SUNNYVALE, Calif. & SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 09, 2006 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Palm, Inc. (Nasdaq:PALM) and Yelp, Inc. today announced the release of Yelp Mobile (mobile.yelp.com), which has been optimized for Palm Treo smartphones.

The co-branded mobile website will provide Treo smartphone users with easy access to information that enhances their mobile-computing experience.(1) Mirroring the local search website, Yelp Mobile, which comprises hundreds of thousands of reviews, is presented in a small digestible format that enables users to easily read what the local community is saying about a specific business. The cooperative project represents Yelp’s first dedicated mobile effort and is available on all web-enabled phones.

“Searching for local information is a vital part of the mobile experience. Working with Yelp will provide Treo owners with incredible, localized content for people on the go,” said Page Murray, vice president of marketing, Palm, Inc. “Fast access to Yelp’s trusted and insightful reviews will help accelerate user adoption and engagement with Treo smartphone web-based services.”

“Our reviews have become an extremely powerful tool in determining which local businesses to patronize. We’re very excited to work with Palm on our first mobile effort, especially since Treo smartphones really allow users to experience some of the rich media features of Yelp,” said Jeremy Stoppelman, chief executive officer, Yelp. “The flexibility of the Treo platform made optimizing Yelp Mobile for Treo smartphones a lot easier than we originally anticipated. Web pages load quickly, are easy to navigate and are aesthetically pleasing.”

Yelp Mobile Features

The Yelp Mobile experience allows users to either search or browse for local businesses, and more importantly, taps into the collective “local knowledge” that has been generated by the Yelp community.

Search for a specific business — By inputting a specific business name and city, users will have immediate access to helpful information, such as:

– Standard directory information (address, phone and hours of operation, where available);

– Map of the business location and its surrounding five-block radius;

– Yelp star rating (1-5);

– Unbiased, witty and insightful reviews from real people in the Yelp community; and

– Images of reviewers and businesses photos (available only on Treo smartphones, where available).

Browse for interesting local businesses — Users can input a specific location to view the most popular nearby businesses as determined by the Yelp community.

– Browse businesses by category (restaurants, shopping, bars/nightlife, spas, and so forth);

– Browse by neighborhood (where available); and

– Refine the browse experience by neighborhood and category (where available).

Co-branded Marketing

Palm has partnered with Yelp as the official mobile sponsor for the launch. The co-branded site will increase Palm’s exposure to the highly influential and opinionated Yelp community of reviewers. Palm also will receive sponsorship promotion in the Weekly Yelp, a five-market weekly email newsletter that is distributed to the Yelp community.

About Yelp, Inc.

Yelp is the ultimate city guide that taps into the community’s voice and reveals honest insights on local businesses and services from real people who are “in the know.” Founded in July 2004 by Jeremy Stoppelman (former vice president of engineering at PayPal) and Russel Simmons (former lead architect at PayPal), Yelp uses elements of social Web design to create a fun and easy platform where trendsetters and influencers alike are eager to share their local expertise with an engaged and captive audience.

About Palm, Inc.

Palm, Inc., a leader in mobile computing, strives to put the power of computing in people’s hands so they can access and share their most important information. The company’s products for consumers, mobile professionals and businesses include Palm(R) Treo(TM) smartphones, Palm handheld computers, and Palm LifeDrive(TM) mobile managers, as well as software, services and accessories.

Palm products are sold through select Internet, retail, reseller and wireless operator channels throughout the world, and at Palm Retail Stores and Palm authorized online stores (http://mytreo.net/store).

(1) Within wireless service coverage area only. Availability and coverage depends upon carrier and the geographic scope of international roaming agreements. Email, messaging and web access requires data services from a mobile service provider at an additional cost.

Related Links

Visit the Yelp mobile website.

Visit the Yelp website.

Filed under: Treo and Palm news