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NEWS RELEASE For Immediate Release WirelesStudios Launches Mobile Gaming on i-Mode Phones in ItalyJoins forces with Phantom Fiber and Parlay Entertainment for launch of subscription-based tournament suite for WIND i-Mode users in Italy Toronto, Canada - 10 August, 2004 - WirelesStudios Inc., a division of Cameron Thomson Group Ltd., the pre-eminent supplier of business development solutions to the media and entertainment industries, is pleased to announce the launch of its mobile gaming service for Italy's mobile telephony operator WIND Telecommunicazioni S.p.A.. This innovative service is offered in conjunction with Parlay Entertainment, a leader in the Internet gaming technology market, and Phantom Fiber Corporation (OTCBB:PHFM), provider of secure wireless technology and mobile solutions. WirelesStudios offers a unique subscription-based service allowing WIND i-Mode subscribers in Italy to participate in play-for-points casino-style tournament games in return for promotional awards. WirelesStudios successfully launched its i-Mode offering in Italy on 2 August. For additional information, please visit http:telefonino.libero.it/i-mode/te_portale2_full10.phtml. Developed by NTT DoCoMo of Japan, i-Mode has turned into an enormous success story in Japan with 41.5 million subscribers and 4200 content providers as of May 2004. Capitalizing on this success, NTT DoCoMo has set its sights on international markets for the i-Mode service by expanding deployments to Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, Taiwan and Greece. WIND Telecomunicazioni S.p.A. (WIND), Italy’s third largest carrier with 9.2 million subscribers and 17% mobile market share has made significant investments to market i-Mode and has deployed 200 i-Mode content sites since the service launched in November 2003. For complete information about NTT DoCoMo’s i-Mode service, please visit http://www.nttdocomo.com/corebiz/imode/index.html.
WirelesStudios Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cameron Thomson Group, aims to enhance the i-Mode user experience by offering play-for-points casino-style games on a per subscription basis. Using a tournament-based competition model, WirelesStudios provides an attractive entertainment option to Italian i-Mode users who enjoy playing games, participating in tournaments and winning prizes – the perfect ecosystem for generating and monetizing interactive behaviour on a wireless device which pushes the envelope beyond traditional i-Mode content services. WirelesStudios also plans to extend the tournament-based model using Parlay’s advanced gaming platform to www.libero.it, WIND’s Internet portal, thereby allowing WIND customers to play WirelesStudios tournament games on i-Mode phones or the Internet using a single tournament account.
Under terms of the agreement, each company will benefit from a recurring revenue share model based on the total amount of monthly subscriptions acquired for tournament play. Cameron Thomson Group will provide staffing resources to market WirelesStudios’ tournament-driven events and handle administration for prizing, sponsorships and public relations. Phantom Fiber’s wireless technology will extend Parlay Entertainment’s advanced gaming platform to players, accessible anywhere in Italy, anytime on Java-enabled i-Mode phones. Using Phantom Fiber’s industry leading wireless framework, WirelesStudios will deliver fast, engaging, feature-rich tournament-based gaming entertainment for points on a per subscription basis. Parlay Entertainment will extend its advanced gaming platform to WIND’s Libero Internet portal thereby allowing WirelesStudios to deliver tournament-based games online.
“We are very excited to be unveiling WirelesStudios first foray into interactive gaming through our WIND i-Mode deal”, says Ronald W. Thomson, President of Cameron Thomson Group. “Given that we have chosen best of breed partners in Phantom Fiber for wireless enablement and Parlay Entertainment for leading gaming applications, we feel that our WIND offering is sensible and will provide high entertainment value to i-Mode and Internet subscribers across Italy. This is WirelesStudios first initiative and we look forward to announcing similar international ventures in the future.”
