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Matsushita Communication Selects Ecrio's Embedded Handset Software for Future Multimedia Phones

Panasonic Handsets to Combine Multimedia with Wireless Village™ compliant Instant Messaging

Cupertino, California - September 23rd, 2002 — Ecrio Inc., a leading provider of instant communications application and infrastructure software solutions, today announced that Matsushita Communication Industrial Co., Ltd. (MCI), the Japanese manufacturer of Panasonic brand mobile handsets, will license Ecrio’s Embedded Handset Software for Instant Messaging and Presence Services (IMPS). The agreement enables MCI to integrate Ecrio’s software into its Panasonic handsets, and bring a combined experience for presence-based services, instant messaging, and multimedia messaging all in one. Both companies have agreed to develop and deploy commercially interoperable IMPS solutions using open industry standards between Panasonic handsets and Ecrio’s AllMedia™ server solutions such as the Ecrio Rich Instant Messaging Platform.

"We are delighted to establish this relationship with Ecrio," said Tsuyoshi Tokura, Director of Matsushita Communication Industrial. "Presence based messaging is going to be a key component of a mobile operator's network and next generation mobile terminals. Ecrio has demonstrated its vision and leadership by providing interoperable messaging solutions based on open standards such as the Wireless Village initiative”.

“Panasonic is one of the world's largest producers of electronic consumer products and we are pleased to be providing them our mobile messaging solution,” said Nagesh Challa, President, and CEO of Ecrio. “Our standards based handset and server messaging software enables Ecrio and its partners to rapidly conceptualize and deploy new mobile messaging services, including multimedia instant messaging, gaming, entertainment, m-commerce, and corporate solutions."

The Ecrio IMPS handset software comes in two versions, C on native OS and Java™ 2 Micro Edition (J2ME™), and is the first of its kind to comply with the Wireless Village™ 1.1 specification (www.wireless-village.org) while running on commercially available phones.

About Matsushita Communication Industrial

Matsushita Communication Industrial Co., Ltd (MCI) is a principal subsidiary of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., best known for its Panasonic brand consumer and industrial products. Matsushita Communication Industrial specializes in three business areas: mobile communications, automotive multimedia, and system solutions. One of the world's first 3G handset manufacturers for commercial services in Japan, the company recorded sales of 783.8 billion yen (US$5.9 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2002. For more information, visit http://www.mci.panasonic.co.jp/english.

About the Wireless Village initiative

Founded by Ericsson (Nasdaq: ERICY), Motorola (NYSE: MOT), and Nokia (NYSE: NOK), Wireless Village, the mobile Instant Messaging and Presence Services (IMPS) initiative, was formed in April 2001 to define and promote a set of universal specifications for mobile instant messaging and presence services. The specifications will be used for exchanging messages and presence information between mobile devices, mobile services and Internet-based instant messaging services, all interoperable and leveraging existing internet technologies. Through its Supporters, the Wireless Village initiative is building a vibrant community of users, mobile operators and global business partners where internet and wireless domains converge. The IEEE Industry Standards and Technology Organization (IEEE-ISTO) provides day-to-day administrative support to the Wireless Village initiative. New members have the opportunity to comment and make contributions to the specification, participate in interoperability events and attend quarterly face-to-face board meetings. The Wireless Village initiative recently announced its intent to consolidate into the newly formed Open Mobile Alliance (http://www.openmobilealliance.org). For more information on the Wireless Village initiative, how to join the Wireless Village initiative, details of technical specifications and more, visit http://www.wireless-village.org.

About Ecrio

Headquartered in Cupertino, California, Ecrio is the leading vendor of real time commerce and communications software for mobile phones. Ecrio provides interoperable and standard compliant software to mobile phone manufacturers and mobile operators. Solutions include mobile commerce applications, including NFC and MoBeam mobile barcode redemption, along with 3G communications applications such as Instant Messaging and Presence Services (IMPS), VideoShare, Voice over IP (VoIP), and Push to Talk over Cellular (PoC). Ecrio's customers include industry leaders such as ASUSTeK, NEC, NTT DoCoMo, Panasonic and Visa. Visit www.ecrio.com

Ecrio and MoBeam are trademarks of Ecrio Inc. All other brands, products, and company names mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective holders.

Press Contact:

Larry Loper,
Ecrio lloper@ecrio.com
+1 408 596 1500

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