Privately-held Oz Communications, a maker of wireless messaging technologies, will announce today a new product allowing people to access social network sites over their mobile phones.
Oz will offer a technology that lets cellphone companies and handset makers load a connection to social networking sites onto phones in a bid to capitalize on the growth of community web sites like MySpace and YouTube.
The company already provides technology that lets people access e-mail and instant messaging services from MSN, AOL and Yahoo over their mobile phones, with such customers as Cingular Wireless, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile USA.
Oz will offer the product in the first half of 2007 and is in talks with leading wireless carriers, phone makers and social networking sites for the service, said chief executive Skuli Mogensen.
The company is based in Montreal and employs about 230 people.