Mumbai, 15th September 2008: Voxmobili, the French unit of OnMobile, India’s largest VAS solutions provider, is one of the winners of the prestigious Google Android Challenge with its unique offering “Phonebook 2.0”- a secure and interactive phonebook application that combines elements of social media and instant messaging.

The Google Android Developer Challenge recognises and rewards 20 global ideas that will revolutionise mobile technology and usage for consumers on the Android platform. Android is an open and comprehensive platform for mobile devices designed to break down barriers to building new applications. The Challenge is a unique opportunity for developers to create content and platforms that offer an unparalleled experience to the users. Android was launched by the Open Handset Alliance™, a consortium of technology and mobile industry leaders committed to promoting innovation on mobile phones.

The traditional phonebook on the mobile device only provided basic contact information about the individual. Details of interactions with the individuals were in silos and consumers could not get a holistic perspective of the communication exchange. Phonebook 2.0 is a next generation address book that adds to the basic features and enables the phonebook data for social networking. Consumers can now get presence information, view scraps and posts on their social network profiles, upload pictures and get status updates on their friends, instantly.

"Phonebook 2.0 is an extension of the product line that includes other powerful products like Phone Backup and the Network Address Book. Advances in handset and network technologies, the emergence of Mobile Internet and availability of new platforms like Android make a whole new range of services possible. While Phone Backup allowed users to secure their mobile data, PhoneBook 2.0 enables consumers to get a single unified and seamless view of their interactions across all points of contact", said Mouli Raman, CTO and Co-founder of OnMobile Global Ltd.

Phonebook 2.0 is not limited to Google’s Android Platform. It is being made available on the J2ME, Symbian, Windows Mobile and the iPhone platforms shortly.