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CELLEMPOWER / I2-GROUP TO BRING PARAMOUNT DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT TO MENA
MAY 12, 2008 HOLLYWOOD, CA and DUBAI, UAE.
Paramount Pictures Set To Provide Premium Interactive and Mobile Content in MENA and Western Africa
Paramount Digital Entertainment today announced the availability of Paramount branded mobile content in the Middle East, North and Western Africa (MEN&WA) region through an exclusive agreement between Paramount Digital Entertainment and Cellempower. Content will be distributed through i2-Club, a leading mobile value added service provider in the region. Paramount Digital Entertainment is part of Paramount Pictures Corporation, a unit of Viacom, Inc. (NYSE: VIA and VIAB). Cellempower is part of i2-Group the leading mobile handsets distributor in the region.
The mobile content licensing and distribution agreement with the studio will enable more than 250,000,000 mobile users across Middle East, North and Western Africa to enjoy a wide range of the most popular digital and interactive entertainment. The two companies will also work together in mobile, interactive and SMS based promotions for catalogue titles as well as upcoming Paramount Pictures’ releases.
The direct relationship allows Cellempower to distribute mobile content from Paramount for a select catalog of library, current and upcoming films. Mobile phone users and fans of Paramount Pictures’ properties will soon be able to download premium content such as wallpapers, ringtones, ring back tones, themes, screensavers, MMS greeting cards and mobile games, as well as be able to access movie trailers. Paramount Digital Entertainment will also offer new niche content including video ringtones, clips, client applications and mobile comics. The content is expected to be released in MEN & WA during the first half of 2008.
“We are looking forward to providing the opportunity to the regions of MEN & WA, who boast over 250 million GSM subscribers, to access our premier content via mobile handsets,” states Pradeep Mittur, Paramount Digital Entertainment’s Vice President, Asia Pacific. “We are impressed by Cellempower and the i2-Group’s understanding of the market dynamics, retail power, their proven commitment to the customers and are excited to team with them.”
“We are happy to be selected by Paramount Pictures. Our relationship with Paramount Digital Entertainment will set new benchmarks in this dynamic region and allow Cellempower and its mother company to offer the most exiting content, bundles and packages to very demanding customers” said Dr. Amor Ben Dhia, Founder and CEO of Cellempower.
“We are committed to the success of our relationship with Paramount Digital Entertainment and this achievement will unleash all the potential of an integrated vision: content, mobile and data in teaming with the most prestigious players in the value chain. Our aim is to satisfy the end users by offering high quality, simple tariff schemes and excellent support” he remarked.
Commenting on accomplishing the major milestone, Abdul Hameed Al Sunaid, i2-Group CEO said “At i2-Group, as the mother company of Cellempower, we are fully aware of the challenges we are facing in this diverse region and to keep the highest standards in terms of quality and customization. We will implement innovative business models and marketing strategies combined with a full multi-channel distribution infrastructure that will reinforce our position as the undisputed leaders and ensure the success of this strategic relationship with Paramount Digital Entertainment.”
This relationship is one example of Paramount Digital Entertainment’s continued efforts to establish a digital content, localization and distribution network in key markets of the Middle East & Africa.
Cellempower finalized its content aggregation agreement with Nokia
Dubai, UAE
In August of 2006, Cellempower finalized its content aggregation agreement with Nokia, the world leader in mobile communications, to facilitate access to high quality and localized content for mobile subscribers.
By the beginning of 2007, i2 club was available to all Nokia users in Saudi and the UAE. The combination of i2 club, a catalog of content, and Nokia’s Content Discoverer, an on-device content portal that makes it easy for users to access content catalogs, will ultimately create a user friendly shopping “store” with the widest choices of downloadable content available to mobile subscribers in the region.
New Nokia phones will have an icon entitled “catalogs” which will list the providers in the region such as i2 club and will have a wide array of downloadable content to select from including, games, mobile applications, themes and more. Content can be previewed before purchasing and than purchased by clicking the “buy” button. The content will be automatically updated and cost deducted, making extremely user friendly and fun to use.
i2 Club is now available via WAP to all Nokia users in Saudi and the UAE
Dubai, UAE, April 2008
Launched at the beginning of April, i2 Club is now available via WAP to all Nokia users in Saudi and the UAE. Nokia.mobi is the largest mobile portal with over 100 million monthly visits in 120 countries. Imagine every customer with a Nokia phone, connecting via GPRS or WiFi, and visiting the bookmarked Nokia.mobi site. There they can download content and applications for their phone to make it more entertaining and useful.
i2 Club is one of a handful of content providers available on Nokia.mobi in the region and our success is proven by the thousands of hits a day! Plans to roll out the i2 Club WAP site to other markets are in the works.
i2 gets Cellempower
Dubai, UAE, September 20, 2006
i2 demonstrates operational strength by acquiring leading mobile value added services provider.
