Sprint Pushes Picture Service

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. -- Today, Sprint (NYSE: FON - News, PCS - News) is the first carrier to focus on making sharing digital pictures wirelessly as common as making wireless calls. The enhanced Picture Mail service allows PCS customers to instantly share life's everyday moments in a whole new way. Sprint, which operates the largest all-digital, all PCS nationwide network, offers customers a built-in camera phone for under $100 after a mail-in rebate, flat-rate data pricing, an intuitive way to share pictures, an online album at no additional charge, attachable voice memo and the ability to wirelessly share pictures with more people in more places. To date, millions of pictures have been uploaded and shared on the enhanced PCS Nationwide Network and more than two million have been shared and uploaded in the last two months alone. More than 75 percent of Sprint customers who currently use Picture Mail share their pictures with family and friends. Sprint has introduced seven phones that allow customers to capture pictures. Sprint expects more camera phones, from quality manufacturers like Sanyo and Samsung, will be added to its lineup later this year. All 13 existing PCS Vision-enabled phones can receive pictures. In a separate release: Sprint (NYSE: FON - News, PCS - News) and Sanyo Fisher Company today announce the availability of the Sanyo 8100, the latest addition to Picture Mail from Sprint, an all-inclusive wireless pictures product that allows PCS customers to point, click and share pictures instantly anywhere on the enhanced Sprint Nationwide PCS Network. The Sanyo 8100 features a built-in camera with voice message capability, fun frames, selectable shutter sound that says "Say Cheese!," two full-color TFT screens and an affordable price that will allow customers to share life's everyday moments with family and friends instantly through sight and sound. Images with voice messages can be sent to any PCS Vision Phone or to e-mail addresses, for instant sharing nationwide. And sharing is made even easier by enabling customers to send a picture to up to ten recipients at one time directly from their phone book. The Sanyo 8100 will be available in three stylish colors Silver, Navy/Gold, or Pearl White/Lavender. "Sprint and Sanyo were the first to introduce a wireless phone with a built-in camera in the United States. Sprint will clearly continue this leadership with more built-in camera phones that appeal to all ages and budgets. The Sanyo 8100 will be the centerpiece of the Sprint camera phone line-up and we wouldn't be surprised if it became the largest selling phone in Sprint's history," said Len Lauer, president of the PCS Division of Sprint. "PCS' new Picture Mail product is an affordable, simple package that will make communicating via pictures a common way for family and friends to instantly stay in touch. And with the new Picture Mail service enhancements and the optimized capabilities of the 8100 due to the 6000 chipset series from Qualcomm, staying in touch through pictures has never been easier." The Sanyo 8100 is the first phone to feature the new 6000 series Qualcomm chipset which improves data services and sending and receiving of pictures. Customers will see this after taking a picture using the 8100 and being instantly placed into "share" mode, making them just clicks away from sharing life's everyday moments. The 1.8-inch internal TFT LCD supports 65,536 colors and provides a rich, compelling experience when viewing photos, screen savers, animated ringers and games. The 1-inch external TFT 65,536-color LCD offers users the convenience of Caller ID for quickly identifying incoming calls by their number, or Photo-Caller ID, for instantaneously identifying incoming calls by viewing a previously selected image of the caller that has been linked to the handset's internal phone book. The full-color external screen is also a perfect viewer for taking self-portraits when the phone is closed. Sprint PCS