????T-Mobile is focused on helping people effortlessly connect with those who matter most by providing our customers with meaningful ways to stick together,???? said Leslie Grandy, vice president, Product Development, T-Mobile USA. ????We are pleased to be the first wireless carrier in the U.S. selected to offer this innovative service that gives customers another compelling way to stay in touch.????

“The worlds of wireless communication and social utilities, such as Facebook, continue to converge. As people look for new ways to stay connected and network with peers and colleagues, true mobile access to these types of utilities can only become more popular,” said Jill Aldort, Sr. Analyst, Consumer Research at Yankee Group. “Even at this nascent stage of the market, 19% of adult consumers who access social networks on their PCs also regularly access these same sites on their mobile phones.”

Facebook for BlackBerry Smartphones, which will be available as a free download*, makes it faster, easier and more convenient for users to stay wirelessly connected with their Facebook friends and colleagues. The application allows users to:

• Receive notifications and messages automatically – Leveraging the BlackBerry platform’s push-based architecture, notifications and messages are automatically sent to the user; the user can also set a unique alert (vibration and/or ringtone) for Facebook related content
• Quickly access essential features – Convenient onscreen icons let users quickly change their Status, upload a photo, add a friend, poke someone, write on a Wall, or send a message. Users can also quickly scroll through messages and notifications as they do with email messages
• Invite friends to join Facebook and accept new friend requests
• Quickly snap and post pictures along with a caption and tags – The photo upload feature is also integrated with the BlackBerry smartphone camera and photo management applications on the smartphone
• View the Status of friends
• Read, compose and reply to messages even while offline – If the user is out of wireless coverage, messages are queued until the user returns to an area of coverage

Facebook users will be able to download the application at www.facebook.com from their PC or BlackBerry smartphone beginning later today.

* Wireless data charges may apply. Check with wireless service provider.