As part of i2’s recently launched business expansion drive, the company known as the region’s largest and most diverse mobile distributor in the Middle East and Africa acquired Cellempower, a Dubai-based company specialized in mobile value-added services and mobile marketing.
“This acquisition will allow us to better serve our customers and our partners through the consolidation of our leadership in our markets. Together we will have stronger bundling programs, content, applications and several new offerings that will benefit the end user by leveraging i2’s strong distribution and retail network,” said Abdul Hameed Al Sunaid, President and CEO, i2.
The trend in value-added services indicates that i2 has made a shrewd decision by acquiring Cellempower. According to industry research, the Middle East market for value-added services in 2005 was worth $350 million, and is predicted to boom to $1.7 billion by 2010.
Dr. Ben Dhia, President and CEO of Cellempower described the acquisition as one that “will not only differentiate i2 and improve its competitiveness but will reinforce the position of Cellempower in its core activities by adding the effective reach of customers through the Mobile Devices that i2 is distributing across all its markets. Cellempower / i2 is the optimal fit and we are extremely happy to assist our Group in addressing the ever growing market challenges and competition.”
i2’s began its relationship with Cellempower as a founding stakeholder with 12.5 per cent ownership, believing in its operating practice of value added services as the way forward. Cellempower is able to offer numerous value added service through its direct connectivity with over 10 operators in the region,.
According to industry forecasts provided by Cellempower, non-voice services will reach 30 per cent of total telecom operators’ revenue in the next three to five years. SMS services are the most popular of these, and currently constitute a 50 to 60 per cent share of non-voice revenues.
“Our mission is to increase i2’s value for our customers, partners and stakeholders and we plan to do this by being number one in our business. As a result we have big plans ahead of us which include new acquisitions, new market penetration and retail expansion,” said Sunaid. The company recently announced its expansion into four new markets in Africa and will announce new developments in the near future.
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About Itsalat International (i2):
Founded in 1993 in Saudi Arabia, i2 is the region’s largest and most diverse mobile phone provider. Over 1,300 employees across 350 stores in 20 countries are dedicated to providing i2 customers with technological solutions and services that enhance their lifestyles and shopping experience. I2 stores offer the widest range of mobile phones, PDAs, wireless technology, software; value added services and mobile accessories in the region. It is the first mobile phone provider to offer its customers a life-time warranty and a comprehensive after sales maintenance program on all products purchased in store or online. To better serve their customers, i2 has expanded its reach to include i2 magazine, i2 club, i2 prestige, i2 café and other innovative support programs. For more information about i2 products and services please visit www.i2-mobile.com . i2 operates in: Bahrain, Chad, Egypt, Ghana, Iran, Iraq, Ivory Coast, KSA, Kuwait, Lebanon, Mauritius, Morocco, Reunion, Senegal, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, UAE and UK.
Duracell takes you to the 2006 World Cup via SMS
Dubai, 6th Feb,2006
Duracell has teamed up with Cellempower, the one-stop-shop for wireless services have teamed up to offer its’ customers in the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Saudi the chance to go to the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
Consumers in the UAE and Saudi are being given the opportunity to win those tickets to the World Cup by simply purchasing a pack of promotional Duracell batteries carrying a unique code, send an SMS with this unique number charged at the local SMS rate and simply win. This promotion will until March 2006.
“Everyone is a winner with Duracell, as we are giving away prizes to everyone who sends the SMS, from great ring tones for their mobiles, to MP3 players and at the end of the promotion we will choose someone at random to win the grand prize of two tickets to the World Cup, flight tickets and accommodation”, commented Ahmed El Mahdy, Regional Business Director – Duracell.
“We are delighted to be working on this campaign with Duracell, and we’re confident that it will be a great success!” Commented Jihad El Eit, General Manager, Mobile Value Added Services for Cellempower. “Such campaigns have witnessed a marked popularity from both consumers and international brand names such as Duracell, as SMS is superseding many other marketing campaigns using coupons or even e-mails”, added Jihad El Eit.
