Sprint Signs Partners for Pioneering XOHM WiMAX Location-based Services

(Business News & Technology News, 29 Aug 2008)

XOHM WiMAX mobile broadband customers can have information customized for their locations and personalized to their needs with new Sprint ecosystem agreements that help pioneer subscriber location services.

Sprint is building a WiMAX high-speed mobile data network which will debut commercially in Baltimore this September. Other cities are expected to receive service in the fourth quarter and beyond. "The XOHM mobile broadband experience will be largely location-centric," explains Rick Robinson, Vice President of XOHM Services. "We're creating a new dimension to online presence, making points of interest near your current location easy to identify and access. This 'geobrowsing' effect provides location context and will give XOHM members a richer personal broadband experience when they're mobile."

Unique location and personalization capabilities will customize information for the user at home, at work or places in between. Customers with WiMAX-capable devices such as laptops and other portable devices will have location-based information at their fingertips, easily finding businesses, entertainment or events and quickly checking weather and traffic to get there. They can search for interests, see results plotted on a map, acquire detailed information, get directions and assemble friends conveniently while mobile.

The location-enabled mobile experience will span a range of devices such as laptops, mobile Internet devices, media players, cameras and car navigation. XOHM is enabling web services application programming interfaces (APIs) so a broad collection of service developers and device partners can use location to offer increased utility for XOHM members. XOHM will offer these location capabilities with a corresponding privacy policy to make sure XOHM members are informed about how XOHM will handle their data. At launch, a XOHM portal will offer location-based content from leading brands including:

- uLocate Communications Inc. of Boston, Mass., the primary partner in building XOHM's location enabled mobile experience. uLocate Communications is providing its WHERE platform and leading friend finding application Buddy Beacon to connect XOHM customers with their favorite people, places and things. Through WHERE, XOHM users will have access to local information including restaurant reviews, news, events, weather and much more. Select launch partners on the WHERE platform include Yelp, Eventful, Topix, NAVTEQ and Accuweather.

- Yelp Inc. of San Francisco, Calif., the leading Web site for local business reviews, which provides relevant user reviews and ratings for anything local, from restaurants to doctors and more. The reviews can be searched and sorted by category or shown in a map view, with access to Yelp.com for details on any of the three million local reviews.

- Eventful Inc. of San Diego, Calif., will provide users with listings of local events displayed in a map view. Customers can select sub-categories of interest, search for events and click through to Eventful.com to get more event information and purchase tickets.

- Topix LLC of Palo Alto, Calif., will provide local news based on current location as a summary, with an option to read full stories and others at its site.

- NAVTEQ of Chicago, Ill., will offer XOHM customers NAVTEQ Traffic real-time local traffic and commuter updates with links to the Traffic.com Web site for additional detailed construction, incident and drive time information.

- AccuWeather of State College, Penna., will provide three-day forecasts based on users' current locations. An easy link to AccuWeather.com mobile Web site gives more forecast details, radar/satellite images, and more.

- Google Inc. of Mountain View, Calif., will contribute industry-leading Local Search capability along with additional features and functionality from Google Maps.

- Openwave Systems Inc. of Redwood City, Calif. will provide the location platform that enables XOHM partners to use location to provide valuable services.

- Autodesk Inc. of San Rafael, Calif., will provide a standards-based interface and geospatial services, such as addresses, ZIP code and city/state information, to enhance location within the XOHM network.

"By incorporating location and local content at such a fundamental level, Sprint is bringing something entirely new to the user experience," says Greg Sterling, founder of Sterling Market Intelligence and senior analyst, Local Mobile Search. "And the ability of that experience to travel with the user and automatically adapt to new locations is equally powerful."

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