Thumbplay News

Provider of Ringtones, Wallpaper and Games Captures Leading Market Position

NEW YORK - June 29, 2006 - Thumbplay today announced Hitwise, the world's leading online competitive intelligence service, found Thumbplay.com to be the leading online website in the Entertainment ? Mobile Phones category. According to the latest weekly Hitwise data, Thumbplay?s market share has maintained consistent growth month over month, edging out leading carrier and non-carrier content providers. This serves as a significant indication of the company?s continued success and leadership position in the fast-growing mobile content market.

The site has experienced an increase in market share of visits by 221 percent (week ending March 28, 2006 vs. week ending June 24, 2006), surpassing dozens of competitors including Jamster, Yahoo! Mobile, Mobizzo and Qtones, as well as carrier sites such as Cingular and Verizon.

?In today?s highly competitive market, we are extremely proud to see the recent growth that has made us the most popular online destination for mobile content,? said Are Traasdahl, founder and CEO of Thumbplay. ?Our focus has always been to provide an entirely customer-centric experience coupled with the best premium content available. From Hitwise?s numbers, it is clear that our customers recognize this and continue to choose Thumbplay to satisfy their mobile entertainment needs.?

The mobile content market is one of the fastest growing market segments in the U.S. and Europe. According to Alexander Resources, an analyst firm following wireless communications and carriers, the revenues from digital content are forecasted to reach $15.1 billion by 2008, with mobile infotainment (personal data management, messaging services and content) revenue totaling $7.8 billion. The mobile penetration rate in the U.S. is currently at 69 percent and is forecasted to expand to 87 percent by the year 2010.

Thumbplay?s web site at www.thumbplay.com provides consumers with premium mobile entertainment products and services, including ringtones, wallpapers, games, text alerts and animations. The site includes intuitive searching, browsing and discovery tools, and a simple purchasing and downloading process. Content can be purchased through both subscription and a la carte options, downloaded ?over the air? directly to the consumer?s handset and billed directly to the consumer?s carrier bill.

Recently, Thumbplay announced a deal with Universal Music Group to distribute its full catalog of music tones from its global family of artists. Additionally, it inked a deal with Hands-On Mobile to distribute a selection of its library of mobile entertainment content including top gaming titles and other personalization applications.

About Thumbplay
Thumbplay, Inc. is the leading online retailer of mobile entertainment content. The company aggregates, promotes and delivers mobile content directly to members via Thumbplay.com. The site offers ringtones, wallpapers, games and text-based services through a membership-based, community experience. Thumbplay, headquartered in New York, was founded by CEO Are Traasdahl and Executive Vice President, Marketing Evan Schwartz.

About Hitwise
Hitwise is the leading online competitive intelligence service. Each day, Hitwise monitors how more than 25 million Internet users interact with over 500,000 websites across 160 industry categories.

By monitoring more people, more websites, more often, Hitwise provides marketers with timely and actionable marketing insights on how their online presence compares to competitive websites. Companies use this information to maximize the return on their online investment, in efforts such as affiliate programs, search marketing, online advertising, content development and lead generation.

Hitwise collects Internet usage information via a combination of ISP data partnerships and opt-in panels, and complies with local and international privacy legislation as audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Founded in 1997, Hitwise is a privately held company, headquartered in New York City and operates in the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore.

More information about the Hitwise Competitive Intelligence service is available at www.hitwise.com. For up to date analysis on online trends, please visit the Hitwise Intelligence-Analyst blog at weblogs.hitwise.com.

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Thumbplay today announced Hitwise, a leading online competitive intelligence service, found Thumbplay.com to be the leading online website in the Entertainment -- Mobile Phones category, and surpassing competitors such as Jamster, Yahoo! Mobile, and Qtones. According to the latest weekly Hitwise data, Thumbplay's market share has maintained consistent growth month over month, edging out leading carrier and non-carrier content providers.

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COO/CFO and newly minted executive team add deep experience from leading e-commerce, entertainment and direct-to-consumer companies

NEW YORK - June 22, 2006

Thumbplay Inc., a leading online retailer of mobile entertainment content, today announced the addition of Scott Marshall as COO/CFO. Marshall will be responsible for leading Thumbplay's day-to-day operations and managing the finance function of the company. His appointment rounds out a diverse and seasoned management team that has quickly established Thumbplay as one of the leaders in mobile entertainment.

