T-Mobile, the product brand of Deutsche Telekom, one of the leading integrated telecommunications companies worldwide, and deCarta, the leading supplier of software and services for the Location-Based Services (LBS) industry, today announced a strategic partnership agreement. Under the agreement an advanced set of LBS Services will be delivered enabling T-Mobile customers to benefit from true mobile and web convergence as part of T-Mobile’s web’n’walk offering.
T-Mobile will roll out these services in Q4, 2009 according to the local needs of each market. Initially launching in the UK, Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands, other operating companies will follow in the future. Under the agreement, T-Mobile will utilise deCarta’s industry leading Drill Down Server (DDS) geospatial platform to power multiple LBS applications; in addition to the company’s advanced APIs to enable third-party LBS application development. T-Mobile will also deploy deCarta’s new "NavSearch" location-based search, mapping, and routing capabilities for mobile phones and the web. NavSearch will be fully integrated with a Turn-By-Turn navigation application.
deCarta will provide the off-board Turn-by-Turn navigation application through its partner Appello – utilising their industry leading WisePilot navigation application that has been successfully launched in over a dozen countries around the world. The Appello application can be invoked from the location search function incorporating all relevant destination information. All applications will be fully integrated with T-Mobile’s web’n’walk service to ensure that T-Mobile users can share information across applications such as directions and favourites, and between multiple devices.
"Location-Based Services are a core component of our Mobile Internet strategy," says Ingo Schneider, Vice President, Multimedia at Deutsche Telekom AG. "Notably, this new offering will give web’n’walk customers the next generation of location based services almost immediately. deCarta’s proven LBS expertise, developer partners and future vision – combined with their ability to enable multiple LBS applications from a single platform – makes them the clear partner for T-Mobile’s new service."
J. Kim Fennell, President and CEO of deCarta stated: "deCarta is excited to be the integral part of T-Mobile’s Location-Based Services strategy. We were delighted to find that T-Mobile had a similar vision to deCarta’s, enabling us to rapidly launch our core platform and set of LBS services – followed by an exciting range of additional applications in the future".
