Bango Regulatory News (BGO)

14 Dec 2005 07:02

Bango PLC14 December 2005 14 December 2005 EMI Music UK uses Bango technology to power mobile music portal Bango plc ("Bango" or "the Company", AIM:BGO), the mobile content enabler,announces today that EMI Music is using Bango's 'browse and buy' technology topower EMI Music UK's mobile music portal, wap.the-raft.com. This will enableusers to browse and download from a huge array of official, artist approvedcontent, specifically tailored for mobile. EMI Music UK is the latest musiclabel to choose Bango to power its mobile content portal as Bango already powersofficial mobile sites for artists from Universal Music and Sony BMG. The site is being launched on December 16th, 2005 and will be promoted to over300,000 subscribers to The Raft online and by search and banner advertising.Bango's 'browse and buy' technology enables the Raft.com mobile portal toprovide a state of the art user experience and easy customer purchase of paidfor content. Users anywhere in the world will be able to pay for EMI music andringtones on their phone bill, by credit/debit card or by PayPal. Ray Anderson, CEO at Bango, said, "We are very pleased that another major playerin the music industry is incorporating Bango technology to easily andefficiently sell content via a user's mobile phone. It is a mark of our marketposition and of EMI Music UK's forward thinking that we are working with them toenhance their mobile presence." "We care passionately about giving our customers great content and a good userexperience," commented Danny Van Emden, Digital Media Director at EMI Music UK."Taking people into our own Raft.com mobile portal means that they are incontrol. They can browse through our great range of content and then buy anddownload straight to their phone." Bango technology enables content discovery and identification, so contentproviders can customize the user experience and payment. During 2005, Bango hasexperienced rapid growth in usage, with content having been purchased throughthe Bango Service from over 100 different countries as far afield as SouthAfrica and Taiwan, using over 250 different operator networks. About Bango Bango has developed and deployed an open, global infrastructure platform thatenables content providers to market, sell and deliver their products andservices directly to mobile phone users on all mobile networks using the mobileInternet. This "direct-to-consumer" approach operates alongside the mobileoperator's mobile content portals. Leading mobile operators including CingularWireless, Vodafone, Orange, Telefonica and O2 work with Bango to accelerate thegrowth of their "direct-to-consumer" business. The Bango platform has given mobile phone subscribers around the world greateraccess to third-party content. Leading content brands are now adopting the BangoService to engage with all of their existing and potential mobile customersdirectly - irrespective of mobile operator. For further information, please goto www.bango.com. About EMI Music UK EMI Music UK is part of The EMI Group, one of the largest music companies in theworld and listed on the London Stock Exchange. EMI Music was the first majorrecord company to establish a dedicated Digital Media division in 1998. Thedivision, headed up by Danny Van Emden, the Digital Media Director, isresponsible for the digital activity of EMI Music UK and Ireland and itsindividual music labels. In addition, each of EMI Music's record labels - EMIRecords, Innocent, Parlophone, Virgin and the catalogue division - has a DigitalMedia Manager responsible for developing artist specific new mediaopportunities, promotions and web presence. The Digital Media division develops many of the company's digitalcross-marketing and artist promotions; providing exclusive content; managingdata capture and eCRM systems; and monetising EMI Music's assets across thedigital media. The division is also responsible for the EMI Music aggregatesite, www.the-raft.com and mobile portal wap.the-raft.com. The website has beenrunning for 11 years and has won multiple awards. For further information, please contact: Sarah KeefeBangoTel: +44 (0)7786 932016sarah@bango.com Tom MoriartyICISTel : +44 (0)20 7651 8688tom@icisnet.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange