Patrick,
Mapquest founder Perry Evans has launched a new company, Local Matters
which combines three well-established companies in Internet search and
voice-based directory assistance (DA). The new company which was
formally launched today has 40 customers worldwide so its already a
leading global provider of advanced search and content solutions to
existing media publishers and DA service providers.
Local Matters has the technology and industry relationships to be a
leader in the high-growth markets for Internet local search, enhanced
directory assistance and mobile local search. Today local search
represents about 25% of all online searches and can be expected to
grow significantly. Local Matters will be able to help yellow pages
publishers and DA providers offer content-rich and feature-rich local
search portals and enhanced DA services to leverage this growth.
Perry Evans is available for an interview to provide more information
on the company, where he sees the industry going and how Local Matters
will help both consumers and local businesses realize more benefit
from local search.
If you'd like to talk to Perry or get more information on Local
Matters, please contact Reid Wegley at 303-494-2636,
reid.wegley@104degreeswest.com
A press release on the launch is embedded below and also attached to
this note.
Jim Elder
Phone: 203-431-3573
Fax: 203-894-1241
Cellphone: 203-470-8659
e-mail: jim@eldercommunications.com
News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information, please contact:
Reid Wegley
104 West Partners
Tel: 303-494-2636
reid.wegley@104degreeswest.com
APTAS, ISx AND YP SOLUTIONS MERGE INTO
LOCAL MATTERS TO FOCUS ON LOCAL SEARCH
Combined Company Creates Global Leader in Enabling Companies to
Augment Local Search, Mobile Search and Enhanced Directory Services
DENVER, Colo. May 23, 2005 Aptas, ISx and YP Solutions today announced
that the three companies have merged to become, Local Matters, Inc., a
new company providing telephone directory publishers, mobile and
directory assistance service providers with strategic technology
solutions in Local Search.
With the merger, Local Matters becomes the largest global provider of
advanced search and content solutions to existing media publishers and
directory assistance service providers, serving more than 40 companies
in 18 countries worldwide. The company will leverage established
legacies of technology innovation and content transformation
experience to enable publishers to build more productive relationships
between local advertisers and consumers through new local search
capabilities.
"Local Matters is uniquely positioned to take advantage of the
high-growth markets for Internet local search, enhanced directory
assistance services, and the burgeoning mobile local search
opportunity stemming from the convergence of Internet, voice and
mobile services," said Perry Evans, CEO and founder of Aptas who will
now serve as CEO of Local Matters. "The combined entity offers
significantly greater scale and resources to market and strengthen its
base of industry innovation centered on leveraging traditional
publishing business advantages and developing thriving local
marketplace services."
In addition to Mr. Evans, who previously founded MapQuest and Jabber,
Local Matter s is piloted by a seasoned management team. Don Jones,
president of YP Solutions will serve as president of Local Matters,
and Ed Downs, CEO of ISx will continue to serve as CEO of ISx, which
will operate as a subsidiary of Local Matters. Aptas executives
Jeannette McClennan, chief marketing and products officer, and Susan
Dalton, senior vice president of Engineering and Operations, will
assume similar positions for Local Matters.
In addition to local search platforms, content transformation
services, and enhanced directory assistance, Local Matters is also
embarking on a specialized and highly targeted research program,
called Local Matters Lab.
The Lab will create a research environment to conduct development
projects in conjunction with customers and partners in local search,
directory services, content enhancement and applications for mobile
devices. This research will be led by a cross-disciplinary team who
collaborate with industry experts, business professionals and
customers to discover compelling new solutions that work for both
consumers and advertisers.
About Local Matters:
LMI was recently formed through the combination of three leading
participants in the local search market: Aptas, Inc. ("Aptas"),
Information Services Extended, Inc. ("ISx") and YP Web Partners, LLC
("YP Solutions"). This transaction combined two leading providers of
Internet local search solutions with a leading provider of voice-based
local search solutions.
Local Matters, Inc. (LMI), with more than 40 customers in 18 countries
is the largest global provider of advanced search and content
solutions to incumbent media publishers and directory assistance
service providers. Local Matters is uniquely positioned to take
advantage of the high growth markets for Internet local search and
enhanced directory assistance services and the burgeoning mobile local
search opportunity stemming from the convergence of Internet, voice
and mobile services. Local Matters is committed to enabling its
customers to offer content and feature-rich local search portals and
Enhanced Directory Services that are well differentiated from
traditionalInternet search portals.
Jim Elder (jim@eldercommunications.com)