other consumer product lines outside of PNDs, but their European presence far outstrips the TomTom's North American presence. That gives Garmin an excellent base for driving further PND sales.

The Foolish bottom line
Aggressive holiday sales campaigns are planned. Inventory channels are stocked in preparation for the holiday buying season. In the short term, the fight looks to be a doozy. Yet I think Garmin holds the long-term advantage, particularly if their marketing efforts bear fruit. With their in-house design and engineering specialty, they can keep up a relentless pace in an accelerating product-cycle environment, forcing TomTom to match or fall back. Still, TomTom is focused, well-capitalized, competitor with significant know-how in the mobile arena. It should be an interesting battle.

Garmin and Time Warner are Motley Fool Stock Advisor selections. If you sign up for a free trial, you will receive access to this and over 60 additional active picks. Click here for more details.

Jim Gillies owns shares of Garmin and is long $45 Jan07 Garmin calls and short $35 Jan06 Garmin puts. He'd love a Garmin i5, if any readers are feeling generous! Lowrance Electronics has appeared as a Motley Fool Hidden Gems Tiny Gem. Send Jim feedback!

Location importance to google

CRITICAL COMPONENT: LOCATION

Ron also asked about Google's plans to buy up dark fiber. If knowledge
is Google's goal, buying up dark fiber is just the start.

Access to dark fiber will give Google an opportunity to offer WiFi
Internet access, which they are already testing out here in San
Francisco, with a startup company called Feeva.

My answer to Ron was that Google wants everyone on broadband and it
wants to be the first page they see when they fire up their laptop.

Now, you might say, "Well, so, what? You can go elsewhere on the Web."
Yes, but not before you give Google your information -- whereabouts,
interests, intent, etc. If you want free access or cheap access, you'll
have to give up something, like your information, and your whereabouts.
You must give Google knowledge.

To the extent that offering free WiFi enables Google to access your
location, that's another piece of information or knowledge they have
about you. Knowing where we are can be a critical component in
understanding who we are.

"Getting people connected to information wherever they are continues to
be a focus area for us," said Larry Page, Google's co-founder and
president of products, on a conference call, following Google's
third-quarter blowout results. "One highlight is a bid we've submitted
to offer free wireless Internet access to the city of San Francisco.
This is an opportunity to make San Francisco a test ground for new
location-based technology."

See Net Sense: Free WiFi equals targeted ads.
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?siteid=mktw&dist=nwtsense&guid=%7B40462329%2D2DE7%2D4B32%2DBFE5%2D6F39B705AF29%7D

To be sure, San Francisco hasn't given Google the OK, just yet.

It's also unclear whether local governments across the country won't
provide Internet access, like they provide roads and garbage pickup.
Still, San Francisco's mayor, Gavin Newsom, told me that he doesn't want
San Franciscans to be burdened with taxes for his WiFi initiative in the
city.

So, Google might have a good chance at experimenting, after all.

In San Francisco, when you fire up your laptop in Union Square, which
is one big free hot zone, you have to click onto the free Google WiFi
site and land on a Google search page. Down the road, Google might
potentially block you from roaming around the Web until you answer
certain questions, like, "Are you here to shop?" Or, "If you're here to
shop, what item are you seeking?" Or, "Would you like to find the
nearest Starbucks while you're here?"

See TV piece: Google's WiFi strategy
(http://www.marketwatch.com/tvradio/playerfull.asp?guid={C6AF8A84-8AAA-4647-923E-621E35BF82EB}&clip=wifi&type=video&siteid=mktw&dist=nwtsense)

Google maps would be a good starting point for its WiFi Internet
access, location-based services. Just like those maps in the mall that
highlight where you are in the mall with a box that says: "You are
here," Google maps can appear on the free WiFi homepage and say: "You
are here."

