Although the Royal Wedding saw “expected social media surges” in Twitter and Facebook, Sybase 365 says “no-one could predict the increases in US and UK SMS/MMS traffic”.

Taxi 131 008 - the operator of the national 131008 number that directs bookings to over 300 different taxi services based on the callers' location - has launched an SMS booking service using technology from Sybase 365.

Australia's banks have been quick to introduce iPhone applications, but to date, despite the hype, these only mimic existing net banking apps. A Sybase survey suggests there is scope, and demand for much more.

Sybase has released new device management, relational database synchronisation and mobile banking applications for the iPhone that it says extend functionality for both internal employees and external end users, enabling organisations to adopt iPhone as a strategic platform.

Sybase subsidiary, mobile information services vendor Sybase 365, has appointed a new head of its Australian and New Zealand business, as it looks to grow its enterprise messaging marketshare in the region.