Mar 02, 2009 12:03 ET

BOLT Mobile Browser Surges Past 150,000 Users in First Week of Public Beta

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. --(Business Wire)-- Mar 02, 2009 Two weeks after its public debut at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Bitstream Inc. (NASDAQ: BITS) today announced that BOLTTM, the company’s web browser for mobile phones of all types, surpassed 150,000 active users. Early feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with beta users contributing valuable insights which have led to important updates.

The BOLT public beta was announced on Monday, February 16 from the floor of Mobile World Congress. Six days later the mobile browser was being enjoyed by more than 150,000 active users around the world.

Here is what some of the early users are saying about the BOLT beta:

  • “Even in beta the BOLT browser is better than Opera in every way.”
  • “Works phenomenally on my Bold; RIM could learn a thing or two from Bitstream.”
  • “Wow, I own an 8350i, and we cannot watch streaming videos or YouTube. But with the BOLT Browser it downloads it then plays the saved file. WOW! This is a miracle...Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!”
  • “All I can say is DAMN! This thing is fast.”
  • “BOLT makes Opera Mini look like Netscape from 1997 on a dialup connection LOL.”
  • “Wow. I am VERY impressed. Running this on my 8330 on Verizon. It blows away the Blackberry Browser AND Opera mini in terms of rendering time. I cannot believe how much faster it is.”

Here is what some reporters and bloggers are saying about the BOLT beta:

  • “BOLT is a new mobile browser and I started by saying ‘do we need another browser?’ But it was very very fast and very very clean.” – GoMo News
  • “Throughout the many stages of the BOLT BlackBerry Browser private beta, we’ve had a hard time keeping up with the demand for invites to make sure every member of the BlackBerry Nation got a chance to kick the tires, so to speak. Thankfully, Bitstream has answered the call with a public beta of BOLT Browser version .86.” – BlackBerry Cool
  • “Like a desktop browser, it can display standard Web sites, though not Flash content. It can be downloaded to any mobile phone that has Java's Mobile Information Device Profile, a runtime environment for handhelds. That covers a lot of devices, typically phones offered by GSM carriers such as T-Mobile and AT&T in the United States. And they can be very basic, so-called feature phones...” – Network World
  • “Built with the Thunderhawk browsing technology, BOLT is the culmination of over 5 years of work. Joining the ranks of other mobile browsers like IEMobile, Opera Mobile and the built-in browser in Android won’t be an easy task, but considering Bitstream’s long standing history in the industry this may be the browser that wins the mobile wars.” – Content Management Matters (CMS)

Optimized to conserve battery life and data transmissions, BOLT features unrivaled speed – consistently 25 to 50 percent faster than competitors. BOLT offers ultra-fast downloads of streaming and flash video, high standards compliance, rich media and graphics enabling people to view websites just as they do on a PC. BOLT is the only mobile browser that lets people enjoy streaming videos on the average mobile phone from such popular video services as YouTube, vids.myspace.com, video.yahoo.com, blip.tv, dailymotion.com, metacafe.com and more.

Built with proprietary compression, navigation and rendering technologies, BOLT enables users to find and read information quickly and easily. Once users have navigated to the specific section of the large web page they are viewing, they can then zoom in to display clear text and images that look crisp on even small mobile phone screens.

Features of this BOLT public beta release include:

  • Fast, secure, desktop-style web browsing on both high-end and low-end handsets
  • Streaming video capabilities
  • Split screen and full screen modes for easy navigation and viewing
  • Easily add and select favorites and view browsing history
  • Intuitive keystroke shortcuts for easier navigation and content selection
  • Protection against spyware and malicious or faulty add-ons
  • Extends battery life and uses less data than competing browsers

BOLT is now available for free to anyone as part of its public beta test. Visit http://boltbrowser.com.

About BOLT:

The BOLT mobile browser, compatible with the majority of the world’s 4 billion mobile phones, offers unrivaled speed and desktop-style web browsing including the ability to stream video. A patented split-screen viewing and intuitive keystroke shortcuts make navigating web pages simple. Download BOLT for free at http://boltbrowser.com – the mobile Internet has never looked this good on your J2ME phone.

About Bitstream:

Bitstream Inc. (NASDAQ: BITS) is a software development company focused on bringing unique software products to a wide variety of markets. The company’s core software products include award-winning fonts and font rendering software, mobile browsing and variable data publishing and web-to-print software for personalized marketing. For more information about Bitstream please visit www.bitstream.com.

Mobility Public Relations
Holly Woolard, +1 503-343-4144
bitstream@mobilitypr.com


 
 
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