• by Tameka Kee , June 12, 2007

Verizon Wireless and Virgin Mobile have both extended their partnerships with InfoSpace, which has launched its mCore mobile service platform, a suite of customizable mobile Web infrastructure services.

With mCore, carriers can deploy mobile services including search, storefronts, portals and messaging as they see fit, creating a consistent user experience across all data services, or enhancing one specific mobile offering.

Virgin Mobile has signed on for the full suite, as a way to "introduce significant cost savings and operational efficiencies within our mobile infrastructure," said Nick White, head of digital services and NPD, Virgin Mobile.

The mCore technology streamlines the process of making broadband Web content such as maps, video and other rich media available for mobile Web consumption.

"Our platform allows a company like Virgin to leverage the synergy between online and mobile media and simplify the user experience," said Reed Thorkildsen, vice president of technology, research and development, InfoSpace.

mCore also simplifies the mobile Web experience for advertisers, as carriers can insert ad content into the platform and the technology then customizes it by handset type and operating system. The platform also offers data usage analytics across devices--with info standardization a key challenge to marketers considering the "third screen," analysts predict that comprehensive solutions such as mCore will gain traction.

Verizon Wireless alluded to the pick-and-choose flexibility of mCore as a factor in its contract expansion with InfoSpace. "A key selling point for us was the flexibility of the platform that allowed us to tailor pieces to fit our needs," said Jesse Money, executive director of consumer multimedia data services, Verizon Wireless, in a statement.