With increasing knowledge, the next thing you know, Google will be
saying: "We know where you are. Now, this is what you should do."
_______________________________________________________________________

SPENDING TIME ON GOOGLE

Google Maps is just one of the many properties that attract users and
provide Google with other data points to help them understand our
complicated multidimensional personalities.

Traffic to Google Maps (which is a feature on Google Local) was at 15
million in September, according to comScore Networks. It was the No. 3
most visited map site in that month, right behind Yahoo Maps, at No. 2,
and the No. 1 site, MapQuest, a division of Time Warner's (TWX) AOL. By
comparison to local properties, Google Maps surpasses InterActiveCorp's
(IACI) CitySearch, with 14.3 million unique visitors last month.
--

Google Mapping New Direction

Google Maps' New Direction

By Tom Taulli
October 10, 2005

Since its launch in March, Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) mapping feature has
unleashed a torrent of creativity. For example, NYsee combines NY
traffic cameras, Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) traffic news, and street photos
from Amazon.com's (Nasdaq: AMZN) A9.com with Google Maps to make your
traveling experience a little less hectic. In a more Foolish vein,
GeoIndex melds Google Maps with Yahoo! Finance and the S&P 500 to show
returns based on where companies are headquartered.

This stuff is undeniably cool. But investors might well wonder how
Google plans to make money off its maps. Not surprisingly, the answer
revolves around advertising.

For example, Google announced last week that Google Maps will mark its
emergence from beta testing into full-fledged usefulness by changing its
name to Google Local. To see how the new version worked, I went to the
site, entered my home address, clicked "Find Business," and typed
"pizza." I got 10 results, with the closest one listed first, and saw
tiny flags corresponding to each result on an accompanying map. Moving
my mouse over each flag gave me the business's address, phone number,
and a brief description of the menu.

This new product has the makings of a killer application. "Local
information is huge," said Jared Cosulich, who operates his own
Google-mapping service at CommunityWalk. "The decision to combine the
two services recognizes the fact that the user's experience is
significantly increased when he or she can see information in the
context that ties it all together."

The first step to capitalizing on all this local information will likely
involve Google's AdWords program, which provides ads based on the
keywords used in a given search. But Google Local's real promise lies in
"in-map" advertising. For example, as you zoom into areas of a map,
Google may serve up ads based on businesses in the surrounding streets
or neighborhoods -- and perhaps display them within the map itself.
"Whatever advertising medium is chosen," said Mike Pegg, who operates
Google Maps Mania, "I'm confident it will be relevant and non-intrusive
to the map you are viewing."

In less than a year, Google Local has become online mapping's No. 2
player, with 14.3 million unique visitors. (Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX)
America Online is still the leader, with 39 million unique visitors.)
What's more, according to The Kelsey Group, the local online advertising
market should reach roughly $3.4 billion by 2009. Google's rapid growth
in mapping -- and its sophisticated searching -- should help position it
to grab a healthy portion of this market.

Time Warner and Amazon.com are

GetMeThere: Pay As You Go Mobile GPS Launches in UK free client

GetMeThere: Pay As You Go Mobile GPS Launches in UK

20 September 05

GetMeThere.co.uk has launched what they are claiming is the first, free to install, Pay-as-you-go Mobile Satellite Navigation solution in the UK. A joint venture between Toyota GB and IS Solutions, the TARA (Traffic Avoidance and Routing Application) Mobile SatNav is aimed at mobile and smart phone users in the UK. Customers won't have to buy expensive hardware or annual licences to use the Satellite Navigation system as the TARA Mobile SatNav works with any compatible mobile phone and a GPS receiver. Instead, punters pay on a per-journey tariff, with TARA Mobile SatNav charging £1.50 ($2.70, €2.22) to the mobile phone bill for each destination, with users allowed to update their route to check traffic conditions, take an alternative route or to re-calculate the journey if they have the orienteering skills of an alcoholic amnesiac The system offers a comprehensive suite of features, including full turn by turn navigation, voice commands, traffic avoidance, auto-zooming maps as a junction approaches, hands free use, European road network coverage with full address, house number, street and postcode search. All route calculation and traffic avoidance is processed remotely, with the data automatically downloaded onto the mobile via GPRS. Jon West, Director of GetMeThere.co.uk said "With over 4.5m navigation systems expected to be sold this year across Europe, TARA Mobile SatNav has arrived just in time to provide a low cost, quality solution for the intelligent motorist. With GPS devices now available at around the £50 ($90, €74) mark, SatNav has become a must have for all motorists". TARA mobile SatNav is available as a free download from GetMeThere.co.uk and is compatible with a long list of mobiles including popular Nokia models such as 3650, 3660, 6260, 6600, 6670, and 7610, T-Mobile's MDA II and Compact and O2's XDA II range. GetMeThere.co.uk

