Thumbplay News

NEW YORK – July 30, 2008 – Thumbplay® (www.thumbplay.com), the #1 mobile entertainment content destination in the U.S.*, today announced that is has been selected by Silicon Valley venture organization AlwaysOn (AO) as one of the top 250 private technology companies in the world. This is the fifth consecutive AlwaysOn award for the company. AO Global’s 250 list of Top Private Companies is comprised of companies selected by AlwaysOn editors and their global panel of industry experts and is based on a set of five criteria: innovation, market potential, commercialization, stakeholder value and media interest.

“It is an honor to have our efforts recognized by the AlwaysOn team, said Are Traasdahl, CEO and Founder, Thumbplay. “Our focus on customer service, technological innovation and building an extraordinary library of content has made us the destination-of-choice for millions of customers and the partner-of-choice for some of the world’s largest entertainment organizations.”

"The Global 250 winners have proven themselves to be leaders in pursuing strategic new business opportunities in the global technology industries," said Tony Perkins, founder and CEO of AlwaysOn. "We congratulate them for demonstrating significant market traction and pursuing game-changing technology in the following sectors: Consumer and Entertainment, Devices and Components, Enterprise, Greentech, Mobile and Wireless, Network and Infrastructure, and Services and Enablers."

In recognition for its exemplary direct-to-consumer services, the company was also recently honored with a 2008 Meffy (the mobile industry’s highest honor), as well two Webby Awards (dubbed “The Oscars of the Internet” by the New York Times), including the “People’s Voice Award” – given by the general public.

Thumbplay has maintained and grown its leadership position in the mobile industry by providing its consumers with the best possible customer experience, including live, “24/7” customer service and a commitment to delivering the largest catalog of music, videos, games and more. Thumbplay’s “locker” service also allows users to automatically back-up and store purchased items. Thumbplay is available on more than 2,000 mobile devices from every major U.S. carrier.

Thumbplay features licensed music content from some of the world’s largest entertainment companies, including Universal Music Group, EMI and Sony BMG Music Entertainment, among others; as well as several independent labels and artists. Thumbplay has announced deals to integrate its mobile entertainment content catalog into Clear Channel Radio, AOL and MSN Mobile sites, as well as iLike.com, one of the Web’s leading social music discovery services.

About AlwaysOn
AlwaysOn ignited the open-media revolution in early 2003 by being the first media brand to launch a community blog network. In 2004, AlwaysOn continued to lead the industry in innovation by engaging its bloggers in a social network. AlwaysOn is also revolutionizing the media business by applying its open-media principles to its executive event series (Stanford Summit, OnHollywood, OnMedia, GoingGreen, NordicGreen, and Venture Summit East and West) and quarterly print "blogozine". No other media brand has dared to create such open interaction with its readers and event participants.

For more information about AlwaysOn Summit at Stanford 2008 and the AOGlobal250, please visit: http://alwayson.goingon.com/permalink/post/24549

About Thumbplay
Thumbplay, Inc. is defining the mobile entertainment experience for U.S. consumers. As the largest and fastest growing mobile entertainment content destination, Thumbplay gives consumers access to the broadest and deepest catalog in the industry, spanning audio, video and gaming content from the leading music labels and artists, game publishers and media companies. Its innovative delivery and marketing platform makes it easy for users to discover, manage, store and share mobile content online and on their wireless devices.

Headquartered in New York City, Thumbplay was founded in September 2004 by Are TraasdahlEvan Schwartz. It is backed by Bain Capital Ventures, SoftBank Capital, i-Hatch Ventures, Redwood Partners, New Enterprise Associates, Meritech, Brookside Capital Partners and Cross Creek Capital. More information can be found at www.thumbplay.com or at m.thumbplay.com from a mobile phone. and

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Labels: press-release

posted by Kaplow at 9:00 AM