Marshall most recently was the executive vice president and CFO of CSTV (College Sports Television), where he helped raise more than $100 million in private equity financing from leading firms including JP Morgan Partners, Soros Management and Allen & Company. In January 2006, CSTV was acquired by the CBS Corporation for $325 million. Before CSTV, Marshall served as vice president and CFO of Classic Sports Network, now ESPN Classic. During his tenure, Marshall assisted in raising nearly $40 million to fund the network's development, while building and managing the company's financial operations. As one of the first employees at Classic Sports Network, Marshall was a key member of the management team that sold the company to ESPN in 1997 for $185 million.

"We are proud to add Scott's diverse mix of expertise to the Thumbplay team," said Are Traasdahl, CEO of Thumbplay. "His past experience in building and managing the growth of emerging companies is a crucial asset as we work to exponentially grow our customer base and continue to expand our menu of mobile content."

"Thumbplay is positioned at the top of one of the fastest growing consumer markets in the world," said Marshall. "With our broad range of content, disciplined direct marketing and advanced technology, we are poised to become the leader in mobile entertainment."

Also joining Marshall as new members of Thumbplay's executive team are Joe Bilman, executive vice president of product/operations; Mitch Rotter, vice president of content licensing and programming; and Marc Matsumoto, senior director of retention.

Bilman joins Thumbplay with more than 10 years of online product management and development experience from CDNOW, Columbia House and Rodale. Bilman will be responsible for the company's Web and mobile consumer experience.

Rotter most recently served as director of content licensing and acquisition for Infospace Mobile. He will be responsible for all of Thumbplay's content licensing and programming initiatives.

Matsumoto joins Thumbplay from Netflix, where we worked as a senior marketing manager. Matsumoto will manage the subscriber base, which includes viral acquisition and retention.

About Thumbplay

Thumbplay, Inc. is a leading online retailer of mobile entertainment content. The company aggregates, promotes and delivers mobile content directly to members via Thumbplay.com. The site offers ringtones, wallpapers, games and text-based services through a membership-based, community experience. Thumbplay, headquartered in New York, was founded by CEO Are Traasdahl and Executive Vice President, Marketing Evan Schwartz.

A veteran of the mobile entertainment industry, Traasdahl was part of establishing Carrot Communication, one of the first companies in the world to sell wireless content directly to consumers. He has worked on mobile marketing campaigns with companies such as ABC, AT&T Wireless, Disney, NewsCorp, Telemundo and Verizon.

Schwartz has more than 10 years experience marketing entertainment and subscription products online. He was a member of the start-up team at CDNOW and managed all online acquisition and retention strategies for Columbia House as senior vice president of online.

The company is backed by leading venture capital firms, including SoftBank Capital, i-hatch Ventures and Redwood Partners. For more information, visit www.Thumbplay.com.

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Thumbplay today announced an agreement with Hands-On Mobile to distribute selections from its portfolio of mobile games and entertainment applications. Thumbplay’s members will have direct access to Hands-On Mobile content including game titles such as X-Men™ Legends 2: Rise of Apocalypse, Top Gun™ Air Combat 2 and Monopoly Tycoon on www.Thumbplay.com.

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Leading Online Retailer of Mobile Entertainment Adds Blockbuster Game Titles, Software and Wallpaper to Growing Portfolio of Content

NEW YORK - June 21, 2006 - Thumbplay Inc., the leading online retailer of mobile entertainment content, today announced an agreement with Hands-On Mobile to distribute selections from its portfolio of innovative mobile games and entertainment applications. Thumbplay's growing community of members will have direct access to exciting Hands-On Mobile content including blockbuster game titles such as X-Men™ Legends 2: Rise of Apocalypse, Top Gun™ Air Combat 2 and Monopoly Tycoon on www.Thumbplay.com.

Thumbplay will distribute more than 20 action, sports, strategy and casino mobile games published by Hands-On Mobile. Additionally, Thumbplay subscribers can enjoy an entertaining array of Hands-On Mobile's personalized applications and popular wallpapers. Thumbplay will promote the games through its Web site, www.thumbplay.com and through targeted e-mails and SMS messages to its growing membership base. Games and other premium content can be purchased as part of the Thumbplay subscription plan or on an à la carte basis.

