Press Release

MusicStation handsets arrive in stores today as revolutionary mobile music service goes live today

Omnifone today announces international licensing arrangements with Universal Music Group, SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT, EMI Music and Warner Music International for MusicStation

Omnifone today announces further consumer launches imminent in Europe, Asia-Pacific and Africa

Omnifone today announces 30 mobile operators now confirmed as MusicStation partners reaching a target of 100 million mobiles within a year

Omnifone, the UK based mobile music company announces MusicStation, the revolutionary all-you-can-eat (AYCE) full-track mobile music service, goes live today, allowing mobile phone users to gain unlimited access to full music tracks on industry-standard mobiles for a small weekly fee.

"MusicStation’s launch today heralds the beginning of the next generation of mobile music. Hundreds of millions of mobile phone subscribers worldwide will soon gain the ultimate music freedom - the ability to download and play unlimited amounts of music, wherever they are, through a fantastic easy-to-use digital music experience, which works on almost any phone," said Rob Lewis, CEO of Omnifone. 

He added, “Consumers will have the ability to legally access, download and enjoy an unlimited amount of music, from an international and localised music catalogue, supported by the whole music industry, all for a small weekly fee. MusicStation users can download music, wherever they are, at any time and with no charge for data."

MusicStation goes live
The first MusicStation handsets arrived in stores today with Scandinavian operator Telenor becoming the first of many operators to make MusicStation available to its subscribers. Following this first launch in Sweden, an extensive series of additional rollouts in Europe, Asia-Pacific and Africa are imminent and due for announcement in the coming days and weeks. In each case, Omnifone will announce the launch only on the day handsets arrive in retail outlets.

As well as Sweden, Omnifone confirms it has now entered into partnerships with 30 mobile operators with networks in the following territories: Australia, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey and the UK.

Telenor CEO Johan Lindgren, said, “We are proud to win the race to be the first operator in the world to rollout MusicStation to our subscribers. Telenor has always focused on delivering cutting edge services to its subscribers and with MusicStation we can deliver a truly next generation music experience, giving our consumers the freedom to download an unlimited amount of music, wherever they are, for a small weekly fee.”

International MusicStation licensing arrangements announced with Universal Music Group, SONY BMG, EMI Music, Warner Music International and many major independent labels such as Beggars Group, Vital:PIAS Digital and leading global mobile distributor VidZone Digital Media
Omnifone today announces signed international licensing deals with all four major music labels; Universal Music Group, SONY BMG, EMI Music and Warner Music International, who are making their international and local digital music catalogues available to MusicStation users.

Rob Wells, Senior Vice President, Digital, Universal Music Group International, said, “It’s hard to imagine a more compelling music experience on mobile than MusicStation. It works on almost any phone, giving consumers the freedom to choose whatever device they want. It allows downloads wherever those consumers are, providing the freedom to access music whenever they want. And it gives users unlimited access to our and other labels’ catalogues, all for a fixed weekly fee that includes data. We welcome its rollout today and look forward to the other rollouts that are due.”

Matthew Crosswaite, Vice President of Business Development at EMI Music said, "We want to make sure that fans can always access music by EMI's artists quickly and easily, wherever they happen to be. The MusicStation subscription service gives consumers a new way of doing that, and we are very pleased to be working with Omnifone to reach millions of subscribers around the world through their mobile phone."

Pete Downton, Vice President, Business Development and Strategic Partnerships, Warner Music International, said, "As we monetise our content across the myriad of ever-developing ways that people enjoy music, mobile technology continues to present us with important opportunities. MusicStation's easy-to-use subscription service will offer consumers a compelling way to discover and explore our artists' music anytime, anywhere. Beginning with its launch in Sweden, this service is an exciting, innovative development."

Omnifone confirms it has also secured a wide selection of independent and localised content in many key territories from independent labels and distributors including Beggars Group, Vital:PIAS Digital and VidZone Digital Media.

Simon Wheeler, Director of Digital, Beggars Group stated, “We are delighted MusicStation sees the importance of securing a vast catalogue of local and independent content, to ensure that users have the widest possible selection available, at the touch of a button, wherever they are.”

“Providing our Vital:PIAS Digital’s catalogue of high quality independent music, regionalised for each MusicStation rollout, means that we can provide millions of mobile users with the tracks they want, whatever the genre,” said Adrian Pope, Head of Vital:PIAS Digital. “MusicStation provides a new and exciting way for consumers to legally access, discover and enjoy music.“

Omnifone has partnered with Musiwave to quickly bring MusicStation to market and onto music mobiles across the world. “Musiwave is proud to collaborate with Omnifone in bringing music to MusicStation mobiles world-wide,” said Guillaume Decugis, Vice President and General Manager, Musiwave. “MusicStation complements our existing music services with a differentiated mobile music subscription service that works over the air and links with our music platform.”

