BOLT Browser to be released as Public Beta Monday!

Bitstream, the company behind the subscription based Thunderhawk web browser (and other things) are planning to be releasing their newest baby to the public as a beta on Monday.  Bolt has been in private beta, but the access codes have been circling throughout the internet like found here.

Cambridge, Mass. and Barcelona, Spain – February 16, 2009 – As the world’s wireless and mobile industries assemble at Mobile World Congress, Bitstream Inc. (NASDAQ: BITS) announced today the  public beta of its acclaimed BOLT(TM) mobile browser.  Previously available by invitation-only, BOLT is a browser built for speed and completely optimized for mobile phones, providing a desktop-like view of Web pages on even the most basic feature phones.  Beginning today, people everywhere can download the public beta version of the BOLT mobile browser for free by visiting: http://boltbrowser.com/.

Be sure to change “Beginning today” to “Beginning tomorrow” :).  I am Hesitantly optimistic about the browser because of what I read about the subscription based Thunderhawk.  But things look good and some of our staff have been trying it and I’m sure we’ll have a full write-up tomorrow when we get to download the public beta.  Oh and something that is not in the full press release, they will be releasing the download Sunday at midnight Pacific, 9am in Barcelona.  So, for people like me that can never figure it out, that means that at 3am EST, 2am CST, 1am MST and then Midnight PST you can download the Beta.

Read on for the FULL press release.

Bitstream Launches Free Public Beta of the BOLT Mobile Browser

BOLT brings unparalleled speed and desktop-style browsing to mobile
phones of all types

Cambridge, Mass. and Barcelona, Spain – February 16, 2009 – As the
world’s wireless and mobile industries assemble at Mobile World
Congress, Bitstream Inc. (NASDAQ: BITS) announced today the  public
beta of its acclaimed BOLTTM mobile browser.  Previously available by
invitation-only, BOLT is a browser built for speed and completely
optimized for mobile phones, providing a desktop-like view of Web
pages on even the most basic feature phones.  Beginning today, people
everywhere can download the public beta version of the BOLT mobile
browser for free by visiting: http://boltbrowser.com/.

One month ago Bitstream began offering BOLT in a private beta that
included more than 30,000 users around the world.  From the data
collected and comments received over the past month Bitstream made
improvements to the user experience and further optimized BOLT by
adding device-specific features and making pages load even faster.
BOLT features unrivaled speed – routinely 25 percent faster, and as
much as 50 percent faster, than the next fastest competitor in speed
tests.  BOLT is also both optimized to conserve battery life, and to
minimize data transmissions allowing people to browse longer without
recharging batteries while consuming less data – all without
sacrificing quality. The BOLT mobile browser lets people view full
websites as they would on a personal computer. It does so using a
patented magnification technology that smoothly scales both text and
images, letting users navigate to specific sections of large web pages
and then zoom in to display clear text and images that look crisp on
even small mobile phone screens.  BOLT supports streaming video from
popular websites such as YouTube, vids.myspace.com, video.yahoo.com,
blip.tv, dailymotion.com, and metacafe.com.

Built with proprietary compression, navigation and rendering
technologies, BOLT enables users to find and read information quickly
and easily.  BOLT enables users to quickly toggle between a full-page
view or a split screen/magnifier zoomed view and offers five different
levels of zoom.

Features of this BOLT public beta release include:
• Fast, secure, desktop-style web browsing on both high-end and
low-end handsets
• Streaming flash video capabilities
• WebKit rendering engine offers high standards compliance
• Support for XML, ATOM and RDF formats of RSS feeds
• Support for JavaScript and AJAX
• Split screen and full screen modes for easy navigation and viewing
• Intuitive keystroke shortcuts for easier navigation and content selection
• 128-bit Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption for secure access to web pages
• Server filtering to protect users from spyware and other malware
• Certificate error notification
• Easily add and select favorites and view browsing history
• Ability to clear history and cookies
BOLT beta is available for virtually any handset with Mobile
Information Device Profile (MIDP) 2.0 support that can run mobile Java
(J2ME) applications, including BlackBerry devices.
The beta release of the BOLT mobile browser is compatible with the
majority of the world’s 4 billion mobile phones. It offers unrivaled
speed and desktop-style web browsing including the ability to stream
video.  A patented split-screen viewing feature and intuitive
keystroke shortcuts make navigating web pages simple.  BOLT is built
using Bitstream’s award winning and patented ThunderHawk mobile
browsing technology.

BOLT is built using the WebKit rendering engine to deliver the same
web page layout as found on desktop browsers and includes high
standards compliance such as AJAX and flash video support.
Bitstream’s client/server technology, mobile fonts and font rendering
technologies speed content delivery enabling mass market deployments,
improved readability and allowing BOLT to fit more information into
smaller screens.  BOLT’s underlying ThunderHawk mobile browsing
technology supports both J2ME platforms, as well as non-J2ME
environments though a C++ SDK.
Attendees of Mobile World Congress can meet with Bitstream executives
at booth 1E31 in Hall 1. Download the public beta of BOLT for free at
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 PC-style web
browsing including the ability to stream video.  A patented
split-screen viewing and intuitive keystroke shortcuts makes
navigating web pages simple.  Download BOLT for free at
http://boltbrowser.com – the mobile Inter
net has never looked this
good on your 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.