Soft Android

PITTSBURGH, Dec 07, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) –
Wizzard Media


/quotes/zigman/1477606/quotes/nls/wze WZE
+3.33%



, the world’s leading podcasting network,
today announced support for Verizon Wireless App Store (V CAST) and the
popular Amazon Kindle Fire based on growing Android popularity and in
preparation for the upcoming holiday season.

The V CAST App store is Verizon’s own app storefront on handsets. In
addition to ensuring that the apps work well on Verizon’s network and
the devices the carrier sells, apps are paid for on a Verizon phone
bill. Working with Verizon, Wizzard successfully submitted its top 100
Podcast Apps utilizing the new VDC portal and improvements to the
go-to-market process of submitting to V CAST Apps. The V CAST Apps
Machine expands the potential reach to over 90M+ new customers across
multiple platforms.

Speaking at the Verizon Developers Conference in Las Vegas in September,
Scott Ellison, vice president of mobile and connected platforms at IDC,
said there were more App downloads for Android than for any other mobile
OS. In the second quarter, Android users downloaded 1.3 billion apps a
month, Ellison said. Also, fueling future growth in the Android space is
the attractively priced Amazon Kindle Fire.

According to PCWeek, the number one selling product at Amazon, the
world’s largest retailer has been the Kindle Fire. Dave Limp, Amazon
Kindle Vice President expects the trend to continue through the holiday
shopping season. Although only a few weeks old, there are indications
that Kindle Fire is growing in popularity and creating competitive
pressure on the leader in the tablet market. In the results of a survey
released last week by Park Associates, of households with broadband
access and plans to purchase a consumer electronics device this holiday
season, 51% intend to buy a Kindle Fire.

Wizzard’s podcast apps for sale in the Amazon AppStore are supported on
the Kindle Fire and the company is currently focused on submitting more
apps for the holiday season. Wizzard Management believes the growth and
popularity of devices like the Kindle Fire and expansion to the Verizon
app store for the Android platform will increase network downloads and
unique audience counts while driving new customers to Wizzard’s
podcasting services. Android‘s
share of the worldwide smartphone market was 52.3% for Q3, double what
it was a year ago, according
to data released in November from Gartner. Both iOS and Android
devices are likely favorites on holiday shopping lists this season and
will drive increased consumption as new users explore the industry’s
leading app stores.

“We are excited to be able to continue to extend our mobile media
monetization efforts for our podcast publishers with the addition of the
V CAST and support for the Amazon Kindle Fire for Android Apps. Both the
Amazon AppStore and V CAST offer an easy and secure way for consumers to
purchase Apps. The expansions for the Android platform have been
well-received by our network and we believe it will continue to attract
new customers to our service,” says Chris Spencer, Wizzard Media CEO.
“Once again, this demonstrates our ability to support new and growing
platforms. This is a natural progression in Wizzard’s strategy to become
the leading mobile content distribution and monetization service. Our
service provides serious mobile content publishers with state-of-the-art
distribution services, unique monetization solutions and compelling
audience engagement experiences that are extendible to future platforms.”

About Wizzard Media:

Wizzard Media provides podcast publishers with distribution and
monetization services. Our clients include Microsoft, National
Geographic, Harvard Business Review, NPR and more than 10,000 others who
use Wizzard Media products to measure their podcast audience, deliver
popular audio and video entertainment and monetize their content through
advertising and App sales and subscriptions. In 2010, the Wizzard Media
Network received over 1.64 billion podcast requests from approximately
50 million people worldwide through iPods, iPhones, iPads, iTunes,
Blackberrys, Windows Phones, Zunes, Windows Media Center, Androids and
many other devices and destinations. We are part of a publicly held,
Pittsburgh based company with thousands of shareholders and a
world-class team. Visit us on the web at
www.wizzardsoftware.com/media ,
email us at contact@wizzard.tv.

Legal Notice

Legal Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: “Forward-looking
Statements” as defined in the Private Securities litigation Reform Act
of 1995 may be included in this news release. These statements relate to
future events or our future financial performance. These statements are
only predictions and may differ materially from actual future results or
events. We disclaim any intention or obligation to revise any
forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information,
future developments or otherwise. There are important risk factors that
could cause actual results to differ from those contained in
forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to risks
associated with changes in general economic and business conditions,
actions of our competitors, the extent to which we are able to develop
new services and markets for our services, the time and expense involved
in such development activities, the level of demand and market
acceptance of our services, changes in our business strategies and acts
of terror against the United States.

iPod, iPad, iPod Touch, iPhone and iTunes are all registered marks or
trade names of Apple, Inc. Zune is a registered mark of Microsoft.
Blackberry is a registered mark of Research in Motion. Android, Android
Market, AdMob are trademarks of Google. Facebook is a registered mark of
Facebook, Inc.

SOURCE: Wizzard Media

        Arthur Douglas and Associates
        Art Batson, 407-478-1120

Copyright Business Wire 2011

/quotes/zigman/1477606/quotes/nls/wze

Add WZE to portfolio

WZE