Optus Zoo signs news.com.au as primary news provider

Optus Zoo signs News.com.au as primary news provider

NEWS.com.au has become the primary mobile news supplier on the Optus Zoo mobile portal allowing Optus Zoo mobile customers access to up-to-date news and information in the palm of their hand via their mobile phone. This extends the reach of NEWS.com.au’s news and information services to Optus Zoo mobile customers. The relaunched Optus News Channel provided by NEWS.com.au offers content from all areas of NEWS.com.au’s existing online version along with the News Limited online mastheads.

Optus Zoo mobile customers are able to personalise their news service by selecting their top three news categories from which they can view updated RSS feeds as news happens. Top stories and breaking news are automatically displayed on their ‘MyNews’ homepage.

Sigrid Kirk, group publisher, NEWS.com.au said. “The partnership with Optus enhances NEWS.com.au’s position as a leading provider of news services in the mobile content sector. “Research has shown that mobile phone users value immediate access to news and current affairs. We are answering this need with our ongoing work to provide NEWS.com.au to mobile users nationwide.”

Mark Mulder, Optus General Manager, Content and Portals, said, “Our Optus Zoo mobile customers are of huge importance to us and we aim to provide them with premier information services to enhance their mobile experience - NEWS.com.au makes this possible. “Optus is pleased to be working with a leading digital news provider like NEWS.com.au and our mobile customers are already enjoying the benefits of their service,” Mr Mulder said.

The news categories available on Optus Zoo are:

• Arts and Books
• AustralianIT 
• Breaking News
• Business
• Entertainment
• Features
• Higher Education
• Horoscope
• Lifestyle
• Lotto
• Media
• National News
• Science, Nature and Health
• Sport
• Technology
• The Other Side
• Top stories
• Travel
• World News

“We look forward to developing our relationship and offering with Optus Zoo in the future,” Kirk concluded.

To access Optus Zoo on a mobile phone, Optus mobile customers can SMS ‘NEWS’ to 966 to get the link sent to their Optus mobile (Standard SMS charges apply) or from the Optus mobile handset, go to Optus Zoo>News.

NEWS.com.au can be accessed on other carriers through an off deck site – m.news.com.au. m.news.com.au, is the only news mobile site in Australia that allows consumers to personalise the site by choosing the content they want to view on their mobile phone. To personalise m.news.com.au, users can visit http://www.news.com.au/msite online and choose the content they want to view on their mobile phone. They will then receive an SMS with a link to their personalised m.news.com.au mobile site. Otherwise, they can type m.news.com.au straight into their mobile phone browser.