DURHAM, NC – Believe it or not, American teens’ most utilized technology and social accessory – the mobile phone –can actually improve their academic skills and college admissions chances.

A recent 3rd party independent study of the impact of SAT Remix, mobile SAT prep, demonstrated statistically significant increases in SAT-level vocabulary knowledge among student participants. The study was conducted by Measurement Incorporated, a nationally recognized leader in educational research and assessment that has provided analysis and scoring services to clients, including The State University of New York, Albert Einstein Medical College and the U.S. Departments of Education and Labor.

Study participants, randomly selected from a pool of all juniors enrolled in Durham County, NC public high schools, took a multiple-choice SAT style vocabulary test at the study’s outset. For the next 90 days, students received daily audio and text vocabulary lessons delivered to their cellphones. Participation was voluntary, unrelated to their work in school, and did not earn them higher grades or extra academic credit. At the end of the three-month program, a matched post-test revealed an increase of 45 percent among project participants. A t-test revealed the results of the study to be statistically significant.

“We believe this to be the first independent impact study ever conducted on a mobile education product,” said Brian OliverSmith, founder and CEO of Urban Planet Mobile. “We have always been confident of the effectiveness of SAT Remix and now our confidence is proven well placed by hard, statistical evidence.”

OliverSmith attributes the success of SAT Remix to its use of teen-friendly media grounded in contemporary learning theory. For example, each vocabulary lesson is presented via text and audio – and also set to music, a strategy proven to assist in learning and recalling information. The program has also been designed to reach 95% of handsets and is not limited to particular carriers or phones, which makes it widely available. Additionally, the program is affordable to provide virtually any student the opportunity to access quality SAT prep.

“We were privileged to be involved in testing the efficacy of SAT Remix,” said Michael B. Bunch, PhD, Senior Vice President of Measurement Incorporated. “We view these results as both statistically and educationally significant.”

The Durham Public School program was funded through a grant from the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce, an active supporter of public education. Detailed information about SAT Remix is available online www.satremix.com.

Urban Planet Mobile, the mobile education company, is the leading provider of education and information products created specifically for delivery via mobile phone. With products ranging from basic word and phrase lessons to SAT preparation, Urban Planet Mobile is the only company to develop educational content for delivery to any mobile phone, anywhere in the world. Additional information about the company can be obtained at www.urbanplanetmobile.com or by calling (919) 237-2755.

Durham, NC – Urban Planet has been selected to receive the 2011 Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific ICT Award for Most Innovative Application Provider of the Year. The award is part of Frost & Sullivan’s program to recognize outstanding performance in the Asia Pacific ICT industry, and is decided by a distinguished panel of judges comprising senior executives from the industry, circle of CIOs/CTOs and Frost & Sullivan analysts.

The Frost & Sullivan Awards are presented to companies that demonstrate best practices in their industry, commending the diligence, commitment, and innovative business strategies required to advance in the global marketplace.

Urban Planet was selected because of the innovation of its Urban English Learning program and the positive impact it can have on society. The program is available through local mobile phone providers and allows subscribers to receive detailed English lessons daily to their cell phones via text messages (SMS) with an attached English Learning ring tone.

Urban Planet Mobile will receive the award on Thursday, 9 June 2011, 6:00pm, at Shangri-La Hotel Singapore. All the award recipients representing the who’s who of Asia Pacific’s ICT industry, including senior executives from service providers, vendors and the media, will attend this banquet.

CEO and President of Urban Planet Mobile, Brian OliverSmith, will accept the award. “The Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific ICT Awards recognize companies and individuals that push the boundaries of excellence,” said Mr. OliverSmith. “Some of the biggest names in ICT were up for this award and, once again, our Urban English program has stood out from the rest.”

Frost & Sullivan provides cutting-edge innovative growth solutions and strategies to some of the world’s leading Global 1000 companies. With the largest team of analysts in Asia Pacific, the Frost & Sullivan ICT Practice is dedicated to researching the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry in the region. Their detailed and rigorous analysis of the region’s information, communications technology and telecommunications industry provides business intelligence to some of the largest and most influential companies in the Asia Pacific region.

Urban English is the largest, most comprehensive library of English Language learning for mobile education and because of smart product design the daily lessons are available to 95% of handsets and reach 85% of the English learning population worldwide. The Urban English line is being expanded using the current audio as the building block for an animated library to exploit the growing web enabled, smart phone market, while retaining design simplicity to still reach the greatest percentage of the worldwide market.

Urban Planet Mobile is the leading provider of education and information products created specifically for delivery via mobile phone. With products ranging from basic word and phrase lessons to SAT preparation, Urban Planet Mobile is the only company to develop English lessons for delivery to any mobile phone.

Urban Planet Mobile is one of three companies in the world to be honored with this coveted and extremely sought after recognition.

