Friday, November 18, 2011

DiGi ties up with Google to offer Gmail SMS

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 18): DIGI.COM BHD [] is partnering Google to provide Gmail short messaging service (SMS) effective from Friday.

DiGi said this latest move expanded the SMS-based Internet applications and services which would enable the telco customers to access their favourite online apps.

'This strategic partnership with Google also positions DiGi as the first mobile operator to offer the Gmail SMS service in Malaysia,' it said.

The head of mobile Internet & ADS for DiGi, Praveen Rajan said a recent Nielsen survey reported Malaysians spent an average weekly of over five hours accessing the Internet via mobile devices.

'The partnership with Google empowers us at DiGi to offer the SMS option to millions of Gmail users in Malaysia to significantly extend their chat community through real-time chat via SMS, regardless of any mobile device type,' he said.

Manwhile, Country Head of Google Malaysia''Sajith Sivanandan said Google's overall mission was to make information accessible and useful to people.

'SMS has long been a common means of mobile communications in Malaysia and many Malaysians still rely on their non-smartphones. Gmail SMS makes instant communication between Gmail and a mobile phone possible via SMS,' he said.

Gmail SMS brings the popular Gmail Service to a non-smartphone easily. With Google's Gmail SMS, people can send free text messages to their friends directly from their Gmail account. Replies and responses to the text message will appear as a reply in Chat.

For DiGi customers, the service is free of charge and requires no subscription; chat messages sent via SMS from their mobile phones are billed at 10 sen per SMS.

This strategic partnership announcement is made on the back of a global agreement between Google and Telenor announced recently.

Telenor's intention is to roll out a global Android Market initiative in stages to stimulate further growth of the Android ecosystem in all 11 international markets, including Malaysia.

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