Thumbplay News

Recognized as most effective direct-to-consumer service in the world



NEW YORK – May 9, 2008 – At the fifth annual Meffys awards gala held last night, Thumbplay®, the #1 mobile entertainment content service in the U.S.*, was named winner of the 2008 Meffys Award for "Off Deck Services." The award was accepted by Thumbplay’s CEO and founder, Are Traasdahl, at a special gala dinner in Cannes, France during the Mobile Entertainment Forum’s official annual event, Mobile Entertainment Market (MeM) 2008.

Now in their fifth year, the Meffys, which are held in association with Nokia, are judged by national media and leading trade journalists and analysts, and have developed a reputation as the industry’s most fiercely contested prizes. As the industry’s official benchmark for measuring success and rewarding innovative products and services that are entertaining consumers on the go, the Meffys recognize and honor the most influential mobile entertainment players from around the world. Over the years, the industry’s most coveted awards have recognized the global brands, dynamic start-ups and visionary individuals who have helped shape the mobile entertainment industry.

For the "Off Deck Services" category, judges were asked to look for services that created added value and choice for consumers. Criteria included those services which have extended choice for mobile consumers, proven high consumer awareness and adoption and demonstrated both the increasing success of the mobile entertainment industry and evidence of return usage by consumers. This award category was introduced this year in recognition of the industry’s efforts to offer consumers value for money and easy access to a wide choice of mobile entertainment.

"The global diversity of our competition in this category clearly proves that the global mobile entertainment industry is maturing," said Traasdahl. "In a year that saw a record number of entries representing 21 countries, we are most honored to be recognized as the most effective direct-to-consumer mobile entertainment service in the world for our efforts to keep U.S. consumers entertained."

"A focus on discoverability, interactivity, usability and affordability were the common strands shared by this year’s winners," said Rimma Perelmuter, MEF Executive Director. " Above all, the companies selected by the Meffys judges clearly focused on putting the consumer first; attracting and entertaining subscribers though a variety of appealing offerings including innovative new ad-supported, communities and subscription-based models."

With more than 80,000 pieces of mobile entertainment content under license, including ringtones, wallpapers, games, videos, voice tones and text-based services, Thumbplay has built a strong consumer following and gained broad recognition as a leader in the direct-to-consumer mobile content space. During the last quarter of 2007, Thumbplay announced deals to integrate its mobile entertainment content catalog into the Web and mobile portals of AOL and MSN Mobile, as well as iLike, one of the Web’s leading social music discovery services.

Earlier this year, Thumbplay signed a digital distribution agreement to add content from Sony BMG Music Entertainment’s artists to Thumbplay’s already diverse mobile entertainment catalog, as well as to roll out mobile content stores on the Web sites for Entertainment Tonight, A&E Network, The History Channel and The Biography Channel, as well as more than 650 of Clear Channel Radio’s local music, news and sports stations throughout the U.S.

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Largest Radio Company Adds Mobile Content to Boost Local Sites

NEW YORK – March 24, 2008 – Thumbplay®, the largest and fastest growing mobile entertainment content service in the U.S. (Nielsen Mobile, Q3 and Q4 2007), today announced a relationship with Clear Channel Radio to roll out customized mobile content stores across more than 650 of its local music stations’ Web sites, plus several more news and sports stations, throughout 2008.

Thumbplay’s content is contextually featured in areas including the ‘Just Played’ box and ‘Top 20 On Demand’ lists on all participating local radio stations’ home pages. In addition, links to the mobile content store are found in the ‘Last 10 Played’ playlist on each site. This enables listeners who like songs heard on these stations to purchase them as ringtones for more than 2,000 supported handsets across all major U.S. wireless carriers.

Thumbplay’s mobile content stores have already launched on more than 100 stations’ Web sites across the country, including those in such large metropolitan markets as Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Dallas, Boston, Washington, DC, Atlanta and Houston. Among the first stations to launch the new mobile content stores are KIIS-FM 102.7 (www.kiisfm.com), Los Angeles’ #1 hit music station (Contemporary Hit Radio), WJRR-FM Real Rock 101 (www.wjrr.com) in Orlando (Rock) and WGCI-FM 107.5 (www.wgci.com), Chicago’s #1 station for Hip-Hop and R&B (Urban).

As part of the integration, each radio station site will host a customized store featuring format-appropriate mobile content. Thumbplay also developed a customizable widget allowing DJs at each station to choose their favorite ringtones and update those selections themselves online.

“Many of our listeners first discover their favorite songs on radio,” said Larry Linietsky, Vice President of Business & Product Development for Clear Channel Online Music & Radio. “We can now connect the dots by delivering a broad selection of mobile content, including exclusive station-created ringtones and graphics, right to our listeners via our stations’ websites.”

“For radio stations, the discovery of relevant mobile content, whether ringtones or music videos, is a natural extension of the listener experience,” said Are Traasdahl, Thumbplay’s CEO and founder. “Thumbplay gives radio stations and their personalities the ability to sell mobile content and to quickly tap into new revenue while requiring minimal resources for implementation.”

With more than 80,000 pieces of mobile entertainment content under license, including ringtones, wallpapers, games, videos, voice tones and text-based services, Thumbplay has built a strong consumer following and gained broad recognition as a leader in the direct-to-consumer mobile content space.

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 Traasdahl and Evan 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.

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Funding to Accelerate Growth, Extension of Product Offering and International Expansion

NEW YORK – March 17, 2008 – Thumbplay® (www.thumbplay.com), the #1 mobile entertainment content service in the U.S.*, today announced that it has raised $18 million in new capital through a Series E round that was led by Brookside Capital Partners, the public equity affiliate of Bain Capital, and Cross Creek Capital, a private equity affiliate of Wasatch Advisors.

"The high quality of our new investors is very significant, since both typically invest in companies which offer opportunities to realize substantial long-term capital appreciation," said Are Traasdahl, Thumbplay's CEO and founder. "This is a testament to Thumbplay's ongoing success."

Thumbplay plans to use the new capital to expand its direct-to-consumer product offerings, in addition to further developing the tools it provides content owners, creators, publishers and brand marketers. The company also plans to accelerate its strategic growth plans and to expand internationally in 2008 to meet the growing demand for mobile entertainment content around the world, including the possibility of identifying potential acquisitions that will help advance its leadership position in the worldwide mobile content industry.

“Thumbplay’s unique off-deck model for selling a wide variety of mobile entertainment content to consumers has already proven to be very successful here in the U.S. and we’re now ready to extend the positive customer experience we already deliver to the millions of mobile consumers all around the world,” added Traasdahl.

With more than 80,000 pieces of mobile entertainment content under license, including ringtones, wallpapers, games, videos, voice tones and text-based services, Thumbplay has built a strong consumer following and gained broad recognition as a leader in the direct-to-consumer mobile content space.


During the last quarter of 2007, Thumbplay announced deals to integrate its mobile entertainment content catalog into the Web and mobile portals of AOL and MSN Mobile, as well as iLike, one of the Web’s leading social music discovery services. Earlier this year, Thumbplay signed a digital distribution agreement to add content from Sony BMG Music Entertainment’s artists to Thumbplay’s already diverse mobile entertainment content catalog.

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 Traasdahl and Evan 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.

About Brookside Capital Partners & Bain Capital
Brookside Capital Partners is an investment fund affiliated with Bain Capital (http://www.baincapital.com), a leading global private investment firm with approximately $60 billion in assets under management. Formed in 1996, Brookside invests across a broad spectrum of industries including media and telecom, healthcare, consumer, industrial and financial services. Each investment is based on fundamental analysis of the company's business by professionals who are sector focused. Headquartered in Boston, Bain Capital has offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo, New York, London, and Munich.

About Wasatch Advisors®
Founded in 1975, Salt Lake City based Wasatch Advisors is an employee-owned investment adviser with roughly $7 billion under management. Wasatch Advisors is the investment adviser to Wasatch Funds®, a family of no-load mutual funds, as well as separately managed institutional and individual portfolios. Wasatch Advisors pursues a disciplined approach to investing, focused on bottom-up, fundamental analysis vetted through a uniquely collaborative Multiple Eyes™ process to leverage the knowledge and skill of the entire Wasatch Advisors research team.

