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Cricket Communications (News - Alert), an unlimited wireless service, offered by Leap Wireless International, Inc., has signed an agreement with mPortal (News - Alert), Inc., a provider of mobile user experiences, for using its SPRINGBOARD' Smart Client and Content Delivery Manager products which will enable the company to create a custom-branded, next-generation mobile user experience for its new Cricket MyHomeScreen product.

 

Embedded on the handset by the manufacturer, MyHomeScreen is a navigation bar found on the main screen of mobile device that provides quick access to information using web-based widgets. It provides a high level of user experience with no software download requirement after handset purchase. Any future updates and added features can be delivered over-the-air, or “OTA,” by Cricket.

 

MyHomeScreen is available on the Samsung MyShot II, Motorola (News - Alert) VE465, Cricket TXTM8, Samsung Messager II and Cricket A200 handsets, with support for additional handsets coming soon. Added to this, MyHomeScreen's easy to use application store is said to allow Cricket customers to shop for ringtones, ring-back tones, graphics, and other applications.

 

“MyHomeScreen brings a high-end smartphone user experience to customers using feature phone handsets,” Jeff Toig, vice president of product marketing for Cricket Communications, said.

 

By leveraging mPortal's SPRINGBOARD platform, Cricket Communications facilitates easy discovery and purchase of mobile data services, directly from the home screen of Cricket-supported handsets.

 

“By using mPortal's SPRINGBOARD suite of products, we were able to quickly create and deliver a very intuitive experience to our customers, enabling them to easily discover and download content and personalize their home screen to suit their needs,” Toig said. “We believe that customer handset personalization is the way to increase adoption of our data services offerings.”

 

mPortal's SPRINGBOARD Smart Client product is an end-to-end mobile widget platform that will allow Cricket to provide its customer with instant access to Internet content, directly on the home screen of the handset. Content providers and publishers can easily develop widgets, using open Web standards and tools. Third party content providers can build widgets and submit them to Cricket, who then makes them available to its customers.

 

MyHomeScreen lets Cricket customers personalize their handset's home screen with the content they use most, including the latest weather, news, sports, device applications, popular Web links and social networking information.

  

“In our experience with service providers, we've proven that an intuitive user experience has a direct impact on increasing data ARPU and overall customer satisfaction,” B.A. Winston, vice president of Strategic Accounts at mPortal, said.