He continued; “the simplicity of SMS & Win campaigns is what attracts the public most to participate as people mostly don’t have the time or don’t wish to make the effort to stand in an outlet filling out endless personal details repeatedly on coupons, in addition to the great worth while prizes they can win from a simple SMS sent at the local Telco rate, especially where everyone is a winner in campaigns like this one”.
fonoinfo and Cellempower Announce a Strategic Agreement for Wireless Applications
Dubai, 29th Jan,2006
fonoinfo, a leading developer of intelligent wireless applications and Cellempower the one-stop-shop for wireless services and manager of i2club , the mobile entertainment portal of Itsalat international today announced a strategic agreement to develop and present wireless applications specifically for the Middle East Market. fonoinfo’s application offering is currently available in over 80 countries worldwide. The agreement intends to make the full spectrum of the latest technology innovations in segments such as operator value added services, location based services, messaging, outsourcing, security and tools available in the Middle East market.
“For years The Middle East has been a strategic market for us. Our new agreement with Cellempower will further strengthen our standing due to their powerful presence throughout the region. Cellempower will lead the sales and marketing, customer relationship management efforts of fonoinfo’s applications and services.” commented Ayad Sabbagh, Chief Executive Officer of fonoinfo.
”At Cellempower we constantly strive to acquire unique and powerful applications which we make very accessible to the end user via I2 club which is proving very popular in this region in particular due to the diverse content of the latest wireless applications and entertainment products” said Jihad El Eit, General Manager, Cellempower. He added “We are delighted to sign this agreement with fonoinfo as we are certain that their tailor-made applications will prove highly successful in this region”
Sirenic grants Cellempower rights to distribute Mobilepa in United Arab Emirates and Bahrain
Dubai, 28th Jan,2006
Mobile Data traffic revenues from Email and Personal Information Management to exceed US$ 8 Billion by 2010
Sirenic Group, the mobile email and data Management Company has granted Cellempower, the Dubai based “one stop shop” mobile data and mobile value added services provider, exclusive rights to distribute its MobilePA software in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, and non-exclusive distributorship rights in other Middle East regions.
Mobile data traffic revenues from e-mail and personal information management functions alone was expected to bring in US$650 million in 2005 says ARC Group, with this figure predicted to increase 13-fold in the next five years. In addition to this, mobile data revenues at $61 billion are expected to reach $189 billion by 2009 according to Strategy Analytics.
“The most comprehensive BlackBerry squasher there has been to date” was how Jonathan Margolis of the Financial Times described Sirenic’s MobilePA, as it provides ‘on-demand’ information access according to any settings you choose, is considerably cheaper than a BlackBerry, and is an easy to use software which works on pretty much any phone, in addition to having the unique feature of voice e-mails!
Cellempower will offer Sirenic’s products/services on either a packaged or stand-alone basis to telecom operators and enterprises in the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) states and Middle East markets, in which there is a soaring demand for high end wireless applications and solutions. The contract, signed for 18 months, will enable Cellempower to sell MobilePA to telecom operators, enterprises and SMEs, as well as to consumers and small office/home office users. “A magnificent offering, for anyone wanting to keep abreast of their e-mail without being dominated and swamped by it” further stated Jonathan Margolis of the Financial Times.
Commenting on the agreement, Bertrand Lipworth, Chairman of Sirenic, said “The GCC states and the Middle Eastern markets are dynamic regions for growth in wireless telecom technologies, given widespread market deregulation and competition and therefore offer great potential for Sirenic. With expertise in this field and extensive local relationships, Cellempower will enable Sirenic successfully to tap into these promising markets. We view this agreement as another step towards gaining broad international distribution for MobilePA.”
Dr Amor Ben Dhia, Founder and CEO of Cellempower, added: “Cellempower is constantly seeking to provide the best products for its customers in the mobile applications arena and is therefore pleased to have been granted exclusive distribution rights for Sirenic’s MobilePA. The service has already been very successful in the UK and we are confident that there will be significant demand for this mobile email, data and voice access enabled service in the GCC states and Middle East markets. MobilePA had the capacity to improve the customer offering and contribute to an increase in ARPU for telecom operators”.
Leading brands choose mobile marketing to differentiate their products
Dubai, 9th July,2005
BP Middle East opts for mobile marketing to reward its customers
BP Middle East has just launched its “Drive away with a younger car” promotion running throughout July and August 2005, as part of a new initiative to take advantage of the mobile marketing medium to build ongoing relations with its customers.
BP Middle East has appointed Cellempower, the one-stop-shop for wireless services to implement and carry out this mobile marketing campaign which is to take place in the UAE, Kuwait, Oman and Jordan.
