Accuweather prepares service for Latin markets

US weather information service Accuweather plans to release editions of its mobile service for Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking markets by early to mid first quarter next year, new media sales director Donald Heaton told BNamericas. Accuweather's service has been downloaded in the US more times than any other application used on the BREW open standard mobile services platform of US equipment vendor Qualcomm, he said. Accuweather's main partner is mobile operator Verizon Wireless, he added. The service is global, which therefore allows for the company to enter new markets, he said, adding it will concentrate on Latin America and Europe. The service has to be tailored to fit mobile handsets, so one of Accuweather's challenges is to make sure its software is compatible with handsets in use by major BREW operators in Latin America, Spain and Portugal, he said. The Spanish and Portuguese language editions will be the first foreign language versions and will include weather conditions, 10-day forecasts and satellite images, he said.