TransMedia’s Glide Mobile works with its social network to access media from a cell phone.

April 27, 2006

TransMedia has introduced a service that enables cell phone users to view and share up to 40 gigabytes (GB) of files, including video, music, photos, contacts, documents, and email.

The service introduced Wednesday, called Glide Mobile, works with the Glide Effortless service, which was introduced in December, and with the Glide Music Social Network, which was launched last month (see TransMedia Site Goes Social).

The service aims to take advantage of two fast-moving trends: the growth of social networks and the rapid adoption of broadband services now offered by most major U.S. wireless companies.

Glide Mobile works with phones such as the Palm Treo 700W that use the Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system. Next month, TransMedia plans to offer support for Motorola RAZR, Nokia series 60, and Sony Ericsson phones. The New York City-based company also intends to add support for other devices, such as PDAs.

The service enables users to share their files with other people, even those who are not Glide subscribers, by sending them a small, 5-kilobyte email message. Clicking on a link in the email enables the recipient to view content stored on the subscriber’s Glide account.

Users can set rules to control who can access their email inbox and who can view their files or any web publications they create. They can also designate certain files as public or private, and decide which files can be shared as view-only, downloadable, or modifiable files. They can also upload files from their mobile device.

“Basically what we’ve done here is created the kind of capabilities that you typically can only find on the computer desktop, but now it’s accessible on a cell phone or PDA,” said TransMedia Chairman and CEO Donald Leka.

Music, Social Networks, and Macs

The service works along with The Orchard music service, allowing users to stream music to their cell phones and manage their song playlists. TransMedia plans to announce deals with other digital music services next month.

The service also includes social network capabilities. Users can search through not only their own files and account, but also through the files, blogs, and profiles that have been made public by other Glide users from their mobile phones, as well as their PCs and Mac computers.

“If someone is available for chat, you can find them,” said Mr. Leka.

The service supports the Mac OS as well as Windows. Users can upload Apple QuickTime movies and AAC music files to Glide and view them in the Mobile Windows Media Player on their cell phones. Glide Mobile also integrates with the Mac address book and .Mac email, so users can access their contacts and send email using their .Mac email addresses.

So far, the Glide Effortless service has attracted 110,000 users. Users receive 300 megabytes of storage for free. They can also pay for 4GB of storage for $9.99 per month, or $99.95 for a year. Extra storage of up to 40GB is also available. Family accounts are also available.

So far, TransMedia has managed to convert close to 20 percent of its users into paying subscribers, usually after they exceed the 300-megabyte limit and are prompted to upgrade.