Handmark Inc. is hoping to raise its profile by giving away service.
The Kansas City, Mo.-based company mobile media company this week will begin offering free content in an effort to raise consumer awareness of its Pocket Express offering. Users with smart phones from Research In Motion Ltd., Palm Inc. and Microsoft Corp. Windows Mobile-enabled devices who sign on for a free two-week trial of the offering can receive free news, sports and weather information.
Pocket Express is available for $7 a month and delivers 14 services including financial information, local business listings, daily horoscopes and syndicated “Dear Abby” columns. The application can be downloaded from Handmark’s Web site accessed via a WAP link, and Handmark has added a text message offering allowing users to send a link to others via their handsets.
The company also is giving away a new Porsche Caymen S to promote the new offering. Executive Vice President Douglas Edwards said he hopes to leverage the company’s high-profile brands, which include CNN International, The Associated Press, TV Guide and Zagat Survey, to become the mobile media company of choice for smart-phone users.
“We’re focused on delivering valuable services to the end consumer,” Edwards said. “There is a real opportunity for someone to the kind of (brand) that CNN is on TV, and that Google and Yahoo are on the Web.”
