Nokia acquires ShareTw to offer a comprehensive media sharing experience
Share photos, video and other media through virtually any connected device
July 23, 2007 -- Nokia and ShareTw today announced that Nokia has acquired substantially all assets of ShareTw (share.ovi.com). ShareTw provides a comprehensive media sharing solution for organizing and sharing photos, videos and other personal media. By acquiring ShareTw, Nokia will be able to offer people an easy way to share multimedia content through their desktop and mobile devices. In addition to key assets, through this transaction Nokia is bringing on a seasoned team with strong social media and Web services expertise.
“The ShareTw acquisition is a concrete step towards our consumer Internet services vision of providing seamless access to information, entertainment, and social networks – at any time, anywhere, from any connected device, in any way that you choose. We have the most complete suite of connected multimedia experiences including music, navigation, games, and – with the ShareTw acquisition – photos, videos, and a variety of document types,” said Anssi Vanjoki, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Multimedia, Nokia. “When you combine a Nokia N-series multimedia computer that is always on, always connected, and always with you together with a rich media sharing destination like ShareTw, people will have exciting new ways to create and enjoy rich media experiences in real time.”
ShareTw, a privately-owned company founded by former Microsoft veterans, is headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA. ShareTw’s versatile platform makes organizing, sharing, and republishing media such as photos, videos and audio clips easy. Unlike many other social media services, ShareTw supports multiple media types and offers a comprehensive array of options for people to manage, share, and repurpose their personal media content. ShareTw offers a great destination experience on desktop computers and mobile devices, as well as a powerful platform that allows developers to create companion applications, connect with mobile devices, and integrate with other Web services.
"Nokia's unique vision for social media aligns perfectly with ShareTw," said ShareTw co-founder, Jim Laurel. "It's really exciting to imagine what we can achieve by combining our social media experience with the resources of a company that has played such a major role in shaping the mobile landscape. Now, we will have the resources to deliver on our vision to enable people to capture and enjoy their personal media on mobile devices, desktop computers and in all the other places that are important to them."
ShareTw co-founder, Serena Glover, adds “As a result of this acquisition, we will aggressively build out our team in the Seattle area, allowing us to deliver a superior global media sharing service.”
Equipped with high-quality megapixel cameras and mobile broadband connections, Nokia devices have revolutionized the way people create content, blog and participate in online communities. In 2006, Nokia sold over 140 million connected cameras, and its devices are rapidly becoming the world’s primary source of images and videos. Nokia offers people new media sharing experiences, such as combining GPS-based location information with photos and videos.
Notes to editors:
High resolution photos of ShareTw service can be found at: www.nokia.com/press/photos
About Nokia
Nokia is the world leader in mobile communications, driving the growth and sustainability of the broader mobility industry. Nokia connects people to each other and the information that matters to them with easy-to-use and innovative products like mobile phones, devices and solutions for imaging, games, media and businesses. Nokia provides equipment, solutions and services for network operators and corporations (www.nokia.com).
About ShareTw
ShareTw is a next generation social media sharing service that offers a comprehensive, integrated solution for people to organize, share, and republish all their personal media, publicly or privately, ShareTw enables people to share all media types such as pictures, videos, audio clips, and a variety of documents types – more than 110 file types in all. For more information, visit share.ovi.com.
Nokia
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ShareTw introduces Webcam Video Widget
Instantly record, email and embed Webcam videos with video comments anywhere
REDMOND, WA - (MARKET WIRE) - February 6, 2007 - ShareTw, a leading provider of next generation media sharing services, today announced a new webcam video widget that allows anyone to record videos with a webcam, capture video comments, share them via email and embed them in blogs. The widget automatically recognizes webcams from popular hardware manufacturers such as Creative, Logitech and Apple and allows users to record a video with a single click.
"Our webcam video widget makes it really easy to record a video with your webcam and embed it in your blog or website. And what's cool is that other people can add their own webcam comments right in place. You can literally host a 'face to face' forum just by embedding this widget into your blog or sending the link around in email", said ShareTw Co-Founder, Randy Kerr. "We're really excited to see the kinds of video conversations this will make possible."
