Sony Ericsson and Orange Reveal Next Phase

London/Paris, 24th July 2007 – Sony Ericsson and Orange today announce the extension of their hugely successful music partnership, which has already seen Orange already sell over two million Sony Ericsson Walkman® handsets which feature the Orange full track music download service, Orange Music Store, in just over than 12 months. The partnership has made Orange the leading provider of Walkman® phones across its nine European markets.

The Sony Ericsson Walkman® handsets are part of Orange’s successful Signature Series, which gives customers one click access to Orange Music Store. The success of this partnership can be seen in the fact that Walkman handsets (W850, W810, W880) have continually been the top three performing Orange UK music phones in terms of download numbers, and across the Group Walkman handset users consume 50% more music than the average phone users. Across the group, Orange expects to exceed three million Walkman® music device sales by the end of 2007.

This next phase of the partnership brings about the creation of a range of local music marketing campaigns including the sponsorship of a unique new TV content deal – mobileAct Unsigned™. These campaigns are designed to help both generate awareness and interest in the new Walkman handsets available through Orange, and provide exclusive content to drive mobile music update.

The unsigned band talent search was successfully piloted in Switzerland in 2006, and launches in the UK with Channel 4 in October accompanied by a web site www.mobileact.co.uk , and a dedicated area on the Orange World WAP portal. The Swiss market is set to follow UK, with France and the rest of Orange’s European footprint also being considered

In the UK, mobileAct Unsigned™ is the first series to appear on both of Channel 4’s flagship zones, T4 and 4music. It aims to unearth real talent – young bands that write and perform their own music. The series will be hosted by Alex Zane and the search led by a panel of well-known, credible artists and music mentors. credible artists and music mentors. The UK winners will be signed to a record contract with a major record label.

The UK campaign will utilise mobileAct unsigned content across the three platforms of TV, online and mobile, and will see three new Sony Ericsson Walkman® handsets launch first to market with Orange - the W660i, W910i and the W580i.

Orange and Sony Ericsson began an integrated marketing partnership in March 2006 with a joint nine-month European sponsorship deal with Sony BMG artist Christina Aguilera which gave Orange customers access to exclusive mobile music content, such as track downloads, via the Orange World portal.

“Sony Ericsson is extremely excited to be teaming up with Orange to sponsor mobileAct Unsigned™ as it signals the next step in the on-going evolution of our business strategy of working with operator partners to provide users with exciting multimedia content which brings the applications on our phones to life and encourages people to really get the best experience from their phone,” said Hervé Fontaine, Vice President, Orange Global Customer Unit, Sony Ericsson,. "With today’s announcement Sony Ericsson and Orange have moved beyond just music to offer a highly integrated triple play content package.”

Francois Mahieu, Director of Devices, Orange UK said “Music is at the heart of Orange’s entertainment strategy. Orange has anticipated the fast growth of the music market providing a diverse portfolio of music devices across all segments. Working in close partnership with Sony Ericsson we have together delivered the largest and most successful integrated programme in the industry and anticipate similar success thoughout this year with these Walkman devices and the hugely exciting mobileAct campaign”.

WALKMAN® is the trademark of Sony Corporation
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Note to editors
Orange is a key brand of the France Telecom Group, providing mobile, broadband, fixed, business and entertainment services across Europe. It is one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators with more than 150 million customers on five continents.
In June, 2006, Orange became the single brand for mobile, broadband and multi-play offers. In addition, Orange Business Services became the new banner for business communications solutions. Orange Business Services is present in 166 countries with network reach in 220.
In the UK, Orange provides high quality GSM coverage to 99% of the UK population. At the end of March 31 2007, Orange had over 16.5 million customers in the UK - 15.1 million active mobile customers and over 1.5 million Internet customers.
Orange and any other Orange product or service names included in this material are trade marks of Orange Personal Communications Services Limited. Further information about Orange and France Telecom can be found on the Orange website at www.orange.co.uk or the France Telecom website at www.francetelecom.com

About Sony Ericsson
Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications serves the global communications market with innovative and feature-rich mobile phones, accessories and PC-cards. Established as a joint venture by Sony and Ericsson in 2001, with global corporate functions located in London, including R&D sites in Europe, Japan, China and America, Sony Ericsson celebrated the 5th anniversary of the start of the joint venture on 1st October, 2006. Sony Ericsson is the global title sponsor of the Women's Tennis Association, and works with the Association to promote the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour in over 80 cities during the year. For more information on Sony Ericsson, please visit www.sonyericsson.com
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