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Publication Date: July 2008
EVENT SPOTLIGHT
In May 2007, Vodafone announced the acquisition of Zyb, a mobile software developer operating a mobile social networking site and online contact management tool. Zyb offers mobile users the opportunity to store their contact and calendar information online as well as share information with other registered mobile users. Founded in August 2005, Zyb uses the SyncML synchronization standard to transfer information between users' mobile handsets and its servers. It features a nonselective open model allowing users from various mobile service providers to use its services. Vodafone pledged to maintain the model as such. Zyb reported more than 18m active users in June 2008. It was acquired for €31.5m.
The acquisition of Zyb by Vodafone represents the next phase in terms of mobile operators’ involvement in the social networking sphere. In 2007, leading players such as Orange and Vodafone signed multiple partnership agreements with leading social networking sites (SNS) such as MySpace or Facebook. In 2008, the development of proprietary SNS appears to be of the utmost importance for leading mobile players. Pyramid Research expects mobile SNS to become among the most used services on handsets by 2012. We believe that the acquisition of Zyb, which Vodafone is planning to keep open to nonsubscribers, will strongly benefit Vodafone in terms of customer acquisition, customer knowledge and advertising revenue opportunities.
Author: Guillaume Touchard
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