Fun Text Rolls Out Virtual Gifts

Mobile messaging service provider Fun Text has announced the roll-out of virtual gifts on its peer-to-peer messaging services in the UK and the US, extending the phenomenon of giving virtual gifts from web-based social networks such as Facebook to the mobile world. The exclusive content, commissioned by Fun Text from award-winning mobile production studio Mobstar Media, is now available on major operators such as Sprint, T-Mobile and 3.
“We were delighted to team up with Fun Text to create a new messaging product that hits the zeitgeist of how modern consumers communicate,” says Dan Price, Head of Global Accounts at Mobstar. “We’re sure that the gifts will be a great success.”
Fun Text’s aim is to enable the sending of professionally-created multimedia content on mobile, which covers more than traditional greetings cards.
“Mobile messaging needs to stay relevant to a generation growing up on social networks and IM (Instant Messaging),” says Fun Text Business Development Director, James Pycock. “With millions of virtual gifts being sent on Facebook through applications such as ‘The Bakery’, we felt it was time to move mobile on from so-called mcards.”
Fun Text also drives rich media messaging through innovative business models such as the $3.99 (£2.15) unlimited MMS sending subscription available on Sprint in the US. Later in the year, the virtual gifts service will be opened up to sponsors. Fun Text has a track record in delivering ad-funded peer-to-peer messaging campaigns for Coca-Cola, Target and Smirnoff.

NSN and Ubidyne in Base Station Partnership

Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN), a global enabler of communications network solutions and services, and Ubidyne, which specialises in digital radio technology for the wireless industry, have agreed on cooperation to enhance NSN’s market-leading Flexi Base Station solution with Ubidyne’s active antenna product.
The active antenna technology integrates the functionality of the active radio frequency parts of a base station and a passive antenna into one enclosure. It is connected to NSN’s Flexi Base Station, running an OBSAI (Open Base Station Standard Initiative) interface.
The solution, based on a platform capable of supporting multiple standards, including GSM, WCDMA, LTE and WiMAX, protects operator investment and reduces OPEX by decreasing installation, site rental, maintenance and energy costs. Moreover, reduction of power consumption and visible base station equipment benefit living environment ecologically and visually.
“Nokia Siemens Networks is a forerunner in providing innovative solutions that bring tangible benefits to operators in form of reduced OPEX and CAPEX and increased performance,” says NSN Head of WCDMA Product Management, Tommi Uitto. “Along with this, Ubidyne’s innovative technology will add value to our customers as part of our leading Flexi Base Station solution including future features like beamforming. With this innovation, we are moving towards future base station concepts, in which active antennas are one architecture option.”
The solution is targeted at operators rolling out new 3G or LTE (Long Term Evolution) networks or enhancing their existing 3G networks, and those planning to gradually phase out GSM to make space for WCDMA/LTE.

Case Study: Mobile Voting to Raise Money for Good Causes

The Better Ireland Program is part of Irish bank, AIB’s Corporate and Social Responsibility strategy. AIB introduced the Better Ireland Programme six years ago in order to tackle the issue of social exclusion at an early stage and focuses its resources into key concerns affecting children in Ireland.
In May of this year, AIB was looking to re-fresh the Better Ireland Programme, and asked Dublin-based mobile marketing agency Púca to handle a text voting campaign. 275 AIB branches were each invited to nominate three children’s charities to receive a donation from the bank.
The three charities nominated by each branch were then put to a public vote to win a prize of €10,000 (£8,000) per branch. To vote, members of the public simply had to text the Branch name e.g. DUBLIN followed by shortlisted charity A, B or C to the shortcode, 53099.
In total, 308,011 text votes were received and 185 deserving charities received a total of €1.85 million (£1.5 million) in funding.
“This was Ireland’s biggest ever text voting campaign and really shows the power of the mobile medium,” says Púca Marketing and Communications Manager, Gráinne Ryan.

