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Spb to power mobile online services

Spb debuts its premium online services with SkyLink.

Dong Ngo SF Labs Manager, Editor / Reviews

CNET editor Dong Ngo has been involved with technology since 2000, starting with testing gadgets and writing code for CNET Labs' benchmarks. He now manages CNET San Francisco Labs, reviews 3D printers, networking/storage devices, and also writes about other topics from online security to new gadgets and how technology impacts the life of people around the world.

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Dong Ngo

Oct. 29, 2008 11:35 a.m. PT

Starting with mobile online games, Spb Software, a popular vendor for Windows mobile apps, is rolling out a set of premium online services for 3G networks. And Russian mobile users will be getting the first crack.

The package, called SkyTouch, is basically a customized Spb Mobile user interface that gives consumers access to local online services over cellular data connections, such as streaming music or TV. This is the first time that Spb Online is implemented by a mobile service provider, which in this case is SkyLink, Russia's largest CDMA mobile operator.

SkyTouch will be available preinstalled on SkyLink's newest 3G smartphone, the AnyData ASP-505, that starts shipping at the beginning of November. On the phone, the SkyTouch software works as the entry point to the phone's features and allows users to access a variety of SkyLink's advanced online local services, including Mobile TV, online games, local GPS-based navigation, and access to social networks.

According to SkyLink, currently only 20 percent of its subscribers access the Internet from their phones. With the implementation of SkyTouch, the company hopes these number will increase.

According to Spb, Spb Online, in less than a month of open market presence, has so far worldwide supported more than 1 million Mobile TV viewing sessions and more than 160,000 online gaming sessions.