In our continuing efforts to bring joy into your lives, today we are happy to announce the release of some key improvements to our service.

Here is a summary of what we’ve rolled out:

• Country-specific search results – we have improved our international search coverage, so users in different countries will see significantly more targeted results.
• Inline commenting for Facebook and Twitter – you can now directly comment on and see nested comment threads from Facebook, and can @reply and RT on Twitter (in same UI), directly from the start page.
• Internal messaging – Skyfire will start posting occasional updates about its product and service directly to users on the start page. The first message informs users of the improvements in search.
• Facebook feed fix – users who were before not getting full news feed updates should now see all their posts again

We hope you like these improvements and look forward to hearing your feedback.  Happy browsing!

Jeff come from Travelocity where as CMO he helped the company grow from $3.5 billion in sales to $10.6 billion globally. He led branding, customer experience, business development and the advertising model business. (He’s the guy behind the Roaming Gnome.) Jeff created the advertising business at Travelocity and grew ad sales by nearly 40% in 2008. He also earned his stripes on the start-up side too. Prior to Travelocity, he was co-founder of the internet start-up Site59.com in 1999, which pioneered last minute packaging technology. Site59 became the US leader in the “last minute deals” space and was sold to Travelocity in 2002.

I am taking on the role of Chief Product Officer working with the extremely talented team here to continue building great products. It was always my intent to build the solid foundation and then find a seasoned executive that shared my vision and passion to accelerate our growth. Now with Jeff on board, I get to focus on creating the next generation user experience.

At Skyfire, we’re going to continue to do what we do best – bring the full-featured web to consumers and continually excel at both user experience and speed. I welcome Jeff aboard.

If you have a Symbian phone with Skyfire 0.8.5 is already installed, the upgrade may give a error message of “unable to install”. In this case please uninstall Skyfire and then start fresh by fetching Skyfire from http://get.skyfire.com . If you registered you will not lose your bookmarks, history or cookies as you can log back in to your account.

Enjoy the newest version.

The release versions are:

1.0.0.12114 for Symbian
1.0.0.12113 for Windows Mobile touch and non-touch

What’s new in this 1.0 update?

• Reduced Memory footprint. We reduced the memory footprint of Skyfire for both Symbian and Windows Mobile devices. This should help folks reporting issues on memory constrained devices.

Fixes in this release

• History is presented in the proper order.
• Cookies in the UK data center are handled more reliably.
• Sharing links via SMS are handled more reliably.
• Reconnect correctly loads the last page in history plus we’ve improved reliability.
• Site specific issues have been resolved for Rooftopcommedy.com and thefind.com.
• Zoom buttons behave properly and disappear after a couple of seconds.
• Default browser setting works more consistently.
• Text entry on Symbian has been improved with one caveat below.

Known issues in this release

• Multi-line text entry on Symbian: Skyfire might exit the text entry mode when the user is choosing a word from the predictive text list. Plus, using the down key might NOT get you out of text entry mode. If this happens, use enter or center OK. Issues 7149 & 7112
• Superbar state on Symbian: Under some circumstances, exiting the Superbar via the ‘cancel’ option will navigate to the previous page. Issue 7158
• Change connection on Symbian: Choosing the search WLAN option might not change the WLAN connection. Issue 6633.
• Samsung Jack (AT&T): Because of a security policy on this device, it will not allow uninstall of Skyfire if there is not SIM card in the phone. Simply insert a SIM card.

Enjoy!