This article comes from www.digital-lifestyles.info

TomTom on first major IPO in The Netherlands since 2000

http://www.herbertsmith.com/News/06June2005.htm

Wallet Phones Still Not Catching On

By Keith Regan
www.EcommerceTimes.com
Part of the ECT News Network
09/13/05 1:18 PM PT

In addition to overcoming consumer concerns, carriers will have to find
the right technology to appeal to vendors, retailers, banks and credit
card companies. Some options allow for multiple credit card numbers to
be stored on a single phone, while others use a pre-paid system more
like a debit card.

More than 2 billion people around the world own or use mobile phones.
And increasingly, people are using their mobile phones for multimedia --
not just for communication, but also for entertainment, news, and
information services. Click here to find out more about Nokia's
developments with Mobile TV!

A year after Asian mobile carriers first launched them widely, consumers
are still not rushing to adopt systems that enable mobile phones to be
used as electronic payment devices.

NTT DoCoMo (NYSE: DCM) Latest News about NTT DoCoMo launched a wallet
phone service in its native Japan last year and more carriers have
announced plans to follow suits in key Asian markets. Meanwhile,
MasterCard and Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Latest News about Motorola have been
working quietly on new technologies for nearly a year now that will help
make the cell phone a payment device as well as a personal
identification tool. Visa International also has linked with mobile
carriers on two pilot programs in Asia.

But analysts acknowledge that despite high hopes for the service, it may
still be several years before the technology finds its way into the
mainstream.

A recent survey by research firm In-Stat found little interest or demand
among consumers for cell phone services such as electronic wallets.

"Some of those opinions will shift with time," said In-Stat analyst Neil
Strother. "Enthusiasm could build for services that do not poll well
today. But it will be up to manufacturers and carriers to help move
end-users to more favorable views."
Moving Westward

Often, mobile services get their first adoption in Asian marketplaces
where more advanced mobile infrastructure Discover a better way to
manage the business of IT with IBM Tivoli solutions. is in place. That's
happened with mobile gaming and mobile television and appears to be
happening with using cell phones as a payment device.

NTT DoCoMo recently reported that some 3 million cell phone users and
20,000 retailers and other vendors are signed up for its Mobile Wallet
offering.

While early tests show consumers spending an average of US$30 or more on
each cell-phone charge, many analysts believe the best chance for mobile
payments to gain traction is with so-called micro-payments, with users
buying content such as song downloads, ring tones, games or video clips.

A recent study by Juniper Research argued that the mobile commerce will
be a $40 billion industry by 2009, much of that made up of millions of
micropayments. In Europe, for instance, where such payments are expected
to take hold before they reach the U.S., the average cell phone users
will conduct nearly 30 transactions per year on a mobile handset, but
with an average transaction value of just $3, according to Juniper.
Security a Concern

Analysts believe resistance may be highest in the U.S., where concerns
about security Security, strength, a lower TCO: find out about all the
advantages of IBM Middleware on Linux. and identity theft are at the
forefront.