“Consumers will enter the competition to win the latest model of their car worth up to 100,000 AED, by buying a promotional pack of BPVisco 2000 Thermal Guard, scratch to reveal a unique code then SMS the code along with their name using Cellempower’s infrastructure in order to enter the grand draw” explained Mr. Hany Mwafy, Passenger car oil Marketing Manager at BP Middle East. “With the ever increasing reliance on mobile phones, we have found that mobile marketing is an effective way to interact with our consumers ” continued Mr. Mwafy.
“This is a new way for BP to communicate with their target audience whilst differentiating BP Visco 2000 from other brands” commented Mr. Jihad El-Eit, General Manager, Mobile Value Added Services for Cellempower. “We understand and recognise that BP’s objective is to strengthen its relationship with the consumers in the GCC region and maintain it to best serve the consumer. Through this mobile marketing initiative, we will ensure that BP not only interacts with the consumers for the duration of the campaign, but to maintain this relationship on a long term basis” highlighted Mr. El Eit.
“At Cellempower, we understand the scope and importance of this campaign for our Customer BP and anticipated long term advantages, therefore, we are committing to ensure its optimal success in terms of end-to-end quality and support”, commented Dr. Amor Ben Dhia, the President and CEO of Cellempower. BP aims to use this campaign as a stepping stone towards long term interaction with consumers, where BP consumers can receive personalised messages reminding them to change their car oil as an initiative to protect consumer's cars.
Mobile Marketing: "the best the man can get"?
Dubai, 21st June,2005
“Bend it with Beckham” campaign records 20% increase in products’ sales in the GCC
The two month mobile marketing campaign carried out by Cellempower on behalf of The Gillette Company has just ended with very impressing business results.
As well as a 20% increase in products’ sales figures in the GCC, the “consumer retention rate” of the campaign reached 7%, surpassing the global standard of any FMCG campaign; usually falling between 3% and 4% as stated by Gillette Middle East (Consumer Retention Rate is the ratio of participants in a promotion from the sales achieved.)
“This campaign which has proved to be a great success has ended by making three football fans from the GCC, live their dream by being whisked off to Madrid for a weekend’s personal training by the reigning football star, David Beckham”, commented Dr. Amor Ben Dhia, the President & Chief Executive Officer of Cellempower. He added, “The fact that everyone was a winner with Gillette, has ensured that football fans and Gillette consumers in the GCC have been made very happy over the past two months for the duration of the campaign with thousands of Beckham / Gillette merchandise”.
“The success of this campaign has reflected the increased reliance on SMS based marketing campaigns as we are seeing more and more big international brand names opt for this type of direct marketing” said Mr. Jihad El Eit, General Manager, Mobile Value Added Services for Cellempower. He added, “We are certain that in no time, most brand names will take advantage of this increased reliance on SMS in the region, as a direct way of communicating and building relations with their consumers”.
Mobile value added services generate revenues for charity
Dubai, 10th March,2005
Nokia joins hands with Itsalat & Cellempower for a noble cause
Mobile value added services have moved into a new phase in the GCC region with the beginning of a strategic partnership between Nokia, Itsalat, one of the biggest distributors for mobile devices and accessories in the MENA region, and Cellempower, the one-stop-shop for wireless services.
Itsalat, which operates in 12 different countries in the MENA region as one of Nokia’s biggest distributors, has joined forces with Nokia to generate revenues for “Al Bir” Charity Organisation devoted to psychosocial care of patients at KFSH&RC and their families. The campaign will be supported by Cellempower, which is providing the technology behind this charitable project.
“Non of the parties involved will be generating profits out of this campaign as all proceeds are dedicated to Al Bir”, commented Mr. Abdul Hamid Al Sunaid, the founder and Chairman of Itsalat. He added “We wanted to take advantage of the ever increasing popularity of mobile services’ campaigns amongst the GSM subscribers in the region by generating revenues for a good cause”.
“Mobile marketing campaigns have proved very popular in the GCC region, where the response rate has been much higher than the more traditional marketing methods” said Dr. Amor Ben Dhia, the President and CEO of Cellempower. He continued “Taking advantage of this for a noble cause such as Al Bir Charity Organisation proves that wireless added services are taking on a new shape in the region, where mobile marketing is no longer used to only market a brand whilst entreating the public and instead can be used as an effective tool to generate revenues by those who can to for those who need it”.
The campaign comes in the shape of an auction where people are prompted to bid for 10 Nokia phones, which are donated by Nokia for this campaign. Every time a new phone out of the 10 is released by Nokia, people will be able to place bids over a period of one week, and the person with the highest bid will be awarded the phone.
