London, 24 May 2002: Verista today announced a partnership with leading 3G services guru Tomi Ahonen

TomiAhonen Consulting press release

31 January 2003

TomiAhonen Consulting awards Pearl of the Year best service of 2002 to Shazam music recognition service

Exciting new service beats out mobile queueing, mobile parking, killer bees game and mAd money

London, 31 January 2003: TomiAhonen Consulting today revealed its Pearl of the Year selection awarding this honour to Shazam of the UK and its music recognition service, which was also the Pearl of the Month for July 2002. Shazam's mobile service lets users identify recorded music by pointing the mobile phone at the music, dialing 2580, and receiving the name of the artist and song in a return SMS text message. The service works on all networks in the UK. Shazam has expanded its offering to music greetings, purchasing music etc at its website, www.shazam.com.

In winning the Pearl of the Year, Shazam finished ahead of other Pearls of the Month including picture messaging; mobile parking in Estonia; raising cash from cash machine with mobile in Denmark; virtual queueing at amusement park in UK; receiving real money from watching mobile ads; and the game Killer Bees from Austria. TomiAhonen Consulting publishes every month its favourite new service idea or fact as a Pearl of the Month at www.tomiahonen.com.

Tomi T Ahonen, 3G services expert and bestselling author of 3G business books said of Shazam in announcing the award: "There are literally thousands of existing services that are being ported to be used on mobile phones. These can be interesting and profitable but they are mostly predictable. With Shazam, however, I am excited in that this is something totally new, that was not possible before on media such as digital TV, CD Rom, the fixed internet, etc. The only way to deliver this music recognition service is via the mobile phone. As such it is a wonderful example of the new, creative services that will emerge for the mobile phone. And I have used the Shazam service personally many times, it has also that magical quality that guarantees its market success: it is fun! I congratulate Shazam for bringing our industry something that was never possible before."

Shazam's Claus Nehmzow, International Development Director commented “winning Tomi Ahonen’s Pearl of the Year is a very exciting confirmation that Shazam’s revolutionary new music service is well received by consumers and industry experts alike. Music appeals to all people, and using Shazam doesn’t require any special mobile handsets, it works on every phone and is easy to use. In the future, Shazam’s basic music recognition will link to other services, including sending a “song mail” with a 30 second clip to a friend, using a song that someone likes and has just “tagged”. The interest of mobile operators around the world in Shazam has been tremendous since we launched so successfully in the UK last August. “

About TomiAhonen Consulting:

TomiAhonen Consulting offers strategy consulting in advanced wireless services. Tomi T Ahonen has authored the bestselling 3G business books, m-Profits: Making Money from 3G, and Services for UMTS: Creating Killer Applications in 3G (co-edited by Joe Barrett). His next book will be 3G Marketing: New Strategic Partnerships (co-authored by Timo Kasper and Sara Melkko). TomiAhonen Consulting has discussed over 250 new wireless service ideas in the public domain and hundreds more in private workshops. For more on TomiAhonen Consulting, the books and services, and the Pearls of the Month, see www.tomiahonen.com

About Shazam:

Shazam has developed the world's first-ever real-time song identification service that works anywhere. When users hear a song they like they simply dial Shazam's four-digit number, 2580 (in the UK), from their mobile, point their mobile towards the music, Shazam cuts the call after thirty seconds, and immediately they learn the name of the song and the artist via text message. The company has developed a break-through technology in audio pattern recognition to enable this service, which has four patents. Shazam plans to launch this service in Germany, Japan, the US and potentially other countries in 2003.

Contacts:

Tomi T Ahonen Claus Nehmzow

3G Consultant and Author International Development Director

TomiAhonen Consulting Shazam Entertainment

Phone: +44 (0) 7789 438 007 Phone : +44-7768 74 62 58

tomi@tomiahonen.com claus@shazamteam.com