By
Chris Fox on May 29th, 2008
Posted in Other Interesting Articles | No Comments »
[VIA: ME DAILY]
Vodafone is working on a radical revamp of its mobile internet and content strategy, ME has learned.
Sources say that the company is working towards a dramatic new approach that will be launched to consumers by April next year. The strategy is being masterminded Pieter Knook, who moved from Microsoft earlier this year to head up Voda’s newly formed internet services unit.
Details of the re-launch are sketchy – ME believes an internal presentation only took place last week – but we’ve been told it will be a vigorous riposte to the entry into the space by Google, Apple and Nokia. Deaprting CEO Arun Sarin has talked in the past about Voda not becoming a dumb pipe. Perhaps this is his parting shot.
Voda is currently expanding its Group Services team to prepare for the launch. This is significant as the firm dramatically culled the same unit around 18 months ago, resulting in the departure of very big names such as Graeme Ferguson, Lee Fenton and Tim Harrison. It even came close to closing Group Services completely.
It’s also rumoured that Voda will complement this internal growth with acquisitions. The firm agreed to pay £25m for Zyb, a Danish social networking company, earlier this month. More similar deals are expected.
[VIA: ME DAILY]
Bookmark on del.icio.us
By
Chris Fox on May 28th, 2008
Posted in Other Interesting Articles | No Comments »
[VIA: MocoNews]
T&T (NYSE: T) said following the “American Idol” finale this week, the company generated 78 million text messages during the season, shattering its previous record of 64.5 million. AT&T further tried to capitalize on the show’s popularity by adding other mobile components. For instance, last week during the hometown visits, the final three contestants learned of the producer’s choice via text message on their Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) iPhone. In addition to voting, AT&T subscribers could participate in American Idol-themed trivia, sweepstakes and chats. It seems that “American Idol” is the perfect medium to cross-sell mobile and TV. Jupiter analyst Juile Ask wrote in her blog that as she “watched the finale, I was beginning to think that the judges and Ryan Seacrest were getting paid for each mention of Nokia (NYSE: NOK) … or they had some quota to fill. In any case, there are few examples out there of three-screen marketing - TV, cellphones and the PC - this one was well done in that it drove consumers to all three medium with purpose.” Release.
In a poll on AT&T’s website, it also asked about the role text messages played in the show:
– 51 percent said they text more frequently during the “American Idol” season than other times of the year.
– 43 percent said they discuss “American Idol” with others via text messaging while they watch the show.
– 22 percent said they learned to text message by voting for their favorite Idol contestant.
Fanboy stuff, from the actual fanboy, Rafat: from the press release:—“By texting their votes this season, AT&T’s wireless customers helped crown a new “American Idol” champion, David Cook, and made it possible for AT&T to capture a new text messaging milestone for television’s No. 1 show.”
Staci adds: Meanwhile, the winner of Saturday night’s Eurovision song contest could be in doubt (insert punchline here) because of the reliance on text messaging. The BBC has banned text voting as unreliable but most participating countries will vote that way. As the Guardian points out, each country chooses its own voting method. The Europe-wide system is run by Digame, the company that handles voting for German Idol and Big Brother.
[VIA: MocoNews]
Bookmark on del.icio.us
By
Chris Fox on May 28th, 2008
Posted in Other Interesting Articles | No Comments »
Napster is offering video for the first time as part of its OTA mobile offering in Japan.
The new video service, Napster Clips, makes music video available to users of the new N906iL onefone phone from NTT DoCoMo. The first 20,000 applicants get a “Comes With Napster Music and Video” six-month subscription to Napster’s unlimited over the air Napster To Go audio and video music subscription service.
The service comprises music videos from dozens of Japanese and western artists.
Subscribers can download OTA or bookmark for a PC sideload. Napster President Brad Duea said: “Providing Napster users with wireless mobile access to the world of music - including videos - over either a mobile network or WiFi network at home, is a significant milestone in our ongoing effort to expand and enhance our mobile offerings.” [VIA: ME DAILY]
Bookmark on del.icio.us
By
Chris Fox on May 26th, 2008
Posted in Other Interesting Articles | No Comments »
Well, that didn’t take long. Just as the mini-brouhaha over N-Gage games being tied to handsets was starting to percolate, Nokia has now come out and said that users will be able to take their games with them to a new handset after all, eventually. According to Nokia communications manager Oskar Södergren, some “miscommunication” on Nokia’s part is apparently to blame for users being left up in the air on the matter, something that apparently led to some “mixed messages” being passed around inside Nokia as well. He went on to add that Nokia has in fact “been working on a way for this to work since the relaunch, but it is taking some time for everything to fall into place.”