Distinguishing characteristics that separated Urban Planet’s Urban English Program from others was the program’s simplicity, usefulness of its design, and its ability to deliver detailed English language lessons to any type of cell phone via text messages (SMS) with an attached English Learning ring tone that can be downloaded and saved to be listened to repeatedly.  This approach allows the service to reach the market where it can make the most difference: developing countries.

“Ensuring that the Urban English Program was globally accessible and easy to use was our top priority and Gartner’s recognition of the Urban English Program’s design confirms that we achieved our goal in building our product in the most effective, useful and usable way,” said Brian OliverSmith, President and CEO of Urban Planet Mobile.  “The power of this recognition cannot be understated as it is one of the singularly most important honors any company can receive.  The recognition from Gartner verifies our place among the most forward thinking and innovative educational companies in the world.  Being named a Cool Vendor by Gartner allows us to form additional alliances with mobile phone carriers and continue to get our product in the hands of the billions of consumers who desperately want and need them.”

“Leveraging old established technology such as Short Message Service (SMS) and the ring tone file format can be more innovative and effective than Smartphone functionality when it comes to learning a language.” Gartner, Inc., “Cool Vendors in Education 2011″, Jan-Martin Lowendahl, 22 April 2011.

The Urban English Language Learning Program is the largest, most comprehensive library of English Language learning for mobile education and because of smart product design, the daily lessons are available to 95% of handsets and reaches 85% of the English learning population worldwide.  The Urban English line is being expanded using the current audio as the building block for an animated library to exploit the growing web enabled, smartphone market, while retaining design simplicity to still reach the greatest percentage of the worldwide market.

Gartner, Inc. is the world’s leading information technology research and advisory company, providing the most comprehensive collection of analysis and advice for the users and vendors of technology.  Each year, Gartner identifies new Cool Vendors in key technology areas and publishes a series of research reports highlighting these innovative vendors and their products and services.  Gartner included the Urban Planet Mobile Urban English Program on its 2011 list after the program won the 2011 GSM Award for Best Mobile Learning Innovation.

Urban Planet Mobile is the leading provider of education and information products created specifically for delivery via mobile phone.  With products ranging from English language learning programs to SAT preparation, Urban Planet Mobile is the only company to develop literacy lessons for delivery to any mobile phone.  Additional information about the company can be obtained at www.urbanplanetmobile.com or by calling (919) 323-8763.

Durham, NC – Urban Planet Mobile, the world’s leading mobile education provider, has been selected as a finalist for the Gates Foundation’s prestigious Next Generation Learning Challenge Education Grant.

Urban Planet Mobile was chosen for its unique M-Powered Literacy (MPL) program, which capitalizes on the versatile but educationally under-utilized mobile phone to build higher order literacy skills in underperforming students transitioning to high school. MPL unites complementary “m-learning” solutions with improving reading & writing proficiency, and building academic vocabulary.

Next Generation Learning Challenges (NGLC) is a collaborative, multi-year initiative created to address the barriers to educational innovation and tap the potential of technology to dramatically improve college readiness and completion in the United States. NGLC is guided by the belief that providing investment capital to expand the use of proven and emerging learning technologies, collecting and sharing evidence of what works, and fostering a community of innovators and adopters will result in a robust pool of solutions and greater institutional adoption which, in turn, will dramatically improve the quality of learning experiences in the United States.

“This type of recognition from the Gates Foundation continues to prove how innovative, effective and valuable Urban Planet Mobile’s scholastic products are to helping solve the various problems affecting our educational systems,” said Mobile Education’s creator, CEO and founder of Urban Planet Mobile Brian OliverSmith.

With Next Generation support, Urban Planet Mobile will develop its MPL literature-based modules aligned to Common Core Standards that take advantage of the smartphone’s “offline” capabilities (reading platform, media player, document storage, file transfer, digital production, and interactivity). A vocabulary component deploys ring tone & SMS technologies to extend learning beyond the school day, affordably reaching students with any model of mobile phone. The key to program sustainability is the repurposing of recycled smartphones.

Other finalists for the Next Generation Learning Challenges Grant include Massachusetts Institute of Technology, The Learning Partnership, Education Connection, Michigan State University, Northwestern University, Imagine Education, GameDesk, North Carolina State University, SMALLab Learning, and Teacher’s College Columbia University.

Urban Planet Mobile is the leading provider of education and information products created specifically for delivery via mobile phone. With products ranging from English language learning programs to SAT preparation, Urban Planet Mobile is the only company to develop literacy lessons for delivery to any mobile phone. Additional information about the company can be obtained at www.urbanplanetmobile.com or by calling (919) 323-8763.