PTCRB Approval for Telit 3.5G Module

Telit Wireless Solutions, the Italy-based M2M (machine-to-machine) mobile technology arm of Telit Communications PLC, has revealed that its UC864-G module has been awarded PTCRB (PTS Type Certification Review Board) certification. PTCRB certification is an industry operator requirement needed to be met in order to sell GSM cellular communication products in selected European countries and the Americas. This is Telit’s first UMTS/HSDPA module to receive PTCRB certification.
The UC864-G is a 3.5G wireless data module designed to be fully compatible with GSM/GPRS, UMTS/HSDPA and EDGE cellular networks. This enables integrators and developers to design their applications only once and take advantage of the global coverage and service flexibility afforded by the combination of the two most prevalent cellular technologies worldwide. The PTCRB-certified UC864-G module offers a radio structure comprised of dual-band support to GSM/GPRS/EDGE and dual-band UMTS/HSDPA.
“This certification is the first step to bringing our entire UMTS/HSDPA product line to the North American market,“ says Telit Communications CMO, Dominikus Hierl. “This module increases functionality, while maintaining Telit’s core features of compact size, reliability and durability.”
Telit says that with its ultra-compact design, and extended operating temperature range, the UC864-G is the ideal platform for medium-to-high-volume M2M applications and mobile data and computing devices. The UC864-G is also fully backward compatible to existing EDGE and GSM/GPRS networks through quad-band radios. As with other Telit GSM/GPRS products, the UC864-G boasts a range of functions for over-the-air maintenance, management of firmware and application software in the module, and Jamming Detect & Report.

Visual Voice Mail for Verizon Customers

Verizon Wireless has introduced Visual Voice Mail, a new application that lets customers manage their voice mail on their phones. Available on the LG Voyager, Visual Voice Mail provides an easy-to-use display screen with one-touch access to listen to voice mail messages. Customers can also delete, reply and forward their voice mail messages without having to listen to prior messages or voice instructions.
The service is powered by Alcatel-Lucent and Comverse.  The Alcatel-Lucent 5150 Messaging Applications Broker (MAB)  provides enhanced notification and content delivery services for voice, text and video messages through an intuitive visual interface. Alcatel-Lucent is also providing network integration services for Visual Voice Mail. Comverse is supplying its InSight Next-Generation Voicemail Platform.
Visual Voice Mail allows customers to see a list of all of their voice mail messages with important information, such as date and time of receipt, as well as message duration, in order to prioritise and efficiently manage their voice mail messages directly from their phones. When a caller leaves a new voice mail message, the Visual Voice Mail application pops up, alerting the customer that a new voice mail message has been received. From the phone display, customers can select from a number of options, including call back, reply, forward, add to contacts, and archive message (to internal or external memory).
Customers can store up to 40 messages for 40 days – double the storage capacity and nearly double the retention time of Basic Voice Mail. In addition, customers can create up to 10 greetings, as well as up to 20 distribution lists and 50 distribution members to receive messages.
“Verizon Wireless recognises that voice mail plays a large role in how customers conduct business and manage the balance between their personal and professional lives,” says Verizon Wireless Executive Director for Marketing, Mike Willsey. “With Visual Voice Mail, we’re able to offer customers more options to help them better prioritise voice mail messages from family, friends, colleagues, and business partners in a more timely and effective manner.”
Verizon Wireless customers can find the Visual Voice Mail application on the Messaging menu under option 6 on their Voyager handsets. Visual Voice Mail is available for $2.99 (£1.60) per month, per line, plus airtime or megabyte charges and messaging fees, depending on a customer’s plan. Customers can take their Voyager phone to any Verizon Wireless Communications Store to receive the free software update. Verizon Wireless expects to offer Visual Voice Mail on additional devices in the coming months.

