OREANDA-NEWS. August 30, 2012.  i-Free Innovations, a leading Russian mobile applications and gaming publisher, today launched its personalized mobile assistant in the United States. The Android-based virtual assistant, aptly named Everfriends, leverages award-winning Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology and integration with apps, such as Google Maps, Wikipedia and television viewing app SPB-TV, to interact directly with users through its realistic 3D characters.

Everfriends, which already boasts one of the highest favorability ratings for mobile assistants in the Google Play app store, combines entertainment and intelligent controls to provide a unique experience for consumers. Today, most voice-activated assistants on the market offer consumers the standard features, such as web searching and location-based notifications, but with Everfriends' AI technology and personalized characters, i-Free offers the closest thing to a real-life assistant a smartphone can provide.

"Everfriends is more than your average virtual assistant," said Kirill Petrov, co-founder of i-Free. "Our lifelike characters make interacting with your smartphone not only useful, but fun at the same time. Everfriends is pioneering the next frontier in intelligent mobile communication and virtual assistants."

The software goes beyond a simple robotic voice that most other apps on the market offer. Interacting with the Everfriends' quirky, yet playful personas, named Spoony, Brainy, Mary and now a new female -- Mei, allows users to feel as if they have their own personal assistant, complete with everything from the ability to tell jokes and play games together, to help plan vacations and book hotels.

Everfriends is available for free in the Google Play app store, with personalized add-ons such as new characters, voices and clothing available for purchase. With the free download, US users have access to the full array of Everfriends technology, including:
 AI, allowing users to discuss various topics and engage in full conversations with the characters
 Integration with SPB-TV app, which brings online TV directly to the Everfriends app
 Integration with Smartive Hotels for travel booking and Shoptimus for mobile shopping
 English, Russian and now Spanish localizations for bilingual consumers in the US and worldwide
 API allowing for quick integration (from one week to one month) for third-party applications
 Standard productivity functions, such as making calls, sending SMS, event notifications, alarm clock, notes, Google Maps and news
 And many more entertaining features, including radio, games, jokes, horoscopes, and Facebook and Twitter newsfeeds

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i-Free Innovations, a subsidiary of i-Free Ltd., features a unique team of professionals dedicated to the development and publishing of applications and games for smartphones and new network devices. Under the i-Free umbrella, i-Free Innovations is constantly engaged in research of new prospective technologies for a company that has experienced tremendous growth in the CIS since 2001 and internationally since 2006. i-Free, known as a specialist developer and implementer of innovative projects in mobile and NFC technology, electronic finance, digital content distribution, and electronic payments and micropayments, makes its products available in more than 100 countries, grossing over USD 200 Million in sales in 2011. Headquartered in St. Petersburg, Russia, i-Free also successfully operates offices in Moscow, Kyiv (Ukraine), Minsk (Belarus), Almaty (Kazakhstan), Mumbai (India), Beijing (China) and Sao Paulo (Brazil), employing over 600 staff. i-Free partners with the leading cellular operators in Russia and the CIS, with global mobile equipment vendors, banks, transnational brands and trademarks, major media holdings, publishers and Internet resources.