19 11 02

J-PHONE Co., Ltd. ("J-PHONE") announced today that as of November 19, the number of subscribers to its video messaging service known as "Movie Sha-mail*" passed the 1 million mark. J-PHONE reached the milestone approximately 9 months after first introducing the service in March 2002.


In June 2001, J-PHONE officially began promoting its photo messaging service called "Sha-mail" and since then many have embraced the service to enhance their communications. Responding to the needs of customers wishing to send video clips in addition to static pictures, J-PHONE then took the next step by introducing Movie Sha-mail. With Sha-mail and Movie Sha-mail, users now have access to greatly enhanced methods of expression otherwise difficult with simple text messaging.


Like Sha-mail, Movie Sha-mail's success can be partly attributed to its ease-of-use. With a built-in mobile camera, a user can take a short video of up to 5 seconds with audio, attach the video to an e-mail called a "Super Mail" and then send it off. Receivers of the e-mail can then instantly open the file for playback.


Presently six Movie Sha-mail-enabled handsets are available as part of J-PHONE's extensive camera handset lineup, Japan's largest. To cater to the diverse needs of a wide range of customers, J-PHONE's Movie Sha-mail handsets feature convenient interfaces, varied designs, and camera functions including zoom, close-up, frame setting, and lighting options.


On October 23, J-PHONE exceeded the 7 million mark for camera-equipped (Sha-mail-enabled) mobile phones, a number that includes Move Sha-mail-enabled handsets. As of November 19, there were 7.26 million Sha-mail users.


*J-PHONE packet data-enabled handsets and a subscription to the "J-SKY Packet Pack" (300 yen per month) are required to use Movie Sha-mail.


Please see the attached appendix for more details.


About J-PHONE
J-PHONE Co., Ltd. is a leading mobile operator in Japan and a member of the Vodafone Group, the world's largest mobile community. J-PHONE offers sophisticated mobile services including high quality voice telephony, "Sha-mail" (picture messaging), "Movie Sha-mail" (video messaging), J-SKY (Internet and e-mail access) and JavaTM applications. The company has over 13 million customers, of which more than 85% are J-SKY subscribers. J-PHONE was awarded one of three licenses to operate 3G mobile services in Japan, and is currently at an advanced stage of deploying a 3G W-CDMA network. For more information, please visit www.j-phone.com