About Cross Creek Capital®
Wasatch Advisors’ private equity affiliate, Cross Creek Capital, is a venture capital fund focused on late-stage private equity investments in what it believes are the best-of-breed public companies of the future. Wasatch Advisors’ experience in evaluating small public companies gives it unique insight into evaluating late-stage private companies. Cross Creek Capital leverages the knowledge and skill of the broader Wasatch Advisors research team in its investment decisions.

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Deal Makes Ringtones, Music Videos and More from Major Record LabelAvailable on More Than 2,000 Wireless Handsets and Devices

NEW YORK – February 21, 2008 – Thumbplay® (www.thumbplay.com), the largest and fastest growing mobile entertainment content destination in the U.S. (Nielsen Mobile, Q3 and Q4 2007), today announced it has signed a new digital distribution agreement with SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT, one of the world's leading global music companies, to add more than 7,000 pieces of content from SONY BMG’s artists to Thumbplay’s already diverse mobile entertainment content catalog.

Through this relationship, Thumbplay’s more than 4 million unique consumers will be able to access ringtones, music videos, wallpaper, voice clips and mobile games from SONY BMG’s extensive artist rosters, which include some of the greatest superstars of today, as well as some of the most important and influential recordings in history.

“The popular artists signed with SONY BMG’s labels are a compelling addition to the Thumbplay catalog,” said Are Traasdahl, Thumbplay’s CEO and founder. “This deal reinforces Thumbplay’s position as the leading U.S. provider of mobile content to consumers who are looking to discover and manage their personalized mobile entertainment experience.”

With more than 80,000 pieces of mobile entertainment content under license, including ringtones, wallpapers, games, videos, voice tones and text-based services, Thumbplay has built a strong consumer following and gained broad recognition as a leader in the direct-to-consumer mobile content space. During the last quarter of 2007, Thumbplay announced deals to integrate its mobile entertainment content catalog into the Web and mobile portals of AOL and MSN Mobile, as well as iLike and Qloud, two of the Web’s leading social music discovery services.

About SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT

SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT is a global recorded music joint venture with a roster of current artists that includes a broad array of both local artists and international superstars, as well as a vast catalog that comprises some of the most important recordings in history. SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT is 50% owned by Bertelsmann A.G. and 50% owned by Sony Corporation of America.

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 Traasdahl and Evan Schwartz. It is backed by Bain Capital Ventures, SoftBank Capital, i-Hatch Ventures, Redwood Partners, New Enterprise Associates and Meritech. More information can be found at www.thumbplay.com.

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Recognized for game-changing strategies in advertising, marketing, and promotion of mobile entertainment content to U.S. consumers

NEW YORK, January 22, 2008– Thumbplay® (www.thumbplay.com), the largest and fastest growing mobile entertainment content destination in the U.S. (Nielsen Mobile, Q3 2007), today announced that it has been chosen by AlwaysOn as one of the OnMedia 100 winners. The OnMedia 100 signifies the top emerging technology companies that are creating new business opportunities in the creation of marketing tools, services, venues, and advertising, branding, and public relation campaigns. Thumbplay was specially selected as one of the top digital media, marketing, and advertising companies by the AlwaysOn editorial team and other industry experts spanning the globe, based on a set of five criteria: innovation, market potential, commercialization, stakeholder value, and media buzz.

Thumbplay and the other OnMedia 100 Top Private Companies will be honored at the OnMedia conference scheduled to occur on January 28-30, 2008 at The Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York City. This two-and-a-half day executive event will feature technology CEOs from Silicon Valley leading presentations and high-level debates with the global advertising and media establishment, about disrupting user behavior and creating new opportunities in the worlds of media, advertising, marketing, branding, and public relations.

Fifty of the top CEOs from the OnMedia 100, including Thumbplay's CEO and founder, Are Traasdahl, will present their market strategies to a panel of industry experts in a "CEO Showcase."

"The OnMedia 100 winners have excelled in key strategic areas in the advertising, marketing, public relations, and promotion industry," said Tony Perkins, founder and CEO of AlwaysOn. "We congratulate them for their success in introducing new tools, services, and venues for marketers to have at their fingertips and for use to take their business to the next level in innovation."

The OnMedia 100 was selected from over hundreds of companies, nominated by a panel of industry experts in the online ad service, technology, community platform, mobile advertising, marketing, and Web analytic sectors from around the world.

With more than 75,000 pieces of mobile entertainment content under license, including ringtones, wallpapers, games, videos, voice tones and text-based services, Thumbplay has built a strong consumer following and gained broad recognition as a leader in the direct-to-consumer mobile content space. During the last quarter of 2007, Thumbplay announced deals to integrate its mobile entertainment content catalog into the Web and mobile portals of AOL and MSN Mobile, as well as iLike and Qloud, two of the Web's leading social music discovery services.

A full list of all the OnMedia 100 winners can be found on the AlwaysOn Web site at http://www.alwayson.goingon.com.

"We're pleased that Thumbplay's extremely successful model for the direct-to-consumer marketing of mobile entertainment content has been recognized by AlwaysOn," said Are Traasdahl, Thumbplay's CEO and founder. "I share this award with the rest of our management team, which has leveraged its track record of building significant businesses in mobile, online, media and technology sectors to provide millions of U.S. consumers with the best available mobile entertainment content discovery experience."

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 (OnMedia NYC, Venture Summit East and West, OnHollywood, The Broadband Digital, Stanford Summit, and GoingGreen) and quarterly print "blogozine". No other media brand has dared to create such open interaction with its readers and event participants.

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 Traasdahl and Evan Schwartz. It is backed by Bain Capital Ventures, SoftBank Capital, i-Hatch Ventures, Redwood Partners, New Enterprise Associates and Meritech. More information can be found at www.thumbplay.com.

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Qloud's first mobile entertainment content partner to extend music discovery to cell phones

NEW YORK & WASHINGTON, DC ? December 20, 2007 ? Qloud (www.qloud.com), a social music service that allows users to listen to music inside of social networks, and Thumbplay® (www.thumbplay.com), the largest and fastest growing mobile entertainment content destination in the U.S. (Nielsen Mobile, Q3 2007), today announced a partnership to contextually feature Thumbplay's ringtones throughout each deployment of Qloud's My Music application. This deal will allow users across a range of social networks to discover, purchase and download ringtones to more than 2,000 supported and compatible mobile phones.

The Qloud My Music application is a revolutionary music service that delivers online music to users how they want it – unlimited, on-demand and linked to their personal music libraries – and where they want it – inside social networks where they can share music with and discover it through their friends. Through its agreement with Thumbplay, the Qloud My Music application will soon feature “Buy this ringtone” links alongside links to iTunes® and YouTube on song, artist, album and playlist pages. As a result, users can personalize their cell phones with their favorite ringtones and reflect their unique tastes in music.

“We selected Thumbplay as our first mobile entertainment content provider, as it delivers a broad and deep catalog of content that will enable Qloud My Music users to extend their enthusiasm about the social music experience to their cell phones,” said Mike Lewis, co-founder of Qloud. “Thumbplay’s ability to offer ringtones regardless of users’ wireless carrier or mobile phone is consistent with our commitment to connecting consumers with music wherever they want it.”

“Qloud’s My Music application has successfully captured a significant slice of the social music experience, making them a key partner in our efforts to connect users of social networks with mobile entertainment content,” said Are Traasdahl, Thumbplay’s CEO and co-founder. “Qloud’s efficiency in recreating the My Music experience across a range of social networks provides us with a unique platform for promoting ringtones and other mobile entertainment content.”

With more than 75,000 pieces of mobile entertainment content under license, including ringtones, wallpapers, games, videos, voice tones and text-based services, Thumbplay has built a strong consumer following and gained broad recognition as a leader in the direct-to-consumer mobile content space.

By simply installing the Qloud My Music application, consumers can immediately see and play entire songs and videos from their complete iTunes libraries inside of a range of social networks. My Music also allows users to see and play online the iTunes libraries of their friends, view and exchange playlists with their friends, browse and play the most popular songs among their friends and social groups, and add their friends’ songs to their own online libraries. Over two million registered users across several social networks have recorded 300 million plays in the last four months.

About Qloud
Qloud delivers the music experience that consumers want – unlimited, on-demand content – where consumers want it – inside their social networks where they can discover and share music with their friends. Over two million registered users across three social networks have recorded 300 million plays in the last four months. The company’s investors and directors include Revolution Chairman and CEO Steve Case and former AOL, Yahoo!, Warner Music Group, EMI Music, and Island Records music executives. For more information visit www.qloud.com.

