LOS ANGELES and ATLANTA, Dec. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- MySpace.com, the world's leading lifestyle portal, and Cingular Wireless, the nation's largest wireless carrier, today announced an exclusive partnership to offer enhanced MySpace functionality to all Cingular customers via their mobile phones. The landmark deal marks MySpace's largest-scale mobile partnership and gives Cingular's customers exclusive access to MySpace Mobile's rich tool set including the ability to edit MySpace profiles, view and add friends, post photos and blogs, send and receive MySpace messages, and much more -- all from the mobile phone.
"MySpace.com has a passionate community of users, many of whom use our site as their primary means of staying in touch with family and friends," said Chris DeWolfe, CEO, MySpace. "We are thrilled to team with Cingular to enable their mobile users to experience the richest MySpace Mobile offering to date."
"Not only are we excited about the ability for customers to stay connected to their MySpace community while they're on the go, we think this will open up a new world of interaction and content for them to share via MySpace," said Marc Lefar, chief marketing officer, Cingular Wireless. "The photo upload feature of MySpace Mobile means Cingular customers will now have the ability to capture, record and share their world as it happens via their MySpace profile, creating a more enriching experience for our customers as well as their MySpace friends."
MySpace Mobile on Cingular provides the most compelling features and functionality of the MySpace global community, translated for an easy-to-use and feature-rich experience on a mobile device.
The rich feature set for MySpace Mobile on Cingular includes:
Uploading PhotosAvailable on select Cingular handsets, MySpace Mobile allows Cingular customers to select photos stored on their mobile device and upload them to their MySpace profile. The same terms of service for MySpace also apply to the mobile sphere, including but not limited to inappropriate content and copyrighted material.
Responding to Mail
Cingular customers don't have to wait until they are in front of a computer to read and reply to their MySpace messages. From their Cingular phones, they have the ability to send messages to their MySpace friends, read and reply to messages sent to them, as well as view and manage friend requests.
Searching for Friends
MySpace Mobile allows Cingular customers to perform basic friend searches giving users the opportunity to "click-to-add "friends into their network. Cingular customers must simply locate a MySpace profile they wish to add as a friend, and then select to add this user as a friend. Customers will also have the ability to look through invites that are pending approval.
Posting Comments or Blog Entries
MySpace Mobile allows Cingular customers to post new blog entries and make comments to other users' blogs or MySpace profile pages. To post a blog or comment, Cingular customers need simply view the appropriate section and click "Post" to create the entry. Users can save their work at any time, and any information entered will update both the mobile client and the online MySpace profile page.
View Friends
Cingular customers have the ability to view the friend list of any MySpace profile. The Friend list contains a text listing of the friends, which when selected would show the profile picture along with a link to that user's MySpace page and the ability to add the friend to your contact list for quick bookmarking.
View Groups
MySpace Mobile gives users the ability to view the group list of any MySpace profile. The Group list contains a text listing of the members, which when selected would show the profile picture along with a link to that user's MySpace profile and the ability to add the member to your contact list for quick bookmarking.
To experience MySpace Mobile on Cingular, customers can text: MYSPACE to 386 (FUN) to get the MySpace Mobile application on their wireless phones. The cost is $2.99 per month plus standard data usage charges.
In addition to the full range of new MySpace Mobile features, Cingular customers can still receive real time MySpace Mobile Alerts on their handsets which notify them, via a text message, when they receive postings to their MySpace page, such as updates or comments posted to their blog, friend invites, mail messages, comments to pictures, new bulletins and/or online status. MySpace Mobile Alerts have been available to Cingular customers since March 2006 and, to date, more than 75 million alerts have been received on Cingular handsets.
Today's announcement of MySpace Mobile on Cingular is part of an ongoing partnership to offer mobile users rich and meaningful mobile experiences anywhere, anytime. Earlier this year the two companies created the MySpace Mobile Music studio, a program designed to empower MySpace's unsigned bands and artists to cut ringtones of their original music and distribute the ringtones to fans for purchase and download. Additionally, Cingular has created innovative programs that leverage the power of user generated content to reach young consumers, such as the ongoing Lip Sync Battles that are built around Cingular Sounds featured artists. For more information on these and other similar programs, visit cingularsource.com.
Cingular offers Parental Controls that enable parents to block their children's purchase of and/ or access to wireless content that may be inappropriate for young users. Cingular's Parental Controls feature is fully compatible with MySpace Mobile and can be accessed free of charge from Cingular's MEdia Net. Parents can also activate Parental Controls by contacting Cingular Customer Care at 1-866-CINGULAR. For tips and information on how to have a safe experience on MySpace, please visit myspace.com/safetytips.
