Mobile World Congress, Barcelona – February 16, 2010 – Openwave Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: OPWV), a global software innovator delivering context-aware mediation and messaging solutions, today published a Winter 2010 report highlighting key mobile internet usage trends in Africa.  The findings are the result of Openwave® Analytics collecting and interpreting traffic and usage behavior data from a tier-one mobile operator in South Africa.  There are over 400 million mobile subscribers in Africa, compared with approximately 300 million in North America.  Key mobile internet trends, as well as recommendations for new revenue generating opportunities, are highlighted in the 2010 winter report and below. 

Top Categories

Social Networks
Social networks factored most prominently in the findings for the South African operator with social networks being the leading internet category, accounting for 27 percent of total hits that were generated by only five percent of subscribers. In South Africa, there are a large number of social networks that are specifically designed for feature phones. Considering that there are a low percentage of subscribers generating the social networking hits, this underlies the popularity of social networks and the potential for growth.

Operator Portal
The portal for this South African operator had a high traffic rate in terms of percentages of hits and numbers of unique visitors. Operators have the potential to generate increasing revenues by selling ad space, subscriber profiles and ad delivery channels to advertisers. Operators could benefit from promoting a social networking and search partner on its portal to drive higher volume traffic and to raise the value of its inventory.

Mobile Search
Mobile search is the third most popular destination, but it sees a greater percentage of data volume than the operator’s portal. According to Openwave Analytics, Google leads the pack by a wide margin, but another local option, abphone.com, has garnered almost a third as much data traffic as Google by focusing on a specific search area: entertainment and multimedia. This trend bodes well for global and regional search engines’ search-based ad revenue, and could help the operator forge close partnerships with the multiple search engines through on-deck partnerships.

Instant Messaging
Nearly six percent of South African subscribers use IM services. The South African market is fairly deregulated, allowing a host of local, innovative IM providers to thrive, without any significant risk to messaging revenues. Operators in Africa have an opportunity to promote these types of IM services as on-deck partners and, for a small premium, enable location and presence through operator-owned API’s.  

Top Sites

Facebook
Facebook is the most popular mobile internet site in South Africa, and the social networking giant has been successful in emerging markets in large part because the site displays easily on standard feature phones, of which there are a significant number in South Africa. In addition to this operator’s subscribers regularly visiting Facebook, they also upload pictures and videos to their sites, and use Facebook for instant messaging and notifications because of how costly it is for prepaid subscribers (90%+ of our operator’s subscriber base) to send MMS and SMS messages .

An opportunity for African operators would be to more tightly integrate SMS/MMS with Facebook to make it simpler to upload content and updates. Operators could also offer subscription services for advertisers and marketing agencies to access  anonymized, segmented customer data and help them launch viral campaigns

MXit
The South African operator’s data suggests that locally developed application, MXit, had the highest number of unique users, higher than internet giants Facebook and Google. Operators could promote MXit and other local application options as on-deck partners, or as a pre-installed application on the handset, in return for a share of the revenue, promotion of banner ads, or even content downloads. This could bolster operator revenues while ensuring that SMS revenues don’t get eroded as MXit continues to grow.

“The ability to make accurate assessments of subscriber behavior in batch mode as well as real-time and to act upon those findings is crucial for operators to be competitive,” said John Giere, senior vice president, products and marketing., Openwave.  “Openwave Analytics is a comprehensive solution that addresses marketer’s needs by monitoring data network traffic, user behavior, emerging trends and uncovering subscriber behavior insights. We believe that insights can help improve mobile operator’s understanding of their subscribers and facilitate new revenue opportunities for mobile ecosystem players.”

Openwave Analytics is a feature-rich, predictive solution fueled by real-time analytics that provides early identification of mobile data trends that enable operators to make timely decisions to avoid bandwidth problems while targeting business driving opportunities.  Openwave Analytics mediates among all different ecosystem elements, enhancing every mode of IP traffic including mobile internet, messaging, video and social networking. The result provides operators with a 360-degree view of their network, devices and services, and enables operators to proactively optimize network resources, quickly launch smart mobile services, and provide a contextually relevant user experience.

About Openwave
Openwave Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: OPWV) is a global software innovator delivering context-aware mediation and messaging solutions that enable communication service providers and the broader ecosystem to create and deliver smarter services.

Building on its mobile data heritage, Openwave mobilizes the Internet with predictive solutions fueled by real-time analytics that mediate among all different ecosystem elements, permitting the enhancement of every mode of IP traffic. The result can provide customers with a 360-degree view of their network, devices and services, and enables them to proactively optimize network resources, quickly launch smart mobile services, and provide a contextually relevant user experience.

Openwave is a global company with a blue chip customer base spanning North America, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand, Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. Openwave is headquartered in Redwood City, California. For more information please visit www.openwave.com.

Forward Looking Statement
This press release contains statements regarding Openwave Systems’ expectations of the benefits of Openwave® Analytics, Data Mediation Edition, as well as the expected timing of the release of Openwave® Analytics, Data Mediation Edition.  Actual timing of release and performance of Openwave® Analytics, Data Mediation Edition could differ materially as a result of unanticipated factors and events, including that Openwave Systems could face difficulties in launching Openwave® Analytics, Data Mediation Edition, or Openwave® Analytics, Data Mediation Edition may not function as expected with various operators, due to technical or other unforeseen reasons.  Further risks inherent in Openwave Systems’ business are detailed in the section entitled “Risk Factors” in Openwave Systems’ Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended December 31, 2009 (filed February 5, 2010 with the Securities and Exchange Commission).