• Thumbnail interaction. Now you can click on links immediately after the page loads without having to zoom in. This enhancement is especially helpful for high resolution phones, and for familiar sites where you know right away where you want to click. It makes getting to the content you want on the page simpler, quicker and more efficient.
• Improved zoom. Double-tap or double-click to zoom over any element, including links, images or videos. The zoom interaction is smoother and more responsive as well. Best of all: when you zoom in you will get readable text instantly.
• Enhanced navigation. When you navigate back or forward, you return to the last viewport (e.g. zoom level and portion of the page). This eliminates the need to pan and zoom into the section you were viewing on the previous page. Skyfire remembers the viewport even when you select a page from your history. We have also added shortcut keys, (9) for forward and (7) for backward navigation.
• Improved page handling. Enhancements have been made especially for AJAX-intensive sites such as Facebook and Gmail. When larger parts of the page get updated, the client will more quickly and accurately reflect this. In addition, now, we support full-width iFrames in Skyfire.
• Fast start. We changed both the sequence and behavior of the Skyfire launch so you get started as quickly as possible. You can type a search or URL in the Superbar while Skyfire is connecting in the background. You can put Skyfire to work before the start page is even loaded. Plus, we’ve improved connection performance.
• Reconnect to last state. When you leave Skyfire in the background Skyfire disconnects to preserve battery life. When you come back to Skyfire (after minutes, hours, days), it will reload the same page to the same zoom level and focus. You can continue right where you left off. When you exit and start again, Skyfire you will always land on the start page.
• Connection helper. There is a new mechanism to detect when connections cannot be established to Skyfire servers. If this is due to a network configuration (common in GSM land), then we provide suggestions to help out. This is especially useful if you are with a carrier/data plan that places restrictions on certain APN configurations, which interferes with Skyfire.
• Enhanced search results. Google results now include video, news articles, local results all blended on a single results page and ordered by relevance. Vertical search categories are still available.
• Improved RSS feed search. Find your favorite custom RSS feeds through the improved Add-Feed feature, found under the Customize menu on the start page. Search by site domain, feed URL, or even topical keywords.
• Easier sharing of RSS items from start page. We’ve exposed a simple “Share this article” link below each RSS story displayed on your start page to make it easier to share interesting items to your Twitter and Facebook.
• Remember last connection (Symbian only). Skyfire can now remember the last connection for you, so you will not have to choose a connection every single time. In addition, if you want to change the connection type while you are in Skyfire you can do so.

Have fun,

Robert

When we first launched Skyfire Beta 0.5, we were absolutely floored by the initial response.  Today, the demand for Skyfire continues to explode.  In just the past five months, over one million people have installed and used the Skyfire. What really makes us happy is that people are using Skyfire more often and more people are making Skyfire their default browser - for all of their mobile browsing, not just their video consumption.

In fact, Skyfire users are doing things on their phone they couldn’t before.   We love to read the thread in our User Forum, “What did Skyfire do for you today?” Every day, when you use websites and watch videos that don’t work on any other mobile browser, you bring our mission to life. Consistently, the top websites used on Skyfire are the top websites used on PCs - such as the full-featured Hulu, YouTube, Facebook, Myspace, Google Docs, full-featured Gmail, and professional sport leagues’ full websites.

As I reflect back on our journey to 1.0, we’ve come a long way, but as I look forward this is just the beginning. With 1.0, we focused on enhancing user interactions, stability and scalability to create a solid foundation on which to build the future of our service. Specific improvements in this release include enhanced navigation, zooming and interaction as well as faster launch, power optimization, and new search functionality.  Please see the Release Notes to read more about Skyfire 1.0.

Also, want to share some of the media’s response to Skyfire 1.0:

• New York Times: App of the Week:  Skyfire Loads Flash in a Flash
• San Francisco Chronicle: Skyfire 1.0 Mobile Browser Now Available
• All About Symbian: Skyfire 1.0 Web Browser Now Available
• Cnet: Skyfire Mobile Browser Reaches 1.0
• Engadget Mobile: Skyfire Browser Hits Version 1.0
• Financial Times: Skyfire Aims High in Battle of Mobile Browsers
• Gizmodo: Skyfire Leaves Beta, Steals Windows Mobile Browsing Crown
• GigaOm/jkOnTheRun: Skyfire Mobile Browser Hits the Big 1.0
• InformationWeek: Skyfire Mobile Browser Officially Kicks Other Browsers’ Tails
• Mashable: Skyfire Mobile Browser Reaches Version 1.0
• MobileCrunch: Skyfire Burns Through the Beta Tag
• VentureBeat: Rich Mobile Browser Skyfire Launches Faster Version 1.0

From all of us at Skyfire, we want to thank the over one million Skyfire users that helped us through our beta period.  Without your feedback, encouragement and support, this day would not be the same.

Thanks Skyfire fans! Skyfire Awarded Webby for Best Mobile Application!

Winning a Webby award is great. To win the People’s Voice award in particular, is really thanks to the enthusiasm of Skyfire users around the world. We appreciate the acknowledgement and support from our rapidly growing and engaged Skyfire community.  To win this prestigious award validates that Skyfire truly is a game-changing mobile browser.

Those of you who follow us on Twitter already know - www.twitter.com/skyfire/statuses/1708479303

Others can stay updated on our progress by following us on Twitter - http://twitter.com/skyfire/

So, from the bottom of our hearts, thanks to everyone out there who voted for Skyfire! We continue to work hard to make Skyfire better all the time for our users.