Nuance Snaps Up SNAPin

Nuance Communications has announced a definitive agreement to acquire privately-held SNAPin, which provides mobile device and server self-service technology, for $180 million (£97 million). With the strengths and resources of Nuance and SNAPin, the company says, the combined organization can deliver innovative, highly-scalable mobile customer care solutions that transform the way mobile operators and enterprises interact with consumers in real-time on mobile devices.
SNAPin is a pioneer in the field of on-device self-service and customer care, with patented technology that provides mobile operators with solutions that help subscribers automatically resolve common problems directly on their handset. Additionally, the software delivers interactive offers and promotions in a relevant, context sensitive way based on how the handset is being used in order to help mobile operators boost usage levels, increase revenue and enhance loyalty.
With this acquisition, says Nuance, it is uniquely positioned to address the significant global opportunity in customer care as it converges around the mobile phone as the primary consumer access point. Companies worldwide will employ more than 6 million agents and spend more than $100 billion in customer care in 2008. In addition, says Nuance, estimates suggest that more than 200 billion calls are placed into customer service numbers around the world every year. An estimated one-third of those calls are placed from mobile phones and the number is expected to grow to two-thirds before the end of the decade. A Nuance and SnapIN combination can deliver effective care for cents-per-call compared to agent-assisted calls that approximate $4.50 per call on average.
“The integration of Nuance’s mobile solutions and enterprise speech solutions allows Nuance to sharply reduce the costs of customer care and improve the quality of customer experience for mobile operators and large enterprises,” says Steve Chambers, President of Nuance’s Mobile and Consumer Services Division. “Leveraging the proliferation of mobile devices worldwide, Nuance’s solutions, combined with powerful technology from SNAPin, enable Nuance to deliver the economies of web-based self-service to the growing expanse of mobile consumers.”
By combining SNAPin’s key intellectual property, mobile expertise and established device and operator relationships with Nuance’s capabilities in customer care and handset solutions and longstanding mobile and enterprise relationships, says Nuance, the combined company is positioned to deliver superior mobile care solutions and fulfil a significant global opportunity that has captured the interest of the world’s largest mobile operators.
“We are excited to join Nuance, a dynamic company that shares our commitment to deliver innovative technology and compelling user experiences for the world’s mobile consumers,” says SNAPin President and Chief Executive Officer, Robert Lewis. “Joining Nuance will help accelerate the adoption of our mobile care technology by providing us deeper relationships with carriers and every major handset vendor, access to expansive complementary mobile technologies, broad intellectual property, deep mobile talent and experience from thousands of successful care implementations worldwide.”
Vodafone is one of the operators using SNAPin’s software to provide its customers with the ability to automatically resolve common requests, diagnose and repair configuration problems, make account inquiries and solve problems, direct from the handset.
“Delivering a superior customer experience at all touch points for our subscriber is key to how we acquire and retain loyal customers,” says Adam Spence, Group Self Service Development Manager for Vodafone Group. “We are excited by the joining of Nuance and SNAPin, as it reinforces our strategy to offer our customers the most innovative and powerful mobile self-service experience across all of our established and emerging markets.”
Nuance expects the acquisition in fiscal 2009 to add between $29 million and $32 million in non-GAAP revenue; $19 million and $22 million in GAAP revenue after adjusting revenue lost to purchase accounting; non-GAAP earnings between $0.01 and $0.02; and a GAAP loss between $(0.05) and $(0.06) including amortization and stock-based compensation.
SNAPin solutions are delivered through the handset in a revenue model based on the value of transactions or calls served on the handset. Nuance has experienced rapid growth in its mobile business for the last several years and now anticipates combined mobile revenues in Fiscal Year 2009 between $260 and $275 million.
Under the terms of the agreement, consideration for the transaction is approximately $180 million in Nuance common stock. SNAPin’s shareholders will be eligible for additional earn-out consideration based upon the achievement of certain financial and operational milestones. The transaction is expected to close in October 2008, subject to customary closing conditions and approvals, and is expected to be accretive in fiscal 2009.
You can see a demonstration of SNAPin’s solutions here.