Omnifone today announces further consumer launches imminent in Europe, Asia-Pacific and Africa 
Omnifone confirms further rollouts throughout Europe, Asia-Pacific and Africa will be announced in the next few weeks as MusicStation devices appear in retail outlets across all three regions.

Rob Lewis, CEO of Omnifone said, “We expect to be able to offer MusicStation to one hundred million phone subscribers this year. We believe that by providing consumers with the ultimate music freedom of unlimited access to music, wherever a user is, on whatever phone they buy, MusicStation is delivering the most compelling consumer proposition in digital music today.”

Robin Bloor, international IT analyst with Bloor Research stated, after reviewing the MusicStation product, "By focusing on Europe and Asia, and the key operators in these territories, Omnifone is staying focused on the markets which are expected to be the largest for digital music in the next few years.”

*Subscribers will pay a small weekly fee of 2.99 euros (or the localised equivalent) to access a comprehensive global catalogue of music drawn from all the major record labels and independents, fully localised to the local market. The price point in Sweden will be 25SEK per week.

Ends

About MusicStation
MusicStation will run on all 2.5G and 3G music compatible mobiles, accounting for approximately 80% of all mobile phone handsets sold in Western Europe today.

MusicStation's user interface and functionality are virtually identical across all manufacturer handset models, providing the same intuitive user experience on every handset.

Downloaded MusicStation tracks and user playlists are stored centrally so that if a mobile is stolen, lost or upgraded, the replacement handset will automatically restore the user’s music, playlists, friends and preferences the first time MusicStation is switched on.

MusicStation automatically stores a user's favourite tracks on the phone's internal or removable memory. Whilst some phones can store thousands of tracks, others store less than one hundred. MusicStation maximises the capabilities of any mobile phone using unlimited downloads from the network to provide access to any of the catalogue at any time. MusicStation's architecture ensures that the memory allocated on the phone is always used to store the user's favourite and about-to-be-played music. This means that users can access their favourite tracks when in Flight Safe mode and access the full catalogue when connected to a 2.5G or 3G data network.

In-built networked community functions, including the ability to share playlists and tracks with other users over operators' data networks, mean that MusicStation provides consumers with a truly compelling community experience on the mobile for the first time. MusicStation users will be able to:

• Discover the MusicStation Play Charts (tracks that are being played the most, rather than purely purchased or downloaded, the most)
  
  
• Access playlists created by other MusicStation users;
  
  
• Use collaborative filtering and nearest-neighbour technology to identify new tracks, artists, albums and other users that are likely to be of interest;
  
  
• Publish playlists for other users to access, and achieve a 'cool' status based on their popularity;
  
  
• Message other consumers, sending recommended tracks, albums, playlists and messages;
  
  
• Receive music news, gig dates, single and album releases and messages from artists, automatically personalised based on what music the consumer listens to the most frequently.
  

About Omnifone
Award winning mobile music company Omnifone was founded in 2003 by leading technology entrepreneurs Rob Lewis, Phil Sant and Mark Knight. The founders, along with Chairman Jim Feeney, established Omnifone with the aim of bringing legal and affordable digital music to the mass market over the only digital medium that is ubiquitous globally; mobile handsets.

Omnifone's next generation music service MusicStation is a low cost all-you-can-eat subscription-based mobile music service that is pre-installed on participating partner operator handsets and delivers the world's music to most mobile handsets for a small weekly fee. Omnifone uses its unique Device Adaptive Architecture to instantaneously port MusicStation to multiple operator handsets, reducing time to market and giving the highest possible handset reach of any mobile music service globally.

Omnifone has gained global support for MusicStation from the music and mobile industries winning the prestigious Music Service Award Meffy, at Mobile Entertainment Market (MEM) 2007 in Monte Carlo on 5 June 2007. The company has an established network of 30 partner networks, reaching across 40 European, Asia Pacific and African countries. Omnifone's founders sold the successful internet software development company Cromwell Media for £850m in March 2000 and subsequently sold Silicon.com and associated European assets they founded, to major online publishers, including NASDAQ-listed CNET Networks.

Omnifone has offices in London, Scotland, Hong Kong, Sweden and South Africa.  For further information, please visit www.omnifone.com.

About Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group is the world's largest music company with wholly owned record operations or licensees in 77 countries. Its businesses also include Universal Music Publishing Group, one of the industry's largest global music publishing operations.

Universal Music Group consists of record labels Decca Label Group, Deutsche Grammophon, Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Geffen Records, Island Def Jam Music Group, Lost Highway Records, Machete Music, MCA Nashville, Mercury Nashville, Mercury Records, Philips, Polydor Records, Universal Music Latino, Universal Motown Records Group, Universal Records South and Verve Music Group, as well as a multitude of record labels owned or distributed by its record company subsidiaries around the world. The Universal Music Group owns the most extensive catalogue of music in the industry, which is marketed through two distinct divisions, Universal Music Enterprises (in the U.S.) and Universal Strategic Marketing (outside the U.S.). Universal Music Group also includes eLabs, a new media and technologies division, and Universal Music Mobile.

