BUZZ @ mywaves

mywaves “Captivate” to Transform Mobile Entertainment and Commerce for Consumers Content Partners

New mywaves Service Delivers a Full Range of Mobile Multimedia Content with Commerce Capability, Comprehensive Copyright Protection and Rights Management.mywaves Also Expands Reach through Strategic Partnership with Sony Ericsson

SUNNYVALE, Calif. – Sept. 10, 2008 – mywaves, the largest mobile entertainment destination for consumers, is today launching “Captivate”, the new mywaves service that connects consumers to content they want through the free mobile video they already enjoy on m.mywaves.com. By integrating ringtones, wallpaper and games with an engaging entertainment experience, mywaves is creating a new and easy way for consumers to discover and purchase mobile content on their mobile phones.

In conjunction with this product launch, mywaves also announces the deployment of content filtering technology across its mobile platform to protect the rights of content owners through advanced copy protection and rights management. Additionally, mywaves is pleased to announce it is expanding distribution through a partnership with Sony Ericsson to incorporate the mywaves mobile application on Sony Ericsson multimedia handsets. 

“Video is the new baseline for consumer communication and entertainment on mobile phones and on the Web and mobile phones. As the largest provider of free mobile video, expanding our offering to include all types of mobile entertainment and personalization like ringtones, wallpapers and games, makes a lot of sense for our users, content partners and the company,” said Rajeev Raman, mywaves CEO and Founder. “For consumers, our aim is to become the one-stop mobile destination for their entertainment needs. For content owners, we provide a direct-to-consumer, contextual mobile up-sell for premium entertainment.”

Captivate Connects Free Video to Paid Multimedia Selections
Recognizing the limitations of mobile content storefronts, mywaves is in the unique position to leverage the immersive nature of free video on its site to help consumers find other content – for free or to purchase. This contextual presentation of multimedia content represents a new era for mobile entertainment. The new user interface facilitates finding the video consumers want quickly, as well as impulse buying through a la cart pricing for ringtones, games and wallpaper and also offers repeat, heavy users a $9.99 per month subscription fee.

To support this aggressive expansion of content to the mywaves service, the company announces extensive rights management capabilities and a partnership with Audible Magic for content filtering. Audible Magic is recognized as the Web video industry’s top provider of content recognition and identification solutions. This marks the most comprehensive mobile video content filtering implementation to date and will serve to clearly convey mywaves’ pro-content position on piracy.

Also announced today, the company expects the reach of mywaves can grow by millions more by the end of 2008 thanks in part to a new distribution agreement with Sony Ericsson whereby the mywaves application will be pre-loaded on Sony Ericsson’s global line of multimedia phones. Sony Ericsson is a top global industry player with sales of over 100 million phones in 2007 and with a footprint in more than 80 countries.