Telecom analyst Jeff Kagan said U.S. consumers will warm slowly to using
cell phones in new ways, with new blended phones such as the iTunes
smartphone being built by Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) Latest News about Apple
and Motorola helping to push consumers in that direction.

"But it's still early," Kagan told The E-Commerce Times. "The number of
users actively seeking out those advanced services are still very small."

In addition to overcoming consumer concerns, carriers will have to find
the right technology to appeal to vendors, retailers, banks and credit
card companies. Some options allow for multiple credit card numbers to
be stored on a single phone, while others use a pre-paid system more
like a debit card.

"The mobile phone will be ubiquitous and carriers will offer a range of
services to take advantage of that fact and generate revenue," Kagan
said. "But consumers will have the final say about what works and what
doesn't."

SMS worth $50 billion 2010]

> SMS worth $50 billion 2010
> From:
>
> Date:
> Tue, 06 Sep 2005 13:57:11 -0700
> To:
>
> To:
>
>
> SMS boom to continue
> Tony Halett
> silicon.com
> September 06, 2005, 14:55 BST
>
> Talkback
> Tell us your opinion
> 'The cheapest, easiest form of peer-to-peer mobile communication ever
> known' will be worth $50bn a year by 2010, according to Portio Research
>
>
>
>
> SMS messaging will grow in popularity so that the market is worth $50bn
> (£27m) globally by 2010, according to new research.
>
> A report by Portio Research claims: "No other non-verbal form of
> communication in the world is used by so many individuals and is
> experiencing such a rapid expansion of its user base."
>
> However, the report's authors see growth in the mobile messaging market
> more broadly — they forecast rosy futures on the move for email, instant
> messaging (especially in the US ), push-to-talk and even MMS, SMS' more
> feature-rich big brother, which should see similar revenues "by 2010
> from considerably less traffic".
>
> The year 2010 will see some 2.38 trillion text messages sent, leading
> Portio to dub the medium "the cheapest, easiest form of peer-to-peer
> mobile communication ever known".
>
> In separate news, Vodafone has announced large text, video messaging and
> data bundles aimed at business customers.
>
> The mobile networks giant said its own research shows a 30 percent
> increase in the use of text messaging by business customers over the
> past 12 months.
>
> The new bundles will be available across shared accounts within Vodafone
> Perfect Fit for Business tariffs.
>
>
> Microsoft lines up BlackBerry challenge Vodafone and MSN IM:
> a taste of things to come
> Will IM be the focus of convergence? What does the future of
> communications hold?
> Users 'want advanced mobile services' Taking the SMS gamble

Philips preps $20 mobiles

Philips preps $20 mobiles

Working on new system for super-cheap phones.

John Blau, IDG News Service
01 July 2005

Phillips has started a new programme aimed at creating a $20 mobile phone, with the intention of getting the cost under $15 by 2008.

The company is working on new hardware and software that will cost less than $5, making the overall phone cost around $20, so that the technology can be brought to what the company says is an "untapped global customer base of 3.3 billion people".

The new system, called Nexperia Cellular System Solution 5130, integrates all the electronics needed for a mobile phone and will be capable of making calls and sending text messages. It will have a monochrome screen and be able to play polyphonic ring tones.

The system should halve the cost of GSM handsets and will be based at Philip's production facility in Shanghai, China.

Today, 77 percent of the people in the world live within range of a mobile network but only 25 percent of them subscribe to a mobile service, Philips said, citing the relatively high cost of mobile phones as the main reason.

At the 3GSM World Congress in Cannes earlier this year, Motorola announced plans to produce a sub-$40 mobile phone, the Emerging Market Handset, for customers in the developing world.

The announcement came on the heels of an invitation by the GSM Association to manufacturers to tender for a project that seeks to build low-cost mobile phones. The project evolved in response to concerns by network operators in several countries that identified the cost of handsets as a major obstacle to market growth.

