Vindigo Launches London Personal Navigator Service for Palm Powered Handhelds

October 25, 2000 - Vindigo yesterday announced the extension of its free mobile service to London. Developed in partnership with This Is London (www.thisislondon.co.uk), the Londoner's website, Vindigo brings London residents and visitors timely, local content needed to make fast, informed decisions about where to eat, shop and play. Available for Palm powered handhelds, Vindigo London includes listings for more than 1500 restaurants, 2000 bars and pubs, 1300 shops plus listings and reviews for local cinemas.
Already available in 11 major US cities, users can download the free application from the Vindigo website at www.vindigo.com and www.thisislondon.co.uk. Additional European editions will be launched in the coming months.

"We have always focused on developing technology to help high-quality content providers deliver location-specific content to mobile device users," said Jason Devitt, co-founder and CEO of Vindigo. "Our partnership with This Is London is further evidence of this powerful combination."

Guy Saunders, Head of Business Development, This Is London, comments, "Part of our vision at This Is London is to anticipate our customers needs by leveraging the best and most advanced technologies available and provide ease of access to all of our content across a variety of platforms. We live in a mobile age. The Vindigo deal with This Is London enables our customers to access our comprehensive, high-quality content day or night from wherever they happen to be."

Mobile First / Wireless Later
The combination of larger screens and data stored on Palm powered handhelds delivers a superior user experience compared to the current generation of wireless devices. Vindigo will offer a service for Internet-ready mobile phones later this year.

Location-Based Content Key to Achieving Success
Experts agree that location-based services will be the most important category of applications on mobile devices. Vindigo's partnerships with leading content providers and delivery of this type of information, combined with its ease of use, have caught on quickly with consumers in the United States. Its user base has grown to almost 200,000 registered users in only six months. As a testament to its popularity, Vindigo was named the "the Best Wireless Handheld Service" in The Kelsey Group's 2000 Local Internet Service Awards.

Point of Interest Advertising
Vindigo has also moved to the forefront of mobile advertising. Advertisements in Vindigo can be delivered to users based on who they are, where they are, and what they are doing. As a result of their relevance to users, these small 3-line text ads have received response rates in excess of 7%, compared to 0.5% for traditional web advertising.

Eat, Shop and Play - all at your fingertips
In London, users can access content from thisislondon.co.uk or zagat.com for restaurant and nightlife information, InShop.co.uk for shopping information and clubplanet.com for details about city nightlife. Vindigo also provides detailed directions to the nearest places to eat, shop or play. The user tells Vindigo where they are (by intersection or area) and what they want to do. Vindigo provides walking directions to the chosen location.

• Eat Provides listings and reviews for thousands of restaurants, café's and coffee shops
• Shop Finds the nearest places to buy books, music, flowers and more
• Play Delivers entertainment ideas with listings of bars and clubs with a brief description of each venue. The Play section also includes complete local listings for every film playing, with showing times for the nearest cinema

Within each section, Vindigo also enables users to record their own ratings, opinions, and thoughts about any restaurant, bar, or shop for later reference.

How it Works: Download and Go…Everywhere
Vindigo's London edition is available today for users of Palm and Palm-compatible handheld devices, free from the Vindigo web site (www.vindigo.com), www.thisislondon.co.uk, or by having it beamed from a friend. Vindigo is automatically updated each time a user syncs their handheld with their computer.

Source: Vindigo