Universal Music Group is a unit of Vivendi, a global media and communications company.

About SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT

SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT is a global recorded music joint venture with a roster of current artists that includes a broad array of both local artists and international superstars, as well as a vast catalog that comprises some of the most important recordings in history. SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT is 50% owned by Bertelsmann A.G. and 50% owned by Sony Corporation of America.

About EMI Music
EMI Music is the recorded music division of EMI Group, the world's largest independent music company. Its EMI Music division represents artists spanning all musical tastes and genres. Its record labels include Angel, Astralwerks, Blue Note, Capitol, Capitol Nashville, EMI Classics, EMI CMG, EMI Records, EMI Televisa Music, Manhattan, Mute, Parlophone and Virgin. Artists on EMI labels include Lily Allen, The Beatles, Coldplay, Corinne Bailey Rae, The Good The Bad & The Queen, Gorillaz, Norah Jones, The Kooks, Korn, Kylie Minogue, Pink Floyd, Rolling Stones, Joss Stone, 30 Seconds To Mars, KT Tunstall, Keith Urban and Robbie Williams, as well as international artists such as Amaral (Spain), Diam’s (France), Utada Hikaru (Japan), LaFee (Germany), Radja (Indonesia), RBD (Mexico) and Vasco Rossi (Italy).

EMI has been at the cutting edge of the rapidly growing digital music marketplace since it released David Bowie’s ‘Hours’ as the world’s first ever album to be offered as a digital download in 1999. EMI has signed agreements with hundreds of digital partners to distribute its music across the globe.  It continues to facilitate the development of a growing range of new digital business models to enable fans to experience and purchase its artists’ output through a number of different platforms including advertising-supported online music streaming in China through Baidu, legal peer-to-peer agreements with QTrax, Mashboxx and GNAB, and a deal to offer advertising-supported videos on mobile phones in the US through Rhythm NewMedia.

For further information on EMI, please visit: www.emigroup.com.

About Warner Music International
Warner Music International (WMI) is Warner Music Group's global (ex-U.S.) recorded music division that markets and distributes WMG's world-class roster of U.S. and international recording artists through a network of affiliates and licensees in more than 50 countries. With a commitment to developing local talent as well as marketing international superstars, WMI leverages its expertise in each region around the world to attract and cultivate a diverse international artist roster. WMG is a pioneer in delivering music content in new and exciting ways, with a track record of 'firsts' in the digital space.

About Telenor
In Sweden, Telenor is a leading total supplier of communication services such as mobile, fixed telephony and data services. With a focus on the customer, Telenor is able to offer its services to private individuals and companies alike. Telenor is also represented by the Brendbandsbolaget, djuice, Glocalnet and Canal Digital.

About Musiwave and Openwave
Musiwave, an Openwave company (Openwave Systems Inc. NASDAQ: OPWV), is a leading provider of mobile music entertainment solutions, including software, marketing and content management, to operators and media companies worldwide. For more information, please visit www.musiwave.net.

Openwave Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: OPWV) is the leading independent provider of software solutions that ignite mobility for the communications and media industries. Openwave empowers its customers to rapidly transform their business by sparking new revenue streams and market opportunities, building loyal subscriber communities and reducing operational costs. Openwave's broad range of IP-based handset-to-network solutions enable the rapid launch of information, communication and entertainment services across networks and devices and include handset software, content delivery, adaptive messaging, location, music and video services. Openwave is a global company headquartered in Redwood City, California. For more information please visit www.openwave.com.

Openwave and the Musiwave logo are trademarks of Openwave Systems Inc.

About Vital:PIAS Digital
Specialising in Digital Distribution, VPD is a natural extension of the existing services provided to labels by the PIAS Group through both Vital Sales & Marketing in the UK and PIAS Group across continental Europe.  Established in early 2004 as a division of PIAS Group Sprl, VPD provides over 200 leading independent labels with a professionally managed route into the ever-growing number of opportunities for digital distribution.

About VidZone Digital Media
VidZone Digital Media is Europe’s leading digital distributor to Mobile Networks for the Independent record label sector. VidZone Digital Media aggregates music from more than 1,000 Independent international record labels and distributes more than half a million music products on mobile globally.

About Robin Bloor
Robin Bloor is a global industry analyst working in Europe with Bloor Research and in the US with Hurwitz & Associates, with expertise in many technology areas. He is a consultant and frequent commentator on technology and market issues that affect the IT and Telecommunications market. He is also a published author having written best selling books on ecommerce and IT.