4INFO Mobile Search - draper

March 21, 2005 09:00 AM US Eastern Timezone

Leading Mobile Search Service 4INFO Secures $8.0 Million in
Funding;
Investment Led by U.S. Venture Partners with Participation
from Draper
Fisher Jurvetson

SAN MATEO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 21, 2005--4INFO
Inc., the
leading mobile search service, announced today that it has
completed an
$8.0 million round of equity funding led by U.S. Venture
Partners with
participation by Draper Fisher Jurvetson. Tim Connors,
general partner
of U.S. Venture Partners, has joined 4INFO's board of directors.

4INFO will use the investment to accelerate the company's
growth,
enhance product development and expand sales and marketing
efforts. The
company's mobile search service allows consumers to find
information --
local directory, movie times, sports scores, stock quotes,
weather,
flight information and more -- for free and quickly using
their mobile
phones. The service works with all major wireless carriers,
including
Verizon, Cingular and SprintPCS.

"Having the endorsement of U.S. Venture Partners and Draper
Fisher
Jurvetson is a strong validation of 4INFO's mobile search
business,"
said Pankaj Shah, founder and CEO of 4INFO Inc. "4INFO will
continue to
lead the market by launching new services and providing the
fastest,
most accurate results."

"I tried the service once and immediately couldn't live
without it. It
is simple and compelling. I look forward to helping the team
at 4INFO
continue to build a great business around this fabulous
product," said
Connors, general partner of U.S. Venture Partners.

"The mobile market continues to expand rapidly and the
demand for
information `on the go' is exploding," said Andreas
Stavropoulos,
managing director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson. "4INFO has an
impressive
search service that delivers on the promise of fast and
accurate results
to mobile phones everywhere."

4INFO offers something for every mobile user. The nation's
most complete
and comprehensive database of stores and businesses in every
neighborhood is just a text message away. For example, a
user can send
"starbucks palo alto" to 44636 and the service will return
the addresses
and phone numbers for all of the locations in the city.
Other sample
queries include "movies 94303" for local show times or
"weather nyc" for
a free 5-day weather forecast.

4INFO's mobile search utilizes sophisticated and patented
technology to
deliver the most relevant results. The search engine
leverages natural
language processing and features user-specific intelligence.
There are
millions of words in the lexicon and no syntax is required.

About 4INFO Inc.

4INFO Inc. (www.4Info.net <http://www.4info.net>), a leading
mobile
search service, allows users to quickly, easily and
affordably find
relevant information on their mobile devices. 4INFO provides
local
directory and real-time information services, including
sports scores,
weather, flight information, movie times and stock quotes.
4INFO is
headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif.

About U.S. Venture Partners

U.S. Venture Partners (USVP) invests in a broad range of
early-stage
information technology companies, including those involved
in wireless,
IT infrastructure, semiconductors, and enterprise and technical
software. Representative USVP public companies are: Sun
Microsystems,
SanDisk, AMCC, Verity, CheckPoint, MMC Networks, 3Dfx,
Leadis, Nuance
Communications, Centillium, Crescendo Communications
(Cisco), Elantec
(Intersil), StrataCom (Cisco), Xylan, Blue Coat Systems and
Concur.

About Draper Fisher Jurvetson

Draper Fisher Jurvetson is the leader in seed stage and
early stage
venture capital. Since 1985, Draper Fisher Jurvetson has
created a
global network of affiliated venture funds with over $3
billion in
capital commitments and offices in the major technology
centers around
the world. DFJ has proven expertise in identifying and helping
extraordinary entrepreneurs who want to change the world.

Contacts for 4INFO
Dena Cook, 310-566-2283
dena.cook@zenogroup.com <mailto:dena.cook@zenogroup.com>

How To Use </howtouse.jsp> | Community </community.jsp> |
News
</inthenews.jsp> | Contact Us </contactus.jsp> | Privacy
Policy
</privacy.jsp>

Copyright © 2005 4INFO, Inc. All rights reserved. Patents
Pending.

oursourced mapping GIS

The objective of trying to reach you is to explore the
possibilities of a
strategic alliance of mutual value with "Webraska Mobile
Technologies" in
the area of GIS based Navigation Applications & associated
Data Services.

