“With Facebook exceeding 800 million users, kids have unprecedented access to a world their parents know little about,” said Tasso Roumeliotis, CEO of Safely and Location Labs. “Monitoring kids’ Facebook activities is an arduous and unfamiliar task for parents. The California State PTA accounts for about 15 percent of all PTA members nationwide, so they are a great first partner to introduce Safely to PTA families. We are thrilled to offer these valuable services for free to California PTA members.”

Collaboration Allows Members Free Access to Safely Social Monitor, Promoting Responsible Digital Parenting

EMERYVILLE, CA and SACRAMENTO, CA, Feb 09, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) — Safely, a division of Location Labs, today announced it will support the California State PTA by offering Safely Social Monitor and free digital parenting content to its members, to help keep California’s families and students safe on Facebook. Safely Social Monitor lets parents easily monitor their kids’ activity on Facebook and will be offered FREE to California State PTA members.

Safely Social Monitor is part of the Safely(R) suite of digital parenting tools that help families protect and keep track of each other online and on-the-go. Safely services are already used by parents to protect millions of kids. Also, Safely recently sponsored “PTA University” for new California State PTA district leaders.

“With Facebook exceeding 800 million users, kids have unprecedented access to a world their parents know little about,” said Tasso Roumeliotis, CEO of Safely and Location Labs. “Monitoring kids’ Facebook activities is an arduous and unfamiliar task for parents. The California State PTA accounts for about 15 percent of all PTA members nationwide, so they are a great first partner to introduce Safely to PTA families. We are thrilled to offer these valuable services for free to California PTA members.”

A Consumer Reports survey conducted in the U.S. in 2011 shows that 1 million children were harassed, threatened, or subjected to other forms of cyberbullying on Facebook in the past year. Another study showed that 72 percent of parents require their children to share Facebook account credentials just so they can monitor their activity. With Facebook usage skyrocketing, parents can hardly keep up.

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This news comes on the heels of Safely’s recently launched Phone Controls service, available on the Sprint Network, which allows parents to lock kids’ phones remotely and see rich graphical representations of how their family calls, texts and uses applications.

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Location Labs is also debuting Family Check-In, the newest offering in the Safely suite of digital parenting tools. While the locate service simply locates a child, the Family Check-In expands lets kids show parents that they arrived at the library or a friend’s house with a location-verified map.

The service is first launching in partnership with T-Mobile, under the name “FamilyWhere Check In” and is available as a free download in the Android Market.

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Today sees Safely unveiling a new initiative for T-Mobile customers called Family Check-In.  And just like it sounds, it helps to keep an eye on where children are and whether they are really at school when they say they are.  It’s as simple as checking in on Facebook , Gowalla, or Foursquare and will be included in T-Mobile’s FamilyWhere service.

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Safely has proven to be a popular people-locator solution, so T-Mobile isn’t partnering with an unproven startup. Coinciding with the T-Mobile news, Location Labs announced its Safely service has now returned one billion premium “locates” on top-tier U.S. carriers. And by premium, it means paying subscribers: T-Mobile customers can use Safely free for 30 days, but after that, it’s $9.99 per month for up to 10 devices on an account.

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Safely ( www.safely.com ), a division of Location Labs ( www.locationlabs.com ), today announced that its premium Safely Family Locator has enabled more than one billion family safety location checks since inception. These “locates” have been initiated by Family Locator subscribers across millions of child phones on three Tier 1 US wireless carriers. Having achieved this milestone, Safely now introduces Family Check-In, the newest offering in its suite of digital parenting tools.

The service is first launching in partnership with T-Mobile USA, Inc. under the name “FamilyWhere Check In” and is available as a free download in the Android Market ( http://bit.ly/TMOFW ), complementing the T-Mobile FamilyWhere service and expanding the Safely Family Locator platform.