After a video is recorded, the user can choose to send a link to the recorded video to someone via email, or embed it on a blog or website such as MySpace. Viewers of the video can easily record comments, which appear alongside the video in a scrolling strip. The webcam video widget is free and ShareTw membership is not required to use the basic features. However, ShareTw members have the advantage of storing their webcam videos in their ShareTw account, and managing video comments left by others.
"We're always looking for ways to help people use media in interesting ways", said ShareTw Co-Founder, Jim Laurel. "Widgets are becoming wildly popular across the Web, and the most compelling will be the ones that interact with Web services and structured data. Widgets that connect to powerful service platforms get us one step closer to the point where developers and even consumers can actually assemble useful applications by embedding these mini apps wherever they need them."
Links:
ShareTw Webcam Video Widget: (http://share.ovi.com/webcam)
ShareTw Widget Page: (http://share.ovi.com/tools)
ShareTw Web Service (http://share.ovi.com)
About ShareTw
ShareTw is a next generation media sharing service based in Redmond, Washington. The free service offers a comprehensive, integrated solution for people seeking to organize, share and republish all their media online. Whether a member wants to share publicly or privately, ShareTw enables people to share all media types such as pictures, video, audio, Microsoft Office documents and PDFs -- more than 110 file types in all. Plus, people can share their media in a wide variety of ways, without being locked into a "one way fits all" style of sharing. For more information, visit: share.ovi.com.
Press Contact
ShareTw press inquiries
Introducing ShareTw Mobile: enjoy your ShareTw media on the go
Any time, anywhere access to personal media content from Mobile devices
REDMOND, WA – (MARKET WIRE) – January 30, 2007 – ShareTw, a leading provider of next generation media sharing services, today announced "ShareTw Mobile", a free service which enables consumers to access their photos, videos, audio and other media on ShareTw from their mobile devices. Now, anyone can access their personal media content without the need for a PC.
"This new service brings ShareTw directly to your mobile device. It’s formatted to fit the smaller display and, like share.ovi.com, is designed to be easy to use and navigate. You can browse your own media, share it with anyone, see media shared with you by others, and participate in the ShareTw community", said ShareTw Co-Founder, Philip Carmichael. "ShareTw Mobile provides a great experience on modern camera phones. Now you can capture, browse and share your media right on your mobile device any time, anywhere."
ShareTw Mobile is an XHTML web site optimized for the latest mobile devices available from leading manufacturers such as Nokia, HTC, Samsung and others. Anyone can access the site, view media and share it to anyone via an email address or mobile phone number. Members can share their own media as well as enter comments and send private messages. And using ShareTw’s unique email upload features, members can upload media to ShareTw without any special software.
"People everywhere are starting to use mobile devices to access Internet services. And as the capabilities of these devices grow, they increasingly take on tasks previously reserved for desktop and notebook computers. In fact, mobile devices are already the primary computer for many people in the world. Services like ShareTw Mobile are the vanguard of the next wave of Internet services", said ShareTw Co-Founder, Jim Laurel. "The great thing about ShareTw Mobile is that it is not a stand-alone service, but rather an integrated part of our comprehensive media sharing platform. It’s a compact, useful slice of ShareTw that you can have with you all the time."
* ShareTw Mobile requires a device with Edge or better connectivity, equipped with an XHTML Mobile browser. The service uses SMS to notify mobile users when content is shared with them. Contact your mobile carrier to check for availability of these services in your area. ShareTw Mobile has been tested with the following devices: Nokia N73, Nokia N80, Nokia N93, Nokia 6620, Nokia E62, Sony Ericsson S710a, Cingular 2125, Samsung i607 (Cingular "Blackjack"), and HTC Excalibur (T-Mobile "Dash")
Links:
ShareTw Mobile (http://share.ovi.com/mobile)
Sign up for ShareTw at: (http://share.ovi.com/signup)
Uploading to ShareTw via email (http://share.ovi.com/scenarios/shareviaemail)
About ShareTw
ShareTw is a next generation media sharing service based in Redmond, Washington. The free service offers a comprehensive, integrated solution for people seeking to organize, share and republish all their media online. Whether a member wants to share publicly or privately, ShareTw enables people to share all media types such as pictures, video, audio, Microsoft Office documents and PDFs -- more than 110 file types in all. Plus, people can share their media in a wide variety of ways, without being locked into a "one way fits all" style of sharing. For more information, visit: share.ovi.com.