[VIA: Engadget Mobile]
Bookmark on del.icio.us
By
Chris Fox on May 16th, 2008
Posted in Other Interesting Articles | No Comments »
Did you have any idea surging mobile phone use was putting a damper on landline utilization? Oh, right, common knowledge. Anywho, a recent study conducted here in America found that three in ten households actually relied solely or primarily on their mobile to communicate. In the latter half of 2007, it was discovered that 16-percent of domiciles didn’t even have a landline, while 13-percent had one but took all (or nearly all) of their calls via cell. Just to put things in perspective, only 5-percent of US homes were cellphone-only in 2004, while 1.082-percent had not yet surrendered their can-and-string. If you’re one of those number lovers, hold your head up high and hit the read link for lots more data about this totally engrossing topic.
[VIA: ENGADGET MOBILE]
Bookmark on del.icio.us
By
Chris Fox on May 14th, 2008
Posted in Other Interesting Articles | No Comments »
[VIA-CasualGaming.biz]
Oberon Media’s casual games division I-play has signed an animation licensing deal, but not to turn cartoons into games – instead its own properties will be turned into animated serial content.
I-play’s big roster of titles will be turned into cartoons by independent animation network Aniboom, starting with a project based on the game Turbo Pizza, called Turbo Subs.
The two will ‘collaborate closely’– I-play will provide Aniboom with assets from the game, including characters, game story and artwork, which Aniboom will then turn that into content for mobile, online and television platforms. Aniboom’s network of animation talent will then be called on to produce the episodes.
The two have already called in a head writer for the Turbo Subs series - former Friends, What’s New, Scooby Doo? and Johnny Test writer Chris Brown.
“Character development and great stories are an important part of our approach to game development, so we knew how important it was to find a great partner to translate them into an animated series,” said Don Ryan, senior vice president of publishing for Oberon Media.
“Aniboom’s community of independent creators allows us to connect with the best animators and writers across the globe, and to get our content out to existing and new fans wherever they want to enjoy it through Aniboom’s array of cross-platform partnerships.”
Uri Shinar, founder and president of Aniboom added: “Turbo Subs is going to bring fan favorite characters to life for the gamers who already know them and for new viewers everywhere, extending the reach of the franchise and offering audiences fantastic new ‘Turbo’ experiences.”
Bookmark on del.icio.us
By
Chris Fox on May 8th, 2008
Posted in Other Interesting Articles | No Comments »
Berg Insight predicts 186 million non-phone devices will be connected to mobile networks by 2012. It says the number of cellular network connections used for machine-to-machine communication will grow 37.9 per cent from 37.5 million connections in 2007.
Berg found that machine-to-machine applications currently represent between one and three per cent of mobile subscribers in developed markets.
In Sweden and Finland it’s 10 per cent due to extensive use of GPRS for meter reading applications.
However, this will change radically, with vehicle telematics applications driving the sector – in both senses of the word.
[VIA ME DAILY]
Bookmark on del.icio.us
By
Chris Fox on May 2nd, 2008
Posted in Other Interesting Articles | No Comments »
[VIA ME DAILY]
Tenth B2B launch from ME publisher Intent Media supports $2bn global casual games market.
Intent Media, publisher of the leading mobile content and games industry print and online brands ME, MCV and Develop, has today launched a new B2B website focused purely on the fastest growing video games sector.
CasualGaming.biz will aid everyone selling, developing and distributing casual games for PC, console, mobile and TV formats. It will also provide information for those looking to enter the sector, estimated to be worth some $2.25bn by the Casual Games Association.
The site will feature breaking news throughout the working day, regular interviews, features, analysis, statistics and more.
There will also be a twice-weekly email newsletter sent to over 18,000 named professionals working in the interactive entertainment space.
Site highlights include a Marketplace area for companies to showcase their latest Flash games to prospective publishers; a Directory; a Jobs Board and Community Blog for the entire casual games community.
Bookmark on del.icio.us