Aql signs partnership with Fone Logistics
Mobile messaging provider will work with distributor to expand sales of Nokia Eseries mobile offerings
Mobile messaging provider Aql has signed a partnership with distributor Fone Logistics to tap the firm’s base of 400 UK Nokia resellers.
Aql has a mobile voice over IP (VoIP) service that it has claimed is compatible with Nokia’s Eseries range of mobile phones. The firm has also claimed its VoIP service can prove a good add-on for VARs when supplying the Eseries to end-users.
Earlier in the year, Aql outlined its plans to work with new VARs to push the VoIP service (CRN, 31 July). To get the service working, users only have to send a text from their handset, which registers the customer’s mobile number with Aql, and enables free peer-to-peer calling.
Adam Beaumont, managing director of Aql, told CRN: “Fone Logistics is trying to push the Nokia Eseries. It is a very technical device and there is a lot you can add to it.”
Beaumont added that Fone Logistics is keen to add more value-add offerings, such as Aql’s VoIP service, to help sell the Eseries.
“Our task is to educate Fone Logistics’ resellers that the Eseries can basically operate as a deskphone,” he said. “End-users can embrace VoIP, but the scope of our solution is more than just providing a bit of VoIP. We can also route calls.”
Beaumont said Aql targets its large enterprise accounts direct, but the rest of its business is channel driven.
“We are looking to talk to bigger end-users who can strip away some of their costs, such as unnecessary roaming charges,” Beaumont added. “Resellers can either sell our offering as an Aql product or as a white-label product, under their brand.”
Julien Parven, director of marketing at Fone Logistics, said: “We decided to partner with Aql because it was the first to market with mobile VoIP for the Nokia Eseries. And unlike some of its competitors, it offers a clean solution that works ‘straight out of the box’, rather than asking users to download additional software.”