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WirelessDevNet.com Press Release
Yahoo!(R) Messenger Now Available as Part of Cingular Wireless Mobile Instant Messaging
ATLANTA and SUNNYVALE, Calif., Sept. 8 -- Cingular Wireless
customers can now access their Yahoo! Messenger accounts and send/receive
instant messages on their wireless phones through a full-color, graphical
interface called Mobile Instant Messaging. Cingular Wireless, the second
largest wireless carrier in the U.S., and Yahoo!, a leading global Internet
company, today announced the launch of Cingular's Mobile Instant Messaging
application using Yahoo! Messenger.
The new application will allow Cingular customers to easily use their
wireless phones to manage their friends list, check the availability of
friends and family online, and send/receive instant messages with anyone in
the Yahoo! Messenger community.
"Cingular is pleased to provide our customers the chance to stay in touch
with friends, family and colleagues virtually anywhere by accessing Yahoo!
Messenger from their Cingular Wireless phone," said Jim Ryan, vice president,
data product management and business marketing, Cingular Wireless. "Instant
messaging has exploded in the U.S., and this gives our 25 million customers
even more messaging options."
"We are excited to continue to expand our successful relationship with
Cingular and extend Yahoo!'s leading services beyond the desktop," said Doug
Garland, senior vice president, broadband and mobile services, Yahoo! Inc.
"Yahoo! Messenger has become an essential part of consumers' lives and
consumers can now take an enhanced version of Yahoo! Messenger with them while
on the go."
Today's announcement is another example of how Cingular Wireless and
Yahoo! continue to bring innovative messaging products to the wireless
community. In May 2003, the companies announced the launch of PC-to-Mobile
IM, which enabled Cingular Wireless customers to have two-way conversations
with PC users using text messaging. Yahoo! also recently launched an extensive
suite of information applications through Cingular's MEdia Net service,
including e-mail, mapping, games, news, and weather. Today's announcement
enhances the instant messaging experience for consumers by extending the
messaging capabilities of the Yahoo! Messenger service from customers' PCs to
their wireless phones.
Cingular Wireless selected Comverse's next-generation Mobile Instant
Messaging solution to power this new service, as it gives the user the ability
to connect to their friends and family anytime, from virtually anywhere.
Users now have access to existing desktop Instant Messaging services from the
convenience of their phones, greatly enhancing the fun that can be had with a
mobile phone.
Availability
To access Yahoo! Messenger, customers can download the Cingular Mobile IM
application -- in the IM and Chat section of Cingular's MEdia Net -- to their
wireless phones at http://www.cingular.com/media/instant_yahoo . The
application is currently available for the Motorola V400 and V600 phones, and
will be available on additional handsets soon.
Pricing
There is no charge for the Cingular Mobile IM application except for
transport charges during the download process. Cingular customers pay $0.10
each time they send and receive a mobile instant message, or they can sign up
for a Text/Instant Messaging package, where messages can be sent and received
for as little as $0.02 each. Cingular customers are never charged airtime or
kilobytes for logging into the IM application on their phone to send/receive
messages. For more information on Cingular's Text/Instant Messaging packages,
visit http://www.cingular.com/textnow .
About Cingular Wireless
Cingular Wireless, a joint venture between SBC Communications (NYSE: SBC)
and BellSouth (NYSE: BLS), serves more than 25 million voice and data
customers across the United States. A leader in mobile voice and data
communications, Cingular is the only U.S. wireless carrier to offer
Rollover(SM), the wireless plan that lets customers keep their unused monthly
minutes. Cingular is the largest provider of GSM services in the United
States, and has a 100 percent digital GSM/GPRS footprint across its service
area. It also launched the world's first commercial deployment of wireless
services using Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) technology.
Cingular also provides corporate e-mail and other advanced data services
through its GPRS, EDGE and Mobitex packet data networks. Details of the
company are available at http://www.cingular.com . Get Cingular Wireless press
releases e-mailed to you automatically. Sign up
at http://www.cingular.com/newsroom .
About Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. is a leading provider of comprehensive online products and
services to consumers and businesses worldwide. Yahoo! is the No. 1 Internet
brand globally and the most trafficked Internet destination worldwide.
Headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., Yahoo!'s global network includes 25 world
properties and is available in 13 languages.
Yahoo! and the Yahoo! logo are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of
Yahoo! Inc. All other names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of
their respective owners.
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