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 Traasdahl and Evan Schwartz. It is backed by Bain Capital Ventures, SoftBank Capital, i-Hatch Ventures, Redwood Partners, New Enterprise Associates and Meritech. More information can be found at www.thumbplay.com.

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15+ Million iLike Members Can Purchase Ringtones for Their Cell Phones

NEW YORK, December 6, 2007 – Thumbplay® (www.thumbplay.com), the largest and fastest growing mobile entertainment content destination in the U.S. (Nielsen Mobile, Q3 2007), today announced an exclusive partnership with iLike (www.ilike.com), the Web’s leading social music discovery service. Thumbplay’s ringtones are now contextually featured throughout iLike.com and the iLike application on Facebook® Platform (www.facebook.com), allowing users to discover, purchase and download ringtones to more than 2,000 supported and compatible mobile phones. iLike plans to extend its contextual integration of Thumbplay’s catalog into additional social platforms that have announced support for Google OpenSocial, such as Bebo, hi5, MySpace, orkut and Ning.

Across iLike, “Get ringtone” links to Thumbplay are now featured alongside links to iTunes® in every relevant song module on artist, album and song pages, as well as users’ shared playlists. Similar links are incorporated into the iLike Challenge, so users can discover and purchase ringtones of songs played in the game.

With its soaring popularity among Facebook users, iLike is the Web’s fastest-growing music service, with more than 15 million users worldwide and adding millions more each month. Additional sites that have committed to supporting OpenSocial represent an audience of 200 million users globally that may be exposed to Thumbplay’s mobile entertainment content as iLike expands into these new platforms.

“With the addition of Thumbplay ringtone links, iLike has just expanded our music discovery features to include also a fantastic ringtone-discovery experience,” said Ali Partovi, CEO of iLike. “As the mobile entertainment content industry leader, Thumbplay delivers the broadest and deepest catalog of content to our 15 million registered users, so they can now take their music with them as ringtones regardless of which carrier or phone they’re using.“

“It is clear from iLike’s rapid growth that consumers love discovering and sharing new music with their friends,” said Are Traasdahl, Thumbplay’s CEO and founder. “By pairing with iLike, we’re enabling their consumers to extend the social music experience to their mobile phones.”

With more than 75,000 pieces of mobile entertainment content under license, including ringtones, wallpapers, games, videos, voice tones and text-based services, Thumbplay has built a strong consumer following and gained broad recognition as a leader in the direct-to-consumer mobile content space.

About iLike, inc
iLike is the Web's leading social music discovery service and the dominant music application on the Facebook Platform. With more than 15 million registered users, iLike helps people share music recommendations, playlists, and personalized concert alerts. The iLike Sidebar for iTunes and Windows Media Player suggests new music, creates automatic playlists, and connects people through music. iLike offers musicians and labels a Universal Artist Dashboard from which to reach fans and manage their presence across multiple channels: Facebook, iLike.com, Ask.com, iLike Sidebar plugins for iTunes and Windows Media Player (and soon, through adoption of Google OpenSocial, also Myspace, Bebo, orkut, hi5, Ning, and other leading social networking sites). By leveraging iLike's "artist-fan graph," a vast database of connections between consumers and their favorite artists, iLike helps artists reach their fans and cultivate the viral spread of their music. iLike, inc also runs indie music site GarageBand.com.

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 Traasdahl and Evan Schwartz. It is backed by Bain Capital Ventures, SoftBank Capital, i-Hatch Ventures, Redwood Partners, New Enterprise Associates and Meritech. More information can be found at www.thumbplay.com.

Facebook® is a registered trademark of Facebook Inc. iTunes® is a registered trademark of Apple Inc. Windows Media Player® is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corp. Google, orkut, and OpenSocial are trademarks of Google Inc.

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Exclusive Alliance Extends MSN Mobile Users' Access to Ringtones, Graphics, Games and Videos

NEW YORK, December 10, 2007 - Thumbplay® (www.thumbplay.com), the largest and fastest growing mobile entertainment content destination in the U.S. (Nielsen Mobile, Q3 2007), today announced it will provide ringtones, wallpaper, games and video clips to MSN Mobile, the mobile portal of the MSN online network (msn.com), which is visited by more than 120 million unique monthly visitors in the U.S. (comScore Media Metrix, October 2007).

Thumbplay's premium mobile content will be integrated within the MSN Mobile (mobile.msn.com) web and WAP portals. Through Thumbplay's contextual integration on these sites, visitors can easily purchase and download relevant ringtones, wallpapers, games and video clips over-the-air to over 2,000 supported handsets, including 16 unique Windows Mobile-based devices.

"Our alliance with Thumbplay allows MSN Mobile to quickly increase our content offering to a rapidly growing mobile customer base," said Sam Klepper, general manager at MSN. "Thumbplay's extensive catalogue of mobile entertainment content fits well with our customers' interests."

"We think this relationship allows Thumbplay to innovate and grow as a mobile entertainment content industry leader across the platforms that deliver the best mobile experiences to the world's savviest online users," said Are Traasdahl, Thumbplay's CEO and founder. "We're happy to offer MSN Mobile users access to more than 50,000 pieces of mobile entertainment content including ringtones, wallpapers, games, videos, voice tones and text-based services."

Thumbplay and MSN Mobile worked in tandem to help ensure the maximum amount of content and purchasing options are available to users across the most carriers and handsets. Thumbplay ensures that Alltel, AT&T Wireless, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless subscribers can purchase content across their wireless networks, while navigation provides MSN co-branding and easy access back to the MSN Mobile portal.

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 2005 by Are Traasdahl and Evan Schwartz. It is backed by Bain Capital Ventures, SoftBank Capital, i-Hatch Ventures, Redwood Partners, New Enterprise Associates and Meritech. More information can be found at www.thumbplay.com.

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Leading Mobile Entertainment Destination to Offer CinemaElectric's Unique Content to Millions of Consumers

LOS ANGELES, October 30, 2007– CinemaElectric, Inc. (OTCBB: CINM.PK), a world leader in mobile video programming, and Thumbplay, Inc., the largest and fastest growing mobile entertainment content destination in the U.S., today announced the addition of CinemaElectric's ("CE") video and multimedia content to Thumbplay's extensive catalog of mobile entertainment offerings. The content deal with Thumbplay – the leading mobile entertainment destination in the U.S. with more than four million visitors per month – significantly expands CE's growing direct-to-consumer (D2C) distribution network.

Worldwide, CE is carried on a growing number of D2C sites, as well as 90 carriers in 50 countries, including Europe, Asia and Latin America.

"Partnering with on e of the leading direct-to-consumer players in the U.S. has the potential to increase our audience exponentially – so we're thrilled with this partnership." said Adam Levin, CEO of CinemaElectric. "With one of the broadest and deepest catalogs and most unique brands in the mobile content industry, we look forward to making our form of 'snack entertainment' available to Thumbplay's wide audience, regardless of which wireless carrier and mobile device they use."

Thumbplay will feature CE's signature channels Smashbrain™, PORTABLE HOLLYWOOD™, and Mobile Laugh Network. The original content is produced by CE's internal creative teams, who have a keen understanding of the mobile "third" screen.

Smashbrain™, CE's men's lifestyle network, features the hottest extreme sports and ringside fighting action, new games and gadgets, poker tips and Vegas lifestyle, the best stand-up and viral comedy, as well as the always popular Smashbrain™ Girls of the Month.

PORTABLE HOLLYWOOD™ brings the entertainment capital of the world directly to the palm of your hand. The hottest celebrities, movies, parties, music and bizarre Hollywood happenings are highlighted alongside exclusive interviews and behind the scenes clips.

Mobile Laugh Network gathers the best professionally-produced comedy, premiere stand-up acts, user-generated comedy, and the hottest web sensations for a truly unique flavor of mobile comedy.

About CinemaElectric, Inc.
Founded in 1999, CinemaElectric is the world leader in "made for mobile" programming. As a producer and distributor of award-winning, mobile video and multimedia content, CinemaElectric programming is seen on 90 carriers in more than 50 countries throughout North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia.