Femtocells Under Scrutiny in Informa Report

Informa Telecoms & Media has released its report, ‘Mobile Broadband Access at Home: The Business Case for Femtocells, UMA and IMS/VCC Dual Mode Solutions'.
The report includes detailed and granular market forecasts to 2013, and offers an insight into deployment scenarios of femtocells, and alternative technologies to support different mobile network technologies. It incorporates in-depth trend analysis, independent case studies, and detailed operator and vendor profiles.
In the report, Informa says it expects the number of femtocells deployed by the end of 2013 to exceed the 40 million mark, with 22 million net additions in 2013 alone. This installed base, it believes, could help operators to offload up to 8% of total mobile traffic to fixed networks via the end-user subscriber line.
Clearly, says Informa, this could allow mobile operators to make significant savings by reducing the need to create additional macro-cell capacity to cope with this traffic. However, whether these savings materialise depends on a number of factors: the nature of the operator, the mobile access technology involved, the value proposition to the end-user, the region targeted, and the level of investments the operator has already made in upgrading its mobile network.
To handle the same amount of traffic carried by the 22 million femtocell deployments in 2013 would in theory require a $13.8 billion (£7.35 billion) investment in macrocell capacity. This is the potential sum, taking into account capital expenditure related radio access infrastructure, operational costs and the mobile backhaul cost required for adding new macrocells to handle a traffic capacity equivalent to this carried over the new femtocell installed base.
However, says Informa, this theoretical figure assumes operators have no spare capacity in their existing networks and that they have to build this capacity from scratch. In practice, when operators invest in widening the coverage of their networks, they systematically create capacity redundancies, probably enough to handle a big part of this traffic anyway. Assuming that 33% of the required capacity is provided by the existing macrocell coverage, then macrocell infrastructure expenditure investment required to handle that amount of traffic is likely to be closer to $9 billion, Informa concludes.
By comparison Informa estimates the capital expenditure related to implementing femtocell networks to support 22 million new net additions would cost the industry about $3.7billion, 85% of which goes to femtocell access points (FAPs). Thus, the industry could save $5.3 billion or more in network infrastructure costs if femtocell solutions are properly deployed using meticulous geographic network planning.
Savings could be higher, says Informa, depending on whether these devices are fully subsidised or not. Also, while there are potentials of savings in network expenditure when deploying 3.5G, WiMAX or LTE, this saving is less obvious for GSM/GPRS networks and WCDMA to a certain extent. However, this saving of $5.3 billion or more could be undercut by the cost of marketing and promoting FAPs and femtocell services. 
“Deploying femtocells requires a good understanding of market segmentation of both mobile consumer and household markets, meticulous planning and targeted marketing campaigns, which mean operators will have to invest substantial amount of money if they want femtocell services to gain popularity” says Malik Saadi, Principal Analyst and author of the report. “In addition, if femtocells are sold to customers in sporadic fashion via traditional mobile operators' channels, then this may induce a huge scattering of femtocell deployment over large areas. Not only will this make it hard to manage FAPs and related networks, but most importantly, this would mean the operator will not be able to make any CAPEX or OPEX savings.”
In order for femtocell networks to effectively substitute the capacity of macrocell networks, Informa concludes, they should be deployed in clusters; otherwise their implementation could add additional burdens in terms of both capital and operation investments.
Whether operators make savings in terms of capital and operational expenditure will depend considerably on the individual operator, the mobile access technology supported, and on the region and type of area targeted. This means that operators will have to find ways of increasing both revenues and ARPU from femtocell services in order to make femtocells profitable.
The report costs for a hard copy, £3,743 for a single-user licence PDF, or £4,990 for a hard copy plus single-user licence PDF. There’s more information here. And a table of contents here.