“One billion premium locates reinforces family safety and security as the most primal and high value use case for location-based services,” said Tasso Roumeliotis, CEO of Safely and Location Labs. “By adding a free component to the Safely Family Locator platform via Family Check-In, we raise awareness of our locator services and bring immediate value to T-Mobile customers.”

Safely Family Locator is the flagship in Safely’s suite of premium digital parenting services and is distributed in partnership with wireless carriers. Family Check-In expands the functionality of Safely Family Locator with a free mobile app component that lets kids easily show parents that they arrived at the library or a friend’s house with a location-verified map.

With 75% of 12-17 years olds having cell phones, kids are the new mobile power users. Many parents require their kids to check in and parents already proactively locate their kids with great frequency (see infographic). Family Check-In complements existing behavior since kids are already checking in via social apps.

“We are excited to launch the T-Mobile FamilyWhere Check In with Safely,” said Torrie Dorrell, Vice President of Applications, Content and Games, T-Mobile USA. “It is yet another way T-Mobile is enhancing our customers’ lives and addressing their needs with a valuable free service that introduces the benefits of location sharing to families.”

T-Mobile FamilyWhere Check In is available for free in the Android Market as part of the T-Mobile FamilyWhere app.

For more information: http://www.Safely.com and http://www.LocationLabs.com.

Contact Details:

Korina Buhler
korina@atomicpr.com
415-593-2500

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“We are excited to be launching another service with Sprint,” said Tasso Roumeliotis, CEO of Location Labs, creator of Safely. “Sprint Mobile Controls leverages our mobile platform, strengthens our longstanding relationship with Sprint, and gives parents greater confidence about letting their kids engage with mobile phones.”

OVERLAND PARK, Kan., & EMERYVILLE, Calif., Dec 05, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) —
The wireless phone is the number one tool teens use to communicate. More than 75 percent of children ages 12-17 now own a wireless phone.(1) With many schools banning wireless phone use during class time and family dinners being interrupted with texts, parents are looking for solutions to help teens use their phone responsibly.

Sprint announced today new Sprint Mobile Controls powered by Safely, a division of Location Labs, that will allow parents to see rich graphical representations of how their family calls, texts and use applications and to lock phones remotely at specific times.

Sprint Mobile Controls, along with Sprint Family Locator, Sprint Drive First and Safely Social Monitor powered by Safely, are part of a suite of family services offered by Sprint to help parents better stay connected to their children and help protect their physical and virtual safety.

Parents can sign up and learn more about Sprint Mobile Controls by visiting www.sprint.com/mobilecontrols . Key services that are available include:

• Easy-to-read dashboard of phone usage, including voice and text messages broken down by time of day.
• Seeing who your son or daughter has been calling or texting recently — and how often.
• Quickly and easily setting phone use limits by time of day and day of week.
• Establishing an allowed list of phone numbers from which your child can receive a call or text.
• Seeing a list of your child’s contacts with an associated picture ranked by overall texting and calling activity.
• Viewing what apps your child is downloading to their phone.
• Choosing up to three anytime apps that your child can use when their device is locked.
• Ability to set optional alerts.
• Allowing your child to override phone restrictions in case of an emergency.
• Setting alert notifications for new contacts, or School Hours and Late Night time periods.
• Setting Watchlist contacts: Receive alert notifications when your child communicates with a Watchlist contact.

“Sprint is pleased to give parents’ tools and information to help better manage their teen’s and families’ wireless usage,” said Fared Adib, vice president-Product Development, Sprint. “With Sprint Mobile Controls, Sprint Drive First and Sprint Family Locator, Sprint offers parents a comprehensive and innovative suite of applications to ensure their teen is using their wireless phone responsibly.”

Sprint Mobile Controls is available on all Sprint CDMA Android smartphones for $4.99 per month per line and includes a 30-day free trial. At the end of the trial, customers will be charged the $4.99 monthly rate unless they cancel service at www.sprint.com/mobilecontrols . The service will be offered to BlackBerry(R) devices and other operating systems in the coming months.

