M:Metrics Reports Growth in Photo Messaging Despite Seasonal Decline in Content Consumption; Interoperability Between Cingular, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless Enables Growth as the Market Stabilizes After the Holidays

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 2, 2005--Despite a seasonal dip in the consumption of most types of mobile content, subscriber adoption of photo messaging continues to climb. M:Metrics, the industry authority on the measurement subscriber consumption of mobile content and applications, reports that photo messaging grew, with 7.3 percent of mobile subscribers reporting they sent a photo message; while overall consumption of mobile content declined.

 US Mobile Subscriber Monthly Consumption of Content and Applications
                M:Metrics Benchmark Report: March 2005

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                                      Projected  Percent US    Change
Activity                               Monthly     Mobile       from
                                        Reach    Subscribers  Previous
                                       (000s)                  Report
------------------------------------- ---------  -----------  --------
Sent Photo Message to Phone or Email    12,827       7.3%      +4.8%
------------------------------------- ---------  -----------  --------
Downloaded Ringtone                     23,192      13.2%      +0.4%
------------------------------------- ---------  -----------  --------
Received Text Message Alert             15,289       8.7%      -0.9%
------------------------------------- ---------  -----------  --------
Sent or Received Text Message           64,035      36.4%      -2.5%
------------------------------------- ---------  -----------  --------
Downloaded Mobile Game                   5,980       3.4%      -4.0%
------------------------------------- ---------  -----------  --------
Used Mobile Instant Messenger           14,736       8.4%      -4.5%
------------------------------------- ---------  -----------  --------
Accessed News and Information via
 Browser                                21,534      12.2%      -4.8%
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: M:Metrics, Inc., Copyright (C) 2005. Survey of US mobile
subscribers. Data based on three-month moving average for period
ending March 31, 2005, n=34,815

"This month's data is indicative of the dynamism of the mobile market," said Mark Donovan, senior analyst and vice president, product, M:Metrics. "Overall, we see the seasonality of the usage of mobile content -- that subscribers consume more content over the holidays."

“Consumers are responding positively to the relatively new ability to send photos across carrier networks. Clearly, interoperability will facilitate the growing trend in the use of photo messaging.”

Donovan observed that recent interoperability agreements by Cingular Wireless, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile had a significant effect on the increased popularity of photo messaging.

"Consumers are responding positively to the relatively new ability to send photos across carrier networks. Clearly, interoperability will facilitate the growing trend in the use of photo messaging."

Ringtone downloads remained strong, growing steadily month over month. Donovan attributes this trend to increased subscriber awareness of the availability of downloadable ringtones, due to aggressive marketing by third parties, such as Verisign's Jamster, Zingy and the carriers themselves.

The company also reports that AOL has maintained its leadership in mobile instant messaging, with 73.8 percent of mobile IM users reporting they use AOL. Yahoo continues as the preferred provider of mobile e-mail, with 49.6 percent of mobile e-mail users indicating they used Yahoo's service.

M:Metrics' monthly Benchmark Report provides the most detailed and accurate data on the consumption of mobile content, the demographics of mobile media users and benchmarks for the performance of mobile operators in the US market. It is available only to subscribers of the M:Metrics Syndicated Measurement Service.

About M:Metrics

M:Metrics is the pioneer in measuring consumer consumption of mobile content and applications, benchmarking the performance of carriers, handset OEMs, platform vendors, media companies and others. M:Metrics monthly syndicated services empower senior executives in the mobile content and wireless applications sector to make better business, creative, and production decisions informed by highly granular and verifiably true measures of subscriber consumption. M:Metrics, Inc. is a private, venture funded corporation headquartered in Seattle, Washington, with offices in San Francisco, California.

About M:Metrics Data

Based on continually refreshed samples of nationally representative mobile phone consumers, M:Metrics reports summarize market size, device reach, and key demographic and mobile phone usage characteristics.

The data presented here is drawn from an extensive survey questionnaire that collects specific device model and carrier subscription information from each month's sample of mobile phone subscribers, and also drills down into specific details related to current and past usage of various mobile phone applications and content. Data collected from each sample are statistically balanced and projected to the total national population of mobile phone subscribers.

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