Rock The Vote in Mobile Move

Rock The Vote, which aims to engage and build the political power of young people in the US, has teamed up with AT&T and FunMobility to launch downloadable mobile content to help encourage young people to leverage their voting power in the political process. Rock The Vote’s mobile campaign, in partnership with AT&T, brings together popular music, artists and mobile technologies to engage today’s youth with the political process.
FunMobility has created a catalogue of made-for-mobile downloadable wallpaper, branded with the Rock The Vote logo, for mobile users to demonstrate their support in the upcoming election.
Exclusive Rock The Vote mobile election campaign content can be downloaded from the FunMobility’s FunScreenz application, on AT&T phones within AT&T MEdia Mall or online here. New creative content will be added to the storefront up until the election on 4 November.
“We know mobile content, whether it’s wallpaper from a historical Rock The Vote campaign or a ringtone from a supporting artist, encourages today’s youth to engage in the political process and show their support for the upcoming election,” says Todd Slagle, Director of Promotions for FunMobility. “Mobile content becomes a way of expressing yourself wherever you go.”.
FunMobility is donating 50 % of net revenue from the campaign to support Rock The Vote.”   
FunMobility’s direct-to-consumer website, FunMo.com, will power the Rock The Vote mobile storefront.  FunMo.com enables users to create graphics and animations to personalize their phones, connect with others within the mobile community, share mobile photos, and browse thousands of original wallpapers and ringtones.

Search On Tap

I’m fresh out of a meeting with Taptu CEO, Steve Ives, in which he gave me the low down on the company’s mobile search engine. Taptu is a consumer site which aims eventually to be a universal mobile search engine, but which is concentrating initially on the music and entertainment sectors, on the basis that in the US at least, 60% of operator portal searches are for music and entertainment content. Taptu works on any network and on any phone with a browser, though inevitably, there is a custom interface for the iPhone.
Ives invited me to load up the Taptu site on my Nokia E61 and search for a band I liked. I chose Interpol, partly because I like them, partly to see how many music results returned were for the band, and how many for the international police force. Though the top result was for the cops, the rest on the first page were all for the New York band. What was also impressive was the way that some of the results returned were music or video clips that you could play on the handset. 
Taptu launched just a few weeks ago, after building the number of searches per month to over a million in the pre-launch period, almost all through word of mouth and a limited amount of viral activity. Ives told me the company is aiming for 15 million searches per month by “later this year”. The biggest markets for Taptu are currently the US and the UK, followed by France, Germany, Italy and Spain. Together, these developed countries account for 50% of the site’s traffic, with the balance coming from the developing world.
While results are currently all organic, a paid search model will launch in the next couple of weeks. Taptu is working with three paid search providers, including AdMob. Ives says that in tests, the company is seeing an ECPM (Equivalent CPM) of $6 (£3.20) nett, after paying the platform provider. (This figure is arrived at by multiplying the average clickthrough rate by the revenue per click.)
I’m always interested to hear how companies get their names. Ives told me that Taptu came from a 5-letter dotcom name-generating program on a PC. The fact that Ives was happy to reveal this was no surprise. A product of the Cambridge tech crowd who has already made one fortune selling his previous company Trigenix to Qualcomm for $36 million (£19 million), Ives is a quietly-spoken, unassuming character who, along with his backroom team, have created a very neat search solution. I’ll be interested to hear whether the viral effect the company has enjoyed to date is sufficient to see it hit those search targets.

