EQO Communications Extends AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ, MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Instant Messenger, GoogleTalk, Jabber, and Skype to Mobile Phones

October 6, 2006; 03:53 AM
EQO Communications, a leading developer of platforms for mobilizing online social networks, VoIP and instant messaging services, today announced the immediate availability a new version of EQO Mobile, extending the most popular instant messenger services - including AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ, GoogleTalk, Jabber, MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Instant Messenger and Skype - to mobile phones. With EQO, users can access all of their IM services from their phone and exchange free text and picture messages with other EQO users. Supported on more than 300 mobile handset models, the latest version of EQO Mobile is an easily installed Java mobile application that downloads over the wireless data network.

Designed for "power-users" on online communities, especially teens and young adults who belong to multiple IM and social networks, EQO Mobile serves as a next generation mobile phone book that enables users to:

  * Synchronize contacts from multiple IM buddy lists and multiple IM
    accounts
  * Check who's online and available with real time presence
  * Make and receive mobile VoIP calls using Skype
  * Create and maintain a personalized mobile profile, expressing their mood
    and location by uploading pictures and text directly from their phone
  * Exchange web-to-phone, phone-to-web and phone-to-phone text and picture
    messages with a simple click-to-call or click-to-IM feature


"The notions of presence, identity and community -- so crucial in the online world -- have been glaringly absent from mobile phones, the most personal of all personal technology devices," said Bill Tam, CEO of EQO Communications. "We're extending the most popular IM communities and social networks to the mobile phone to give people those capabilities anywhere they go."

In February 2006, EQO introduced EQO for Skype to demonstrate how an easy to use text, IM and voice service designed for mass-market mobile handsets enables people to "take their buddies with them on their mobile phones." With the launch of the EQO Me "widget" in August 2006, EQO empowered users of popular social networks such as MySpace, Friendster, Tagworld, Hi5, Xanga and Multiply to stay in touch with online friends on their mobile phones with web- to-phone and phone-to-web pictures and text.

EQO Mobile now incorporates rich new community features enabling users to add friends and see what they've posted from their mobile phone. It also allows users to include a call back phone number or IM screen name as part of an EQO message, enabling the recipient to start a conversation using a simple click-to-call or click-to-IM feature.

"IM networks are fundamentally online social networks," said Tam. "People create and nurture online identity to establish an impetus for others to contact them. People join alumni sites to reconnect with classmates and college friends; they participate in business networking sites to establish professional contacts. Community sites allow individuals to publish expressions of self that invite comments, messages and ultimately spur conversation. Beginning today with the most popular IM networks online, EQO makes that possible on the mobile phone."

The latest EQO Mobile is an evolution of the EQO for Skype service introduced at DEMO 2006. Since the launch of EQO for Skype, EQO has established itself as the premier mobile solution for Skype, with users in more than 130 countries across 260 carrier networks.

The new version of EQO Mobile and the EQO Me widget are available for free at http://www.eqo.com/.

About EQO Communications

Based in Vancouver, Canada, EQO has developed a revolutionary mobile service that keeps people connected to their online communities and instant messaging networks from their mobile phone. Using a combination of a proprietary mobile soft switch platform and a presence-enabled Voice-over-IP (VoIP) signaling network, EQO is capable of bridging online identity, presence-based calling and Instant Messaging services to mass market mobile handsets available worldwide.

EQO is venture-financed by the Working Opportunity Fund, managed by GrowthWorks Capital, and BDC Venture Capital.

For additional information or to download EQO please visit http://www.eqo.com/ .
Website: http://www.eqo.com/