“We are excited to be launching another service with Sprint,” said Tasso Roumeliotis, CEO of Location Labs, creator of Safely. “Sprint Mobile Controls leverages our mobile platform, strengthens our longstanding relationship with Sprint, and gives parents greater confidence about letting their kids engage with mobile phones.”

Sprint Family Locator

Sprint Family Locator is a location-based service that uses Sprint’s state-of-the-art GPS technology to enable a parent to use a phone or PC to locate a child’s phone on a map. The service also gives the address, surrounding landmarks and accuracy of the phone’s location within a specified radius. Parents can also set up safety checks that alert them if their child is not at a designated location at a specific time. Sprint Family Locator costs $5 per month to locate up to four phones. For more information and to register, visit www.sprint.com/familylocator.

Sprint Drive First

Sprint Drive First is an application that automatically locks a mobile phone when a car is moving more than 10 mph, disabling phone functionality, directing incoming calls to voice mail, and silencing distracting alerts for emails and text messages. Anyone texting the driver will receive an automated message indicating the person they texted is driving. A locked device displays a home screen with exit and emergency 911 buttons to override the app. Sprint Drive First can be overridden if the user is a passenger in a car, on a bus or train, but the parent or account holder can choose to receive notifications when the service is overridden. Sprint Drive First costs $2 per month. For more information and to register, visit www.sprint.com/drivefirst.

Safely Social Monitor

Safely Social Monitor is a free service offered exclusively to Sprint customers. With Safely, parents can monitor their child’s Facebook activities, including viewing their friend list, see who they speak to most frequently and the ages and gender of their friends. They also can view newly posted photos of their child and receive alerts when certain phrases are used or when they are tagged in photos. This will help parents quickly intervene when necessary to keep their child safe. Safely Social Monitor is part of the Safely family of services. For more information and to register, visit www.safely.com.

Supporting Resources:

• Sprint Mobile Controls website:
  www.sprint.com/mobilecontrols
• Sprint Mobile Controls video:
  www.youtu.be/watch?v=JXmCNBV55CI
• Sprint Family Locator website:
  www.sprint.com/familylocator
• Sprint DriveFirst website:
  www.sprint.com/drivefirst
• Safely Social Monitor website:
  www.safely.com
• Sprint 4NetSafety program:
  www.4netsafety.com

About Safely

Established in 2011, Safely is a division of Location Labs and provides services that enhance the personal security of millions of families. Nearly a dozen Tier 1 wireless carrier services are powered by Safely, helping parents to keep tabs on loved ones through mobile alerts and online activity reports.

Safely includes: Safely Locate, a mobile location service available via AT&T FamilyMap, Sprint Family Locator and T-Mobile FamilyWhere; Safely Drive, the only carrier-grade, patent-pending safe-driving service on the market, available via Sprint DriveFirst and T-Mobile DriveSmart Plus; Safely Phone Controls, the most advanced mobile phone remote control and usage analytics service, available via Sprint Mobile Controls; and Safely Social Monitor, an online service that helps parents stay informed about kids’ social network activities.

Location Labs has raised $26 million in venture financing from Draper Fisher Jurvetson, BlueRun Ventures (formerly Nokia Venture Partners), QUALCOMM Ventures, Intel Capital, and Mitsui Ventures and was named to Inc.’s 500/5000 list of America’s Fastest Growing Private Companies in both 2010 and 2011. For more information: www.Safely.com and www.LocationLabs.com.

About Sprint Nextel

Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers, businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel served more than 53 million customers at the end of 3Q 2011 and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including the first wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; offering industry-leading mobile data services, leading prepaid brands including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, and Assurance Wireless; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. The 2011 American Customer Satisfaction Index showed Sprint is the #1 most improved company in customer satisfaction, across all industries, over the last three years. Newsweek ranked Sprint No. 3 in its 2011 Green Rankings, listing it as one of the nation’s greenest companies, the highest of any telecommunications company. You can learn more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com or www.facebook.com/sprint and www.twitter.com/sprint.