VARGIS LLC (An Infotech Enterprises Company), is a major
GIS services
organization headquartered in Virginia, having significant
experience,
expertise and infrastructure for development of navigation
software
applications and production of associated data.

Our domain expertise, work experience & services in this
segment include:
-- Software Application & Product development support for
o In - Car Navigation, Voice Enabled Routing &
Navigation
o Traffic Telematics, Fleet Management &
Tracking
o PDA / Mobile / Wireless mapping based
Location Services etc.
o Web based Routing & Mapping
-- Development & Platform Migration to Linux / Windows XP /
CE embedded
systems etc.
-- Enhancement, Maintenance & Testing related support for
Navigation
Application & Data Products
-- Development of Map display engines.
-- Road network creation from Satellite / Aerial photography
and secondary
sources.
-- Data services like Capturing of street centerlines,
attribute data etc.

Leveraging our domain expertise and off - shore delivery
mechanism, we have
helped our various customers (including a leading, global In
Car Navigation
product development company) develop and bring commercial
navigation
products & data to market quickly and cost effectively".

With over 2000 professionals, SEI CMMi Level 5 and ISO
9001:2000 quality
certifications, we are committed to delivering quality
consistently every
time. Our global delivery model ensures efficient services
to our clients
worldwide, through fully functional offices in UK, USA,
Benelux, and
Germany.

Mr. Rajesh Nambiar, based at our Denver, Colorado office in
US, will be very
keen to get in touch with you and discuss the potential
benefits that our
association could bring to you. Please let us know the best
time to contact
you. Alternatively, we request you to please provide us the
contact details
of the person responsible and most suitable to carry forward
this activity
in your organization.

I look forward to your reply,

Best Regards,
Shakeel

Shakeel Ahmed
Sr. Executive - Business Development.
VARGIS LLC.

Contact:
Mr. Rajesh Nambiar
Senior Account Manager - GIS Consulting Practice
VARGIS LLC (An Infotech Enterprises Company)
11005 Ralston Road, Suite 202
Arvada, Colorado 80004
Voice : 303.425.7422
Mobile: 909 725 1389
email: rajesh@vargis.com
(Please visit our website to learn more about our capabilities
www.vargis.com)

