Executive Appointment and New Study Demonstrate Region’s Importance for Mobile Marketing

Singapore, 19 November, 2008—The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) (www.mmaglobal.com) today announced that it has released the results of its Annual Global Mobile Attitude and Usage Study, conducted with research partner Synovate. The report spans selected markets in four geographic regions including United States, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America, and helps brands and advertisers understand the global habits of mobile users and their overall receptiveness to mobile marketing. The markets surveyed in the Asia Pacific segment of the study include: Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Singapore and South Korea. Also, in an effort to further support the industry and association growth in the region, the MMA announced that it has recruited ex-Microsoft Online Services executive Rohit Dadwal as Managing Director of its Asia Pacific (APAC) branch, where he will lead MMA operations in a soon-to-be established office in Singapore.

Annual Global Mobile Attitude and Usage Study Highlights:
The study’s key findings for the selected Asia Pacific markets include:

• Overall, heavy penetration and reliance on mobile phones combine with strong feature and mobile web usage in these regions to indicate strong market opportunity for mobile marketers.
  • In total, the top five mobile phone features used are non-voice in nature and include camera, games, text messaging, saving images to a photo library and MP3 player.
  • Strong use of text messaging and mobile web (61% and 36% overall respectively) indicates mobile phone users in these regions are willing to view their mobile devices as full scale communication devices not restricted to voice services.
• Over one-third report using mobile web and one-in-five use it on a weekly basis.
  • Common applications include news, browsing the internet, accessing mobile specific sites, and visiting sites related to music, weather and entertainment.
• Overall receptiveness and interest in opting-in to mobile marketing efforts is fairly strong; nearly half (48%) are moderately/highly interested in mobile marketing and more than half are somewhat/highly likely to opt-in to mobile marketing efforts.
  • Applications that garner the greatest interest include mobile couponing, status alerts regarding current accounts or products owned and alerts for special sales and discounts.

“Continued strong mobile phone and feature usage in Asia Pacific regions indicates large market opportunity for mobile marketers,” said Beth Ritchey, Vice President, Synovate Tech and Telecom. “The most powerful mobile marketing efforts will offer applications that garner the greatest consumer interest such as mobile couponing and sale or discount alerts as well as targeted alerts relating to consumers’ accounts or products.”

“Asia Pacific remains one of the strongest regions for mobile marketing, with mobile penetration higher than any other region globally,” said Laura Marriott, president of the MMA. “The MMA is thrilled to announce the appointment of Rohit Dadwal as APAC MD and looks forward to working with him and our regional members to further aid the development of mobile marketing in the region.”

Managing Director Hired for APAC Branch of MMA
As Managing Director of the APAC region, Mr. Dadwal will continue to promote the MMA’s charter to build a sustainable ecosystem for the mobile marketing industry in the APAC region and will promote the MMA as the leading association for region-wide consultation on key industry issues such as measurement and metrics, mobile advertising guidelines, Codes of Conduct and Consumer Best Practices.

Dadwal brings a wealth of experience to the MMA, having also previously worked with Microsoft India (MSN), Bharti-British Telecom ISP services in India and with IPSIl, an affiliate of VSNL, the largest internet service provider in India. He has spent the last four years working on mobile value added services, user experience and wireless technologies and has been instrumental in launching new products and services across Asian and international markets.

“We are excited about this new chapter for the MMA in APAC and bringing Mr. Dadwal, a former APAC Board member, to the APAC staff leadership team,” said MMA APAC Chairman and Managing Director, Puca China, Jimmy Poon."An individual with Mr. Dadwal’s solid track record will be a key strategic addition to the MMA presence and enable us to better serve the needs of our members in the region. Through a collaborative effort with MMA members in the APAC region and abroad, we will continue to raise key mobile marketing industry issues, provide guidance on best practices and guidelines, and move the industry forward at an even greater pace.”

The MMA’s Attitude and Usage Study is available immediately, free of charge, to all current MMA Global and Regional members and available at a discount for Local Council members. The market studies will also be available, for sale, after December 1. For more information, visit www.mmaglobal.com.

About the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA)
The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) is the premier global non-profit trade association established to lead the growth of mobile marketing and its associated technologies. The MMA is an action-oriented organization designed to clear obstacles to market development, establish mobile media guidelines and best practices for sustainable growth, and evangelize the use of the mobile channel. The more than 700 member companies, representing over forty countries around the globe, include all members of the mobile media ecosystem. The Mobile Marketing Association’s global headquarters are located in the United States and it has regional chapters including North America (NA), Europe (EUR), Latin America (LATAM), Middle East & Africa (MEA) and Asia Pacific (APAC) branches. For more information, please visit www.mmaglobal.com.