SEATTLE, WA--(Marketwire - February 1, 2008) - Today, Lifestyle Wireless, Inc., a startup company employing innovative design and distribution to deliver text-based content for mobile phones, announced the general availability of its first Text-a-Day™ mobile content cards, sold through a major electronic retailer's select stores across the country. Similar to prepaid wireless or gift cards, Text-a-Day cards are purchased at retail and activated with a simple phone call to deliver a text message every day for 60 days directly to a consumer's mobile phone. Three Text-a-Day cards are being launched -- Lifestyle, Faith, and Sports. Available in stores today for purchase, Text-a-Day cards are a great gift idea or affordable diversion at any time of year.
Getting meaningful content on mobile phones is too confusing and inconvenient for everyday consumers. Text-a-Day prepaid content messaging cards make it easy for consumers to get daily text messages about things they care about -- jokes, horoscopes, sports, inspiring thoughts and much more. Designed for simplicity and easy activation, Text-a-Day cards offer the most frequently consumed data format -- text -- to the widest possible audience. Text-a-Day eliminates the hassle of complex and confusing technologies, does not require a computer, and works on nearly every mobile phone.
Text-a-Day mobile content cards are made available through a distribution agreement with InComm, the nation's largest provider of gift card and stored value products and technology.
"Consumer acceptance of prepaid and stored value cards is well established," said Brian Parlotto, Vice President, Business Development, InComm. "As the category leader, we're always looking for new and innovative products and services to offer our retail customers. Text-a-Day cards are an excellent addition to our product offering, and we look forward to a successful rollout within our expansive account base."
Intersection of Two Vast Markets
Text-a-Day cards are positioned to tap consumer interest and leverage two explosive categories: prepaid gift/stored-value cards and text messaging. Nearly non-existent five years ago, today gift and stored-value cards are ubiquitous and generally available in most major retailers and in over 150,000 physical points of presence in the US, catering to widespread demand(1). The US gift card market was $18.5 billion in 2005 and is expected to reach $47 billion by 2010(2). Text messaging is the number 1 non-voice mobile phone application by far, with nearly 80 million users in the US already(3). Further, according to the CTIA, more than 90% of the over 243 million US wireless subscribers have phones capable of receiving a text message(4).
"As a trusted aggregator of messaging and other data services for US Wireless carriers, we see many different plans to market text messaging," said Gowri Shankar, VP of Marketing at Singlepoint. "Lifestyle Wireless has designed the most innovative text messaging approach to hit the market in a long time. We're proud to support them and excited about the vast potential."
Three cards are available for purchase:
Text-a-Day Lifestyle lets mobile users choose from several popular categories: Horoscopes, Jokes, Insults, Word-of-the-Day, Diet Tips, Celebrity Gossip, or Hip-Hop News. Text-a-Day Lifestyle is targeted at men and women, age 18-55, with a variety of interests.
Text-a-Day Faith is available in both English and Spanish and offers Bible Verses, Prayer of the Day, Daily Inspiration, and Saint-of-the-Day. Text-a-Day Faith is targeted at devotional and Christian consumers.
Text-a-Day Sports delivers the latest score and schedule for professional and college sports teams from the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL or major NCAA conferences. In addition to team-specific messages, the Sports Card can also be configured to deliver "Sports 101" general sports information or Sports Trivia. Text-a-Day Sports is targeted at the engaged sports fan, typically men aged 18-55.
Features and Pricing
-- One message a day sent to your phone, for 60 days
-- Each card is priced at $9.99, an impulse purchase and a great gift
-- As easy to activate and use as a prepaid minutes or gift card
-- Consumers can control their spending, just like a pre-paid minute card
-- Works on Alltel, AT&T, Sprint/Nextel, Suncom, T-Mobile, and Verizon
Wireless networks, and on virtually all mobile phones and payment plans,
including prepaid plans
"Today we're launching Lifestyle Wireless the company and the Text-a-Day brand, both built around a simple but elusive concept: make text messaging easy, accessible and meaningful for everyday users," said Greg Lambrecht, founder and CEO of Lifestyle Wireless. "We've built an immensely scalable platform and business model which will enable us to roll out additional cards and content categories to match specific consumer interests. This is just the beginning."
About Lifestyle Wireless
Lifestyle Wireless, Inc., creators of Text-a-Day™ mobile content cards, is dedicated to making text messaging easy, accessible and meaningful for everyday users. By eliminating the hassle of complex and confusing technologies, Lifestyle Wireless enables consumers to quickly and easily activate and receive message content that they care about on their mobile phone. The company has built an industry-grade scalable platform capable of delivering message services through the leading wireless carriers in the US, including Alltel, AT&T, Sprint/Nextel, Suncom, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless. Lifestyle Wireless is privately held and headquartered in Seattle, WA, and can be reached at www.textaday.com or by calling 602-481-1544.
About InComm
InComm is the industry leading marketer, distributor and technology innovator of stored-value gift and prepaid products using its state-of-the-art point-of-sale transaction technology and payment solutions to revolutionize retail product sales and customer experiences. With more than $5 billion in retail sales transactions processed in 2006, InComm is the nation's largest provider of gift cards, prepaid wireless products, financial debit cards, digital music downloads, content, games, software and bill payment solutions. InComm partners with consumer brand leaders around the world to provide more than 145,000 retail locations the products and services their customers demand. Since 1992, InComm's patented technologies have made the buying process easier for consumers while streamlining the selling process for product and retail partners. To learn more about InComm, visit www.incomm.com or call 1.800.352.3084. InComm is headquartered in Atlanta with offices in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, Puerto Rico, Colorado, Texas, Florida, New Jersey, Oregon, Arkansas, Alabama, Minnesota and Mississippi.