LAS VEGAS ? 04/06/2006 The Sprint (NYSE: S) Music Store(SM), the first music service in the U.S. to allow song downloads over the air, is now the first wireless music service in the U.S. to announce that two million songs have been downloaded since its launch on Oct. 24, 2005. Additionally, the Sprint Music Store was honored last night with two high-profile industry awards, Wireless Week's Excellence Award for Mobile Content and Outlook 4Mobility's Innovation Award, during the CTIA Wireless 2006 conference in Las Vegas.
"The momentum of the Sprint Music Store is remarkable and truly an industry first, with our second million downloads reached in less time than our first million. Since we stopped offering free promotional incentives on January 14, the usage of the Sprint Music Store has actually increased, so our customers are clearly seeing the value in the convenience and ease of use of the Sprint Music Store. We're also very pleased that recognition of the Sprint Music Store extends to well-known industry observers such as Wireless Week and Outlook 4Mobility," said Nancy Beaton, director, entertainment and personalization for Sprint.
Wireless Week's annual Excellence Award for Mobile Content recognizes the single-most exemplary achievement for mobile content during the past year. Wireless Week's editors and writers submitted nominations for the award, and its editorial board ultimately selected the Sprint Music Store as the recipient. Criteria for the award is based on six categories: (1) vision and leadership, (2) subscriber growth, (3) marketing savvy and innovation, (4) customer and community service, (5) peer respect and (6) financial performance.
The Innovation Award from Andrew Seybold's wireless analyst and consulting firm, Outlook 4Mobility, was presented to the Sprint Music Store for being the first mobile music service in the U.S. to announce one million song downloads on February 15, 2006. This year Sprint is one of only six companies to receive an Innovation Award, which honors outstanding achievements throughout the entire wireless industry.
The Sprint Music Store allows customers to browse, preview and purchase songs while on the go anywhere on the nationwide Sprint Power Vision(SM) network. A growing selection of more than 400,000 songs from virtually every genre is available via EMI Music, SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT, Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group.
Key advantages of the Sprint Music Store are:
- Instant ability to download songs right over the air to the phone
- Second song copy is available for download to a computer
- Intuitive easy-to-use interface and menus
- Quick access directly from the phone's main menu
- Fast downloads (generally less than 45 seconds per song)
- Storage is increasable (for example, up to 1,000 songs with 1G optional memory card)
- Ability to transfer additional unprotected CD or MP3 files to the phone via a USB cable
For $2.50 per song, customers receive two copies of the song ? one for their phone and another for their PC. Customers can also burn their music to a CD using Windows Media Player. To use the Sprint Music Store, a Sprint phone enabled for the Sprint Power Vision network is required, and a data plan is recommended.