Smart Communications and Friendster Launch 'Friendster Mobile Unli P20' Data Plan

You can now check your Friendster account anywhere you go -- yup, even with no computer around -- as long as you have your Smart mobile phone. For a flat rate P20, you can access your FS account on your phone for 24 hours with unlimited browsing and stay connected with your friends and family. Check it out:

SMART Subscribers Can Browse Friendster for 24 Hours on Their Mobile Phones for P20

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA – September 22, 2009 -- Friendster, Inc., a top 25 global web site based on traffic*, today announced the launch of ‘Friendster Mobile UNLI P20’ – an unlimited data plan with the Philippines’ leading wireless services provider, Smart Communications, Inc. (SMART). The 'Friendster Mobile UNLI’ data plan enables SMART subscribers to access Friendster via their mobile phones for 24 hours with unlimited browsing, for a flat rate of P20. The data plan is ideal for Friendster users who want to stay connected to their network of friends and family conveniently via their mobile phones while on the go.

The 'Friendster Mobile UNLI P20’ data plan is available immediately to all SMART Buddy and Smart Gold subscribers in the Philippines with 3G/ HSPA/ HSDPA handsets. SMART subscribers can access the 'Friendster Mobile UNLI' data plan at http://smart.m.friendster.com from their mobile phone’s web browser. From there, users can gain access to Friendster for 24 hours from their mobile phone without additional data charges. Upon access, P20 will be immediately deducted from a user’s prepaid load, or charged on top of their monthly service fee for postpaid subscribers.

"The ‘Friendster Mobile UNLI P20’ data plan was designed to benefit millions of Filipinos who are SMART subscribers and want to stay connected with friends and family anytime, anywhere, and in a cost effective way,” said Jaime Ocampo, APAC head of mobile business development at Friendster. "We're excited to partner with SMART on this service as it meets the needs of our community and increases our suite of mobile features," he said.

With ‘Friendster Mobile UNLI P20’, SMART subscribers can upload photos, browse photos, view their network activity, review friend requests, post shoutouts, browse user profiles, view birthdays, read horoscopes, post comments, check messages, post bulletins, and much more.

To remain subscribed to ‘Friendster Mobile UNLI P20’ users must maintain a minimum balance of P1 and users will be charged P20 for each 24 hour period they are subscribed. The P20 24 hour unlimited rate is available via standard mobile browsers only and is not applicable with alternative browsers such as Opera Mini or when users use their phone as a PC modem. The P20 rate is only available on http://smart.m.friendster.com and does not apply to any other sites. Users will be charged SMART's standard rate of P10 for every 30 minutes while browsing other sites.

"Launching the 'Friendster Mobile UNLI P20’ data plan further illustrates our commitment to building a robust set of mobile offerings for SMART subscribers," said Annie Naval, marketing head at SMART Communications. "We’re looking forward to watching this service grow in popularity and launching additional products and services with Friendster," she added.

Friendster Leads in the Philippines
In the Philippines, Friendster is the #1 social network, the #2 website and the #1 mobile site.** With over 12 million monthly active users in the Philippines in August 2009,*** over 90 percent of the Internet users in the Philippines visit Friendster each month. A typical user spends 30 minutes a day on Friendster and visits Friendster several times a week, communicating with friends and sharing and consuming content through a suite of features.

* comScore Media Metrix, Worldwide Data, June 2009

**Opera State of the Mobile Web Report, May 2009
*** Friendster Internal Data, 30-Day Active Users August 2009

[Press Release Courtesy of Mr. Jeff Roberto of Friendster Inc.]

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