1/12/09 - Devicescape Software, the leader in Easy Wi-Fi, celebrated a strong 2008, thanks in large part to signed contracts with leading OEMs and service providers as well as industry trends driving demand for Wi-Fi-enabled devices.

Also noted among Devicescape's 2008 successes are new product releases and a foray into the iTunes App Store with its Easy Wi-Fi application for iPhone and the iPod touch. These accomplishments enabled the company to achieve a significant milestone -- Devicescape surpassed the more than one million membership mark.

The demand for instant, secure and reliable Wi-Fi connectivity is on the rise. In-Stat Senior Analyst Victoria Fodale said, "Wi-Fi has weathered the current economic conditions better than many other technologies, and In-Stat believes the momentum will continue. By 2012, cellular/Wi-Fi phones are expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of almost 50%."

"The overwhelming success of new smartphones, such as the iPhone, has been a true 'game changer' in terms of how service providers and OEMs regard Wi-Fi," said Dave Fraser, CEO of Devicescape. "Smartphone users spend a higher percentage of their time watching videos and downloading various files with a resulting strain on the carriers' 3G network. This trend is forcing OEMs and service providers to rethink the value of new networks like Wi-Fi. A Wi-Fi network has a much lower cost for service providers to carry all this new traffic."

In its July report, In-Stat noted that the fastest-growing embedded Wi-Fi segment is smartphones, one that will overtake PCs as the biggest category of Wi-Fi devices. With the growth of the smartphone market, smartphone users have put a particularly big strain on the 3G network. OEMs are now embedding Wi-Fi capabilities into new smartphones. Carriers are bundling Wi-Fi into their cellular plans to help offload this new traffic from expensive 3G networks to Wi-Fi networks. However, the Wi-Fi access needs to be easy to use for customers to take advantage of this new network. That is where Devicescape steps in. The company's Easy Wi-Fi for handsets provides the technology needed for seamless access to Wi-Fi networks.

Based on these new worldwide Wi-Fi trends, Devicescape delivered customer, partner and product achievements throughout 2008. Notable achievements include:

• An introduction of three market-specific solutions
• Easy Wi-Fi for Handsets, Easy Wi-Fi for PCs and Easy Wi-Fi for Devices. These products were designed to meet the very specific Wi-Fi needs of manufacturers in their markets.
• In order to take advantage of the iPhone popularity, Devicescape made Easy Wi-Fi available on the iTunes App Store in October. In December it rolled out Easy Wi-Fi for AT&T, specifically designed for even easier access to AT&T hotspots in the United States. Within days after its availability, Easy Wi-Fi for AT&T was a top 10 application within the App Store and the No. 4 utility overall, according to Apple.
• Devicescape also secured global licensing deals with major new customers in Europe, Japan and emerging markets. These companies included HTC, Fujitsu, Defi Mobile, Slacker and Nintendo.
• The company's membership surpassed more than one million users using Devicescape.

A look toward 2009 reveals that Devicescape will continue selling into the broader Wi-Fi-enabled-device market including handsets, PCs and other enterprise and consumer devices, which In-Stat estimates will grow from 294 million devices today to 1 billion by 2012. While handsets and PCs remain the focal points for the company, Devicescape has already begun making inroads into a variety of other device markets as well. Devicescape is also looking at partnering with service providers from around the world.