The Mobile Entertainment Forum Revealed Current Market Forces and the Future of Mobile Content at CTIA in San Diego

The Mobile Entertainment Forum Revealed Current Market Forces and the Future
of Mobile Content at CTIA in San Diego
MEF Announces the Launch of the Smart Pipe Enablers Initiative in America

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF) Americas
participated at CTIA in San Diego last week and brought together a panel of
its members to generate dialogue, share ideas and debate the economics of
mobile business. MEF hosted a special partner panel session entitled,
"Revealing Current Market Forces and Future Content Distribution Models".

The panelists included the following MEF members:

-- Moderator: Steven Masur, managing director, MasurLaw
-- Soren Schafft, general manager of North America, Fox Mobile
Distribution
-- Andrew Bud, executive chairman, mBlox
-- Reno Marioni, strategic partnerships, Internet & social networking,
Nokia

-- David Ulmer, senior director, multimedia, Motorola

During the panel MEF announced its "Smart Pipe Enables" initiative. Smart pipe
enabling services are of fundamental importance to the mobile entertainment
industry because they determine the quality of the user experience the
industry can deliver to consumers. The overarching objective of the MEF "Smart
Pipe Enablers" is to promote the most rapid implementation of a coherent,
profitable and workable model for smart pipe enabling services that benefit
the entire mobile entertainment industry.

"The commitment to 'Smart Pipe Enablers' we have seen from European carriers
and content players, such as the BBC has been terrific," said Andrew Bud,
chair of MEF Global. "This is a vital matter for the entire mobile
entertainment industry with a narrow window of opportunity within which to get
things right."

MEF has key insights regarding revenue sources within the value chain and it
regularly participates in key industry events such as CTIA, to demonstrate its
thought leadership and share the expertise of its member companies.

"We feel a sense of mission and unification in bringing the 'Smart Pipe
Enablers' debate into the US market," said Jim Beddows, chair of MEF Americas.
"This initiative is one of the areas of focus for our dynamic new board, which
also includes the Business Confidence Index, the Value Chain Analysis survey,
Sweepstakes, Content Sales Reporting, Mobile Video and Ad-Funded Mobile
Entertainment."

For more information on the panel, its participates and the MEF initiatives
please visit http://www.m-e-f.org/

NOTES TO THE EDITOR
About the Smart Pipe Enablers Initiative
The Enablers initiative - led by the BBC, mBlox, O2 and Vodafone - aims to
educate the market on the use of Smart Pipe Enabling services or network APIs
and brings together the different players in the mobile entertainment value
chain to promote the rapid implementation of a coherent and workable model for
"smart pipe" enabling services. Its ultimate objectives include:
-- The implementation by operators of a coherent and market-focused set
of
smart-pipe enabling services, based on standards which fully recognise
the needs of the content community.
-- The implementation of the "smart pipes" model by the large majority of
operators, to ensure that the mobile entertainment community could
rely
on complete operator coverage in its core markets.

-- The enthusiastic uptake of newly-available enabling services by
content
and service providers, so as to encourage operators to implement the
broadest range of enabling services.

About Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF)
The Mobile Entertainment Forum was formed in 2000 to represent companies
throughout the entire mobile entertainment value chain. As the global trade
association of the mobile media industry, MEF works on behalf of its diverse
membership to drive mobile entertainment adoption, shape regulation and
deliver competitive advantage to its members.

With global headquarters in London, a Hollywood-based Americas secretariat, an
Asian chapter in Hong Kong and the newly expanded EMEA branch, MEF's network
of members represents a veritable 'Who's Who' of mobile entertainment
businesses and entrepreneurs. For more information and a full list of members
please visit:
www.m-e-f.org.

SOURCE Mobile Entertainment Forum

Katie Mason of Nadel Phelan, Inc, +1-831-440-2407,
katie.mason@nadelphelan.com, for Mobile Entertainment Forum