Sincerely,
Nitin Bhandari

CEO and Co-founder

While the Academy selects The Webby Award winners, we need your help to grab the People’s Voice Award.  Can we count on you to take a minute to cast your vote?  Here is how:

1)      Go to the People’s Voice site and register.  It is a step you need to complete before you can vote, but it is real quick to enter a user name, email and password.

2)      Look for your email confirmation from The Webbys. (If you do not see it in a few minutes, check your spam folder.)  After you click the confirmation link, you are ready to vote.

3)      Click the Mobile icon and scroll through the categories to Mobile Applications.

To top it off and while you are in the voting mood, we are also a finalist in the Browsing category for the CNET 2009 Webware 100 award. This is the annual CNET contest where they ask their readers to select the top Web 2.0 apps and services from their hand-picked list.

Please take a minute to give us some love at CNET too - click here to vote.

Skyfire 0.9 and 0.8.5 users will notice that we changed the bookmark categories to video, social, news, local, sports, mobile and unsorted. Your existing bookmarks, whether you added it to a category or unsorted, will be migrated and available in this new structure. Just as before, you can easily add your own bookmarks and use the editing function to change bookmarks.

If you haven’t already, download Skyfire 0.9 at get.skyfire.com.

Here’s our roster of partners:

Accuweather: Enter your zip code once and your local weather forecast is a handy link away. With Skyfire, you can actually watch the videos about breaking weather news and warnings.

Bebo (UK): Stay in touch with friends, discover new interests or just hang out. Get on the UK’s largest social network and use all its features exactly like you do on your PC.

Bleacher Report (US & EU): Come hang out – it’s like your favorite sports bar meets the press box. Get high-quality sports analysis from fan-journalists.

Buzzd: Check out what’s going on around you. This location-based city guide and social network gives you the coolest events, bars, and restaurants whether you’re in your hometown or out of town.

Cellufun: Kill a little time with all-time classic games like chess and backgammon. Set your difficulty to passive or aggressive – either way play to win.

Digital Trends: Get the latest consumer electronics reviews, first-looks, articles and discussion forums. In the store, watch a video review of that flat-panel, plasma TV you’re contemplating purchasing.

eBaum’s World: Boring day at the office? eBaum’s World has plenty to keep you entertained – watch hilarious videos, play flash games, and listen to funny prank phone calls.

Eventful: See what’s happening near you and find popular concerts, festivals, kids’ events and sports events. You can also promote events, track your favorite artists, and see which events your friends are attending.

Flixster: All about movies — check out the trailers, rate your favorites, read the reviews, and see what’s new in the theatres. With Skyfire, you can even send your friends your favorite trailer via SMS or into your Facebook or Twitter networks.

Howcast: Whether it’s cooking, emergencies, handyman chores, or cars – get a quick how-to video. Watch these step-by-step video instructions while you tackle your next project no matter where you are.

Lumosity: Sharpen your memory with scientific brain games. These flash games will keep your neurons nimble. It’s a brain training program from real neuroscientists.

MiiTV: Ready for lots of live TV? Watch your favorite news show live anytime. Catch CNN, CSPAN, Bloomberg, SkyNews, Home Shopping Network, and MLB. Non-stop TV shows, radio shows, and movies on your phone.

Mocospace: Join this hip and happening mobile community where you can meet people, chat, share pics and videos and play games. This social network is designed for us mobile types on the go.

Peperonity (UK): Expressly for mobile social networking fanatics, now you can join active chat rooms, browse and share cool pics, check out videos, and discover the community’s top sites.

Photobucket: Browse and share all your pictures and videos with your family and friends instantly – the latest party, family vacation or silly candids all on your phone.

Rooftop Comedy: Need a quick joke to fill that awkward silence at a party? Chose from hundreds of stand-up comedy clips from top comedians and comedy clubs from around world.

Sporting News: Get out of the stands and behind the scenes where the real action is. Dedicated to die-hard fans, you’ll find sports news, scores, fantasy teams and major leagues. Listen to Sporting News radio from your phone.

Ustream.tv: Everyone from sports fans and guitar heroes to Presidential candidates and rock stars are broadcasting on Ustream.tv. Check out the shows and videos. You can even watch live broadcasts from the likes of Fox, CNET and Air America.