Hongkong.com Intros SMS Apps

HONG KONG -- hongkong.com Corporation (GEM Stock: 8006; Website: www.corp.hongkong.com), the leading Asian Internet media, communications and interactive services company, today announced the launches of new SMS (short message service) value added products and services for both its SMS subscribers and Internet users in China. This is a further initiative demonstrating the synergies developed within Newpalm (China) Information Technology Co., Ltd ("Newpalm") and the www.china.com portal.

Since the acquisition of Newpalm, the company has rolled-out new products and services on a subscription basis by leveraging the mobile capabilities of Newpalm and the content platform of the www.china.com portal. Recently launched products and services include:

These two products have been well received by Newpalm's SMS users. For instance, the China News SMS has added an additional 50,000 subscribers in June to the company's SMS subscriber base since its launch in May this year. This further demonstrates the synergies between Newpalm and the www.china.com portal.

Further synergies are expected to take place by launching additional new services soon which include:

All these newly launched services can be subscribed for through the www.china.com portal network as well as Newpalm's SMS platform.

"We are pleased to see further progress on synergies between Newpalm and the www.china.com portal taking place," said Rudy Chan, Chief Executive Officer of hongkong.com Corporation. "Our SMS business is still in its early days as the acquisition of Newpalm was only completed in April this year, and its financial contribution will be consolidated into hongkong.com's financial results for Q2 2003. With the established payment platform that Newpalm is using, we expect that this will allow us to monetize our portal by jointly launching new value added products and services to its users. Overall, the recent development of Newpalm and its joint activities with the www.china.com portal demonstrate that our SMS business is on the right track and the synergies developed between Newpalm and www.china.com should broaden the service products of both entities."

Newpalm currently has direct connectivity and service agreements signed with local mobile network operators in 26 provinces. Direct connectivity with provincial network mobile operators facilitates Newpalm's marketing and promotion activities at the provincial level, resulting in a better quality of service, a higher sign-up rate for subscribers and new services and a higher level of completion of SMS messages sent. In May this year, Newpalm launched a customized weather news service which is charged at RMB 0.2 per message on a subscription or demand basis.

Hongkong.com Corp.