David Murphy
Editor

Cloudmark Warns Of "Mash-up" Attacks

Cloudmark, which provides carrier-grade messaging security, has warned of increased risk for converged operators from the online attacker community and urged service providers to review their security strategies to counteract the growing prevalence of attacks across multiple media, including mobile.
Cloudmark has observed online attackers using new, advanced threat techniques that combine attributes of spam, phishing and malware into a single attack, which is then distributed across a variety of media. These “converged threats” look for coverage gaps in traditional security solutions that are designed for a specific type of attack, such as a spam or virus outbreak over a specific medium like email.  However, because these new, “mash-up” type of attacks blend elements of spam, phishing and/or viruses into a single attack that is unleashed simultaneously across e-mail, mobile, web and social networks, they evade traditional security solutions. 
In order to combat the threat, Cloudmark is strongly advising service providers to look for security platforms that are threat-agnostic and able to automatically identify and stop attacks across multiple platforms.
As part of Cloudmark’s continual analysis of global threats, it has identified several examples of these “converged” attacks. These include ‘Smishing’, a recent trend in mobile phishing attacks which usually involves the use of VoIP phone number accounts obtained through e-mail phishing attacks as the call to action; modern e-mail viruses, which do not distribute viruses as an attachment, but instead, host the virus on a website and distribute emails that link to the website; and ‘Crush’ attacks. In one such recent attack distributed via SMS, email and social network communications, users were enticed to login to a webpage and unknowingly opt in to a premium-rate SMS service through their mobile operator.
“Convergence is everywhere, including in the online attacker community,” says Neil Cook, Head of Technology Services EMEA at Cloudmark. “To combat today’s threats, the only truly effective security solution is one that can stop all forms of abuse, from spam, phishing and viruses to advanced ‘converged’ attacks, across all media, from e-mail and mobile messaging to social networking sites. Only by sealing all potential gaps can service providers deploy new converged services with the confidence of knowing that both the platforms and subscribers are protected against today’s known abuses and tomorrow’s advanced threats.”

Siano in the Money

Mobile TV chip maker Siano Mobile Silicon has secured a third round of funding amounting to $17.5 million (£9.3 million). DFJ Tamir Fishman Ventures (DFJTFV), led the funding round, and was joined by all of the existing investors from previous rounds - JVP, Star Ventures, Walden Israel, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Inventec Appliances. Siano has now raised $52 million in three rounds of funding.
Over the past 12 months, Siano has expanded its footprint in the Asian Mobile TV market, opening offices in Korea and Japan, and launching its SMS1180 receiver chip in China, in support of the Chinese Mobile TV technology that is currently making its debut at the Olympics Games. Earlier in the year, Siano launched its latest multi-standard chip, the SMS1130, which added the support of ISDB-T, the Mobile TV broadcasting standard used in Japan and Brazil, to the mobile TV technologies supported already in previous products: DVB-T, DVB-H and T-DMB.
“The consumer market is now starting to fulfil the vision that gave birth to Siano back in 2004,” says Siano CEO Alon Ironi. “Namely that within just a few years, practically every single non-tethered consumer device with a colour LCD would include digital TV function. We are witnessing massive embedding of our products into a surprisingly wide range of devices, from mobile phones and notebooks to navigation devices, portable media players and even boom-boxes and digital photo frames. The new capital will help Siano expand its sales and customer support facilities worldwide, build adequate silicon inventory to match the increasing demand for its products, and continue developing state-of-the-art solutions for the mobile TV market.”

