Gruner + Jahr EMS – Gruner + Jahr’s digital media marketing company – and Vodafone Germany have signed a contract to market advertising on Vodafone live!, Germany’s biggest mobile communications portal. This partnership means that ad placements can be booked on Vodafone live! for the very first time since the portal was launched. Gruner + Jahr EMS will be marketing mobile content ads, TV commercials, radio commercials, sponsorships, microsites and more to potential Vodafone live! advertising partners on an exclusive basis. The focus will be on cross media packages with Gruner + Jahr print and online brands, and on selective expansion into other Vodafone communication channels for integrative cooperation campaigns.

Vodafone live! is by far the most successful and best performing mobile communications portal in Germany. The portal’s comprehensive range of sports, news and entertainment services consists of products such as mobile TV, mobile music, games, live tickers and other services.

Gruner + Jahr EMS will provide a dedicated mobile advertising team that will work with the EMS field service and G+J media sales team to market Vodafone live!. G+J EMS will support the Vodafone live! advertising campaigns with precise market research, just as it does in online and digital TV marketing. The technical implementation of the ads will be realised with the assistance of arvato mobile.

Erik Friemuth, Director Business Unit Vodafone live! said, ” “Mobile advertising is a new, innovative market with high growth potential. With more than six million active Vodafone live! Devices in Germany we have now the necessary reach for mobile advertising. As the mobile multimedia portal market leader, we can profit greatly from the mobile advertising market. It was Gruner + Jahr’s vast expertise in print and online marketing that persuaded us to select G+J EMS as our partner. Another aspect that swayed our decision are the creative cross media packages that G+J EMS can offer to our potential advertising partners.”

Rainer Markussen, CEO Gruner + Jahr EMS said, “Vodafone live! will make Gruner + Jahr EMS the biggest mobile portal marketing services provider in Germany. It gives us another mainstay alongside digital TV that will help us to expand our client business. The incorporation of advertisements on Vodafone live! gives users added value. We want to set new benchmarks for mobile advertising in the German market.”

From October 2006, T-Mobile will offer its customers the BlackBerry® Pearl™ from Research In Motion (RIM), a feature-rich smartphone incorporating best-in-class technology. Affordable prices – the BlackBerry e-mail push service BlackBerry® Webmail will be available from as little as €4.95 per month – along with multimedia features and stylish design mean that the BlackBerry Pearl will appeal to style-conscious consumers. The BlackBerry Pearl features a digital camera, media player and an expandable memory slot, all in a sleek, lightweight cell-phone model.

The smartphone supports EDGE networks (Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution) and features a powerful processor that enables fast web browsing, application performance and attachment viewing. EDGE offers bandwidths of up to four times the speed of ISDN and is already available on a large part of the T-Mobile network. T-Mobile offers the convenient “BlackBerry Webmail” e-mail push service from as little as €4.95 per month for all Relax XL rates; and for all other calling plans combined with a data option, this service will be available from as little as €9.95 per month.

Lightweight with extensive features
At approximately 89 grams and 107 x 50 x 14.5 millimeters, the BlackBerry Pearl’s lightweight and slim design will appeal to users who are always on the move and want all the powerful functionality at their fingertips. The BlackBerry Pearl’s 1.3 mega pixel camera delivers high-resolution photos and offers a five-fold digital zoom and flash. Its user-friendly, state-of-the-art cell phone technology means users can send photos easily via e-mail or MMS. Users can also link photos in the image telephone directory to call numbers for display when the contact is calling.

The BlackBerry Pearl can be used with T-Mobile’s web’n’walk to surf the Internet and access emails. Users can also listen to stereo-quality MP3 music files on the device, which also plays videos in MPEG4 format. Images, sounds and data are all supported by a 64-megabyte internal memory, and users also have the option of inserting a microSD card for additional memory.

The BlackBerry Pearl’s smartphone design offers the ultimate in phone functionality. It has an integrated hands-free system, offers short-dial and voice-dial functions, Bluetooth® 2.0 connectivity and support for conference calls. Innovative navigation features include a responsive trackball and the easy-to-use SureType™ QWERTZ keypad. The 240 x 260 pixel color display is ultra-bright and benefits from built-in light sensing technology, ensuring that menus, text, images, applications and web pages are displayed clearly at all times of the day.

Cost-efficient “BlackBerry Webmail” e-mail push service
The BlackBerry Pearl continues to provide the industry-leading BlackBerry experience. It receives real-time emails from up to ten different e-mail accounts with no manual call-ups or delay, and it opens and displays attachments easily. The BlackBerry® Webmail push email service is available from T-Mobile for as little as €4.95 per month. T-Mobile customers on Relax XL packages will benefit from the data package they can already access. For example, in addition to 50 free minutes for mobile calls to all networks, free connections at weekends and a basic Mobile TV offer, Relax XL 50 offers free data volumes up to five megabytes – all included in the monthly charge of €24. Starting with the Relax 100 XL plan, 30 megabytes are included every month.