Based in Los Angeles, CinemaElectric's production studio and editing facilities are optimized for mobile and staffed by an experienced team from the entertainment and wireless industries who understand the "third screen" like no one else. CinemaElectric is a top producer of original and branded content for mobile, broadband, VOD (video on demand) and satellite radio platforms.

CinemaElectric, Inc. is a publicly held wireless service company (OTCBB:CINM.PK). More information can be found at www.cinemaelectric.com

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 Traasdahl and Evan Schwartz. It is backed by Bain Capital Ventures, SoftBank Capital, i-Hatch Ventures, Redwood Partners, New Enterprise Associates and Meritech. More information can be found at www.thumbplay.com.

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on CinemaElectric?s management's current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties and changes in circumstances. All forward-looking statements included in this press release are based upon information available to CinemaElectric as of the date of the press release, and it assumes no obligation to update or alter its forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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Partnership Extends Users' Online Entertainment Experience to Mobile Devices

NEW YORK, October 22, 2007 - Thumbplay® (www.thumbplay.com), the largest and fastest growing mobile entertainment destination in the U.S., today announced that it is the exclusive provider for ringtones and other mobile content across the AOL network, which reaches 114 million unique visitors a month in the U.S. (comScore, Q2 2007).

AOL will integrate Thumbplay's content throughout AOL® Music, AOL® Games, the AIM® instant messaging service, Winamp, and Spinner. Through Thumbplay's contextual integration on these sites, visitors can easily register their mobile phone and download relevant ringtones, wallpapers, games and mobile video over-the-air to their mobile devices.

In conjunction with integration across AOL's entertainment and communications-focused properties, Thumbplay content is also integrated within the new AOL Mobile online destination (http://mobile.aol.com) which provides consumers with information on handset-specific content and services. Thumbplay will also provide expanded content integration into AOL's mobile search engine. Thumbplay enables contextual relevance via XML feeds, hosted API's and an experience branded for AOL, so that links on U2 pages point to U2-specific mobile content.

"We are pleased to provide access to Thumbplay's extensive catalog of mobile entertainment content to the millions of unique visitors to AOL's popular online properties," said Scott Falconer, Executive Vice President, AOL Mobile. "We also look forward to seeing how AOL Mobile's products can extend and enhance Thumbplay's mobile community, content sharing and communications capabilities throughout Thumbplay.com."

"This deal is defining for Thumbplay," said Are Traasdahl, Thumbplay's CEO and founder. I'm pleased to say that this reinforces Thumbplay's position as the leading U.S. provider of mobile content to consumers who are looking to discover mobile content, manage it, and share their personalized mobile entertainment experience with others."

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 2005 by Are Traasdahl and Evan Schwartz. It is backed by Bain Capital Ventures, SoftBank Capital, i-Hatch Ventures, Redwood Partners, New Enterprise Associates and Meritech. More information can be found at www.thumbplay.com.

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THUMBPLAY PARTNERS WITH UNIVERSAL PICTURES AND I-PLAY TO ADD POPULAR MOVIE CLIPS TO MOBILE VIDEO OFFERING

Mobile Consumers Can Now Download Clips from King Kong, The Bourne Identity and The 40-Year-Old Virgin

NEW YORK, October 16, 2007 – Thumbplay® (www.thumbplay.com), the largest and fastest growing mobile entertainment content destination in the U.S., today announced an agreement with Universal Pictures and I-play, the mobile entertainment company, to bring nearly 100 clips from new and classic blockbuster movies to mobile users. Additional clips will become available later in the year.

Thumbplay customers can now take the best clips, exclusively edited for mobile, from Universal Pictures' extensive film archive with them on their mobile devices, including:

• The epic battle between the Roman Legion and an army of German barbarians from Gladiator;


• Jason Bourne in an old Mini Cooper leading police on a wild chase from The Bourne Identity;


• The climactic showdown of man and beast at the top of the Empire State Building in King Kong;


• A giant phantom cloud of sand pursuing an airplane across the desert in The Mummy;


• Steve Carell getting his chest waxed, one agonizing inch at a time, in The 40-Year-Old Virgin;


• The classic food fight scene from Animal House.

The collection also includes classic content from The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, all three films from The Fast and the Furious franchise and more than a dozen other popular classic movies.

"We are very excited about this great line-up of movie content we can now offer our customers," said Are Traasdahl, Thumbplay's CEO and founder. "Our partnership with I-play and Universal enables us to expand our already extensive catalog of video and to continue delighting and surprising the millions of consumers who visit our site each month with the broadest content and best entertainment experience."

"This strategic partnership enables Universal to further extend its reach within the burgeoning mobile space, offering users many of the best and most memorable scenes ever captured on film," said Jeremy Laws, Senior Vice President of Universal Mobile Entertainment. "The Thumbplay portal is extremely user friendly, making it very simple for the fans of our films to instantly access their favorite iconic moments on their mobile phones."

With more than 70,000 pieces of mobile entertainment content under license, including ringtones, wallpapers, games, videos, voice tones and text-based services, Thumbplay has built a strong consumer following and gained broad recognition as a leader in the direct-to-consumer mobile content space.

About I-play
I-play brings the best in mobile entertainment to an audience of over one billion people via a network of more than 120 carriers worldwide. I-play has been creating mobile games since 1998 and continues to spearhead the creation of mobile entertainment for the next generation.

I-play is a wholly owned subsidiary of Oberon Media, the world's leading casual games company. Oberon's Game Centre platform, is the industry standard and has been adopted by many of the world's largest corporations. The platform combines casual game content, merchandizing and features to fulfill each partner's specific needs. Oberon Media's publishing arm works with the industry's best, award-winning game developers to produce the top-selling casual games, which can be played in more than a dozen languages on PC, web-based, mobile and console platforms.

Founded in 2003, Oberon Media is headquartered in New York, with offices in North America, Europe and Asia.

For more information visit us at http://www.iplay.com.

I-play is a trademark and trading name of Digital Bridges Limited.

About Universal Pictures Digital Platforms Group
Universal Pictures Digital Platforms (UPDPG) is responsible for global digital product development, production, licensing, distribution, and growth strategy for the extensive catalogue of Universal's properties across new and emerging digital platforms, including mobile, video game consoles, personal computers, and other portable devices. With a worldwide mandate to help shape the digital future of Universal Pictures, the Group has offices in Universal City, California; London, England; and Tokyo, Japan.

Universal Pictures Digital Platforms Group is a unit of Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Universal Pictures. Universal Pictures is a division of NBC Universal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. Formed in May 2004 through the combining of NBC and Vivendi Universal Entertainment, NBC Universal owns and operates a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group, and world-renowned theme parks. NBC Universal is 80% owned by General Electric and 20% owned by Vivendi.

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 Traasdahl and Evan Schwartz. It is backed by Bain Capital Ventures, SoftBank Capital, i-Hatch Ventures, Redwood Partners, New Enterprise Associates and Meritech. More information can be found at www.thumbplay.com.

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Top Private Companies to Join Established Players for Unique Bay Area Event

SAN FRANCISCO, August 27, 2007 - Dealmaker Media, creators of the Under the Radar conferences, today announced the participating companies in its second-annual Momentum Growth Conference to be held October 4, 2007 at the Microsoft Campus in Mountain View, Calif., from 8:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. The "Momentum 15" companies receiving this distinction include social communities, publishers, virtual worlds, mobile applications, and internet-based service players on the brink of changing the landscape within their respective markets.

This year's Momentum companies are Bebo, Blurb, Gaia Online, Hi5, Imeem, IMVU, Jingle Networks, Kayak, Meebo, RockYou, Slide, Sugar Publishing, TheLadders, Thumbplay, and Video Egg.

"The Momentum Growth Conference includes a who's who of cutting-edge companies with real customers, real revenues, and real partnerships," Debbie Landa, CEO of Dealmaker Media, said. "Dealmaker Media's selection process this year was a serious responsibility given our winning track record with last year's honorees."

Success stories from the 2006 Momentum Growth Conference include Facebook, which turned down a reported $1 billion offer from Yahoo!; Photobucket, which News Corp. acquired for $300 million, Blinkx, which Autonomy acquired and launched publicly; and Glu Mobile, which went public to raise $84 million for a total market cap of more than $320 million.

This year, Ellen McGirt, senior writer from Fast Company, the official media partner of the Momentum Growth Conference, will interview the Momentum Company of the Year and lead a panel on business models that drive momentum. Sterling Communications, Inc., the public relations sponsor of the conference, will be hosting the pressroom and facilitate interviews with other top- tier publications.

