ModtonesT Launch Ringtone Tour Down Under with Telstra
Australia's Largest Wireless Carrier Rings Phones with Songs from Faith West Inc.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE : Thursday, March 27, 2003
SYDNEY AND SAN FRANCISCO -America's favorite completely fake, all-MIDI cover band is touring down under, bringing its synthesized versions of popular songs to a mobile phone near you. Telstra Corporation, the country's leading telecommunications carrier, today announced it is offering its subscribers ModtonesT polyphonic ringtones, the bass-thumping polyphonic phone alerts created by US-based Faith West Inc.
Australia will be the first international audience to experience Modtones, which Faith West launched in the United States last year on Verizon Wireless' "Get It Now" service. Available immediately, the Modtones service allows Aussie fans to preview, purchase and download synthesized versions of their favorite local songs and chart-topping hits to customize the way their mobile phones ring. The service is brought to life and promoted via an animated cover band called the Modtones, fictional mod kids who perform all-ringtone sets.
Modtones will be one of the featured offerings from Telstra's Mobile Loop, the carrier's brand for mobile applications developed for QUALCOMM's BREWT (Binary Runtime Environment for WirelessT) platform. Faith West has licensed the download of the songs through the Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society, to ensure that songwriters are compensated for the use of their work.
"We're really excited to start our international expansion with Telstra, because Australia has such passionate music fans," said Cindy Lundin Mesaros, Vice President of Marketing for Faith West Inc. "BREW makes it easy for us to introduce our lush ringtones to operators around the world, and Australia is a great place to start."
Modtones are available to Telstra subscribers on the Samsung Rainbow, with support for more handsets coming soon. With the mobile application, consumers can search for ringtones by song or artist, browse categories such as Chart Toppers and football themes, and preview and download ringtones directly from their handset. Ringtones are priced at AU$3 each or four for AU $10.
"Modtones is one of the top-selling ringtone services in the United States, so we're pleased to introduce it here," said Tim Buckley, director of next generation wireless services, Telstra Consumer and Marketing. "Their staff of talented musicians uses up to 40 simultaneous sounds to create their polyphonic ringtones, so we expect Faith West to set the quality standard here for how good your mobile phone should sound when it rings."
To check out Modtones, visit www.modtones.com.au.
About Faith West Inc.
Faith West Inc. makes mobile phones rock. The company delivers high-impact mobile content to consumers and wireless carriers, and provides service to licensees of the Faith Group's software-based mobile sound solutions worldwide. Modtones, the first consumer offering from Faith West Inc., is a polyphonic ringtone service featuring true-sounding ringtones created by musicians for true music lovers. Faith West Inc. was incorporated in 2002 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Faith Inc., a public Japanese corporation based in Kyoto and Tokyo, Japan.
About Telstra Corporation Limited
Telstra is Australia's leading telecommunications carrier and a world-class fully integrated, full service provider across wireline, ADSL, HFC, satellite and digital wireless networks and platforms. Telstra has more than 10 million household, business and wholesale customers. Telstra is Australia's leading ISP, has the most highly accessed family of internet portals and sites and provides entertainment and multimedia content over its broadband network and through its Pay-TV joint venture.
Telstra owns and operates one of the most technologically advanced networks, offering end-to-end solutions ranging from broadband, IP, mobile and intelligent network services, to voice and data network hubs, call centres, and advanced multimedia and e-commerce applications. It has business operations in North America, UK/Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.
About BREW
QUALCOMM's BREW solution is a complete product and business system for the development and over-the-air deployment of data services on wireless devices. The BREW solution provides the necessary tools and value-added services to developers, device manufacturers and wireless operators for applications development and distribution, device configuration, and billing and payment.
Modtones is a trademark of Faith West Inc.
QUALCOMM is a registered trademark of QUALCOMM Incorporated. BREW is a trademark of QUALCOMM Incorporated.
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