Myriad Group AG (SIX Swiss Exchange: MYRN), a global leader in mobile technology having shipped over 3.7 billion software applications on more than 2.2 billion phones, today announces a new deal to extend the existing partnership with Telefónica to provide mobile social networking services to Telefónica’s Vivo brand. The agreement reinforces Myriad’s 5-year partnership with Telefónica announced earlier this year, and increases Myriad’s addressable market from 80 million to 140 million subscribers across Latin America.
Under the new deal, Myriad will offer Vivo customers a richer social networking experience in offering its Xumii services, to be marketed under the Vivo brand. Vivo mobile subscribers across Brazil will be able to simultaneously access multiple social networks via mobile browsers, downloadable apps and other mobile technology. Providing smartphone experiences for mass-market phones, Myriad’s Xumii services will aggregate updates from users’ favorite social networks into a single inbox, enabling subscribers to send updates simultaneously to all of their social networks.
Telefónica controls 30% of the rapidly growing Brazilian mobile phone market, and with the social networking adoption rate in Latin America surpassing 80%, the extension of Myriad’s Xumii services into Brazil further reinforces the company’s momentum into the LATAM region.
“Myriad’s entry into Brazil through Telefónica’s Vivo brand serves to underpin our longer term projections for our partnership with Telefónica,” states Simon Wilkinson, CEO of Myriad Group. “While we don’t expect the Vivo deal to have a material impact on our 2011 numbers, Myriad is pleased to add this win to our strategic partnership with Telefónica.”