Close Window

JUNE 7, 2005 NEWS ANALYSIS :TECH By Timothy J. Mullaney YellowPages Goes for Gold on AOL The SBC-BellSouth online directory will strike a portal deal that could help it claw back the ground lost to Yahoo! and Google The fight over who will control the $15 billion U.S. commercial directory business as it moves online will intensify tomorrow. BusinessWeek Online has learned that BellSouth (BLS ) and SBC Communications (SBC ) have reached an agreement to supply Yellow Pages listings to AOL (TWX ), including its flagship U.S. online service and AOL.com portal. The deal could nearly double the reach of YellowPages.com, the SBC-BellSouth joint venture that merged their online Yellow Pages units last November. YellowPages.com will integrate SBC's SmartPages.com site and BellSouth's RealPages.com by late 2005. "SMART DEAL." The joint venture is at the heart of the two companies' strategy to meet competition from Yahoo! (YHOO ) and Google (GOOG ), whose new local search engines use zip codes and city names to help consumers zero in on small, local businesses like plumbers, auto mechanics, and restaurants. That market has traditionally been the purview of the print Yellow Pages, which serve more than 2 million small-business advertisers. But the phone companies have got off to a slow start in fighting off the online interlopers. A comScore Networks survey released in April says 66% of Web surfers looking for local information use search engines rather than Internet Yellow Pages sites. Adding AOL, which accounted for 59 million Web Yellow Pages searches in the first quarter of 2005, will help to shrink the gap between the two Bells and their closest rivals. Yahoo accounted for 464 million local searches in the first quarter, according to comScore Networks. Google accounted for nearly 429 million searches. BellSouth says YellowPages.com and affiliated sites were used for about 210 million searches per quarter before the AOL deal. "It's a smart deal, one they had to do," says Greg Sterling, an analyst at local-advertising research firm The Kelsey Group. "They need to market their own sites, but in the short term they also need distribution." EYEING BIG GROWTH. The battle over local Internet advertising pits some of America's most powerful companies against each other over a highly lucrative business. Profit margins at Yellow Pages publishers are often higher than 50%, excluding interest, taxes and noncash charges. There's one hitch: The print Yellow Pages business is growing slowly -- only about 1% to 2% a year, according to researchers at Kelsey. But the combined business of Internet Yellow Pages and local Web search is expected to grow 50% a year, from about $670 million last year to $5.1 billion in 2009. To seize the industry's big growth market, BellSouth and SBC teamed up last year. Their separate Yellow Pages sites had fallen well behind portals and even Verizon's SuperPages site in attracting surfers. INTUITIVE BRAND NAME. Piper Jaffray Internet analyst Safa Rashtchy has argued that Google and Yahoo have a built-in brand advantage in convincing consumers to research products and choose merchants online. She believes that Bells needed to come up with an equally catchy brand image, such as YellowPages.com, to keep their own sites in the forefront of consumers' minds and have a chance to compete. Together, BellSouth and SBC bought the startup YellowPages.com, which had a nationwide sales force, extending the two Bells' reach outside the states where they're the primary local phone carriers. It also provides an intuitive brand name for people who want to find local merchants. The AOL-YellowPages.com deal is not likely to have an immediate, major financial effect on any of the companies. Sources close to the deal said YellowPages.com is paying to have its advertisers appear in color-enhanced, more detailed listings at the top of each set of search results. FIGHTING FOR THE FUTURE. The deal gives the Bells the ability to tell advertisers who use both the print and online Yellow Pages that their ads will reach more people for about the same price. "We're a media company, and our goal is to build the largest audience," YellowPages.com CEO Charles Stubbs said in an interview before news of the AOL deal broke. The joint venture has similar deals with Yahoo and Infospace (INSP ). AOL gets more complete listings of local merchants, giving surfers a reason to choose its Yellow Pages product over Google or Yahoo, as well as ad revenue. In effect, the pact gives AOL a cut of the efforts of the 4,000 sales reps working for the printed Yellow Pages published by BellSouth and SBC. "This agreement extends our strategy of partnering with leading companies to provide our audiences with powerful and comprehensive search and directory services and to open up new opportunities to meet growing demand from advertisers," says Jim Riesenbach, AOL's senior vice-president of search and directional media. The deal's real payoff will come if it helps AOL and the Bells improve their position against the portals. The stakes are control of a local advertising market that Google CEO Eric Schmidt told an investor conference last month should be bigger than other markets the search giant has yet entered. If the Bells and AOL lose that, they will have lost a major part of their future. Mullaney is BusinessWeek's E-Business Editor, based in New York

Copyright 2000-2004, by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.
Terms of Use Privacy Notice

<http://www.businessweek.com/print/technology/content/jun2005/tc2005067_0061_tc024.htm?chan=tc&>

WAVEMARKET SECURES $9.4 MILLION SERIES B FUNDING LED BY DRAPER FISHER JURVETSON

For Immediate Release: Feb 7, 2005

Contact: Valerie Christopherson Bock Communications vchristopherson@bockpr.com 714-540-1030

WAVEMARKET SECURES $9.4 MILLION SERIES B FUNDING LED BY DRAPER FISHER JURVETSON

Capital Investment Will Drive Adoption of Crunkie and Location-based Alerts

EMERYVILLE, CA, Feb 7, 2005 – WaveMarket, (www.wavemarket.com), a pioneer in location-based and mobile blogging services, announced it has closed a Series B round of financing, securing $9.4 million in venture capital. Draper Fisher Jurvetson led the round, with existing investor BlueRun Ventures formerly known as Nokia Venture Partners also participating. WaveMarket will use the proceeds to drive the success of their Crunkie service (mobile location-based social network), alert solutions and location-based applications by providing concentrated support to their growing list of wireless carrier customers.

