GLOBO announces new business division to materialize Group's mobile strategy focused on CitronGO!TM

  • GLOBO Mobile to commercialise the CitronGO!™ offering globally as the market for ubiquitous computing continues to grow

London, UK – 22nd January, 2009 – GLOBO plc has announced GLOBO Mobile, a new business division dedicated to its innovative CitronGO!™ open mobile communication service. GLOBO Mobile has been set up to create an extensive partnership network of major organisations in the mobile industry and will position itself amongst international players like Google (Android), Apple (MobileMe), Yahoo! (Yahoo! Go) and RIM (Blackberry). The announcement follows GLOBO's acquisition of a 35 percent interest in ReachFurther Communications, in order to provide CitronGO!™ via its own sales and distribution channels with the mobile and fixed operators aiming to take the Group's Value Added Services (VAS) faster into the Mobile & Fixed telecommunication markets.

CitronGO!™ provides personal and professional users of cell phones with true ubiquitous computing on a single screen on any handset or laptop – regardless of manufacturer, vendor or network. The software will be marketed to all user groups of all ages, as it is usable by both consumer and business users alike. It provides a powerful offering for partners looking to join the network, as it increases customer loyalty – consumers don't have to change service provider or handset to get the complete 'push' experience.

"CitronGO!™ has been launched into a market that is constantly expanding and the launch of GLOBO Mobile will fully support its growth," commented Costis Papadimitrakopoulos, CEO and Founder of GLOBO. "By 2012 over 80 percent of the world's population will own a call phone and 3.8 billion of those will have a mobile Internet connection. Compare that to only 1.2 billion fixed connections and you can see the difference – the number of mobile connections looks set to rise to 5.6 billion over the next few years. The use of mobile Internet is expected to grow by more than 20 percent in the near future and CitronGO!™ is uniquely positioned to help consumers share this growth as it is the first solution to support any handset or service provider – so doesn't limit the user to a specific mobile device."

Costis Papadimitrakopoulos continued: "CitronGO!™ amongst other features, is also perfectly tuned to support social networking sites through the mobile handset – something which many 'push' services and 'cloud' computing devices do not integrate. Social networking is an extremely important part of most people's everyday lives – Facebook and MySpace register over 500,000 new users every day. CitronGO!™ not only integrates all applications onto a single screen without the need to change your phone, but can also capture the entirety of a user's e-needs, including social networking.

"Ubiquitous computing is increasingly becoming a way of life for the average consumer and is no longer a luxury afforded to the corporate world. CitronGO!™ combines the business and personal lives of a user into one device, so is perfectly positioned to take advantage of this rapidly changing market. GLOBO Mobile gives CitronGO!™ the commercial platform it needs to take over the global marketplace and become a worldwide success."

CitronGO!™ is an add-on 'plug & play' service that supports almost all handsets, including Windows Mobile, Symbian, Palm, BREW and Java/J2ME, whereas from a PC or laptop access to CitronGO!™ is enabled via a Web 2.0 User Interface. This way, CitronGO!™ is available on almost all devices – desktops, laptops, cell phones, palms or PDAs – bringing in to a single screen a unique layer of interaction with multiple services.

About GLOBO plc
GLOBO plc was admitted to AIM in December 2007 (LSE-AIM: GBO). Founded in 1997 by Konstantinos Papadimitrakopoulos and headquartered in Halandri, Athens, GLOBO has established itself as one of the market leaders in the European ICT market. It provides e-business and telecom software products and related services to both the private and governmental sectors. GLOBO has also developed and operates broadband wired and wireless networks. This activity has led it to become one of the largest e-business software and S.a.a.S. vendors in Greece. For further information please go to www.GLOBOplc.com or contact:

Nikos Giannakakos
Business Development Manager
Tel: +30 210 64 66 008
Email: ngiannakakos@GLOBO.gr

Manuela Whittaker
IBA – PR for GLOBO
Tel: +44(0)1780 721433
Email: mwhittaker@iba-europe.com

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