Skyfire Mobile Browser Get’s Social With Version 0.9

With Mozilla’s Fennec getting some press lately as well as Torch Mobile getting high marks on my AT&T Fuze and Tilt, it seems Skyfire has been pretty quiet lately. Until today! Skyfire fires back with a new version update to 0.9 which included a Twitter or Facebook status update that can be viewed directly within the Skyfire client. Some other good news is for you HTC Touch HD owners (DavidK) that will now see Skyfire with WVGA support. 

Skyfire, which already supports Flash 10, Silverlight, Ajax and all Web 2.0 browsers is now the most adept take on Web 2.0 with these new features in the updated 0.9 version:

• New FriendFeed-like starting portal gives users feeds from their favorite RSS sources as well as their feeds from their personal Facebook and Twitter accounts
• You can also update your Twitter or Facebook status directly from the Skyfire client
• Dozens of usability and performance enhancements, including improved text reading and updated page rendering.
• WVGA support is announced with this release
• The ability to download media files

For more information and to download Skyfire Version 0.9, head on over to their website or just  CLICK HERE

You can also read the full run down on Skyfire 0.9 be jumping after the break and reading the whole press release.

Skyfire Mobile Browser Gets Social – Connects Users to Their Social Networks and Customized Content

The only mobile browser to play video integrates Facebook and Twitter for one-click publishing and sharing

(MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA) February 12, 2009 – Today Skyfire, the makers of the same-name PC-like browser for mobile devices, released Skyfire Beta 0.9 to bring people closer to each other and their favorite content. This new version of Skyfire integrates a desktop experience browser with the best of the Social Web. In addition, this release significantly improves the reading experience, making it as enjoyable as Skyfire’s unique ability to play any Web video and render any rich content on your phone.

Social Media Heats Up in Skyfire
The most noticeable change in the new version of Skyfire is a real-time activity wall which aggregates customized feeds from news, media, Facebook and Twitter. Skyfire is preconfigured with feeds from Digg, ESPN, Google News, Hulu, YouTube and Yahoo! News that display real-time updates on the start page. It is easy to customize your experience and add new feeds from your favorite Websites. Skyfire now always keeps you connected with the newest content that is relevant to you.

As part of the 0.9 release, users with Facebook and Twitter accounts can import their news feeds and Twitter streams into Skyfire and easily publish their status to these networks. Users can also share and publish any Web page to their Facebook and Twitter streams by simply going to the share menu in the Skyfire browser. This is an evolution in sharing, "…an industry first in mobile browsing," states Skyfire CEO, Nitin Bandari – now you can share one-to-one via SMS and share one-to-many via your social network.

"Mobile browsing has traditionally been about viewing Web pages. Now, for the first time, Skyfire enables users to stay connected with their friends in real time – both share and receive. We enable interactive social browsing – videos not just plain text – just like you do on your PC."

Text’s Turn to Shine
Skyfire, known for its unique ability to play any video on the Web, has made great leaps in improving the experience of reading large blocks of text without the need to horizontally scroll. This is a major boon for usability and perfect for catching up with the latest text heavy news and blogs. This solution addresses the challenge of rendering Web text designed to be viewed on the PC to be easily read on the phone. The implementation solves the complexity of supporting a multitude of screen resolutions across various phone models.

"We went out the door delivering rich media – whether it was video, images, or audio – Skyfire delivered it to your phone just like your PC browser." said Tracy DeMiroz, Skyfire VP of Marketing. "In this release of Skyfire, we concentrated on improving the experience of reading text in Skyfire. The strides we made now give our users the best of both experiences whether they are watching a show on Hulu or reading an article in the New York Times."

Hot New Windows Mobile Phones
Skyfire 0.9 supports all popular Windows Mobile screen resolutions including WVGA and WQVGA, which means Skyfire runs on new popular Windows Mobile phones such as the Samsung Omnia and Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1.

Sizzling New Symbian Client
In addition, the Skyfire Symbian client for Nokia E and N Series phones has been much improved. Significantly reduced files sizes and improved installation makes for a simplified experience.

For more information about Skyfire Beta 0.9, please see the Release Notes.

About Skyfire
Skyfire is the creator of the Skyfire mobile browser, which delivers the PC Web to mobile phones so users can experience the Web on their phone exactly as they do on their PCs. The company was founded in 2006 by Nitin Bhandari and Erik Swenson, who serve as CEO and CTO, respectively. Skyfire is backed by Lightspeed Venture Partners, Trinity Ventures and Matrix Partners.

For more information, visit www.skyfire.com, or follow Skyfire on Twitter at twitter.com/skyfire.