Mobile QA outsourcer Babel has announced the formation of a new certification division to address the needs of US carriers as the volume of games and other mobile content rapidly increases. The new division will have not only a scalable test team but also additional staff to handle SKU ingestion, production of test reports and client communications, as Babel looks to replicate the complete service offering it delivers for its existing certification programs.

Babel, which is listed in the 2007 O2/Real Business – 50 Companies to Watch in Mobile, already has extensive experience in the development and management of certification programs. The company has recently been appointed as the exclusive Nokia SNAP Mobile certification partner, it is established as the leading Java Verified certification test house, and continues to be the exclusive certification partner for Vodafone Global’s embedded content, Babel has also been recently appointed as the exclusive certification partner for a leading mobile content aggregator, to establish a standard for content from their suppliers across a huge library of titles.

“Outsourcing certification is the cost effective way forward for carriers”, said Algy Williams, Babel’s Managing Director, “they benefit from a partner who maintains all the handsets, can scale to meet seasonal demands, and in Babel’s case can bring cross-over and expertise from other programs.”

Babel is already in discussions with several US carriers as they set-up their certification programs and plan how to handle increased volumes of games and other mobile content.

“The problem with many programs is they are run by a few, over-stretched internal staff or they are handled by a partner whose core business is not certification” adds Williams, “Our track record with Vodafone and Java Verified shows we can bring cost effective added value and scale to the carriers. And as we already run several certification programs on both sides of the Atlantic we can also bring exceptional value for our many mobile QA clients, as they look to roll out content across the US and Europe.”

Babel’s international presence and its ability to work across J2ME, Brew and Symbian platforms, as well as in multiple languages, has been a major factor in its continuing growth in the mobile market. The company now maintains one of the largest US and European handset inventories in the industry. Babel works with over 40 of the world’s leading content providers such as Disney, Digital Chocolate, EA Mobile, Eidos, Glu, Gameloft, Hands On, Iplay, Namco Bandai, MySpace, Sony Pictures, THQ Wireless, Player X, Vivendi and Warner Brothers.

Source: Babel Media