IRVINE, Calif. and CULVER CITY, Calif., July 17, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- go2(r) (www.go2.com), a leading mobile media company in the United States, today announced the launch of go2 Pets(tm), a mobile site dedicated to pet owners. The site, created in cooperation with Genex, a leading Internet development company (www.genex.com) and sponsored by Purina, allows pet owners easy, mobile access to thousands of pet-friendly destinations and activities together with extensive pet-oriented content and information. go2 Pets can be visited for free from any web-enabled mobile phone at www.go2Pets.com, and a preview of the mobile website is available online at wap.go2Pets.com.
According to the 2007-2008 National Pet Owners Survey, 63% of U.S. households own a pet, which equates to 71.1 million homes. go2 Pets is the first mobile website to address the lifestyle needs of these millions of pet owners throughout the U.S., at home or while traveling. With a few simple clicks on a mobile phone, local and other pet-relevant information is readily available to anyone. go2 Pets includes information such as pet-friendly outdoor dining, dog beaches, parks, campgrounds, trails, hotels, off-leash dog parks, airline travel policies, toll-free emergency numbers and much more. Sponsorship of the site is provided by Purina, which includes pet tips for cat behavior, dog training, dog walking and pet picture-taking.
"We are delighted to be at the forefront of a mobile age where, together with industry leaders like Purina and Genex, we can make this type of compelling and highly relevant information available to pet owners," said Lee Hancock, CEO and founder of go2. "There are millions of pet owners in the U.S. who are very devoted and passionate about their pets, and now they have additional information and services addressing their needs and wants when they are on-the-go."
"Brands need to connect with consumers in meaningful ways, especially mobile users that demand instant access to relevant content. go2 Pets is an innovative brand extension for Purina by building a more valuable connection with consumers through a mobile application that enhances pet-owner's lives," said Walter Schild, CEO and founder of Genex.
Nestle Purina PetCare promotes responsible pet care, community involvement and the positive bond between people and their pets. A premier global manufacturer of pet products, Nestle Purina has entered the wireless arena with its sponsorship of the go2 Pets site. Understanding that today's pet owners are on-the-go and wanting to have their pets with them as much as possible, Purina is looking to the "third screen" of mobile devices to help provide valuable information and services to and stay in touch with their millions of customers in the U.S.
All of the go2 sites include such innovative features as go2's Location Management System(tm), and ILS(tm) (Integrated Local Search), allowing users to quickly access relevant local information on-the-go. With just a few clicks information on local, pet-friendly lodging, restaurants, images, travel information, weather and much more is available on the phone of go2 Pets' users. And go2 offers one-touch calling and turn-by-turn driving directions. In addition, each go2 site is integrated with new GPS-like technologies (referred to as "Location-Based Services" or "LBS") where available by the major carriers in the U.S., to enable go2 mobile phone users to automatically determine their precise location at the touch of a button using their phones and carriers' mobile network. Every month mobile phone users access go2's Mobile Content Network(tm) more than 2 million times and view more than 20 million page views of local information over their web-enabled phones. In late 2006, go2's Mobile Content Network had delivered more than 1 billion mobile page views of local search and content information. According to M:Metrics, a mobile market analyst firm, go2 is one of the top five most visited mobile search sites in the U.S., along with AOL, Google, MSN and Yahoo!
About Genex
Founded in 1995, Genex (www.genex.com) delivers Internet consulting and development services that enable everyday efficiencies and long-term effectiveness. Genex ranks as one of the top 50 interactive agencies in the nation according to AdWeek and Ad Age magazines. Genex clients currently include: American Honda Motor Co., Benjamin Moore Paint, Citigroup, Comcast, KB Home, Purina, Time Warner and Toyota. Genex is a wholly owned subsidiary within Meredith Corporation. Meredith (www.meredith.com) is one of the nation's leading media and marketing companies with businesses centering on magazine and book publishing, television broadcasting, integrated marketing and interactive media.
About go2(r)
go2 owns and operates numerous online and mobile websites as integral components of the go2 Mobile Content Network(tm), including go2 Movies(r), go2 Dining(tm), go2 Golf(tm), go2 Travel(tm), go2 Winter Sports(tm) and over 300 mobile websites dedicated to specific colleges and universities throughout the United States (e.g. go2UCLA, go2Harvard, etc.). go2 was launched in 1999 as the first mobile, local search and content provider, and since 2001, go2 has delivered more than one billion WAP page views of local search and content to mobile phone users. go2 websites have industry-leading distribution through one-of-a-kind multi-category placements on the wireless Web menus of most major U.S. carriers, providing mobile users with easy access to information on-the-go, including driving directions, horoscopes, magazine articles, movie times, sports trivia, travel information, weather and more. All go2 mobile content sites are fully integrated with any GPS-like automatic location-based services (LBS) provided by wireless carriers, and feature one-touch calling and turn-by-turn directions together with detailed information on thousands of U.S. businesses.
go2 Advertisers include ABC, Acura, American Express, AOL, Delta, ExxonMobil, Holiday Inn, MasterCard, Nikon, Nokia, Purina, SBC, Shell, Sony and Visa. Headquartered in Irvine, Calif., go2 is a privately held company. go2 holds or licenses several U.S. patents for location-based, local search and directory services on mobile devices. For more information, visit www.go2.com.
go2(r), go2 Movies(r), go2 mGuide(r), go2 Dining(tm), get it on the go(r), go2 Golf(tm), go2 Pets(tm), go2 Travel(tm), go2 Winter Sports(tm), Location Management System(tm) and ILS(tm) are registered and unregistered trademarks or service marks of UDS Directory Corp., dba go2.