INTERNATIONAL MOBILE CONTENT DISTRIBUTOR INTRODUCES URBAN ENGLISH TO 60 COUNTRIES-120 CARRIERS

Durham, NC – Urban Planet Mobile, the world’s leading mobile education provider based in Durham, North Carolina, has signed a deal with TIMWE to take Urban English, mobile English language lessons, to their network of operators and carriers worldwide. Urban Planet Mobile expects to see a tremendous boost to distribution and revenue while expanding the worldwide recognition and adoption of the Urban English brand. TIMWE is a global leader in harnessing technology and marketing strategies to help clients reach their target audience and build consumer and brand loyalty.

“This deal helps us to quickly expand the breadth and depth of our marketing and distribution efforts abroad,” said Mobile Education’s creator, CEO and founder of Urban Planet Mobile Brian OliverSmith. “TIMWE works closely with mobile providers around the world to provide effective and entertaining mobile solutions and we believe they can help elevate our Urban English program to the next level in terms of market growth.”

TIMWE has vast mobile expertise helping brands to be in the forefront of the mobile revolution and maximize their impact on consumers by delivering targeted, interactive and mobile solutions. Mobiles shape the lives and choices of consumers. TIMWE designs and implements impactful mobile marketing solutions, enabling clients to reach and interact with their targeted consumers anytime and anywhere on a customized basis.  They have a proven track record of driving revenues and boosting marketing ROIs, making them a strong partner for delivering Urban English.

“Because Urban Planet Mobile has the best quality content in English language learning for mobile and is the recognized world leader in mobile education, we chose to work with them and bring their Urban English to our partners around the world.” Ricardo Carvalho, Managing Partner for TIMWE had to say. “We were evaluating companies and found that Urban Planet Mobile offered the best fit with the strongest brand. Upon signing the agreement for distribution, we had 4 countries in South America immediately put their hands up to offer the program with more around the world showing strong interest each week.”

The lessons from the Urban English program, available for speakers of 12 major languages, represent the largest library in the world of mobile English learning.

Urban Planet Mobile is the leading provider of education and information products created specifically for delivery via mobile phone and the winner of the coveted GSMA Global Mobile Award for best mobile education initiative. With products ranging from basic word and phrase lessons to SAT preparation, Urban Planet Mobile is the only company to develop English lessons for delivery to any mobile phone. Additional information about the company can be obtained at www.urbanplanetmobile.com or by calling (919) 323-8763.

TIMWE (www.timwe.com) is a global company that offers a wide range of mobile monetization solutions. Operating in more than 75 markets in 5 continents, managed through 25 offices, TIMWE has gained a prominent position in European, Latin American and Asian markets and is currently one of the top companies in mobile marketing, mobile entertainment and mobile money solutions in the world.

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URBAN PLANET MOBILE INCREASES PRESENCE IN ASIAN MARKET

Durham, NC – Urban Planet Mobile, the world’s leading mobile education provider based in Durham, North Carolina, is strengthening its presence in Asia. To take advantage of Indonesia’s hunger to learn the English language, Hutchison Asia Telecom Group, Indonesia’s 5th largest mobile phone service provider, has agreed to deliver and market Urban Planet Mobile’s, Urban English Language Learning program to its 10-million subscribers. The program will allow each subscriber to receive detailed English lessons daily to their cell phones via text messages (SMS) with an attached English Learning ring tone.

Hutchison Asia Telecom Group also provides cellular service in Sri Lanka and Vietnam. The agreement strengthens Urban Planet Mobile’s foothold in the Asia Pacific market, the region with the highest number of mobile phone subscriptions in the world. Hutchison Asia is a subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa Limited and, through its “3” brand, offers mobile telecommunication services in Europe, Asia-Pacific (including China) and Australia.

“In Indonesia geography demands that cell phones are the primary tool of communication and the sheer quantity of people that use them make them the perfect educational tool,” said Mobile Education’s creator, CEO and founder of Urban Planet Mobile Brian OliverSmith. “Each day the student receives a quick language lesson set to music which simultaneously utilizes three types of learning: reading, audio and kinetic learning, a combination proven to boost memory.”

Hutchison Asia Telecom Group recognized the significant demand to learn English among the Indonesian population, especially within the business community where English is the predominant language. The lessons from the Urban English program focus on everyday words and phrases used in a variety of social situations for the international businessman or student wanting a better grasp of daily life and language. The program is generalized while still being available for a variety of topics from entertainment to shopping to dining out and is in audio to assist in better comprehension and increased communication skills.

“The English language is vital to the growth and success of our economy and we feel the Urban English Program is a simple and effective tool that anyone can use to master the language,” said Al Greeny Savitri Dewayanti, General Manager of Value Added Services. “We anticipate a high percentage of our subscribers will take advantage of the program.”

Urban Planet Mobile enlisted some of the greatest educational minds to design lesson plans that help people learn English. The program costs less than $5.00 per month.

Urban Planet Mobile is the leading provider of education and information products created specifically for delivery via mobile phone. With products ranging from basic word and phrase lessons to SAT preparation, Urban Planet Mobile is the only company to develop English lessons for delivery to any mobile phone.

