PRESS RELEASE
World Gaming - World Gaming plc, a global pioneer in I-gaming
technologies, today announced the signing of a software licensing
agreement with Sona Innovations Inc., a leading North American
provider of secure mobile solutions, that will see the introduction
of wireless applications for its most popular games, blackjack,
slots and sportsbook, before the end of the year.
Under the three-year agreement with Sona, World Gaming will be
deploying three games on Microsoft's Pocket PC - expected delivery
November 2001 - and Palm OS(R) - expected delivery December 2001 -
built on the Sona Wireless Platform(TM).
Microsoft's Pocket PC and
Palm OS devices were chosen for World Gaming's first wireless
software suite, due to screen size and capabilities, input method,
power management, network bandwidth, device memory, graphics and
processor power.
"The wireless market is growing exponentially and it represents a
very real opportunity for World Gaming to expand its global
presence - particularly in Europe and Asia where wireless gaming is
more advanced," said Michael Aymong, CEO of World Gaming. "Wireless
is an exciting new opportunity for World Gaming - enlarging our
total available market and increasing revenue streams for our
existing products and services."
World Gaming selected its most popular offerings - blackjack, slot
machine, and sportsbook betting for the initial wireless suite,
with plans to expand in the future. The new products will tap into
the users of online casinos and sports betting, which dominate up
to 73 percent of the online gaming market.
A recent Datamonitor report projects that revenues from the total
mobile gaming markets in the US, Europe and Asia Pacific will grow
from an estimated $950 million in 2001 to $17.5 billion in 2006.
The international research firm also reports that Asia Pacific is
currently the wireless gaming capital of the world, with 60 million
gamers.
In Europe, 41 million currently play games on their mobile
phones or PDAs, compared to 22 million in the US. By 2006, Europe
will have over 150 million wireless gamers, while in the US, the
number will grow to 124 million.
"Data is typically encrypted then decrypted, which has inherent
security risks," said Jeff Halloran, president and CEO of Sona
Innovations. "The robust architecture of Sona's technology is very
unique, as it does not use public gateway servers and it rapidly
deploys an animated presentation layer unlike any other wireless
service.
"Sona's client software establishes a secure session on the
Pocket PC or Palm operating platform and communicates directly with
World Gaming's servers. Through our unique end-to-end secure
approach to deploying applications on handheld devices, we are able
to deliver to World Gaming a wireless solution that provides the
level of presentation, performance and protection the World Gaming
community has come to expect. Being network carrier agnostic, Sona
Innovation's one of a kind solution becomes an immediate global
platform to support World Gaming's secure growth."
World Gaming evaluated several vendors before choosing Sona
Innovations. Sona was selected based upon the following criteria:
a strong commitment to continued diligent support of World Gaming
products and services, synergies of respective business models,
number of wireless devices supported, ease of implementation, and
security.
"Our new wireless suite of products is a plug-in solution,
requiring no back-end integration, that leverages and extends
existing World Gaming technologies, products and services," said
David Pasieka, COO of World Gaming. "Wireless technology is still
in its infancy and continuously evolving. Standards, protocols,
network and client device issues require significant and dedicated
development resources.
"Sona Innovations' experience successfully
delivering bullet-proof applications for the banking and brokerage
industries has made the company the ideal supplier for World Gaming
and has addressed our concerns over security."
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