STOCHOLM, Sweden, April 10, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- Mobilehits has signed an agreement for the acquisition of Melody Interactive Solutions. The purchase of Melody, which is active in mobile Internet, gives Mobilehits access to Melody's proprietary products and financial resources for continued expansion into new markets.
Melody develops mobile Internet products and services for Tele2, Telia and Mobilcom among others. Mobilehits is the leading Nordic portal for music and entertainment mobile phone content, with ring tones, logos and news and information on artists and music. The company's proprietary statistical tool, Startistics, analyzes the preferences and behavioural patterns of visitors, which enables Mobilehits to optimise its range of services. This means that Mobilehits has generated higher income per visitor than most other portals.
The merged companies will sell Internet music and entertainment content themselves under the Mobilehits brand name and offer the underlying platform to companies that want to operate their own music and entertainment portal. Mobilehits will also use its visitor knowledge to sell a relationship marketing service to companies that want to reach its target group.
"The necessity for companies to differentiate their offer according to the customers' unique needs is ever increasing. Companies need to be able to retain their customer base and stimulate it to increased consumption. Mobilehits has developed a functioning and profitable concept for this purpose. The acquisition of Melody now means we have the right conditions for providing our concept on a large scale," said Robin Rutili, CEO, Mobilehits.
"We are highly delighted with the merger with Mobilehits. The company has displayed a well functioning business concept, which is illustrated by their very positive earnings trends. Melody's products, Wireless Access Gateway and MyMobileHome, will be more attractive when combined with the Mobilehits services. We now have a strong joint offer, making it easier to reach potential corporate customers," said Per Mosseby, CEO, Melody.
Melody is the latest in a line of strategic acquisitions made by Mobilehits during the last year. Last summer the company purchased the two competitors Nokiatricks and Melodyheaven, DEO's technical platform and Lumumba.com, one of the largest music and entertainment web sites in Sweden. Mobilehits is planning to launch its portal in new markets and negotiate to sell the technical platform to companies that are active in mobile telephony and the mobile Internet.
More information on the companies is available at: www.mobilehits.com and www.melody.se
Mobilehits is most well-known as the leading Nordic music and entertainment portal with over 600,000 members in Sweden and just over 1,100,000 members in total. The company also offers its technical platform to customers that want to operate their own entertainment portal. Mobilehits is active in Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and Germany. The company's largest owners are Enhancer, Johan Lagerlof, Jan Nordlund and Per Aronsson
Melody Interactive Solutions AB (publ) provides products and applications for wireless communication to mobile operators, service providers, portals and corporate sites. Melody supplies practical mobile solutions that enable customers to develop their mobile business operations and accelerate their adoption of mobile services. Melody was founded in 1998 and its owners include Telenor Ventures A/S, IT Provider, Startup Factory and Capital Research Company.
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CONTACT Melody, Stockholm
Per Mosseby, CEO
+46-(0)8-454 96 39/+46-(0)704-83 62 70
Mobilehits
Robin Rutili, CEO
+46-(0)8-728 51 08/+46-(0)709-18 17 02