STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Oct. 23, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- Create and send personalised postcards directly from your Vodafone live! mobile phone Those first tentative steps, that fabulous suntan, Christmas festivities, New Year's invitations, your engagement ring, the legendary ketchup stain - there's no limit to possible motifs or reasons to send a postcard, now that Vodafone Sweden and Extrafilm are launching a brand new Vodafone live! postcard service. Vodafone customers can create and send their own postcards and invitations directly from their cameraphones. The postcards are delivered to recipients via regular postal service.
Mobile communication with postcards is currently enjoying a revival as a means of communication, and it is becoming even more fun for Vodafone's customers to express themselves in pictures and text. With a Vodafone live! mobile phone* you can create your own postcards, Christmas cards or invitation cards and send them off to the desired recipient directly from your mobile phone.
"This is quite simply a wonderful service which combines an old and widespread picture communication form with the new mobile technology's possibilities for creating personalised communication in words and pictures. This is not a new form of communication which customers must learn from scratch but is a natural progression of an existing means of communication. It enables customers to express themselves in pictures in a simple and entertaining fashion - and a regular letterbox is all the recipient needs," said Goran Mannerstrale, Commercial Director Consumer at Vodafone Sweden.
Using the Vodafone live! postcard service couldn't be simpler. Mobile users take a picture with their cameraphones, select "Send as Postcard" in their phone's menu, add a greeting and fill in the recipient's name and address. Then just press "send" and the postcard is on its way. Postcards are delivered to the recipient's address within two to three days, having initially been sent as an MMS (picture message with text) via Vodafone's mobile network to Extrafilm, where the pictures are developed in postcard form, stamped and delivered to the recipient via regular postal service.
"We anticipate a much wider area of use for postcards. Postcards will become a much more personal means of communication for both sender and recipient alike, and will never be further away than the nearest mobile phone and user. This form of communication is ideal for just about any occasion including weekdays, formal occasions, Friday night dinners at home with the family, snaps sent to the in-laws as well as sunny greetings from an island-hopping holiday in Greece," said Goran Mannerstrale at Vodafone Sweden.
During an introductory period ending 7 January 2004 the cost of sending a postcard from a mobile phone will be SEK 15 each. After the introductory period the cost will be SEK 20 each. The cost is automatically registered and added to the mobile user's phone bill.
Vodafone's customers will be able to use the postcard service when they are abroad via the extensive Vodafone GPRS Network**.
For examples of postcards please visit: http://www.vodafone.se/433.jsp?smid=3
For more information, please contact: Goran Mannerstrale, Director Consumer Affairs Vodafone Sweden Telephone: +46 708 33 18 45, e-mail: goran.mannerstrale@vodafone.se
Hans-Olof Johansson, PR Manager Vodafone Sweden Telephone: +46 709 61 47 23, e-mail: hans-olof.johansson@vodafone.se
* The service will initially function with the Vodafone live! mobile phone Sony Ericsson Z600 but will in future be extended to embrace a whole range of new Vodafone live! models.
** Vodafone Sweden has GPRS agreements with mobile operators in the Austria, Belgium, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Hungary, Ireland, Italia, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland, Spain, UK and USA.
About Vodafone live!
Take pictures, send and receive colour images and video messages, create and send your own postcards, download and play games, send e-mail, download polyphonic ring tones, and get the latest news, information and pictures in colour on everything from sports and weather to the best restaurants and current movies with Vodafone live! You can naturally also make and receive calls.
The Vodafone live! concept is sold as a package in which cameraphones are pre-programmed for all the services and are ready to use from the moment you leave the store. You can easily access the services via the Vodafone live! user interface directly from your mobile phone.
On purchasing any of the mobile phones included in the offer with a new subscription or prepaid card, you automatically get access to all the services in Vodafone live! This also applies to customers who already have prepaid cards or subscriptions with Vodafone. Supplemented with the phone, they can take advantage of the services in Vodafone live! Sony Ericsson Z600, Sharp GX20, Panasonic GD87, Nokia 7650, Nokia 3650, Sony Ericsson T610 and Sharp GX10i are currently included in the offer and in the autumn of 2003 Vodafone Sweden will be offering even more phones from a range of manufacturers in Vodafone live!
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