Synchronica

Emerging markets mobile minnow Synchronica is seeing momentum build behind its low-cost Blackberry-like phone, the ‘MessagePhone’.

Although historically a software specialist, the company has, in partnership with a large but unnamed global player, produced a new low-cost mobile device that looks and works like a Blackberry phone but is specifically for users in emerging markets. A recent order for 20,000 MessagePhones from a South American subsidiary of 'one of the largest worldwide operators', follows a maiden deal in November from another operator in Africa.

Synchronica’s co-founder and CEO Carsten Brinkschulte says ‘the order from such a dominant operator in the telecommunications market and in Latin America shows the traction of Synchronica's product in regions where PC ownership is low and where operators can offer email and mobile synchronisation direct to customers on a low cost device’. Synchronica will receive 3% of the net revenue from the sales of the phones as well as the various revenues from its Mobile Gateway software.

Mobile Gateway enables mobile users with basic phones to access their emails and is therefore sold to mobile networks focused on developing markets, a sales opportunity that represents over two-thirds of global mobile subscriptions. The Tunbridge Wells-based company has sold into Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia and South America, accumulating numerous pilot scheme licences that are expected to roll out into full contracts.

Synchronica's recent trading update confirmed that 13 mobile operators had signed up to Mobile Gateway last year, after eight new contracts were added in the second half. However, ‘final documentation’ for a significant order is still needed before the company can reach the market's £4.5m sales forecasts, with losses slashed by more than half to just over £1m.

Shares in Synchronica, floated at 130p in 2004, have fluctuated between 2.6p and 4.6p in 2009 and should move higher once break-even is achieved this year.