For their part, the companies chosen to participate see their selection as a significant tribute.

"The RockYou team is honored to be acknowledged as a Momentum Growth company," Lance Tokuda, CEO of RockYou, said. "This event will enable us to interact and exchange ideas with many prominent industry thinkers and innovative technology companies."

"It's an honor to be recognized as a Momentum Growth company," Craig Sherman, Gaia Online CEO, said. "I am looking forward to talking about some of the exciting partnerships Gaia Online has recently entered in to bringing new customizable immersive experiences for our over 2.5 million active users."

Also in attendance will be 300 other dealmakers including CEOs, investment bankers, venture capitalists, industry analysts, and members of the press. The conference will feature discussions between key industry players and the Momentum 15 companies as well as presentations from the "Ones to Watch," the industry's rising stars who will showcase their newest products and latest technologies.

Conference Program in 2007:
The one-day conference will feature interviews, panel discussions, and presentations featuring key industry players, Momentum companies, and the Ones to Watch. Session topics include:

• How I Got Mo' (an interview with the Momentum Company of the Year)


• The Market Is the Middle: The Anti-Long Tail


• Business Models that Drive Momentum


• What Advertisers Want, What Businesses Need


• Partnerships: Relying on the Kindness of Strangers


• Thinking Outside the Bubble

Sponsors of the Momentum Growth Conference include Fast Company, Manatt, Microsoft, SAP, Sterling Communications, ThinkLondon, and TSX Venture Exchange. Peppercom is sponsoring Ones to Watch while Topix.net and Media River are sponsoring the VIP party immediately following the conference program. An updated schedule can be found at http://www.dealmakermedia.com/momentum_growth_conference.html.

About Dealmaker Media Dealmaker Media operates at the intersection of business, technology, venture capital, and the future. Our conferences, roundtables, blogs, and research are designed to inter-connect CEOs, technology executives, investors, analysts and press. Dealmaker Media brings dealmakers together with one ultimate goal: to get the deal done. For more information, visit http://www.dealmakermedia.com.

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Mobile Entertainment Site Pockets First-Ever Mobile Webby Award;
Also Voted People's Voice Winner

NEW YORK - May 2, 2007 - Thumbplay Inc., www.thumbplay.com, the leading provider of mobile entertainment, has received two Webby Awards in the Mobile Marketplace & Services category. The site was selected as the industry's best by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a 550-person judging academy, as well as the general public, whose votes determine the People's Voice award.

"We're thrilled that Thumbplay's commitment to the best content and user experience has been recognized by the Webby Awards, particularly as the first company to win a mobile award," said Are Traasdahl, Thumbplay founder and CEO. "As we offer wireless entertainment products to millions of consumers who visit our site each month, the People's Voice selection is particularly meaningful and is a testament to our dedicated community. In the coming months we will unveil new products and features that will create an even greater entertainment experience for Thumbplay fans."

Thumbplay has built a strong consumer following by offering premium mobile content including ringtones, games, wallpapers and animations. Thumbplay's content is available directly to consumers of all major carriers. In April, Thumbplay was also named an Official Honoree in the Webby's News & Entertainment category.

"The Webby Awards honors the outstanding work that is setting the standards for the Internet," said David-Michel Davies, executive director of The Webby Awards. "Thumbplay's winner selection is a testament to the skill, ingenuity, and vision of its creators."

Hailed as the "Oscars of the Internet" by The New York Times, The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet, including Web sites, Interactive Advertising, Online Film & Video, and Mobile Web sites. The awards are judged by the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences, a global organization that includes David Bowie, Harvey Weinstein, Arianna Huffington, Matt Groening, Jamie Oliver, Internet inventor Vinton Cerf and RealNetworks CEO Rob Glaser.

Thumbplay currently has more than 60,000 pieces of mobile entertainment content under license including ringtones, wallpapers, games and text-based services and has gained broad recognition as a leader in the direct-to-consumer mobile content space.

About Thumbplay:
Thumbplay, Inc., www.thumbplay.com, is a leading online retailer of mobile entertainment content. The company aggregates, promotes and delivers mobile content directly to members via Thumbplay.com. The site offers ringtones, wallpapers, games and text-based services through a membership-based, community experience. Thumbplay members have access to their own personal library of content through Thumbplay's content locker technology, ensuring they will always have access to their Thumbplay content. Thumbplay, headquartered in New York, was founded by CEO Are Traasdahl and CMO Evan Schwartz.

About The Webby Awards:
Hailed as the "Oscars of the Internet" by the New York Times, The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet, including Websites, Interactive Advertising, Online Film & Video, and Mobile Websites. Established in 1996, the 11th Annual Webby Awards received a record 8,000 entries from all 50 states and over 60 countries worldwide. The Webby Awards is presented by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. Sponsors and Partners of The Webby Awards include: Adobe; The Creative Group; Verizon; AOL Video; dotMobi; Level3; Adweek; Fortune; Reuters; Variety; Wired; IDG: Brightcove; PricewaterhouseCoopers; 2advanced.Net; KobeMail and Museum of the Moving Image.

About the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS):
The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences is dedicated to the creative, technical, and professional progress of the internet and interactive media. The Academy is an intellectually diverse organization that includes over 500 members consisting of leading experts in a diverse range of fields, such as musician David Bowie, Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, business guru and author Tom Peters, The Body Shop president Anita Roddick, fashion designer Max Azria, "Simpsons" creator Matt Groening and Real Networks CEO Rob Glaser. The Webby Awards and The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences are registered trademarks of International Data Group. For more information, visit www.iadas.net.

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Thumbplay Now Features Content From EMI Artists Including 30 Seconds to Mars, Bubba Sparxx, Coldplay, Fat Joe, Gorillaz and OK Go, among others

NEW YORK - January 31, 2007

Thumbplay Inc., www.thumbplay.com, a leading online retailer of mobile entertainment content, today announced an agreement with EMI Music, one of the world's leading music companies, to sell music from EMI's extensive portfolio of artists to mobile users. Members who sign up for Thumbplay's direct-to-consumer mobile content offering will have access to ringtones from EMI's vast catalog of current and catalogue artists, including 30 Seconds to Mars, Babyshambles, The Beach Boys, Beastie Boys, Dierks Bentley, Bubba Sparxx, Coldplay, Dem Franchize Boyz, Fat Joe, Gorillaz, Norah Jones, Lenny Kravitz, OK Go, Pink Floyd and Keith Urban.

"EMI Music has a tremendous catalogue of well-known and up-and-coming artists and we are thrilled to offer this access to our members," said Are Traasdahl, Thumbplay founder and CEO. "Coming off a very successful 2006, the agreement we have with EMI Music is the first of many new content agreements and product rollouts for Thumbplay in 2007."

Thumbplay members will have access to ringtones from EMI Music's extensive mobile catalog, including music from labels like Astralwerks, Blue Note, Capitol, Capitol Nashville, EMI Christian Music Group, EMI Televisa Music Manhattan and Virgin. Consumers can purchase content through both subscription and a la carte options, downloaded "over the air" directly to the consumer's handset, and billed directly to the consumer's carrier bill.

"EMI Music's goal is to give fans a way to connect with its artists and enjoy their music whenever, however and wherever they are," said Barney Wragg, Global Head of Digital, EMI Music. "Thumbplay is an excellent distribution platform because of its industry-leading customer service, credibility with consumers and innovative marketing efforts."

Thumbplay has more than 50,000 pieces of mobile entertainment content under license including ringtones, wallpapers, games and text-based services and has gained broad recognition as a leader in the direct-to-consumer mobile content space.

About Thumbplay

Thumbplay, Inc., www.thumbplay.com, is a leading online retailer of mobile entertainment content. The company aggregates, promotes and delivers mobile content directly to members via Thumbplay.com. The site offers ringtones, wallpapers, games and text-based services through a membership-based, community experience. Thumbplay members have access to their own personal library of content through Thumbplay's content locker technology, ensuring they will always have access to their Thumbplay content. Thumbplay, headquartered in New York, was founded by CEO Are Traasdahl and Executive Vice President, Marketing Evan Schwartz.

