Sprint Launches Three New Mobile Chat Services

Jumbuck Island, The Lounges, Webdate Mobile bring exclusive content to Sprint.


OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — 01/24/2006, Customers of Sprint (NYSE: S) now have three new ways to use their phones to meet, greet and chat with people across the street or across the globe. Today Sprint announced the availability of Jumbuck Island from Jumbuck Entertainment (ASX: JMB), The Lounges from AirG, and Webdate Mobile™ from Trilibis Mobile for Sprint PCS Vision(SM) and Sprint Power Vision(SM) subscribers. Each service features an exclusive element available only through Sprint.

“As mobile chat services become more and more popular, customers are asking for more ways to use the services to stay connected and meet new people while on the go,” said John Styers director of Data Services for Messaging and Imaging for Sprint. “These three new services from Jumbuck, AirG and Trilibis give Sprint customers unique ways to reach others locally or around the world, whether it’s to find people with common interests or find a date. It’s just one more way Sprint is bringing exclusive services to our customers.”

“Mobile chat services are a natural extension of online communities,” said Linda Barrabee, senior analyst, Yankee Group Wireless/Mobile US. “I expect to see that just as with other mobile services that have been at the intersection of online and mobile experiences, ubiquity drives greater demand.”

Jumbuck Island
Jumbuck Island is an innovative new 3D wireless chat service, exclusive to Sprint for the first three months. The first of its kind on wireless phones in the United States, Jumbuck Island brings elements from massively popular multiplayer PC games and Internet chatrooms into one service. Users of the service can customize their appearance and choose from different avatars to represent themselves. Once on the island, users can wander around the different areas, including beaches, cruise ships and waterfalls, and send public messages or chat with other users in private one-on-ones. Jumbuck Island is available for $3.99 per month.

“We are delighted to launch Jumbuck Island, the world’s first massively multiplayer chatroom environment, on Sprint PCS Vision and Power Vision networks,” said Adrian Risch, founder and CEO of Jumbuck. “Users can select a cool avatar and chat in exotic locations that feature beautiful beaches, pool parties, hidden waterfalls and cruise ships.”

The Lounges
The Lounges is the first segmented mobile community in North America, exclusive to Sprint for the first year. Created by AirG, The Lounges let Sprint users connect with other mobile users in any of three fun community chat lounges – Sports, Latino, and Friends – right on their mobile phone. The Sports Lounge is for all sports fans looking to chat about their favorite sports and teams. The Latino Lounge is a Spanish-language community where users can chat in Spanish, and the Friends Lounge is a general discussion community where users can make new friends, flirt and maybe even find a date. The Lounges include multiple features such as instant messaging, photo profiles, presence, user search, and public and private messaging with AirG’s existing 7 million community users. The Lounges are free for the first month and $3.99 for additional months.

“We are extremely pleased to be powering the first segmented mobile community in North America for Sprint, the first mobile operator to recognize the community interests of its subscribers and focus on delivering relevant high quality content to its end users,” said Frederick Ghahramani, director, AirG. “The great thing about The Lounges is that no matter where they are in the United States on the Sprint PCS and Power Vision Networks, Sprint customers can join different themed and localized lounges, and access related mobile content and promotions.”

Webdate Mobile™
Webdate Mobile, enabled by Trilibis, is the world’s largest mobile dating service, which gives users anytime, anywhere access to one of the most popular online dating communities, including complete personals with photos, profile searches and browsing and anonymous messaging to other Webdate members. Webdate Mobile lets subscribers search for singles in their area, view members’ photos and full profiles, check messages in the Webdate inbox and send messages to any of Webdate’s 5 million members. Among the new features in the Sprint version are MyWebdate, which presents suggested matches based on one’s profile preferences, and New Faces, which provides a quick view of new members to join in the user’s locale. Webdate Mobile is available for $4.99 per month.

“”One of the future growth areas of wireless will be in social networking services, like mobile dating,“ said Abe Smilowitz, COO of Webdate. ”Webdate is proud to work with Sprint to offer innovative mobile services that help people connect and get to know each other while on the go"

Jumbuck Island, The Lounges and Webdate Mobile are available for download now on select Sprint PCS Vision and Sprint Power Vision phones.

About Sprint Nextel
Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services to consumer, business and government customers. Sprint Nextel is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including two robust wireless networks offering industry leading mobile data services; instant national and international walkie-talkie capabilities; and an award-winning and global Tier 1 Internet backbone. For more information, visit www.sprint.com/mr.

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