Bloomberg/Reuters Rival Preparing U.S. Launch of Mobile Apps

On September 1, London-based Blue Systems will stage a U.S. launch of two new low-cost ($10 and $20 per month) global news applications for professional traders to use on their mobile devices. The blue mobile applications are designed to deliver worldwide news to the traders ahead of traditional internet and TV new vehicles such as cnbc and more cheaply than Bloomberg or Reuters desktop applications, over Blackberry, Windows Mobile and Symbian devices. The products will target traders who need to know what's happening in the markets when they're away from their offices, after markets have shut down in the evening or in the morning before they open."The markets are more global than they've ever been; Chinese markets are affected by what's happening in New York and London, New York has always affected London and the rest of world," notes Sulim Malook, CEO, president and co-founder of Blue Systems. "You're seeing problems or issues in different parts of the world affecting global markets, so they're more correlated than they've ever been," he says.

The international news in Blue Systems' forthcoming blue mobile applications will come from Dow Jones NewsWires and China-based Xinhua News Agency. The company will ship mobile devices with Dow Jones news feeds embedded. Xinhua was selected on the basis that "the Chinese markets are more influential on worldwide markets than they've ever been and that trend looks to continue," he says. The Asia news will be provided in English and in Chinese.

Blue Systems has also cut a deal with New York City interdealer broker ICAP, through which blue mobile applications will deliver ICAP's over-the-counter data feed, including coverage of real-time money market, interest rate, foreign exchange and energy products.

The new mobile applications will differ in price and timeliness -- the $20-a-month version will deliver real-time, worldwide content and the $10-per-month service will be delayed and localized. The higher-priced version, for example, will deliver news much faster than the free Bloomberg news available to iPhone users, Malook says. "If Bloomberg's premium, real-time news service were on the iPhone, they wouldn't need to sell terminals," he points out. Blue Systems might eventually support the iPhone, Malook says, but for now it's a strong RIM partner. "We favor Blackberry simply because of the people we target this application at" who tend to be Blackberry users, he says.

Blue Systems anticipates a lot of demand for its mobile international news service from Asian consumers. "Our research showed that many Asians are interested in trading in the markets and in receiving real-time information, but don't necessarily have a home or office broadband connection," Malook says. Often Asian investors want to check stock prices before or after work, when their method of web browsing tends to be a smart phone. There's huge growth in Asia markets, Malook says -- more shares are traded every day and the valuations of those shares continue to increase. Research also showed that these Asian potential customers wouldn't tolerate the kinds of prices Reuters and Bloomberg charge for their desktop applications.