About EMI Music

EMI is one of the world's leading music companies, operating in 50 countries. Its EMI Music division represents around 1300 artists spanning all musical tastes and genres. Its record labels include Angel, Astralwerks, Blue Note, Capitol, Capitol Nashville, EMI Classics, EMI CMG, EMI Records, EMI Televisa Music, Manhattan, Mute, Parlophone and Virgin. For further information on EMI, please visit: www.emigroup.com.

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Hundreds of influential business leaders gathered to celebrate industry innovators Cushman & Wakefield gala corporate host sponsor

NEW YORK - November 7, 2006
Thumbplay (www.thumbplay.com) today announced that Founder and CEO Are Traasdahl has been named a winner of the New York Ten Awards, an annual selection of ten individuals and companies in the greater New York business community that display extraordinary innovation and leadership in their industry and beyond. Traasdahl has been honored with the "Best New Product or Service" award. Founded in late 2004, Thumbplay is now the leading retailer of mobile entertainment content and one of the fastest-growing sites on the Web. In the past two months, Thumbplay has announced content partnerships with the Walt Disney Internet Group and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Last week the company announced it has raised $15 million in new funding.

"I am deeply honored to win the Ten Award for the Best New Product or Service," said Are Traasdahl, CEO of Thumbplay. "Thumbplay has established itself as the top retailer of mobile entertainment content. It's a privilege that our dedication to the very best content and unparalleled customer experience have been recognized by the Ten Award committee."

The awards were presented Monday night at the Ten Awards Gala at Cipriani Wall Street, produced again by Empire Entertainment, Inc. Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard and author of the new book, Tough Choices, delivered the keynote remarks. Liz Claman, co-anchor of CNBC's Morning Call and author of the upcoming book, The Best Investment Advice I Ever Received, served as Master of Ceremonies. Cushman & Wakefield served as host sponsor of the gala, and 2004 Ten Award winner and Cushman & Wakefield President and CEO Bruce Mosler introduced Ms. Fiorina.

"We congratulate this year's winners, who are at the helm of the most prominent and emerging growth organizations, and salute them for bringing innovation, leadership, integrity, and community involvement to the forefront of the New York business community" said Robert Johnston, president of the Executive Council of New York. "These luminaries are leading by example and inspiring new standards of novel ideas and success."

Following is a complete list of the 2006 Ten Awards Winners:

Best New Product or Service: Are Traasdahl, Thumbplay and David Rose, Angelsoft LLC

Best Up and Comer: Jared Kushner, The New York Observer

Innovator of the Year: Jason Finger, SeamlessWeb

CEO of the Year: Jonathan Tisch, Loews Hotels

CIO of the Year: Jack Nelson, Mount Sinai Medical Center

CFO of the Year: David Turner, The Thomson Corporation - for his recent position as CFO, Thomson Financial

Marketer of the Year: John Hayes, American Express

Best Executive Team: Tim Armstrong, Penry Price and Craig Nevill-Manning, Google NY

Best International Non-Profit: Ami Nahshon, The Abraham Fund Initiatives

Dealmaker of the Year: Philip Falcone, Harbinger Capital Partners and Jonathan Gray, The Blackstone Group

Educator of the Year: Dr. Deborah Kenny, Village Academies

The Ten Awards finalists were drawn from open nominations submitted to the Executive Council of New York. Hundreds of nominations were screened and evaluated by a panel of judges comprised of prominent journalists from New York-based local and national business media outlets, and evaluated based on the individual's contributions to his or her organization's objectives and leadership; the organization's impact on business innovation, both in New York and nationally; and the individual's industry leadership beyond his or her organization.

For more information on the Ten Awards and the Executive Council of New York, please visit www.execcouncil.org.

Previous Ten Awards winners have included: Barry Sternlicht, CEO, Starwood Hotels; David Neeleman, CEO, JetBlue Airways; Jim McCann, CEO, 1800Flowers; Donna Iucolano, President, e-Scholastic; Sallie Krawcheck, CEO, Smith Barney (now CFO, Citigroup); Alan Patricof, Chairman, Apax Partners; Gordon Crovitz, President, Dow Jones; Shelby Bonnie, CEO, CNET Networks; Hossein Eslambolchi, President, AT&T Labs; Kumar Mahadeva, CEO, Cognizant; Martin Nisenholtz, CEO, New York Times Digital; Bruce Mosler, CEO, Cushman & Wakefield; Kevin Ryan, CEO, DoubleClick; Adam Moss, Editor in Chief, New York Magazine; Tim and Nina Zagat, Co-chairs, Zagat Survey.

About Thumbplay

Thumbplay Inc. is the leading online retailer of mobile entertainment content. The company aggregates, promotes and delivers mobile content directly to members via www.thumbplay.com. The site offers ringtones, wallpapers, games and text-based services through a membership-based, community experience. Thumbplay, headquartered in New York, was founded by CEO Are Traasdahl and Executive Vice President, Marketing Evan Schwartz.

About The Executive Council

The Executive Council is New York's premier business forum for senior executives, their advisors and capital markets professionals. Through its member base of 3,500 New York metro business leaders, the organization has built a reputation for highly acclaimed conferences, executive education programs and member-hosted gatherings that focus on critical business and leadership issues at the forefront of corporate America today. The Executive Council Corporate Members range from American Express, IBM and Microsoft to Sprint, Cushman & Wakefield, and McKinsey & Co. as well as many other large and emerging growth companies.

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Bain Capital Ventures Leads a $10 Million Series C Round Combined with a New $5 Million Bank Facility with SVB Silicon Valley Bank

NEW YORK - October 30, 2006
Thumbplay Inc., www.thumbplay.com, the leading online retailer of mobile entertainment content, today announced it has secured $15 million in new capital through a $10 million Series C round led by Bain Capital Ventures and a $5 million line of credit with SVB Silicon Valley Bank. Existing Thumbplay investors, SoftBank Capital and i-Hatch Ventures, also participated in the Series C round. Additionally, Bain Capital Ventures managing director, Ajay Agarwal, will join Thumbplay's board of directors.

"With this new round of funding, Thumbplay will accelerate and expand its marketing efforts, while continuing to build the best consumer experience and mobile entertainment catalog available," said Are Traasdahl, CEO of Thumbplay. "Thumbplay is positioned to widen the lead we have established as the top retailer of mobile content and one of the fastest-growing sites on the Web."

Thumbplay joins the Bain Capital Ventures portfolio, which includes market-leading companies such as m-Qube (recently acquired by Verisign), Vonage, Rave Wireless, Skyhook Wireless and Inrix. Bain Capital Ventures is the venture arm of Bain Capital, which with its affiliates, has more than $40 billion of assets under management and has made investments in leading consumer brands including, Dunkin Donuts, Toys 'R' Us, Warner Music Group, as well as leading internet companies such as DoubleClick and Shopping.com.

"We are big believers in the mobile content space, as early investors in m-Qube," said Agarwal. "After conducting extensive due diligence in the direct-to-consumer content segment, Bain Capital Ventures identified Thumbplay as the clear leader, based on its superior consumer experience and the company's impressive management team."

SoftBank Capital is investing its second round of funding in Thumbplay, following its initial funding in December 2005 when managing partner, Eric Hippeau, joined Thumbplay's board of directors. Hippeau is also a member of the board at Yahoo! Inc.

"SoftBank Capital is extremely pleased with the success Thumbplay has generated this past year, thanks to the combination of their premium portfolio of content, strategic partnerships and world-class management team," said Hippeau.

i-Hatch Ventures is investing its third round of funding in Thumbplay. i-Hatch seeded the company with its initial funding in 2004 and has supported the company through all subsequent funding rounds. i-Hatch recently sold Widerthan, the market leader in combined wireless messaging and multimedia solutions, to RealNetworks Inc.

"Thumbplay's rapid acceleration in the mobile space is a clear indication of how its diverse product portfolio of content and web site resonates with consumers," said i-Hatch Ventures general partner and Thumbplay board member, Chip Austin.

Thumbplay has gained broad recognition as a leader in the direct-to-consumer mobile content space. The company's success in 2006 has been illustrated by recent Hitwise and comScore research data. Hitwise, the world's leading online competitive intelligence service, ranked Thumbplay as the leading online website in the "Entertainment - Mobile Phones" category for the month of September. Additionally, according to a comScore Media Metrix report, Thumbplay.com was listed as one of the 10 fastest growing Internet sites in July 2006 with a 51 percent increase month-over-month, growing from 3.5 million unique visitors in June to 5.3 million in July.