Relax and Telly customers also have the option to add BlackBerry® Webmail to their calling plans. At a monthly total charge of €9.95, they are provided with the BlackBerry® Webmail service in addition to the Data 5 data option. The monthly volume of five megabytes included in the plan corresponds to approximately 2,500 e-mails. If using the BlackBerry Pearl for a large amount of Internet browsing, T-Mobile recommends the BlackBerry® Webmail plus Data 30 plan. Here, the inclusive monthly volume for e-mailing and surfing is 30 megabytes, and the monthly charge for the service and the data option, is only €14.95.

Palm Experience Delivered on Windows Mobile With Push Email, 3G/UMTS Speeds

Palm (Nasdaq:PALM) today announced the Palm(R) Treo(TM) 750v smartphone, the first Treo smartphone to take advantage of Vodafone’s 3G/UMTS network. The Treo 750v brings the Palm experience on Microsoft(R)’s Windows Mobile(R) 5.0 to Europe for the first time. The new Treo 750v will be available first to Vodafone customers in the following countries: Austria, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and other regions by the end of the calendar year.

“The new Treo 750v smartphone — made available first in Europe — on the Vodafone 3G/UMTS network is Palm’s latest salvo to reach more customers in more regions with an ever-expanding line of compelling Treo smartphones,” said Ed Colligan, president and chief executive officer from Palm. “Expanding the Treo footprint globally is a key focus for Palm, and with collaborative marketing investments in Europe from Palm, Vodafone and Microsoft, we are confident we can captivate mobile professionals and businesses and help them be more productive in the office and on the go.”

The Treo 750v combines the hallmark Palm experience of a multifeatured mobile phone with email, messaging, web browsing and organization software all in a new compact design.(1) The new smartphone comes with Microsoft’s Messaging and Security Feature Pack (MSFP) for Windows Mobile 5.0, which includes Direct Push Technology and enhanced security features free and out of the box.(2) It is also fully compatible with Vodafone Business Email, giving remote access to enterprise and Internet-based email accounts. These business-ready solutions address the need for a robust push-email solution that can be deployed easily by small businesses to global enterprises.

Unique to the Treo smartphone on Windows Mobile 5.0 is a suite of software enhancements developed by Palm that underscores its brand promise of fast access, ease of use and simplicity. Examples include the following:

– Today Screen enhancements, which feature the ability to “dial by name” with a few keystrokes on the keyboard, perform a web search directly from the Today Screen and perform one-touch dialing with personalized photo speed dials;

– Ability to manage a call directly from the Today Screen and stay on top of voicemail with on-screen, VCR-like icons, such as rewind, delete and fast-forward controls for easy navigation;

– Ability to ignore a call and quickly compose a text message, such as “In a meeting” or “Can’t talk”; and

– Dedicated messaging application for SMS/MMS that is organized in a “chat thread” so users can reference prior messages and use emoticons for a personal touch.

“The new Treo 750v smartphone, when combined with our high-speed 3G/UMTS network and push email, makes an invaluable tool for our business customers,” said Oliver Mauss, global director of Business Marketing, Vodafone. “Our commitment to help customers increase their productivity and make the most of their business and personal time will be further enhanced by the addition of this new innovative device to our range of business solutions.”

“We’re excited to team up with Palm and Vodafone to launch a Windows Mobile-based Treo in Europe. We’re seeing significant adoption of mobile applications among business users in the region, and the Treo is an attractive proposition for organizations considering mobile deployments,” said Nick Barley, business and marketing officer, Microsoft U.K. Limited. “The Treo 750v builds on the power and flexibility of Windows Mobile, Palm’s unique design and user experience, and service through one of the world’s leading mobile operators to deliver a winning solution that connects professionals to their critical information while on the go.”

Benefits of Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC Phone Edition

The Windows Mobile-based Treo smartphones from Palm provide customers with a compelling combination of powerful software, an award-winning form factor, and the ease of use long associated with the Palm experience. Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC Phone Edition provides many user benefits:

– Touch screen: Makes surfing websites, gathering data and navigating forms and applications much easier;

– Copy and paste: Additional functionality provides added productivity;

– Built-in viewers and editors: Ability to view and edit Microsoft Word and Excel(R) files and “roundtrip” those edits back to original files on the user’s desktop, and view PowerPoint(R) presentations and PDF files;

– Breadth of applications: More than 18,000 commercial applications available for Windows Mobile; and

– Saving: Ability to save images and sounds from a website.

Treo 750v Features and Benefits

– Powerful Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 with Palm enhancements;

– Integrated SMS/MMS with chat view and dedicated inbox;

– Mobile access to multiple business and personal email accounts;

– 3G/UMTS network for fast data access;

– 1.3-megapixel digital camera that also captures video;

– Windows Media(R) Player 10 Mobile for music and video;

– Built-in Bluetooth(R) wireless technology enhanced to support Bluetooth enabled stereo headsets;

– Mini-SD expansion slot; and

– 240×240 transflective (TFT) touch screen.