Juha Christensen, the former head of Microsoft's mobile division and a founder of Symbian, announced his latest venture: Sonopia, which enables organizations, charities or individuals to launch branded mobile services through its online service and split the resulting revenues. Promising each fledgling MVNO a selection of popular handsets, competitive calling plans, premium voice and data services and customized content, including social-networking functionality, Sonopia offers network coverage via Verizon Wireless and handles all billing, credit management, shipping, and customer support. The sponsoring group gets 5 percent of the revenue collected from its subscribers; Sonopia shares the remainder with Verizon and Vodafone Group.
"People want a phone that reflects their personality, a calling plan that suits their lifestyle, and quick and easy access to information and content from groups and friends they care about," said founder and CEO Christensen in a prepared statement. "We're giving them all that, plus we're making it easy to support a cause that means something to them. Through Sonopia and its partners, everyone can find a mobile services offering that fits just right--or you can create your own and stake a claim in changing how your friends and family think about their cell phones. We expect there to be more than 10,000 Sonopia-powered mobile carriers serving U.S. consumers within two years."
Sonopia also announced its first partnerships, which span from the National Parks Conservation Association to the American Medical Student Association to the Chicago Bandits of the National Pro Fastpitch Women's Softball League.
For more on Sonopia:
- read this release [1]
Links:
[1] http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/-sonopia-drives-massive-proliferaton-mobile-carriers-/2007/04/02/2457651.htm