New Delhi, June 29 –Affle, Asia’s leading mobile media company and eBuddy, the world’s leading independent web and mobile instant messaging (IM) aggregator, have entered into a strategic partnership that gives Affle exclusive rights to sell eBuddy’s mobile and rich media advertising inventory in India.

eBuddy engages millions of users to chat in a single interface across all major IM networks, attracting more than 30 million unique monthly viewers worldwide and more than 2.0mn users in India. Affle is a leading mobile messaging & mobile advertising company which builds engaging mobile messaging products & caters to premium brands by offering mobile advertising solutions on a host of owned and partnered mobile media properties reaching to over 150Mn users in India.

With this partnership, Affle has further strengthened it’s position as a leading player in the mobile advertising market in India by adding eBuddy to Affle’s burgeoning mobile advertising portfolio. Through Affle’s premium advertising sales team, advertisers will now be able to run innovative campaigns on eBuddy and reach out to the Indian youth on the mobile. Some leading brands from top advertisers like Coca Cola, PepsiCo, Hindustan Unilever, Samsung, Maruti Suzuki etc. have already run successful campaigns on E-buddy in India after the partnership finalisation between Affle & E-Buddy.

Vipul Kedia, Regional Director – Partnerships, Affle, said, “Partnering with eBuddy helps us connect leading brand advertisers with millions of young Indian mobile audience who already use E-Buddy’s popular messaging service. This association makes for a valuable addition to our mobile advertising propositions in the Indian market and we are confident that it will enable us to provide a lot more value to our advertisers and capture a larger share of the growing ad market on mobile social networking & messaging products in India.”

Rogier Van Den Heuvel, Chief Commercial Officer, eBuddy, said, “eBuddy is a great product and has seen great acceptance and traction for a market like India. It is important for us to have the right solutions and partners to grow our business in India and we are glad to have associated with Affle who is a clear leader in the mobile advertising market in India.”

This deal is of great significance to the mobile advertising industry in India which has grown by leaps and bounds over the last year, owing to increased mobile penetration, easier and cheaper availability of Mobile Internet/3G services and social media usage through mobile devices.

About Affle: Affle is a leading international mobile media company with the headquarters in Singapore. Affle has consistently delivered innovations that enhance the user experience on mobile messaging and make mobile media a reality. Affle currently operates in Singapore, India, China, the UK, the US, Indonesia, Australia, Thailand and Malaysia. Affle’s investors include Microsoft Corporation, Itochu Corporation of Japan, Bennett Coleman Company Limited (BCCL); Centurion Private Equity and D2 Communications.

Affle’s solutions in the market at this time include – SMS2.0, SMS2.0 Live, Pinch, Affnet, AffleAds & Coufon.

About eBuddy: eBuddy is web and mobile messaging for everyone, everywhere! eBuddy processes over 17 billion messages per month and enables more than 30 million unique monthly visitors to chat in one interface across all major IM networks including AIM, Facebook Chat, Google Talk, Hyves, ICQ, MySpace, Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo! eBuddy is one of the world’s fastest growing mobile IM applications, and offers four, free mobile IM versions: eBuddy for iPhone and iPod Touch, eBuddy for Android, eBuddy Mobile Messenger (J2ME) and eBuddy Lite Messenger (mobile Web). The premium native application, eBuddy Pro for iPhone and iPod Touch with additional exclusive features, is for sale via iTunes. eBuddy recently launched XMS, a messaging app for iPhone, Android and soon Blackberry that offers a secure and free SMS service globally.

Founded in 2003 and based in Amsterdam, London and San Francisco, eBuddy is a privately held company backed by Prime Technology Ventures and Lowland Capital Partners. Learn more:http://www.ebuddy.com.

Contact Details:

Affle
Akhil Chandra
Sr. Manager – Partnerships
akhil@affle.com
+91 9818199764

Edelman India
Lakshita Sogani / Divya Kaushal
lakshita.sogani@edelman.com / divya.kaushal@edelman.com
+91 9560450536 / +91 9811724121