Cingular Customers Are First to Experience Billboard Mobile

Cingular Customers Are First to Experience Billboard Mobile

Cingular Wireless, Billboard and MFORMA deliver original, all-inclusive mobile music application

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment - - Cingular Wireless customers can now use their mobile phones to interact with music in an entirely new way, thanks to the launch of Billboard Mobile. Announced today by Cingular Wireless, Billboard and MFORMA, Billboard Mobile is an all new, first-of-its-kind mobile music application that gives Cingular customers access to music and entertainment news, Billboard charts, local concert information, as well as Billboard featured master tones, directly from their wireless phone.

Available exclusively to Cingular customers for the next month, Billboard Mobile is tightly integrated with Billboard.com -- one of the leading sources of music and entertainment news. Starting with the popular Billboard charts, which rank top music singles, albums and ringtones each week, Cingular customers can read music news, view images, listen to music samples, and check out listings of upcoming events including concert dates. The all-inclusive Billboard Mobile service also delivers integrated entertainment applications such as mini-games and music trivia, all presented with an intuitive user interface that is unique among mobile applications. Additionally, customers can use Billboard Mobile to download featured ringtones.

"We are thrilled Cingular customers will be the first to preview and interact with Billboard Mobile," said Jim Ryan, vice president of consumer data services, Cingular Wireless. "Billboard is the ultimate source for all things music and Billboard Mobile provides an incredibly fun and useful way for our customers to truly experience the world of music directly from their Cingular phone."

"Billboard Mobile has lots of value for users and really satisfies their thirst for music and their desire to personalize their phones in their own individual way," said Dan Kranzler, executive chairman, MFORMA. "We looked at how mobile users consume music and we developed Billboard Mobile to give users the greatest experience possible in finding the music they want that matches their personal tastes and interests. Because there are so many ways to search on Billboard Mobile -- by artist, by genre or category -- users can quickly and easily hone in on exactly what they want. Each song is linked to a detail page including an audio preview and simple purchase options."

Billboard Mobile can easily be customized to fit each user's specific interests. For example, users can opt to receive an SMS each week with a listing of the top songs and links to purchase the tones of their choice, or they can opt to receive news when their favorite artist hits the wires.

"Billboard Mobile is the most dynamic mobile music application out there," said John Kilcullen, Billboard president and publisher. "It totally takes advantage of the mobile phone as a personal computing device and combines it with sophisticated music discovery features, up-to-the-minute pop culture music news and information, exclusive features from Billboard.com, and more. Our collaboration with MFORMA has yielded an incredibly rich fan-driven multimedia music service that we are very proud to have our name on."

Cingular customers can subscribe to Billboard Mobile for $3.99 per month. Polyphonic ringtones and master tones can be purchased for $1.99 and $2.99, respectively. SMS and data charges may apply and vary according to user rate plans.

About Cingular Wireless

Cingular Wireless is the largest wireless carrier in the United States, serving more than 51.6 million customers. Cingular, a joint venture between SBC Communications (NYSE:SBC) and BellSouth (NYSE:BLS), has the largest digital voice and data network in the nation. Cingular is the only U.S. wireless carrier to offer Rollover(SM), the wireless plan that lets customers keep their unused monthly minutes. Details of the company are available at http://www.cingular.com/.

About Billboard

Now in its 111th year, Billboard is the world's premier music publication and a diverse digital, events and brand-licensing platform. Billboard publishes the most trusted charts and offers unrivaled reporting about the latest music, video and digital entertainment issues and trends. Billboard is the flagship property for the Billboard Information Group, which also consists of Billboard.biz, Billboard.com, Entertainment Law Weekly, Billboard Chart Alert, Billboard Information Network (BIN), Billboard Directories, Billboard Licensing & Events and Billboard Radio Monitor. Billboard is headquartered in New York with bureaus in Boston, London, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville and Washington DC. The Group is a unit of VNU Business Media, a worldwide media company that provides specialized publications, electronically delivered data, expositions and marketing services and is owned by VNU Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Netherlands-based VNU, an international publishing and information company.

About MFORMA Group, Inc.

MFORMA is a leading global publisher and distributor of mobile entertainment. MFORMA provides wireless operators and their customers with the world's best content and entertainment brands, and provides developers and brand owners with the shortest route to market. MFORMA's customers include more than 100 of the world's leading wireless carriers. In addition to the industry's most comprehensive catalog of BREW, Java, SMS, MMS, and WAP mobile games, MFORMA also provides sports, lifestyle, and information services subscription products. MFORMA's carrier-grade platform manages the delivery of downloadable games and applications for some of the world's largest carriers. MFORMA is a U.S. corporation with offices in Bellevue, Washington, San Francisco, San Diego, and Los Angeles, California, USA; London and Manchester, England; Shanghai and Beijing, China; and Seoul, Korea. Please visit http://www.mforma.com/.

Source: Cingular Wireless

CONTACT: Lila Gerson of The Rosen Group, +1-212-255-8455, lila@rosengrouppr.com, for Billboard; or Kelleigh Scott of Cingular, +1-404-236-6321, Kelleigh.scott@cingular.com; or Candice Yusim (mPRm), of MFORMA, +1-323-933-3399, cyusim@mprm.com

Web site: http://www.cingular.com/ http://www.mforma.com/

NOTE TO EDITORS: For high res images, please visit http://www.cingularnews-billboardmobile.com.

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