Thousands download Skyfire's new 1.0 version for smartphones

2292853 — Thu, 28 May 2009 11:30:00 GMT

This week the mobile browser Skyfire released it's long awaited 1.0 version, for use with smartphones, taking the company out of a hugely successful beta period that has seen 1 million people downoad the free service.

Skyfire is free to download at: www.get.skyfire.com

The service is currently available in the UK, USA and Canada, and runs on Windows Mobile (smartphones and PPC) and Nokia N and E Series (Symbian S60, 3rd Edition) phones. With its release yesterday, thousands of people lit up on fire with excitement for Skyfire and have been reporting their experiences on Twitter, with many tweeting that the service is the iPhone for other handsets. Skyfire is feeding the strong popularity and desire people have to get connected to the internet by their mobile phones, for instant access to social networking sites, viewing videos and reading their RSS feeds, among other features. Skyfire describes its service as bringing the full web experience to handsets, and it is the only mobile browser that supports Flash, Silverlight and Ajax, technologies that normally crash when attempting to access the internet from a handset.

Skyfire's 1.0 release means millions more people will be able to catch up on Facebook, Twitter and watch YouTube, BBC iPlayer from their mobile, and this rich-media content experience bodes well for brands who are increasingly using the mobile internet for advertising and marketing. The excitement for this new milestone in technology captured the attention of mainstream media and bloggers, who have given the service rave reviews. Here's what some have said:

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“You see, Skyfire isn't a 'proper' browser, more of a content viewer, with all the serious processing handled by the company's proxy servers, the pages then being 'rendered' onto your phone. Just like the Opera browser in fact, but with more whistles, bells and streaming video.” – T3’s David Walker

“The release brings with it a host of improvements, such as improved navigation, zooming and interaction and a faster launch, lower power consumption, and new search functionality. Also, while the new version of the browser starts up, you can begin typing URLs or search queries into the box at the top, saving time. The company is operating a closed alpha for the BlackBerry platform, so that'll likely be next for release.” –Pocket-lint.com’s Duncan Geere

“Their browser is fast and responsive, and Skyfire’s goal is to give a faithful representation of web pages that is equivalent to the desktop browsing experience. One important focus for Skyfire is in the area of video rendering… Skyfire’s approach is to introduce their own video-crunching servers between, say, YouTube and your Nokia N95. These servers take full Flash (Flash 10) and then video transcode the signal in real-time, giving a lower frame rate (8 frames per second), and a smaller screen rendering for mobile. The result is that the Skyfire browser can render an original YouTube page or Vimeo page, or even blogs with embedded video, so that you have access to the entire video catalogue, live on line.” –Martyn Davies, The Really Mobile Project

Watch The Phones Show hosted by AllAboutSymbian.com's Steve Litchfield, for an interview with Skyfire’s VP of Business Development Raj Singh, who offers extra insight to the browser’s features and hints of what’s to come.

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CNET was among the first outlets to announce the news yesterday, and just prior to Skyfire’s 1.0 launch, The New York Times named the browser as “App of the Week”.

My consultancy the Hai Media Group handled the UK/EU media outreach for Skyfire, teaming up with our fantastic US media partners VSC Consulting to orchestrate this highly successful PR 2.0 outreach programme.

Still finding more and more coverage results for Skyfire,

-Lisa

First Peeks at bTWEEN08

2292853 — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 08:00:00 GMT

I'm in Manchester this week to attend bTWEEN08, where I'll be sharing ideas with other digital entrepreneurs from thoughout the UK.

My agency Hai Media Group is a finalist in the Branding Talent competition at bTWEEN08, and from what I can tell, this may be a bit like The Apprentice, Dragon's Den and X-Factor all rolled into one for entrepreneur's in digital media. Along with my media partner Isabella Hu, who's design portfolio can be seen at Ecolocate.org, we'll be offering our seed idea for our Rare Fruits campaign concept for Littlewoods. We've worked hard together to come up what we think is a client winning proposal to build excitement and customers for littlewoodsdirect.com.

Facing the Judge's Panel Who's our Sir Alan Sugar, Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, Sharon Osbourne, den of talent scouting dragons for this experience? The mentors are:

Steve Taylor, Director of Innovation, Aegis
James Estill, Senior Producer, 4Talent
Nicole Yershon, Director, Innovative Solutions, Ogilvy
Paul Bennun, Creative Director, Somethin' else
Neil Richards, Script writer
Katz Kiely, Managing Director, Just-b. Productions

Shivers & Shakes Yes! We are nervous, but looking forward to the learning experience, and to gaining a lot of valuable creative confidence throughout the week.

Take a Peek I'll be peeking around bTWEEN08 and popping in here with updates about what's happening.

Follow Me You can also keep track of some of my updates by following lisadevaney on Twitter.

-Lisa

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Thousands download Skyfire's new 1.0 version for smartphones

First Peeks at bTWEEN08