Go-to download portal for software applications launched

London and Bonn, 22 October 2009. Deutsche Telekom, the German communications leader, today launched its Softwareload download service in the UK. Softwareload.co.uk aims to become the place for Web users to purchase software from various application providers. Softwareload.co.uk contains software applications for work and home life, and customers can store their purchases securely on the site.

Products available at launch span categories such as anti-virus and security, data protection, photos and graphics, plus personal interest, leisure, Internet and browser software. Visitors can find products such as G Data security products, MAGIX photo and video applications, Nuance PDF apps and Nero burning software, alongside dozens of other applications. Customers can store their purchases for up to one year in the ‘My downloads’ section. This service is free for customers signing up before the end of 2009 and £4.99 thereafter for 12 months’ secure product storage. Softwareload.co.uk users can also benefit from customer support by both phone and email.

“Softwareload.co.uk offers a single outlet where Web users have instant access to software without having to go to the shops or wait for a mail order. Here, customers can easily and securely purchase, download and store software and we’ll be announcing offers regularly, so look out for those,” said Dirk Lebzien, Vice President of Softwareload. “Electronic distribution has really taken off in the UK and we aim to offer our UK customers an equally seamless experience to the one we have created in Germany, where we have more than one million users who've made in excess of 20 million downloads.”

At the time of Softwareload.co.uk's launch, Internet shopping has never been more popular in the UK. In 2008, 57 per cent of the UK population used the Web to order goods and services for personal use, ranking the UK second in Europe in this indicator of Internet service take-up. Almost three quarters (71 per cent) of UK households enjoyed Internet connectivity in 2008 with 62 per cent of them having broadband, placing the UK fifth in Europe for take-up of broadband in the home. 87 per cent of UK enterprises had broadband in 2008.*

Softwareload's target market includes frequent Internet users who may not be experts but probably have some experience downloading software in the past and want a new one-stop portal for finding applications. Softwareload users can pay with their credit card or PayPal.

For more information or to get started, please visit www.softwareload.co.uk.

*Stats taken from Europe's Digital Competitiveness Report by the Commission of the European Communities, Brussels, August 2009