Mobile web browser toolbar Skyfire Horizon debuts

Company has partnered with Blue Kangaroo, Quixey and Readability for new utilities and extensions

Skyfire, a company that is dedicated to harnessing the power of the cloud to create mobile solutions for operators and consumers, has launched Horizon, its new toolbar browser extension platform for mobile, the company announced Thursday.

On the new toolbar, when a user is shopping on their mobile device, they can receive alerts about the most relevant recommendations for related offers and coupon codes that automatically appear at checkout. The toolbar allows a user to remain on a page they are browsing, while finding numerous ways to interact with that page, including sharing it, finding deals on it, finding related apps to it, and saving it to read later, all without having to leave the page.

The new toolbar offers one-click access to apps such as Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, Wikipedia, IMDB and Amazon, to name just a few.

In addition, Skyfire has also announced new partnerships with Blue Kangaroo, Quixey and Readability.

Skyfire and Blue Kanagroo will be offering a “personal shopper for offers and deals,” in a new extension known as Offers.  Quixey will be providing in-browser contextual app recommendations, while Readability and Skyfire are coming together for content bookmarking and saving.

“Skyfire Horizon goes far beyond the original toolbar; it's completely carrier-ready with a full-fledged CMS, better-optimized performance, a slew of new contextual and social extensions, and greater customization options,” Jeffrey Glueck, CEO of Skyfire, tells VatorNews. 

“It's a true browser extension platform that will continue to grow over time with new buttons and extensions from content and app publishers.”

Skyfire Horizons is available on Android phones and handsets, and is the underlying technology behind AT&T's Browser Bar, which is available on the LG Escape and Pantech Flex devices. The toolbar will be available on more Android devices in the next few months, and the Skyfire Horizon extension platform will soon be incorporated into Skyfire's web browser, available for download in Google Play.

Glueck says that there are no other browser extension platforms on the market that he can point to as competitiors.

“The paradigm you frequently see on desktop browsers like Firefox and Chrome, in which you can easily add an extension to enhance your browsing and searching experience, is now something we've extended to mobile,” he said.

Mountain View, California-based Skyfire has created multiple bestselling apps since being founded in 2007. Over 15 million users have downloaded and actived Skyfire products, which include mobile video optimization and in browsing solutions.

“This has put Skyfire in the position to understand what creates a good user experience,” says Glueck. “With that in mind, Skyfire Horizon highlights only the best extensions, and content, while remaining completely customizable and flexible, and can be customized or even removed by users.

Skyfire makes money by licensing its two products, Rocket Optimizer and Skyfire Horizon, to mobile operators. In addition, Skyfire markets video and browsing apps on both iOS and Android.

While Glueck would not comment on if Skyfire was profitable or not, he did say that it was “in a very healthy and growing position at this time.”

The company recently announced the 15 millionth download of one of its apps, but Glueck says Skyfire’s main focus right now is on the global operator side, with expansion in Europe and Asian, and has been that way for the past year and a half. The company is also heavily focusing on deploying Skyfire Horizon and Rocket Optimizer with major carriers in North America.

“Mobile browsing has become ubiquitous for smartphone users over the past two years, and it's driving much of the recent behavior of the entire web and app ecosystems. Because we've seen such high demand for our Skyfire web browser over the years, we've had a front-row seat to how users interact with content in a browser, and it has given us foundational footing to imagine innovative ways to make that experience far better than it has been to date,” Glueck says.

“Every publisher, media brand and website owner is adjusting to a world in which their content is accessed primarily through a mobile browser, and we'd like to think we're helping to leading the charge for making that an even richer, and more interactive, experience for every link in the chain.”

Skyfire has raised $31 million in three rounds of financing, including an $8 million Series C funding round in January from Verizon Investments LLC, with participation from existing investors Matrix Partners, Trinity Ventures, and Lightspeed Venture Partners.

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