MBlox

Mblox Inc. was a global company that provided Saas-based mobile messaging solutions to enterprises, including global one-way and two-way SMS, MMS, push notifications, short codes and virtual mobile numbers. Mblox Ltd. was founded in 1999, in London, United Kingdom but later Mblox inc. became the US based parent company after the successful merger with Mobilesys.[4] The company was headquartered in Campbell, California, USA, with additional offices in over 30 countries, including London, Stockholm, Paris, Madrid, Singapore and Sydney.

Mblox, Inc.
Privately held company
IndustryWireless technology
Founded1999 (1999) in London, United Kingdom[1]
FoundersAndrew Bud, Paul McGuire
Defunct2017
Headquarters
Campbell, California
,
United States
Number of locations
10 [2]
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Tom Cotney (CEO)[3]
ServicesEnterprise mobile engagement
Mobile messaging
One-way and two-way global SMS
MMS
Push notifications
HLR / Number Lookup
Number of employees
200
Websitewww.mblox.com

History

Mblox was founded in London, England in 1999[5][6] by Andrew Bud. Between 2001 and 2003, MBlox opened offices in France, Spain, Germany, and Sweden.

In 2003, the company acquired carrier-grade message delivery capabilities through the purchase of a SMSC from Comverse.[7] Also in 2003, Mblox merged with MobileSys, the leading US provider of enterprise SMS services, to form Mblox, Inc.[5]

From 2005 to 2006, the company opened offices in Singapore and Australia.[8] The year 2009 was marked by the opening of the Milan office, Italy.[9]

  • 2010: Acquired Mashmobile (Sweden)
  • 2011: Added direct Latin America two-way messaging services
  • 2012: Added push and rich-push messaging capability
  • 2013: Opened offices in Brazil and South Africa
  • 2014: Acquired Zoove and CardBoardFish; increasing reach and product offerings [10]
  • 2015: Mblox acquired 4INFO SMS Services[11]
  • 2016: Sold Zoove[12]
  • 2016: Mblox was acquired by CLX Communications AB (Publ)[13][14]

In December 2017, parent company CLX Communications retired the Mblox and CardBoardFish brands.[15]

Products

Mblox product lines were all Enterprise to Consumer communications related:

  • Mobile Messaging (SMS)
  • Multimedia Messaging (MMS)
  • HLR / Number Verification services
  • Short Codes, Toll Free Numbers, Virtual Long Numbers
  • Mobile Engagement (Web Tools for Management)

Public criticism and fines

Since phone bills from some carriers attribute charges to the company doing the billing, rather than to the business that actually sold and provided the service, Mblox had been accused in Internet forums of enabling a process called cramming,[16][17] or automatically signing mobile customers up for unsolicited services and billing them accordingly.[18] As of 2008, the company had been fined 22 times for cramming-related offences, totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars.[19] Since Mblox had never had any involvement, direct or indirect, in creating or promoting such services, its responsibility was to try to prevent its customers abusing the SMS-based billing services it provided them. Following the sudden spate of problems in 2008/9, in 2010 the UK regulator Phonepay Plus commended Mblox for "a significant investment in new technology, personnel and resources to aid compliance and prevent further harm occurring to consumers from services operating over its platform."[20] In the UK, Mblox had not been cited in any case since December 2011, at which time the regulator described its actions as "exemplary".[21] On March 19, 2013, Mblox sold its PSMS business to OpenMarket as it chose to focus exclusively on Enterprise to Consumer mobile messaging. This brought an end to its involvement in mobile payments[22]

References
  1. "Mblox Ltd Company Record". Companies House.
  2. "Mblox locations". Mblox.com.
  3. Collier, Christophe. "mBlox Announces Tom Cotney As New Chief Executive Officer". Business Wire.
  4. Cullen, Drew. "Mblox merges with Mobilesys: Two headed SMS monster". The Register.
  5. "The emergence of the mobile Internet in Japan and the UK: Platforms, exchange models, and innovation 1999‐2011" (PDF). 2011.
  6. "mBlox, Inc.: Private Company Information - Bloomberg". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2017-12-05.
  7. "Comverse Powering UK SMS Marketing Provider". Cellular News.
  8. Murphy, David. "mBlox Opens Singapore Office". Mobile Marketing Magazine.
  9. "mBlox Opens New Office in Italy in Response to Market Potential". WirelessDevNet.com.
  10. "Mblox Acquires CardBoardFish and Zoove". Reuters.
  11. "Mblox Acquires 4INFO's SMS Services". BusinessWire.
  12. "Virtual Hold Technology Acquires Zoove to Revolutionize How Customers Connect With Brands". Yahoo Finance. Retrieved 2016-03-31.
  13. "CLX acquires Mblox, strengthening its position as one of the global leaders in enterprise cloud communications - CLX Communications AB (publ)". cws.huginonline.com. Retrieved 2017-03-10.
  14. "It's Official! CLX Completes Acquisition of Mblox - CLX". CLX. 2016-07-12. Retrieved 2017-03-10.
  15. "CLX Retiring MBlox Brand, Looks to Drive Enterprise Messaging with CPaaS Offer". www.virtualofficeresource.com. Retrieved 2017-12-20.
  16. The Alphaville Herald: The Great SMS Cramming Game
  17. Gordon's Notes: Crammed: Mblox $9.99 a month
  18. New York Times: To Stop Cellphone Cramming, Don't Let It Start
  19. Mirror: Mblox fined again over premium rate phonelines
  20. PhonepayPlus Consent Orders 13 May 2010
  21. PhonepayPlus Adjudication against Wild ACE Marketing Limited 8 December 2011 Archived 21 December 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  22. http://mobilemarketingmagazine.com/mblox-sells-psms-business-openmarket/
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