"From Russia with Love." Mail.Ru, the second biggest Internet company in Russia, will not play James Bond whose mission was to help a defecting diplomat, but it would rather test the waters of the U.S. market. The company said its newest venture and first venture in the U.S. - My.com - will offer more options for those who enjoy new games, keep in touch with their circle of friends, and manage their email on the go.
My.com will feature mobile apps such as myMail, myChat, and myGames that can be downloaded for free for iOS and Android devices. The applications can be downloaded from the Google Play Store and the Apple iTunes Store.
"I'm happy to introduce our new products to the competitive U.S. Internet market. Russian developers tend to have outstanding backgrounds in mathematics, physics and engineering, which have propelled Russian companies to the forefront of the domestic Internet market. Now we will use all the skills and experience we've earned to enter the U.S. market," said co-founder and CEO of Mail.Ru Group Dmitry Grishin in a statement.
The myMail will allow users to combine multiple email accounts and receive push notifications even when email providers do not allow them. It comes with an intuitive user interface and makes use of traffic compression technology and native code to make the app faster and secure as users send messages on the go.
The myChat is a dynamic messaging platform that provides a free venue for text, video, and voice messages where friends can share stories on streaming chat and share media or record messages.
The myGames is the games service of the company. One of its free mobile game titled "Jungle Heat" has already been downloaded six million times on the Android platform and over 1.5 million times on iOS. Other games catching the attention of the U.S. market inculde "Poker Arena" and "Lucky Fields."
Mail.Ru owns the most popular social networking, e-mail, and messaging services in Russia and it hopes that it can weave the same magic in the U.S. The company is owned by Alisher Usmanov, the wealthiest man in Russia.
"It's a very exciting market to learn from. We also think that launching a product on the U.S. market will make us stronger on our local market because we're learning more and more and fighting here with the best of the best," said Grishin in an interview.
My.com is headquartered in Mountain View, California.
