SUNNYVALE, Calif. — February
28, 2006 — InnoPath
Software, the industry leader in over-the-air
(OTA) mobile device management, today
announced that Vodafone K.K., a leading
wireless operator in Japan, has selected
InnoPath’s Firmware Manager (formerly
DeltaUpgrade Plus™) end-to-end
firmware over-the-air (FOTA) device management
solution to provide fast, efficient OTA
delivery of advanced features and services
for Vodafone K.K. handset users.
As part of the agreement, InnoPath will
serve as the exclusive vendor to provide
Vodafone K.K. with an OTA-based mobile
device management update solution on its
mobile handsets. Deploying InnoPath’s
proven end-to-end mobile device management
(MDM) solution will accelerate time-to-market
for Vodafone K.K.’s new products
and services, as well as drive customer
satisfaction and loyalty, enabling the
delivery of fast, seamless service updates
to customers.
Strategy Analytics estimates that the
cost of recalling 500,000 handsets varies
between $36m and $21m excluding the cost
of resulting churn (Source Strategy Analytics
Insight Report – Wireless Internet
Applications). The quantity of handsets
impacted will only grow given the complexity
of feature rich handsets that are available
today. Armed with these alarming statistics
and in light of the demand for mobile devices
with advanced services and applications,
carriers and handset manufacturers require
a complete mobile device management (MDM)
solution that addresses customer satisfaction
needs, such as increasing the speed of
software downloads and decreasing the delay
of in-device software updates.
“With the growing popularity
of sophisticated handsets, a total solution
dedicated to fast, seamless software update
delivery is a very critical component of
what carriers have to offer cell phone
users,” said Hiroshi Ohta, Head of
Product and Service Development at Vodafone
K.K. “An OTA-based software update
solution will ensure our subscribers’ needs
are met to fix handsets remotely and increase
customer satisfaction.”
“One way companies can differentiate
themselves in the highly competitive handset
market is with field-proven experience,
market leadership and top-of-the-line customer
service,” said John Fazio, president
and CEO of InnoPath Software. “Vodafone
K.K. is embracing the complexities of its
next-generation handsets and is reassured
that they are providing the ultimate customer
service experience for their end users
by offering InnoPath’s complete,
end-to-end OTA solution, Firmware Manager.”
InnoPath’s iMDM mobile device management
solution has filled this niche in the market
by delivering the industry’s first
commercially available end-to-end OTA solution.
By using Firmware Manager, Vodafone K.K.
will continue delivering unmatched customer
service by dramatically reducing the time
it takes for handset manufacturers to deploy
firmware updates in a modular and flexible
architecture.
About InnoPath
InnoPath Software, the leader in Mobile
Device Management (MDM) solutions, enables
wireless carriers and mobile device manufacturers
to transparently deliver and support current
and future revenue producing services.
InnoPath was the first company to commercially
deploy firmware over-the-air (FOTA) solutions
enabling reliable and secure upgrades to
device firmware and software. InnoPath’s
integrated iMDM Solutions Suites offer
the most trusted and market tested MDM
solutions today and are built upon standards
based technologies for rapid, high quality
delivery of services. Tens of millions
of active subscribers are experiencing
the value of InnoPath patented solutions
through leading carriers including Cingular,
KDDI, and Sprint, and device manufacturers
LG, NEC, Panasonic, Sanyo, Sharp and Toshiba.
Headquartered in Sunnyvale, California,
InnoPath is privately held with offices
in China, Japan, Korea and the UK. For
more information, visit http://www.innopath.com/.