Press Contact
ShareTw press inquiries
ShareTw Syncs Industry's Most Comprehensive Media Sharing Service With the iPod and iTunes
Free Any time, Anywhere Audio and Video Podcasting Now Available to All Consumers for Free
REDMOND, WA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- December 19, 2006 -- ShareTw, a leading provider of next generation media sharing services, today announced a new ability to automatically sync video and audio between iTunes, iPods, and ShareTw.com. Whether consumers are driving, flying, or simply home for the holidays, ShareTw.com members can now easily host, share, and republish podcasts for free.
"Most people are used to subscribing to podcasts of commercial videos and audio," said ShareTw co-founder Jim Laurel. "But what's even more compelling is being able to have content on their iPods that's personally relevant -- their own stuff and stuff shared by friends and family. ShareTw is taking media sharing up a notch by allowing people to share their own podcasts with the people who matter to them."
Highlighted Links
Next Generation Media Sharing
Podcasting with ShareTw
ShareTw has simplified podcasting by helping iTunes and iPod users seamlessly access and republish all their podcast-compatible media when and where they want it on a regular, automated basis. Once the podcast-compatible media is uploaded, ShareTw generates a feed that automatically identifies the media in a designated ShareTw media channel. If there is podcast-compatible media in the channel, ShareTw will recognize it and display an orange POD link on the page. Clicking on the link causes iTunes to launch and subscribe to the podcast-compatible feed. All podcastable media in the channel is included in the feed and gets synched with the iPod when the device is connected.
"Whether it's podcasting, sharing photos with friends, or embedding videos in a blog, we're dedicated to meeting the needs of the media sharing marketplace," said Serena Glover, also a co-founder of ShareTw. "Adding to ShareTw's already comprehensive array of options to share and republish media, the new podcast capability further builds on our vision of delivering consumers universal access to their media, regardless of device."
To immediately start podcasting video and audio, consumers can visit: http://share.ovi.com/welcome/podcast.aspx
About ShareTw
ShareTw is a next generation media sharing service based in Redmond, Washington. The free service offers a comprehensive, integrated solution for people seeking to organize, share and republish all their media online. Whether a member wants to share publicly or privately, ShareTw enables people to share all media types such as pictures, video, audio, Microsoft Office documents and PDFs -- more than 110 file types in all. Plus, people can share their media in a wide variety of ways, without being locked into a "one way fits all" style of sharing. For more information, visit share.ovi.com.
Press Contact
ShareTw press inquiries
ShareTw Partners with Backprint for Photo Printing
Media sharing innovator’s customers find another reason—easily printing photos—to host, share, and republish all their digital content at ShareTw.com
Emeryville, CA and Redmond, WA -- December 18, 2006 -- ShareTw, a leading provider of next generation media sharing services, and Backprint, an online photography services company, have joined together to offer professional quality photo prints and products to anyone using ShareTw. Backprint and ShareTw have integrated an online ordering tool that allows users to easily order any photo on the ShareTw site. Backprint then fulfills the orders and delivers the photos right to the customers’ doorstep. Only professional-quality Kodak Endura Paper is used.
"ShareTw's all about making it easy to privately or publicly share all digital media, whether that's sharing video, photos, audio or document files," says ShareTw co-founder, Randy Kerr. "Now, through our partnership with Backprint, we enter ShareTw into the mainstream of highly successful online photo services that offer printing as well as sharing, while also further enhancing the already powerful and flexible media sharing universe ShareTw users enjoy today."
This partnership marks a significant step towards Backprint’s goal of integrating its top quality fulfillment service into existing photo hosting websites. Backprint believes its technology is well aligned to provide third-party professional quality print services to a vast realm of media and image-based websites.
"The opportunities are enormous in this space. We are thrilled to be working with ShareTw and look forward to bringing our technology and photography expertise to many more companies that are looking for a simple way to offer photo products to their users and customers," says Phil Polishuk, vice president of Backprint. "This partnership emphasizes our commitment to expanding our services and becoming a leader in innovative online photography solutions."