Recently, Thumbplay announced partnerships with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and the Walt Disney Internet Group to offer premier entertainment content directly to consumers. Thumbplay currently offers more than 50,000 pieces of mobile entertainment content and supports all major wireless carriers. Members can purchase content as part of the Thumbplay subscription plan or on an á la carte basis. Billing appears directly on the customer's wireless carrier bill.

About Thumbplay

Thumbplay Inc. is the leading online retailer of mobile entertainment content. The company aggregates, promotes and delivers mobile content directly to members via www.thumbplay.com. The site offers ringtones, wallpapers, games and text-based services through a membership-based, community experience. Thumbplay, headquartered in New York, was founded by CEO Are Traasdahl and Executive Vice President, Marketing Evan Schwartz.

About Bain Capital Ventures

Bain Capital Ventures is the Boston-based venture capital arm of Bain Capital. Founded in 1984, Bain Capital and its affiliates have invested in over 230 companies with such notable successes as DoubleClick, Gartner Group, and Staples. Bain Capital Ventures invests across all stages of a company's growth from providing seed capital through offering late stage growth equity. Bain Capital Ventures and its early stage companies benefit from the broader resources of Bain Capital, including more than 400 investment professionals across North America, Europe, and Asia, $40 billion of assets under management, and the knowledge gained from 20 years of successful venture investing. For more information, visit www.baincapitalventures.com.

About SoftBank Capital

SoftBank Capital is an independent venture capital firm focused on high-growth, technology-based businesses benefiting from the rapid deployment and adoption of broadband and mobile technologies. Through its current fund, SoftBank Capital Technology Fund III L.P., the firm has invested to date in Anystream, Associated Content, Aequus Technologies, Beliefnet, The Huffington Post, Insider Pages, LiteScape Technologies, Nellymoser, The NewsMarket, Perpetual Entertainment, Pivot Solutions, PureVideo, Thumbplay, V-Enable and Voxant. For more about SoftBank Capital see www.softbank.com.

About i-Hatch Ventures

i-Hatch Ventures is an early stage venture capital investment fund primarily focused on the mobile and broadband sectors. Other i-Hatch mobile investments include Vindigo (now Nasdaq:FSDCF), WiderThan (Nasdaq: WTHN sold to Real Networks RNWK), Equator (now Nasdaq: PXLW), M:Metrics, Reaxion, and LimeLife. The firm, based in New York City, was founded by Chip Austin and Brad Farkas. For more information, visit http://www.i-hatch.com.

About SVB Silicon Valley Bank

SVB Silicon Valley Bank provides commercial banking services to emerging growth and mature companies in the technology, life science, private equity and premium wine industries. Through its focus on specialized markets and extensive knowledge of the people and business issues driving them, SVB Silicon Valley Bank provides a level of service and partnership that measurably impacts its clients' success. Founded in 1983 and headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., the company serves clients around the world through 27 U.S. offices and three international operations. SVB Silicon Valley Bank is a member of global financial services firm SVB Financial Group, with SVB Alliant, SVB Analytics, SVB Capital, SVB Global and SVB Private Client Services. More information on the company can be found at www.svb.com.

SVB Silicon Valley Bank refers to Silicon Valley Bank, the California bank subsidiary and the commercial banking operation of SVB Financial Group. Banking services are provided by Silicon Valley Bank, a member of the FDIC and the Federal Reserve. SVB Private Client Services is a division of Silicon Valley Bank. SVB Financial Group is also a member of the Federal Reserve.

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Collection includes ringtones from superstar nominees
Daddy Yankee, Don Omar, India, Grupo Mania, Wisin y Yandel and others.

NEW YORK - October 30, 2006
Thumbplay Inc., www.thumbplay.com, the leading online retailer of mobile entertainment content, today announced the introduction of a first-ever special collection of Latin ringtones and wallpapers, highlighting the hottest talent from past and present Latin GRAMMY® nominees, with music from Daddy Yankee, Don Omar, India, Grupo Mania, Wisin y Yandel and others. Thumbplay user downloads of Latin music tones have increased 79 percent in the last two weeks as excitement builds for the 7th Annual Latin GRAMMY® Awards ceremony on Nov. 2, 2006.

"Many of today's talented personalities and emerging music makers are coming from the community of Latin music, generating a strong and loyal fan base" said Are Traasdahl, founder and CEO of Thumbplay. "The demand for Latin content is huge and Thumbplay.com features the broadest selection of artist coverage from Reggaeton to Banda to Latin Pop."

The surge in downloads for Latin content has been heating up the past few weeks at Thumbplay.com. Paulina Rubio's "Ni Una Sola Palabra," currently topping the Latin pop charts, ranks No. 1 among current Latin downloads with a 240 percent increase in week over week downloads, while Latin GRAMMY® nominee Daddy Yankee's Rompe heats up the charts with a 200% increase in downloads in the past two weeks.

In addition to ringtones from Latin GRAMMY® nominees, Thumbplay offers a wide range of Latin content including iconic imagery from lucha libre and Loteria, and a variety of personalization products with emphasis on Latino heritage.

Thumbplay's special collection of ringtones from Latin GRAMMY® nominees is available at www.thumbplay.com/latinawards

Thumbplay offers more than 50,000 pieces of mobile entertainment content including ringtones, wallpapers, games and text-based services. Content can be purchased through both subscription and a la carte options, downloaded "over the air" directly to the consumer's handset, and billed directly to the consumer's carrier bill.

Thumbplay has gained broad recognition as a leader in the direct-to-consumer mobile content space. The company's success in 2006 has been illustrated by recent Hitwise and comScore research data. Hitwise, the world's leading online competitive intelligence service, ranked Thumbplay as the leading online website in the "Entertainment - Mobile Phones" category for the month of September 2006, based on visits. Additionally, according to a comScore Media Metrix report, Thumbplay.com was listed as one of the 10 fastest growing Internet sites in July 2006 with a 51 percent increase month-over-month, growing from 3.5 million unique visitors in June to 5.3 million in July.

About Thumbplay
Thumbplay, Inc., www.thumbplay.com, is the leading online retailer of mobile entertainment content. The company aggregates, promotes and delivers mobile content directly to members via Thumbplay.com. The site offers ringtones, wallpapers, games and text-based services through a membership-based, community experience. Thumbplay members have access to their own personal library of content through Thumbplay's content locker technology, ensuring they will always have access to their Thumbplay content. Thumbplay, headquartered in New York, was founded by CEO Are Traasdahl and Executive Vice President, Marketing Evan Schwartz.

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Thumbplay is the first direct-to-consumer mobile company to offer Sony content

NEW YORK - October 11, 2006

Thumbplay Inc., (Thumbplay.com), the leading online retailer of mobile entertainment content, today announced an agreement with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) to distribute products from Sony's extensive motion picture and television portfolio. Thumbplay is the first direct-to-consumer mobile company to offer SPHE's premium content. Thumbplay members will now have direct access to content from SPHE's entire mobile content catalog, which includes content from feature films like Open Season and Spider-Man 3 to television shows such as Jeopardy, Days of Our Lives, The Boondocks, and more.

"Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has been a leader in the arena of digital entertainment," said Are Traasdahl, Thumbplay founder and CEO. "Our partnership with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment allows us to deliver an extensive selection of exciting mobile entertainment to our members, who can now enjoy Sony's premium catalog of motion pictures and television shows."

Thumbplay members will have direct access to games, ringtones and wallpapers from SPHE's extensive mobile catalog. Highlights include content from upcoming and past releases, and notably Open Season, which opened No. 1 at the box office last week.

Thumbplay's catalog also includes SPHE's diverse television content such as '80s hits like the Different Strokes and What's Happening; daytime dramas like Days of Our Lives, The Young and the Restless; and popular game shows such as The Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy.

"We are thrilled to bring a personalized mobile experience to wireless consumers of all ages with our diverse content," said Eric Berger, vice president of mobile entertainment, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. "Thumbplay's success in the direct-to-consumer mobile market represents an excellent platform to further expand SPHE's vision of making entertainment accessible to consumers whenever, wherever and however they want."

