Sharpcast, an innovator in digital media and information management, today introduced the first in a suite of services that will dramatically simplify the way individuals manage digital media and information across their desktop computers, mobile devices and the web. This spring, Sharpcast will introduce Sharpcast Photos, a digital photo organization and access service that will give consumers an ultimately simple and powerful user experience. The company demonstrated Sharpcast Photos for the first time today at DEMO, the industry's premier event for launching innovative products and companies.

"The sheer volume of digital media the average consumer uses today represents a huge opportunity for a company whose solution makes it effortless to manage content anywhere at any time," said Chris Shipley, executive producer of DEMO. "The breakthrough user experience created by Sharpcast delivers on the promise of ubiquitous access to media in a way that no other solution approaches today."

Sharpcast Photos seamlessly connects your entire photo collection from your desktop to your mobile phone and the web, so you can view and manage your entire current collection from anywhere at any time without having to rely solely on a web browser. Your desktop, mobile phone and web stay constantly synchronized, so your collection is always up to date. Pictures taken on your camera phone are instantaneously available on your PC and the web, without even pressing a button. Pictures organized on your desktop are instantaneously available on your phone and the web, with a fast, simple and intuitive interface.

Sharpcast Photos was built from the ground up to help people face the challenges of managing the increasing number of digital photos they take. Over half the mobile phones sold today include a built-in camera. According to research firm IDC, over 485 million camera phones will ship worldwide in 2006, and Lyra Research predicts digital camera shipments to exceed 100 million units worldwide in 2008.

"Our mission is to make life simpler. Consumers are inundated with digital media solutions that are hard to use and deliver only part of the value they want," said Gibu Thomas, chief executive officer of Sharpcast. "People deserve better access to their media and information than they have today. We are intensely focused on delivering a solution that removes the complexities of digital media management once and for all."

"Sharpcast's technology represents the type of service consumers need to keep their personal content always up-to-date no matter what devices they use in their personal digital ecosystem," said Tim Bajarin, Principal Analyst at Creative Strategies, Inc. "Sharpcast appears to have the team and technology in place to take advantage of this market opportunity."

Sharpcast Photos Beta

Sharpcast Photos Beta will be the first service available from Sharpcast. It's an ultra-simple, ultra-powerful photo organization and access service consisting of three components that work seamlessly with each other to provide a one-of-a-kind digital photo experience: desktop application software for organizing and backing up photos, a mobile phone client application, and a web account for accessing your entire photo workspace from any browser. Its powerful feature set includes:

* Organize once, use everywhere -- never think about synchronizing; it's

instantaneous and automatic

* Complete mobile and web integration -- view your whole collection at

any time on your mobile phone or any web browser, with no need to leave

your PC turned on

* Instant online backup -- mobile phone pictures are sent to your PC and

the web automatically, and photos imported on the desktop are

immediately available on the web or mobile phone

* Rich connected applications experience -- a familiar look and feel

wherever you are; far superior to standard mobile phone or web browser

interfaces

* Fast recovery -- recreate your collection just as you left it

Sharpcast Photos Beta will launch initially in the U.S. this spring in an invitation-only beta, with public availability in the U.S. later in the year. Information on how to be invited to Sharpcast Photos Beta is available at http://www.sharpcast.com.

Sharpcast Connected Applications

In addition to Sharpcast Photos, Sharpcast is building a full suite of services for managing all types of media and information. Sharpcast services combine the speed and flexibility of software customized for desktop computers and mobile devices with the numerous benefits of web-based applications. The result is a best-in-class user experience for digital media management that takes full advantage of broadband wired and wireless networks. The company plans to release tools and application programming interfaces to enable integration of popular desktop and mobile applications with the Sharpcast user experience.

About Sharpcast

An innovator in digital media and information management, Sharpcast develops software and services that dramatically simplify the way people organize and access digital content. A team of wireless and mobile industry veterans with a proven track record for building large-scale wireless data systems and successful software businesses founded Sharpcast in 2004 with a mission to make digital life simple. The company is funded by Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Selby Venture Partners and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California.

Sharpcast is a registered trademark of Sharpcast, Inc.

Source: prnewswire