"Our members' demand for new and engaging game titles continues to grow, making games a key product category for Thumbplay," said Are Traasdahl, founder and CEO of Thumbplay. "Our relationship with Hands-On Mobile enables us to deliver an even greater selection of blockbuster content directly to our member base, which has come to expect the best in mobile entertainment."

"We have found discovery to be a major barrier for mobile game consumers, who cited not having the right choice of available games as a leading reason they did not return to make purchases month after month," said Seamus McAteer, senior analyst and chief product architect, M:Metrics. "Innovative direct-to-consumer destinations that partner with carriers and game publishers to improve the merchandizing and discovery process of mobile games play a significant role in the overall growth of mobile content and total gaming revenue."

"Thumbplay's success in the direct-to-consumer market represents an excellent opportunity for us to pursue an integral part of our business," said Jonathan Sacks, president and CEO of Hands-On Mobile. "We are excited to have access to Thumbplay's extensive user community and look forward to expanding our distribution and reaching a new customer base."

Some Hands-On Mobile titles soon to be available to Thumbplay members include:

X-Men™ Legends 2: Rise of Apocalypse
To defeat the greatest evil, the X-Men will join their greatest enemy: Magneto and his evil Brotherhood. Based on the sequel to the blockbuster Activision console game, you must form your own team from a choice of five different mutants, including Magneto, Juggernaut and Wolverine. Use awesome combo attacks and upgrade your abilities by collecting experience points and spending them to improve your powers. Each character has their own mutant abilities, from Juggernaut's devastating ground attacks to Wolverine's Berserker Frenzy. With incredible graphics and sound this is the greatest comic book adventure ever seen on mobile.

Top Gun™ Air Combat 2
Play as Maverick or Iceman from the Top Gun movie. This game features high-skill, high-octane vertical scrolling arcade action. Defeat waves of enemies and end-of-level bosses with cannons and missiles. Collect a huge range of power-ups to boost your firepower to insane levels. Upload your high score and compare your skills to the rest of the world.

Monopoly Tycoon
Play Monopoly as you have never seen it before and create your own business empire to dominate the world. Compete for control of industries and city blocks as you rush to ruin your opponents and make the biggest profit possible for yourself. Buy properties, start companies and outmaneuver two other would-be tycoons, all of whom are determined to bankrupt you. You have complete control over everything: will you refurbish an old building or demolish it completely and construct a new citylandmark from the ground up? What about the details of your businesses, do you stack'em high and sell'em low or go for a quality over quantity approach? The choice is yours, but remember that in this city making money is all that counts!

About Thumbplay
Thumbplay, Inc. is a leading online retailer of mobile entertainment content. The company aggregates, promotes and delivers mobile content directly to members via Thumbplay.com. The site offers ringtones, wallpapers, games and text-based services through a membership-based, community experience. Thumbplay, headquartered in New York, was founded by CEO Are Traasdahl and Executive Vice President, Marketing Evan Schwartz.

About Hands-On Mobile
Hands-On Mobile is a leading global publisher of mobile lifestyle, games and personalization products targeting all market segments of the mobile handset marketplace. With operations in four continents, Hands-On Mobile develops, publishes and distributes mobile content to more than 150 of the world's leading operators in 40 countries. Hands-On Mobile provides operators and their customers with the world's best entertainment brands and applications and provides brand owners with the shortest route to market. The Hands-On content catalog is diverse, including BREW, Java, SMS, MMS, and WAP games, and music, sports, lifestyle, personalization, and information-services subscription products. Hands-On Mobile is a U.S. corporation with headquarters in San Francisco and offices in San Diego and Los Angeles, California; London and Bollington, England; Krakow, Poland; Săo Paulo, Brazil; Shanghai and Beijing, China; and Seoul, Korea. For more information about Hands-On Mobile's products and organization please visit www.HandsOn.com.

NOTE: All company and/or product names may be trade names, trademarks and/or registered trademarks of the respective owners with which they are associated.

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Thumbplay inked a deal with Hands-On Mobile (formerly MFORMA) to distribute more than 20 of the content provider's mobile games as well as other entertainment applications. The game titles include action, sports, strategy and casino ones. Thumbplay will sell the games directly to consumers through its Web site and through targeted emails and SMS messages to its membership base.

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