WaveMarket’s Board of Director’s welcomes the addition of new member, Andreas Stavropoulos, managing director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson. Stavropoulos said, “I was attracted to WaveMarket’s innovative approach to mobile location services. They transform underachieving LBS into location-aware social networks and dynamic blog-based city guides. Furthermore, they have unique technology that allows parents to create protective ‘geofences’ around their children.” He also said that “this is the gutsy and aggressive type of entrepreneurial team that Draper Fisher Jurvetson proudly backs.”

Peter Buhl, partner at BlueRun Ventures (formerly Nokia Venture Partners), added that after "Having worked with WaveMarket since 2002, we have seen the team’s revolutionary approach to location services become a reality with deployments at SK Telecom, Bell Mobility and AT&T Wireless. The team has a proven record of innovation and execution.”

“We are very excited about adding Draper Fisher Jurvetson. DFJ’s expertise on media business models and viral networks are vital to our success” said Tasso Roumeliotis, CEO of WaveMarket. “BlueRun Ventures has shown its unparalleled acumen of wireless over the last three years and we are proud to expand our relationship with them. The investment allows WaveMarket to expand sales, customer support and engineering resources to meet the demand for WaveMarket’s products, WaveIQ™, and will accelerate our efforts to convert any mobile phone into an on-location broadcaster.”

WaveIQ consists of three software products, each available now:

- Crunkie—a location-aware mobile social network that allows friends to locate each other as well as share location-tagged blog posts.

- Map.Me—a mobile phone map interface that allows users to pan/zoom and experience dynamic mobile city guides.

- WaveAlert—server that allows users to be notified whenever they enter or leave a designated area – proximity-based alerts. Set “geofences” around important assets or be notified if your friends are nearby.

About Draper Fisher Jurvetson

Draper Fisher Jurvetson is the premier early stage venture capital firm. Founded in 1985, Draper Fisher Jurvetson has created a global network of affiliated venture funds with over $3 billion in capital commitments and offices in the major technology centers around the world. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, the firm has proven expertise in identifying and helping extraordinary entrepreneurs who want to change the world.

About BlueRun Ventures

Launched in 1998 as Nokia Venture Partners, BlueRun Ventures is a leading early stage venture capital fund. BlueRun Ventures’ proven approach is to invest globally as a single fund in best of breed technologies, and teams with the drive and ability to build leading global companies. BlueRun Ventures is headquartered in Menlo Park, California, with offices in Helsinki, Herzelia (Israel), London, New Delhi, Seoul, Shanghai, Tokyo, and Washington, D.C. For more information, visit www.brv.com.

About WaveMarket

WaveMarket Inc. is a pioneer in location-based alerts and blogging. WaveIQ, the company's software product suite, enables users to receive notifications based on user movements or location triggers. It is the world's first carrier-grade location trigger solution. WaveIQ also allows mobile-handset users to spot and broadcast text and rich media to peers, groups or the world. Marketing to mobile carriers in the United States, Europe and Asia, WaveMarket's customers include, SK Telecom, Korea's leading wireless carrier, Bell Mobility, Canada's largest communications company, and AT&T Wireless. Headquartered in Emeryville, CA, WaveMarket has offices in Korea. Founded in 2000, the company is financed by Draper Fisher Jurvetson, BlueRun Ventures (formerly Nokia Venture Partners), Intel Capital, and Telecom Italia. (http://www.wavemarket.com/)