(1)According to Pew Internet research study.

SOURCE: Sprint

Contact Details:

Kristin Wallace, 404-649-8222
Kristin.c.wallace@sprint.com
or
AtomicPR for Safely
Korina Buhler, 415-593-1400
korina@atomicpr.com

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© Business Wire 2011

“Symantec protects data on your PC, but your mobile phone is a personal security device,” he explains. The company plans to delve deeper into what a phone can do to help users stay secure, even going so far as to protect you when you have to walk through a darkened parking garage alone.

Location Labs, a location-as-a-service provider and makers of mobile parental control utility Safely, is today announcing the acquisition of two companies in the mobile space, Wirkle and Volly. Wirkle, a mobile product development firm, and group messaging company Volly will bring their product portfolios, IP and team to Location Labs as a part of their respective deals.

Although the terms of the deals were not disclosed, the cumulative value of both companies was in the millions.

Location Labs may not be a household name, but its technology is pre-loaded onto millions of mobile phones in the U.S. The company’s Sparkle mobile platform serves as the basis for Safely, and is shipping pre-installed on all of Sprint’s smartphones. In addition to Sprint, the company also counts among its partners AT&T and T-Mobile, and its solutions power the carrier-branded Family Locator apps as well as Sprint and T-Mobile’s ”no texting while driving” services.

The new acquisitions will help Location Labs further expand into becoming a full-fledged mobile security company, says CEO Tasso Roumeliotis. “Symantec protects data on your PC, but your mobile phone is a personal security device,” he explains. The company plans to delve deeper into what a phone can do to help users stay secure, even going so far as to protect you when you have to walk through a darkened parking garage alone.

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“We’re in very active discussions” with European wireless carriers, he said, noting Location Labs has deals with U.S. carriers including Sprint, AT&T and T-Mobile.

Location tracking company Location Labs, Inc. has acquired two companies–additions intended to help it become the standard personal security layer built into mobile phones worldwide.

Deal terms weren’t disclosed, although founder and Chief Executive Tasso Roumeliotis said the combined dollar value was “in the millions.”

The larger of the two acquisitions is Wirkle Inc. The profitable 30-person company, which has offices in Mountain View, Calif., and in India, has been providing its mobile platform to Location Labs for more than a year. Roumeliotis said the company, which generates several million dollars a year in revenue, has helped his company scale and port its solutions to multiple mobile platforms.

The other acquired company, Los Angeles-based Volly Inc., a group messaging company with fewer than 5 employees, will enable Location Labs to improve its alerts function.

Together, the two deals increase Location Labs’ headcount to more than 150 and set the stage for what Roumeliotis indicated would be a push to expand globally.

“We’re in very active discussions” with European wireless carriers, he said, noting Location Labs has deals with U.S. carriers including Sprint, AT&T and T-Mobile.

Location Labs has a suite of applications built around mobile tracking technology, geared toward greater safety and security. Safely Locate is a mobile location service that allows subscribers to keep tabs on loved ones through alerts and online activity reports via AT&T FamilyMap, Sprint Family Locator and T-Mobile FamilyWhere. Safely Drive is a carrier-grade, safe-driving service available via Sprint DriveFirst and T-Mobile DriveSmart Plus. And Safely Social Monitor is an online service that helps parents stay informed about kids’ social network activities.

Founded in 1999 as WaveMarket Inc., the company changed its name to Location Labs just over a year ago. It has raised $26 million to date from the likes of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, BlueRun Ventures (formerly Nokia Venture Partners), Qualcomm Ventures, Intel Capital and Mitsui Ventures.

The company is making more than $20 million in annual revenue and has been profitable for the past two years.

Roumeliotis said he does not see an immediate need to raise additional venture capital, but may explore that to bankroll future acquisitions.

http://www.wavemarket.com

http://www.locationlabs.com