EMERYVILLE, Calif., June 26, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- WaveMarket (www.wavemarket.com), a leader in mobile location-based search and services, announced that AmberWatch Foundation has selected the company to build a cross-carrier safety application for children and loved ones. Branded as AmberWatch Mobile, this new GPS-based safety application allows children to use their cell phones to alert parents that they need assistance. These alerts automatically include the child's location, which can be viewed on a map either from the web or the parent's mobile phone. Parents can also locate children on-demand or using "scheduled checks," to automatically check whether a child has arrived home safely after school, for example.
"Choosing WaveMarket to enable AmberWatch Mobile was a simple decision given the company's rich history in developing wireless applications that put children and families first," said Keith Jarrett, CEO of AmberWatch Foundation. "The AmberWatch Foundation is excited at the safety opportunities presented through today's most advanced technologies combined with the boundaryless nature of mobile communications. We look forward to the widespread adoption of AmberWatch Mobile."
"The AmberWatch Foundation's efforts are ultimately fueling a fundamental change in society: protecting one of the country's most valuable assets, its children, through advanced technologies. And, we are pleased to be a part of this movement," said Tasso Roumeliotis, WaveMarket's CEO. "Winning the AmberWatch Foundation RFP clearly serves as a testimonial to WaveMarket's continued innovation and leadership in bringing advanced LBS-based applications market."
Building off WaveMarket's industry-leading family location products, already commercially available in three countries and multiple languages, the AmberWatch Mobile product will leverage WaveMarket's GPS tracking capabilities and patent-pending alerting system, which enables children or loved ones to raise alarm if they are lost and/or need help. This alert then notifies their family's parents, providing the child or loved one's location. This revolutionary safety service will be available to families on multiple carriers in the United States.
About AmberWatch Mobile
AmberWatch Mobile, a commercial sub-brand of the AmberWatch Foundation, is a technology application that provides added safety features to wireless and handheld devices. The AmberWatch Mobile service is a high-quality, reliable and easy-to-use service designed to keep wireless consumers and their loved ones safe from harm. It is the only wireless application that empowers users faced with threatening situations by allowing them to reach out to loved ones in innovative ways. Approximately half of the proceeds of all AmberWatch Mobile service sales will go to the AmberWatch Foundation. The success of AmberWatch Mobile will provide the crucial funding needed to sustain key AmberWatch Foundation education programs providing valuable resources and education to children, parents and adults.
About the AmberWatch Foundation
Headquartered in Irvine, California, the AmberWatch Foundation is a national not-for-profit organization passionately dedicated to keeping kids safe from molestation and abduction through preventative education programs. Examples of such programs include "Be Safe!", a turnkey safety education program presented in elementary schools by local active and retired law enforcement professionals. By 2008, the AmberWatch Foundation's goal is to educate over 25 million elementary-aged children and their parents on how to identify potential endangerment scenarios and to stay safe at home and in their communities. For more information, please visit, www.amberwatchfoundation.org.
About WaveMarket
WaveMarket Inc., headquartered in Emeryville, Calif., is a world leader in mobile location-based search and services, offering a software product suite that includes both white-label solutions and mobile platform components. White-label solutions include WaveMarket's industry-leading family finder, search, and asset tracker services, with more than a half-dozen commercial deployments in the United States, Canada, and Latin America. WaveMarket's mobile platform components include turn-by-turn navigation, mobile social networking and dynamic tiled mapping, all designed to be commercially deployed with partner brands such as the WaveMarket-designed and engineered Ask Mobile GPS. Marketing to brands and mobile carriers in the United States, Europe and Asia, WaveMarket's customers include top tier North American carriers Sprint Nextel, Cingular, Bell Mobility of Canada, and SK Telecom, South Korea's leading wireless carrier. Founded in 2000, the company is financed by a group that includes Draper Fisher Jurvetson, QUALCOMM Ventures, BlueRun Ventures (formerly Nokia Venture Partners), Intel Capital, and Mitsui Ventures. For more information, please visit http://www.wavemarket.com.