Designed originally as simple communication devices, cellphones have evolved into “digital dynamos,” mighty engines of educational innovation. Through cellphones, Urban Planet Mobile, The Mobile Education Company, affordably and instantly delivers life-changing, multimedia English language training to learners anywhere in the world. Cellphones can also be powerful tools for creativity in the hands of students. Even low-end handsets now come with built-in cameras, video and audio recorders and enough memory to store large multimedia files. We are begining to see teachers around the globe design learning experiences that take advantage of student access to this familiar, much-loved, and multi-functional technology.
Sarah Bausell, a high school English teacher in Durham, North Carolina, has used mobile phones to teach essay writing and oral communication to ninth graders, many of whom are immigrants still learning English. She began one project by having students listen to personal essays broadcast on NPR’s “This I Believe.” Students then wrote essays about their own personal beliefs , and transformed their writing into scripts for audio broadcasting. After rehearsing their essays, students used their mobile phones to call a local number connecting them with a project website. When prompted, they read their essays aloud while a web tool automatically recorded and saved them to a forum , where their classmates could listen and post oral or written comments. Here is an example of one student’s audio essay about the need for immigration reform :

Halfway around the world outside Johannesburg, South Africa, 6th graders have also used mobile phones in a creative, educational way. Introduced to the United Nation’s Millenium goals in areas such as health, environment and literacy,. students used cellphones to study how international issues played out in their own community. Armed with smartphones donated by the Sprint Foundation, students set out to discover and document the development challenges faced by families in their own backyard. In the picture above, students are learning about South Africa’s housing problems from a man who lives without running water or electricity in a ramshackle shanty town. While one student poses questions and translates his answers from Zulu to English, the other captures the interview with her phone’s video camera. Back in class, the students uploaded their videos to a project website DI Gameworks., where the videos became part of an interactive game that can be played by anyone with internet access.
Cellphones are as powerful as many computers yet they are also far more versatile. As the impending revolution in mobile education heats up, expect to see creative teachers and students everywhere finding amazing new ways that mobile phones can enliven, extend, and enrich learning.

Lucy Haagen
Mobile Education Intern
Urban Planet Mobile

Durham, NC – Urban Planet Mobile, the world’s leading mobile education provider, has won the prestigious and coveted 2011 Global Mobile Award, officially recognizing the company as the true worldwide leader in mobile education.  This is the first time the award has been won by an American company.

The International GSM Association awards, the “World Cup” of the mobile technology world, narrowed the field of worldwide competitors from almost 500 across 10 categories naming Urban Planet Mobile’s Urban English initiative in Indonesia, in partnership with PT Telkomsel, as winner in the Best Mobile Learning Innovation category.  Urban Planet Mobile’s solid business principles and the simple and elegant product design were highlighted as the factors that separated the Urban English Language Learning Program from the rest of the competitors.

Other finalists in the Best Mobile Learning Innovation category included BBC Learning English for BBC Janala; Ericsson, The Earth Institute at Columbia University and Millenium Promise for Connect to Learn; Nokia and the Pearson Foundation for “Bridgeit”; and OnPoint Digital, Inc. for CellCast Solution.

“The impact our products have to help improve the lives of millions of people around the world is the reason for our victory,” said Brian OliverSmith, CEO of Urban Planet Mobile.  “To win out against such an impressive group of competitors is validation for the fact that we are leading the way in mobile learning.”

Urban Planet Mobile’s Urban English language lessons are available to the 94+ million PT Telkomsel subscribers in Indonesia via SMS.  During the first quarter it was available an unprecedented 105,000 subscribers signed on for the program.  Each lesson is sent as an embedded audio link that downloads as a ring tone, providing the opportunity for subscribers to hear daily lessons spoken by a native English speaker.  Because these lessons are priced affordably for the market and available to virtually every person, subscribers study anytime, anywhere.  Urban English is the largest, most comprehensive library of English Language learning for mobile education and because of smart product design, the daily lessons are available to 95% of handsets and reaches 85% of the English learning population worldwide.  The Urban English line is being expanded using the current audio as the building block for an animated library to exploit the growing web enabled, smart phone market, while retaining design simplicity to still reach the greatest percentage of the worldwide market.

As the largest network coverage of any cellular operator in Indonesia covering all the country’s provinces, regions and counties, PT Telkomsel was the first company in the world to see the potential of the Urban English language program.  PT Telkomsel recognizes the significant demand to learn English among the Indonesian population, especially within the global business community where the predominant language is English.

Urban Planet Mobile is the leading provider of education and information products created specifically for delivery via mobile phone. With products ranging from basic word and phrase lessons to SAT preparation, Urban Planet Mobile is the only company to develop English lessons for delivery to any mobile phone.