Thumbplay currently offers more than 50,000 pieces of mobile entertainment content, including ringtones, wallpapers, games and text-based services. Members can purchase content as part of the Thumbplay subscription plan or on ? la carte basis. According to Hitwise, the world's leading online competitive intelligence service, Thumbplay.com was ranked as the leading online website in the Entertainment - Mobile Phones category for the month of September. Thumbplay maintained a leadership position by receiving twice the market share of visits of its nearest competitor for September 2006.

Some SPHE titles soon to be available to Thumbplay members include:

Open Season:
Movie lovers can enjoy Open Season right on their mobile phone through a large selection of content featuring original voicetones from the cast, ringtones and wallpapers from Open Season, the first feature-length animated film from Sony Pictures Animation. In the film, BOOG (Martin Lawrence), a happily domesticated grizzly bear, has his perfect world turned upside-down after he meets ELLIOT (Ashton Kutcher), a scrawny, fast-talking wild mule deer. http://thumbplay.com/openseason

Additional Movie Titles:
The Benchwarmers
Bewitched
The Da Vinci Code
Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo
The Grudge 2
Guess Who
Into the Blue
The Legend of Zorro
Lords of Dogtown
Mirror Mask
Monster House
The Pink Panther
Rent
Silent Hill
Spider-Man 3
Stealth
Underworld: Evolution
xXx: State of the Union
Zathura

Additional T.V. Titles:
The Boondocks
Days of Our Lives
Different Strokes
Good Times
The Jefferson's
JEOPARDY!
Wheel of Fortune
The Young and the Restless

About Thumbplay
Thumbplay, Inc. is the leading online retailer of mobile entertainment content. The company aggregates, promotes and delivers mobile content directly to members via Thumbplay.com. The site offers ringtones, wallpapers, games and text-based services through a membership-based, community experience. Thumbplay, headquartered in New York, was founded by CEO Are Traasdahl and Executive Vice President, Marketing Evan Schwartz.

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mDisney and Starwave Mobile content to be available to Thumbplay members

CTIA Los Angeles and New York - September 12, 2006

Thumbplay Inc. (www.thumbplay.com), a leading online retailer of mobile entertainment content, today announced a mobile content distribution agreement with the Walt Disney Internet Group (WDIG).

As part of the agreement, Thumbplay will distribute content from WDIG's publishing labels mDisney, creator of Disney-themed mobile content, and Starwave Mobile, the company's third-party mobile content licensing and publishing arm. The offerings will include graphics, tones and mobile games.

"This deal with the Walt Disney Internet Group reinforces the quality of products that Thumbplay delivers for its members," said Are Traasdahl, founder and CEO of Thumbplay. "Our relationship with them allows us to deliver the best selection of mobile entertainment, providing our customers with the breadth of content that enables them to personalize their mobile phones."

Thumbplay offers more than 50,000 pieces of mobile entertainment content, including ringtones, wallpapers, games and text-based services. Members can purchase content as part of the Thumbplay subscription plan or on ? la carte basis. According to a recent comScore Media Metrix report, Thumbplay was listed as one of the 10 fastest growing sites in July with a 51% increase month over month growing from 3.5 million unique visitors in June to 5.3 million in July.

About Thumbplay
Thumbplay, Inc. is the leading online retailer of mobile entertainment content. The company aggregates, promotes and delivers mobile content directly to members via Thumbplay.com. The site offers ringtones, wallpapers, games and text-based services through a membership-based, community experience. Thumbplay, headquartered in New York, was founded by CEO Are Traasdahl and Executive Vice President, Marketing Evan Schwartz.

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Labels: press-release

Ne-Yo, Black Eyed Peas Lead Hip Hop and R&B Artists Poised to Own Summer Sales; Motorola V3 leads handsets downloading content

NEW YORK - July 11, 2006 - Thumbplay Inc., the leading online retailer of mobile entertainment content, today announced the launch of its weekly ringtone charts program, the industry's most comprehensive ringtone popularity tracking tool. Issued each Tuesday, Thumbplay's Top Tones is based on download activity from Thumbplay's community of mobile content consumers. Along with the top ringtones, Thumbplay will also release which handsets are downloading the most mobile content. In addition, each month the company will release themed charts with the most popular ringtones, wallpapers and games relating to pop-culture events that shape mobile sales. The inaugural chart explores Sizzling Summer Hits, the top content downloads for summer. This week's charts are posted at Thumbplay Charts

Thumbplay recently announced that Hitwise, the world's leading online competitive intelligence service, found Thumbplay.com to be the leading online website in the Entertainment - Mobile Phones category for the week ending June 24. For the entire month of June, Thumbplay remained the leading non-carrier mobile entertainment site. In the most recently tracked week, ending July 9, Thumbplay was again the most-visited mobile entertainment site.

"Thumbplay is the clear leader in mobile entertainment content, so we understand what is hot in the market" said Are Traasdahl, CEO of Thumbplay. "Our weekly and monthly charts will not only keep the industry up-to-date on the latest trends, but will also help consumers discover new and popular content".

Thumbplay features thousands of ringtones in more than 40 genres that can be ordered online and delivered 'over the air' directly to consumers' phones. The company's website, www.thumbplay.com, boasts a vibrant community of users who subscribe to Thumbplay's monthly service or buy items a la carte. Each week, consumers download more than 1,600 unique ringtones from Thumbplay's vast selection, the top 10 of which are featured in Thumbplay's Top Tones. From the current hits, to TV show themes to back catalog favorites from the 60s, 70s and 80s, Thumbplay's members are finding the right tones to personalize their phones.

Thumbplay will allow third party news and entertainment sites and publications to post the weekly Top Tones directly to their sites

Thumbplay's Top Ten Tones
Week of July 3 - July 10
Ne-Yo's "So Sick" has a healthy grip on the number one spot for the second week in a row with the Black Eyed Peas following in second place with "Pump It". Chamillionaire's "Ridin" is cruising up the charts to a close third this week, while Hip Hop & R&B continue to be among the most popular ringtone downloads.

Also, each week Thumbplay tracks the top mobile handsets consumers are using to download mobile content. Motorola's V3 has a strong lead on the pack, followed by handsets from LG, Nokia and Samsung.

Top Tones
1. Ne-Yo - So Sick
2. Black Eyed Peas - Pump it
3. Chamillionaire -Ridin
4. Mary J. Blige - Be Without You
5. D4L - Laffy Taffy
6. Jamie Foxx - Unpredictable
7. Ray J - One Wish
8. Nelly - Grillz
9. Kanye West - Gold Digger
10. Bow Wow - Fresh Azimiz

Top Handsets
1. Motorola V3
2. LG C2000
3. Nokia 6010
4. Samsung X495
5. LG PM225

Sizzling Summer Hits
Each month Thumbplay looks at a pop-culture event that is shaping sales of mobile content. Every year a few songs emerge as the 'songs of summer'. Whether it's a perennial favorite like Alice Cooper's "School's Out for Summer" or Will Smith's "Miami", the summer is always ripe for a new hit. Based on early sales and expert predictions, below are some of the hottest songs and games for Summer '06:

Songs
1. Nelly Furtado featuring Timbaland - Promiscuous
2. Rupert Holmes - Escape (Pina Colada Song)
3. Shakira - Hips Don't Lie
4. Nick Lachey - What's Left Of Me
5. Beach Boys - California Girls

Games
1. Blade Trinity
2. Golden Tee Advanced
3. Bikini Machine
4. Garfield in Dreamland
5. Operation by Hasbro

About Thumbplay
Thumbplay, Inc. is the leading online retailer of mobile entertainment content. The company aggregates, promotes and delivers mobile content directly to members via Thumbplay.com. The site offers ringtones, wallpapers, games and text-based services through a membership-based, community experience. Thumbplay, headquartered in New York, was founded by CEO Are Traasdahl and Executive Vice President, Marketing Evan Schwartz.

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Labels: press-release

Provider of Ringtones, Wallpaper and Games Captures Leading Market Position

NEW YORK - June 29, 2006 - Thumbplay today announced Hitwise, the world's leading online competitive intelligence service, found Thumbplay.com to be the leading online website in the Entertainment ? Mobile Phones category. According to the latest weekly Hitwise data, Thumbplay?s market share has maintained consistent growth month over month, edging out leading carrier and non-carrier content providers. This serves as a significant indication of the company?s continued success and leadership position in the fast-growing mobile content market.

The site has experienced an increa