More about Backprint:
Backprint (www.backprint.com) specializes in being the online storefront and fulfillment partner for large and small photographers. Backprint gives users superior tools and services built to organize, market, and sell photos. Partners are provided with a storefront website and full service back-end system to manage their online photography business. Using cutting edge technology and a high quality in-house professional photo lab, Backprint offers flexible solutions for any size partner that wants to sell photos online. Based in Emeryville,CA.
Backprint is a service of brightroom, Inc, a leading web-enabled event photography services company.
More about ShareTw:
ShareTw is a next generation media-sharing service based in Redmond, Washington.
The free service offers a comprehensive, integrated solution for people seeking to organize, share and republish all their media online. Whether a member wants to share publicly or privately, ShareTw enables people to share all media types such as pictures, video, audio, Microsoft Office documents and PDFs -- more than 110 file types in all. Plus, people can share their media in a wide variety of ways, without being locked into a "one way fits all" style of sharing. For more information, visit share.ovi.com.
Press Contact
ShareTw press inquiries
ShareTw Launches Next Generation Media-Sharing Service
Now People Can Share All Their Digital Media
Any Way They Choose
REDMOND, WA., October 11, 2006 -- Today ShareTw (http://share.ovi.com) launched a next generation media-sharing service offering a comprehensive, integrated solution for people seeking to organize, share and republish all their media online. Unlike previous generations of media-sharing services, ShareTw enables people to share all media types such as pictures, video, audio, Microsoft Office documents and PDFs--more than 110 file types in all. Plus, people can share their media in a wide variety of ways, without being locked into a "one way fits all" style of sharing.
ShareTw is uniquely designed to appeal to the broad market of people who are eager to share their media, but want a more versatile and sophisticated service than Flickr, YouTube or Photobucket. ShareTw is a free service with unlimited storage and no required software downloads.
"Our goal at ShareTw is to provide people with the easiest and most complete way to share all of their personal media in one place" says Serena Glover, a co-founder of ShareTw. "The ShareTw community is fun and dynamic because people have many ways to share what they are passionate about and they can select how they want to share. We put control back into the hands of the users."
"I quickly became hooked on ShareTw," says newlywed Kelsey O'Brien. "One channel I created showcases pictures and video from our wedding as well as our honeymoon in Belize. Within moments, friends and family were able to share in the experience and could contribute their own comments, pictures and video," added O'Brien.
Multiple Ways to Share -- it's Your Choice
You begin by creating a channel to contain your photos, videos and other media. Then, you simply upload your media from a PC or Macintosh. You can also upload directly from your mobile phone or any device that can send email. You can create as many channels as you like.
ShareTw makes it easy to display your media publicly to the entire world or share privately to only those you invite. No signup is required for your guests to view your media, even if it is shared to them privately.
ShareTw offers a variety of ways to customize the sharing experience. You can control not only who sees your media, but also what you will allow them to do. For example, you can permit others to simply view your media, or you might allow them to add tags, comments, and even their own media to your channels.
Easily Republish Wherever You Want
ShareTw makes it simple to republish your media with style. You host your media on ShareTw, and then with a simple copy/paste you can embed it anywhere on the web – into blogs, discussion groups, websites, MySpace profiles and EBay auctions. Other features include:
- Displaying your media with cool slideshows, tickers and more.
- Automatically publishing your media in RSS/XML feeds.
- Automatically making pod cast-compatible media available to iTunes and the iPod.
A Powerful Sharing Platform
In addition to being a social destination, ShareTw is engineered from the ground up to be a robust sharing platform. The API (Application Programming Interface) being used internally by ShareTw will be made available to third-party developers. The API gives developers the freedom to create innovative software and services such as uploaders, mashups and new ways to display and manipulate media stored on ShareTw.
The Company
ShareTw is a media sharing service based in Redmond, Washington. The company's founders were previously senior managers with Microsoft Corp. and have extensive experience creating media properties and Internet services. Some of the products and services they have worked on include: Active Server Pages, MSN Search, Interactive TV, Mungo Park and Microsoft Office. ShareTw ‘s founders have a proven track record for creating technologies, products and services which have a positive impact in peoples' lives.
Press Contact
ShareTw press inquiries
