U.S. Cellular Offers Tips, Apps for Staying on Top of NCAA Basketball Tournament
Columbia, Mo., March 6, 2012 – Let the madness begin! The NCAA Basketball Tournament takes center stage March 13 when the top men’s and women’s basketball teams battle for the national championship over the course of three weeks. However, “Big Dance” battles are not limited to the court. There are nearly 60 million people who strive for their own championship over co-workers, family members and friends when they participate in bracket contests.
With the help of smartphones, it’s easy to keep track of all the buzzer beaters, Cinderella stories and close contests during the NCAA Basketball Tournament. According to Nielsen’s 2011 State of the Media Consumer Usage Report, more than 30 million people watched TV on their mobile phones. Smartphones can come in handy when you are trying to follow your favorite team while on the go. The Mobile TV app offers a variety of live and on-demand TV channels, such as ESPN and CBS, to help smartphone users follow the NCAA Tournament from the palm of their hand.
This also may be the right time to upgrade your device and performance in your wireless device to make sure you have updated statistics and can keep track as the final seconds tick off during important games. Right now, U.S. Cellular is offering $100 off activation when customers switch to U.S. Cellular. Current customers could get a free phone or faster upgrade when they use their Rewards points.
“Our Android-powered, Windows Phone and BlackBerry devices make it easy to access information about your favorite school during March Madness,” said Nathan Waddell, director of sales for U.S. Cellular in Missouri. “They give you fast access to a host of applications and popular Internet sites that can help college basketball fans stay on top of the NCAA Basketball Tournament.”
U.S. Cellular offers the following tips and free applications as fans prepare for one of the most prominent annual sporting events in the United States:
- Court-Side Action – There are a number of free applications in the Android Market that allow smartphone users to keep updated on what’s happening in the tournament. You can get the latest scores, schedules and news with the College Basketball Scoreboard, ESPN ScoreCenter, News Feed and Yahoo! Sportacular apps.
- School Spirit – Play your school’s fight song with pride following that March victory by downloading it and setting it as your ringtone.
- Tournament Trash Talk – Players are not the only ones who can talk trash during the tourney. The NCAA Basketball StatSmack is the ultimate college basketball trash talk app. This app leverages StatSheet’s database of more than 2 billion statistics to arm you with statistical data that will show that your team is the best in the country. You also can text fellow tournament pool participants to share your bracket success and brag about all the Final Four selections you nailed.
- Words of Wisdom – If you need a lift during the “Big Dance,” the Coach John Wooden Quotes app offers thoughts from the “Wizard of Westwood.” Wooden won 10 NCAA national championships in a 12-year period as UCLA’s coach from 1964-75.
About U.S. Cellular
U.S. Cellular rewards its customers with unmatched benefits and industry-leading innovations designed to elevate the customer experience. The Chicago-based carrier has a strong lineup of cutting-edge devices that are all backed by its high-speed nationwide network that has the highest call quality of any national carrier. U.S. Cellular was named a J.D. Power and Associates 2011 Customer Service Champion and received PC Magazine’s 2011 Readers’ Choice Award. To learn more about U.S. Cellular, visit one of its retail stores or uscellular.com. To get the latest news, promos and videos, connect with U.S. Cellular on Facebook.com/uscellular, Twitter.com/uscellular and YouTube.com/uscellularcorp.
###
For more information, contact:
Susan Newsham
314-436-9090