Mr. Al Sunaid said “we are hoping that people will be prompted by the good cause their money will go for whilst acquiring their latest Nokia phone, and depending on the success of this campaign in Saudi, we would plan to implement the same campaign in several countries in the MENA region to generate revenues for various charitable organisations”.
Gillette & cellempower let you bend it with Beckham
Dubai, 15th March,2005
The Gillette Company and cellempower, the one-stop-shop for wireless services have teamed up to offer Gillette’s customers in the GCC region to win David Beckham for a day’s professional training.
The Gillette Company has dedicated various products for this opportunity in the GCC countries, so Customers will find a code printed at the back of the Gillette product, which they would have to send in an SMS along with the correct answer of a question about Beckham to a GSM number. All correct entries will immediately win various giveaways including Polo shirts, sports bags, footballs and caps, all personally signed by David Beckham, and will then enter the final draw to win the professional training with Beckham.
“At cellempower, we understand the high scope of this campaign for Gillette and therefore, have committed to ensure its optimal success”, commented Dr. Amor Ben Dhia, the President and CEO of cellempower. He added, “We will be supporting The Gillette Company throughout this campaign where they are offering more than 15 million GSM subscribers throughout the GCC countries this unique opportunity to meet the reigning football star David Beckham”.
The Netsize Guide 2005 has reported that the response rate for SMS campaigns far outperforms that of most other media and can sometimes be as high as 10-20 %. Mr. Jihad El Eit, General Manager, Mobile Value Added Services for cellempower commented “With the ever increasing reliance on wireless technology, Gillette as a major International Brand name is leveraging the full potential of wireless advertising as an effective way to achieve business objectives through direct reach of their customers”.
This campaign comes as part of the deal between the football star and the razor manufacturer Gillette in order to further penetrate promote the GCC markets.
Mobile marketing takes off with a storm
Dubai, 15th February,2005
Mobile marketing in the Middle East has taken on a new level over the last period, as its success runs parallel to the dramatic transformation in the Middle East mobile market . Over the past 3-4 years, the market has shifted from the dominance of state-owned monopoly operators to a substantially more competitive and complex marketplace with the arrival of new entrants.
Consequently, the market is witnessing very high penetration levels as due to the rapid subscriber growth in emerging markets such as the Middle East and Africa, Nokia have amended their forecast to expect 2 billion mobile subscribers globally by 2008, from 1.6 billion in 2005.
Parallel to this, customer loyalty, market share and the average revenue per user (ARPU) have become the top priority for telecom operators in the Middle East.. “In order to achieve these objectives the leading Telcom Operators such as Etisalat in UAE or MTC Vodafone in Kuwait are enriching their portfolio of products and services with, for instance, WAP, MMS, GPRS, IVR & SMS based value added services and at the same time launching the Third Generation Network (3G) to enhance the end users experience with video messaging or video streaming, positioning, de facto, their customers at the centre of their strategy”, said Dr. Amor Ben Dhia, former Business Development Manager, Etisalat and current President & CEO of Cellempower, a business recently established at Dubai Internet City.
”In the mobile marketing arena, the mission of Cellempower is to improve lifestyle through technology. Our wide range of products and services, allow us to be the preferred value added service provider in the region. We offer comprehensive end-to-end solutions to telecom operators, content providers, handset manufacturers, TV stations, banks, airlines and FMCGs” said Mr. Bharat Jashanmal, Chairman of the Board at Cellempower and a shareholder.
Statistics have shown that between 2003 and 2005 wireless advertising will grow from a $4 billion to a $16 billion industry that serves over 500 million wireless data consumers worldwide. “The marketing sector certainly reflects this marked growth in wireless communications which is climbing almost parallel to the growth in the industry”, said Mr. Jihad El Eit, General Manager, Mobile Value Added Services for Cellempower Ltd.
The success of wireless advertising stems from its individualized approach, where it is sent to consumers on a one-to-one basis, allowing it to be customised, updated and refreshed as opposed to traditional mass advertising through TV , radio or press. Cost has also played an important role in the success of wireless advertising as it is significantly more cost effective than mass communication. Research has shown that 76% of consumers considered SMS information services added value, and 62% appreciated receiving targeted messages based on their profile. “At Cellempower, we are aware that people find it intrusive to receive spam, therefore, with our customers we strive to maintain a high level of ethical communication where we ensure that the privacy of the end users is respected at all times”, commented Mr. Jashanmal.