London, 30th July 2001 - Orange launches its latest games title based on the renowned TV programme Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? The game is the first licensed property to be launched by the Orange wirefree gaming division and is available from today on the Orange network.
The mobile version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? is played on SMS and is activated by texting the letter 'M' to 753. There are a minimum of 2000 questions and in order to win 15 questions must be answered correctly. The game includes 3 life-lines and a walk-away option. The player has 60 seconds to answer each question and win the chance to live like a millionaire on a luxury holiday. Orange joined forces with Motorola to launch the new SMS game. The mobile rights to the game have been licensed to Motorola by Celador.
Kamar Shah, Games Marketing Manager at Orange, comments "Over the last two years Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? has had a huge impact on British popular culture. The combination of this successful television format with the introduction of interactive text messaging gives our 11 million customers the ultimate SMS experience."
With 15 games already available to Orange's WAP users, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? illustrates Orange's expansion across a multimedia gaming platform that will take in WAP, SMS, the Internet and voice media. As mobile technologies continue to evolve towards 3G (third generation), the range and quality of games is set to increase.
Orange launched its wirefree? gaming division in January 2001 as part of a large portfolio of life services to be provided to the phone. Mobile gaming will form the cornerstone of Orange's entertainment strategy for 2001 and beyond, giving customers access to the games that they want whenever, wherever and however they choose.
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For further press information: Please call the Orange Media Centre on + 44 7973 201911 or + 44 20 7984 2000
Notes to Editors
- Orange and wirefree are trademarks of Orange.
- The mobile rights to Who Wants To Be A Millionaire have been licensed to Motorola.
- Orange provides a broad range of personal communications services, including Orange GSM 1800 services and other digital cellular telephone services.
- In August 2000 Orange plc was acquired by France Telecom, leading to the creation of Europe's third largest mobile operator. The new Orange has operations in 19 countries across Europe and beyond, and aims to have a presence in 50 countries worldwide by 2005.
- As at 12 January 2001, Orange UK had over 10 million customers.
- Orange provides high quality coverage to 99% of the UK population and over 80% of the geographic area. Coverage is based on hand portable, unlike some other operators which choose to base their coverage on boosted car kits.
- The third annual J.D. Power and Associates UK Mobile Customer Satisfaction Study, published on 9 May 2000, showed that "Orange maintains its dominance in customer satisfaction for the third consecutive year in the UK mobile market due to industry-leading performances in both the pre-pay and contract segments."
- In May 2000, OFTEL, the UK's telecommunications industry regulator, published the results of its second survey of the four UK GSM mobile communications networks' relative performance. 97.7 per cent of calls made on Orange were completed successfully. The figures for the other networks were BT Cellnet 96.5 per cent, Vodafone 96.3 per cent, One 2 One 95.6 per cent. The survey was based on up to 30,000 test calls on each of the four UK mobile operators' networks, covering all motorways, 70 conurbations and an extensive selection of A roads.
- In November 1999, the UK Consumers' Association's Which? magazine published a survey of its members and concluded: ''Orange was easily the best all round. It consistently came first, or very near the top, for both the quality of its network and customer service.''
- Orange UK was the first UK network operator to introduce Enhanced Full Rate in February 1998. EFR provides fixed line call quality across the entire Orange UK network to all customers at no extra charge.
- Orange UK now offers roaming on 242 networks in 110 countries.
- Information about Orange can be found on the Orange website at www.orange.co.uk and media information can be found at www.media.orangenet
About MOTOROLA:
Motorola, Inc. (NYSE:MOT) is a global leader in providing integrated communications and embedded electronic solutions. Sales in 2000 were $37.6 billion.
Motorola has been operating in the UK since 1967 and is one of the largest electronics manufacturing employers in the UK. Sales in 2000 were £3.9 billion, of which £3.2 billion was exports, making the company one of the UK's top ten exporters.