“We are excited about the opportunity to supply our technologies in a subscription-based, mobile environment” said Scott White, President and Chief Operating Officer for Parlay. “We have an established partnership with Phantom Fiber, who serves as a mobile delivery partner to some of our Internet gaming clients. This arrangement is further evidence of our diversification into play-for-fun gaming which complements our distribution channels outside of pay-for-play gaming.”
Jeff Halloran, President and CEO for Phantom Fiber Corporation, adds, "This new partnership highlights the strong relationship already developed between our companies and further demonstrates the potential market opportunities available in the wireless sector. Capitalizing on the core competency from each company, WirelesStudios stands to benefit from the large untapped Italian mobile market for i-Mode, a service which only launched in Italy eight months ago. By allowing WirelesStudios the option to manage tournaments through i-Mode and Libero.it, players are given a choice to play casino-style tournament-based games for fun with a chance to win exciting prizes. This is a strategic collaboration which solidifies Phantom Fiber’s role as a significant player in the i-Mode market worldwide.”
WirelesStudios Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Cameron Thomson Group, and is focused on providing intelligent and responsive wireless content solutions for mobile operators internationally. Established in 2000, WirelesStudios Inc. develops, licenses and provides wireless content solution applications to mobile operators across Europe and North America. These advanced solutions harness proven entertainment applications, games, and other content which rely on interactivity and reward-based motivational concepts to precipitate user interactivity. WirelesStudios' integrated offering targets all users, not just 'game fans', and provides simple casino-style games (e.g. Poker, Slots, Bingo), uses sponsored tournaments/prizes to ensure motivation, loyalty and traffic, provide cross-platform opportunities utilizing single account, multiple media platform. WirelesStudios' approach also intends to marry interactive digital TV, Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) and on-line broadband application as natural extensions to its powerful blend of entertainment. WirelesStudios' content partners represent hundreds of gaming and content experiences for international mobile operators. WirelesStudios’ initial mobile content strategy focuses on the introduction of managed, competition-based interactive gaming applications to the mobile community at large. This largely gaming based foundation will be shortly augmented with video-based content solutions for operators in order to more fully exploit and monetise their subscriber audiences.
Phantom Fiber Corporation is the market leader in wireless technology and mobile solutions that empowers any application requiring high performance functionality on today's mobile devices and wireless data communication networks. Phantom Fiber's success is due to its unique ability to deliver a rich client experience without compromising on performance or security. Phantom Fiber extends the enterprise reach anytime, anywhere, on any device.
For more information, please visit www.phantomfiber.com.
Parlay Entertainment Limited is the licensing subsidiary for dot com Entertainment Group, Inc. (“DCEG”). The DCEG group of companies develop, license, and support Internet gaming technologies and services for use in free-play and pay-for-play on-line gaming. Parlay is a leader in the soft gaming Internet gaming market and offers a comprehensive suite of casino, bingo and lottery products. For more information, please visit www.parlaygroup.com. For more information contact: WirelesStudios Inc., a division of Cameron Thomson Group Ltd. Phantom Fiber Corporation
dot com Entertainment Group Inc. Redwood Consultants LLC
Cameron Thomson Group Ltd. is a leading business development company specializing in providing corporate development and investment banking services to the media, IT and entertainment industries. Drawing from its broad base of experienced and highly motivated professionals, Cameron Thomson's expertise is in transforming business ideas into prosperous commercial opportunities. Cameron Thomson has a track record in building successful new media companies that maximize the value of their intellectual properties globally through traditional media, the Internet, and via evolving broadband and wireless distribution mediums. Cameron Thomson Group is based in Toronto, Canada, with offices in Milan, Italy, and in London, UK. As part of its core offering, the company is engaged in arranging financing for media, entertainment and IT companies. Cameron Thomson Group has established an enviable track record in financing start-up, early-stage companies, mature businesses, motion picture productions and other media projects. For more information on Cameron Thomson Group, visit www.cameronthomson.com or contact: In Italy - Enrico Amiotti +39.02.236.0575, eamiotti@cameronthomson.com |
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