Cingular launches ringback tones, Verizon answers

Cingular Wireless and Warner Music launched a ringback service called Answer Tones that features music and voice clips. Ringback tones replace the ringing sound callers hear while they wait for the other person to pick up the phone. The hook to the service is that the voice clips feature musicians and other celebrities that refer to the user by name (assuming the user has a common name). Cingular's four-week promotional period, called Say My Name, aims to get the word out.

Cingular is the last of the big four to enter the ringback business, but it's service was compelling enough to warrant a ringback upgrade from Verizon Wireless, which announced an expanded portfolio of 10,000 ringback tones and plans to push more management onto the device. Both Verizon and Cingular require users to pay a 99-cent monthly charge, and each tone is $1.99. After one year each tone expires and the monthly fee must be maintained or else the others will expire, too. WiderThan powers Verizon Wireless' ringback service.

For more on Cingular's ringback launch:
- see this article from Digital Music News

PLUS: Two years after the introduction of ringback tones, the USPTO has recently granted an official patent for the technology to Perceptive Impression. Article