Boston, MA - May 18, 2006 -- Strategy Analytics, the global research and consulting company, today released "Mobile Music USA: Sprint Service Preferred to V CAST But Price Premiums Too High on Both," which concludes that while end users find Sprint Music Store faster and easier to use than V CAST Music, very few are willing to pay the current price premiums associated with downloading music to their mobile devices.

In this Strategy Analytics end-user evaluation of full track music download services, Sprint's Mobile Music Store out-scored Verizon Wireless's V CAST Music by a massive 21 percent. The Sprint service was preferred to V CAST Music for both `perceived network performance' and `ease-of-use.'

"Strategy Analytics has identified significant levels of consumer interest in mobile music services, and the current services - especially Sprint Music Store - meet or exceed user expectations in terms of performance and convenience," according to Paul Brown, Wireless Analyst at Strategy Analytics. "However, price remains a considerable barrier to acceptance."

Kevin Nolan, Director, Advanced Wireless Laboratory, added, "Our research suggests that users are willing to pay a premium of around 35 percent for the convenience of downloading tracks to both their wireless devices and PCs - subject to reliable network performance. In our view, the current 100 to 150 percent premiums charged by the main operators make adoption of these services highly unlikely."