magic4, chosen EMS partner for Panasonic

magic4 today announces a global partnership with Panasonic to incorporate its Enhanced Messaging Service (EMS) client into the range of GD67 and GD87 handsets launching later this year.

Warrington, UK, July 30 2002: -- magic4 today announces a global partnership with Panasonic to incorporate its Enhanced Messaging Service (EMS) client into the range of GD67 and GD87 handsets launching later this year.

Panasonic's commitment to being the masters of design in leading edge technology is reaffirmed by this latest range of handsets and its partnership with the leading provider of EMS and messaging technology.

The mobile handset market is rapidly moving towards the multimedia experience and our latest range of handsets incorporating magic4s EMS technology enables Panasonic to deliver complete consumer satisfaction. The new GD67 handset supports a full colour screen, polyphonic ring tones, as well as the latest technologies such as GPRS and EMS. magic4 is a well established and respected leader in the mobile messaging industry and its EMS client is a proven solution," said Ken Hatano, General Manager of Product Planning at Panasonic.

Simon Wilkinson, Chief Exectutive Officer, magic4 added, We are delighted to be announcing this partnership with Panasonic. Yet another leading handset manufacturer views magic4 as the de-facto standard in EMS client software which reconfirms our position as the leader in mobile messaging. The magic4 EMS client will provide Panasonic users with applications including the exchange of enhanced messages, downloading facilities and high quality ringtones."

magic4 is also working with many of its existing partners to deliver a multimedia messaging client and has recently announced becoming an associate partner with the MMS IOP forum working together to make MMS the next industry standard."

magic4 has a suite of messaging clients including EMS, MMS, wireless village instant messaging and syncML, all developed in a modular format, enabling mobile device manufacturers to deliver a seamless consumer user experience.

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NOTES TO EDITORS

EMS Explained
Enhanced Messaging Service (EMS) is a cross-industry collaboration between handset manufacturers and solutions developers (such as magic4), to embed simple multi-media inside SMS messages.

EMS gives mobile phone users new ways to express feelings, moods and personality with as much ease as composing an SMS message. Unlike todays SMS, EMS will allow users to create and exchange pictures, ringtones and other melodies, by downloading them from the Internet or creating custom media directly on the phone.

Each Short Message has an area of data that precedes the text called the User Data Header (UDH). In a normal SMS message this would not contain any data. However, when creating an EMS, all the media is stored within this User Data Header while the text is stored in the normal text area of the Short Message.

The amount of information in each SMS is limited by the SMS standard. As a consequence, to include pictures and sound, the EMS message may be made up of a number of SMS messages. A process called concatenation combines each SMS into a single EMS message for delivery.

For further information on EMS, please go to www.magic4.com/resources

About magic4

magic4 is at the forefront of the mobile messaging revolution, offering a range of products designed to enhance the way users interact with devices. The flagship product is the patented advanced packet-based messaging client that allows rich multi-media content and forms based transactions to be delivered over packet-based bearers such as SMS and GPRS. magic4 is spearheading industry adoption of wireless VAS, m-commerce solutions and enhanced SMS messaging through an extensive partner network of operators and platform, content and service providers.

Launched in March 2000 with backing from 3i and Philips Enterprises, magic4 has a 100-strong team with bases in Asia, North America and Europe.

About Panasonic

Matsushita Communication Industrial Co. Ltd known for its Panasonic brand of communication devices and systems, represents leading edge technology in the world of mobile communications. One of the worlds first 3G handsets manufacturers in Japan, Panasonic remains committed to be a leading supplier of 3G mobile communications. www.panasonicmobile.com

For further information, please contact:
Toby Gavin
EuroPR Group
Tel: +44 (0) 20 8 9716410
Email : tgavin@europrgroup.com

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