Cricket Communications Selects mPortal to Power its Next-Generation Mobile User Experience

Wireless Carrier deploys mPortal software to deliver an intuitive mobile experience and drive data services adoption

CTIA Wireless IT -- San Diego, Calif. – Oct. 6, 2009 – mPortal, Inc., a leading enabler of mobile user experiences, today announced that Cricket Communications has selected its SPRINGBOARD™ Smart Client and Content Delivery Manager products to create a custom-branded, next-generation mobile user experience for its new Cricket MyHomeScreen product. By leveraging mPortal’s SPRINGBOARD platform, Cricket Communications facilitates easy discovery and purchase of mobile data services, directly from the “home screen” of Cricket-supported handsets. MyHomeScreen is available on the Samsung MyShot II, Motorola VE465, Cricket TXTM8, Samsung Messager II, and Cricket A200 handsets, with support for additional handsets coming soon.

Cricket’s MyHomeScreen is powered by mPortal’s SPRINGBOARD Smart Client product, an end-to-end mobile widget platform that enables Cricket to provide its customer with instant access to Internet content, directly on the home screen of the handset. MyHomeScreen lets Cricket customers personalize their handset’s home screen with the content they use most, including the latest weather, news, sports, device applications, popular Web links and social networking information.

Embedded on the handset by the manufacturer, Cricket MyHomeScreen provides a seamless, out-of-thebox user experience with no software download requirement after handset purchase. Future updates and features can be delivered OTA (over-the-air) by Cricket, periodically synchronizing widget content and promoting applications on the handset home screen to increase overall adoption of data services. MyHomeScreen’s easy-to-use application store allows Cricket customers to shop for ringtones, ring-back tones, graphics, and other applications.

“MyHomeScreen brings a high-end smartphone user experience to customers using feature phone handsets,” said Jeff Toig, Vice President of product marketing for Cricket Communications. “By using mPortal’s SPRINGBOARD suite of products, we were able to quickly create and deliver a very intuitive experience to our customers, enabling them to easily discover and download content and personalize their home screen to suit their needs. We believe that customer handset personalization is the way to increase adoption of our data services offerings.”

The SPRINGBOARD Smart Client enables content providers and publishers to easily develop widgets, using open Web standards and tools. Third party content providers can build widgets and submit them to Cricket, who then makes them available to its customers.

mPortal’s SPRINGBOARD products allow mobile operators to present subscribers with a uniform, intuitive shopping experience across multiple device types, leveraging the strength of their own brand to create a rich shopping experience that is highly personalized for each consumer. “In our experience with service providers, we’ve proven that an intuitive user experience has a direct impact on increasing data ARPU and overall customer satisfaction,” said B.A. Winston, VP of Strategic Accounts at mPortal. “As US mobile penetration approaches near saturation, with constantly declining voice revenues, mobile operators are focusing more on increasing data services adoption and data revenue per customer. Cricket Communications, a pioneer in flat-rate pricing models, has once again shown its propensity to lead market trends by offering a user experience for data services on mass market handsets that compares with those available in smartphones.”

About the mPortal SPRINGBOARD Suite of Products

• The SPRINGBOARD Smart Client is a highly functional software platform that enables service providers to develop next-generation user experiences across multiple mobile devices and handset O/S platforms. mPortal’s Smart Client solution is comprised of a home screen manager, an open standards-compliant mobile widget platform and an app store that can be customized to suit the service provider’s branding and user experience guidelines.

 

• The SPRINGBOARD CDM (Content Delivery Manager) is a comprehensive solution for managing and delivering mobile media, content and applications via the Web, mobile Web or On- Device Client. The CDM provides service providers with an end-to-end solution for the preview, purchase and download of services, with the ability to interface with multiple content and application providers and back-office systems for authentication, billing and settlements. By enabling the creation of a single, Unified Storefront solution, the CDM provides subscribers with one-stop shopping for a large variety of content and applications, while minimizing the service provider’s ongoing operational costs and maximizing data ARPU and customer satisfaction. About mPortal

mPortal Inc., founded in 2000, enables mobile content and applications for Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs), Cable Operators, Content Providers and Enterprises. mPortal's products and services assist its customers to create, launch, manage, and monetize mobile content and applications across multiple mobile devices and networks. As a total solution provider, mPortal eliminates the complexities involved in launching mobile content and applications. With mPortal as a strategic partner, its customers focus on their core business and rely on mPortal to provide its expertise and experience in launching revenue-generating mobile content and applications. With offices in the US and India, mPortal’s serves some of the world’s leading companies, including Alltel, AOL, Disney Mobile, Mobile ESPN, Reliance Infocomm, TV Guide, Verizon Wireless, Comcast and XEROX. For more information, please visit www.mportal.com.

About Cricket
Cricket is the pioneer of simple and affordable unlimited wireless services with no long-term commitments or credit checks required, serving more than four million customers in 34 states. Cricket offers wireless voice and broadband Internet services over the latest technology, high-quality, all-digital 3G CDMA2000 1X and 1xEV-DO wireless network. Cricket’s wireless voice service plans include unlimited anytime minutes, unlimited U.S. long distance, unlimited text and picture messaging, unlimited text to Mexico, unlimited Mobile Web, unlimited directory assistance, as well as a variety of calling features and featurerich mobile applications such as popular games, ringtones and wallpapers. Cricket Broadband provides unlimited Internet access anywhere within Cricket’s coverage areas at speeds comparable to DSL. For more information on Cricket, visit www.mycricket.com. Cricket is offered by Leap Wireless International, Inc., headquartered in San Diego, Calif. For more information on Leap, visit www.leapwireless.com.

SPRINGBOARD is a registered trademark of mPortal Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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