wMobile Version 1.8 Released

W-Systems Corp has announced the release of version 1.8 of its wMobile Mobile CRM product. wMobile is a mobile phone client for the GoldMine CRM system. The new version adds team-based graphical monthly, weekly and daily calendars to the application, displays equally well on any phone from BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, iPhone to Palm and, according to W-Systems President Christian Wettre, has “pushed the envelope of what is possible in mobile application”.
With the latest graphical team calendars, wMobile users can now interactively access any team member’s calendar via their mobile phone and with new dynamic time zone support, any user can specify the time zone they are operating in and have schedule activities translated on the fly to display in the context of their current location. There’s a short demo of wMobile’s group calendar functionality here.
“wMobile 1.8 illustrates a leap forward in the usability of mobile web applications,” says Wettre. “By offering a parity in user experience across all major phone operating systems, we are enabling our customers to freely choose the mobile phone device most suitable for their users, without concern for model and operating system obsolescence.”
wMobile recently completed its 200th customer installation last month. One of these customers, Kevin Reichley, Vice President of Sales for Ticomix Inc., says:
“With wMobile we have been able to fulfill a need for our small to mid-size customers to mobilize their CRM processes. The product sales cycle is very short because wMobile is inexpensive and provides great value, and implementation is quick and easy. I use wMobile to access my GoldMine daily, so it's a pleasure to endorse and sell a product that I really believe in.”
wMobile provides wireless mobile access to the popular GoldMine Corporation Edition and Premium Edition, and is compatible with Microsoft IIS Server 5.0 or higher, Microsoft .NET Framework and most mobile devices, including BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Palm Treo, iPhone and Symbian based phones.
The application provides wireless interaction without synchronization, meaning that no data resides on the phone should it be lost or stolen. wMobile includes a number of innovative features such Proximity Contacts, which offers the ability to quickly identify all nearby contacts, such as customers and prospects. wMobile reduces the burden on organization IT resources by deploying mobile CRM as a server based web application with no application or data synchronization between server and mobile client.

Spin3 Seeks Mobile Millionaire

Spin3, which provides mobile gambling solutions, has launched a promotion for its mobile casino operators that it says may usher in the world’s first mobile millionaire. The Major Millions progressive slot game is around the £975,000 mark, and should a player win it on a mobile casino powered by Spin3 before the jackpot reaches a million, Spin3 will add the difference to the operator, who in turn will top the player up to a cool million.
A three-reel progressive slot machine, the Major Millions jackpot is synchronized in real-time with Microgaming’s progressive jackpot network. By placing a game-high £3 wager, players stand to win the progressive jackpot, which is won when three Major Millions symbols land on the third payline.
“We are very hopeful that we will see the first mobile millionaire very shortly,” says
Matti Zinder, Head of Spin3. “The market is ripe and now is the perfect time to usher in a new benchmark for mobile gaming. To this end, we have decided to top-up an operator to £1 million should their player win the Major Millions jackpot before the progressive ticker hits the million-mark.”
Major Millions can be played at several Spin3-powered mobile casinos, including 32Red, 777Mobile and Crazy Vegas.

Bebo Says Kane is Able

Social media network Bebo has appointed Sean Kane as Global Head of Mobile. In his new role, Kane will head the development of relevant and compelling mobile experiences for Bebo's 45 million plus users worldwide. Kane joins Bebo from mobile social networking platform provider Intercasting Corporation. Prior to this, he served as Senior Vice President, Business Development for Vivendi Universal Net.
“Mobile is emerging as a core part of the Bebo experience,” says Kane. “By driving availability and adding compelling and unique mobile experiences, we hope to make using Bebo Mobile as natural for our global user-base as connecting on a personal computer. We will ensure that our members can connect and enjoy the content, media and community Bebo has to offer in a mobile-relevant way.”
In recent months, Bebo has partnered with mobile operators to introduce programs to engage and entertain users wherever they are. In February 2008, Bebo further expanded its mobile offering and partnered with Intercasting to give its users a new way to produce and share content on their mobile phones via ANTHEM, a platform which connects mobile carriers with social networking sites and entertainment companies.

Transfer Talk

Juniper Research has released its final report in its Mobile Payment Markets’ series. The report, ‘Mobile Payment Markets: Money Transfers & Remittances 2008-2013’, looks at the existing and future opportunities for money transfers and remittances in mobile payment markets, focusing on critical industry developments and 6-year forecasts projecting global mobile user transaction numbers and gross value data for eight key regions.
With 37 tables and full colour forecast charts, the report combines a thorough appraisal and focus on the current market status, with forecasts until 2013. It considers how many mobile users will make money transfers over the next six years, and which will be the leading regions in the market in 2013. It also looks at the early usage experiences of companies providing these services, typical  typical transaction sizes, and at how often users will make mobile money remittances.
There are also in-depth case studies from companies in the money transfers market, and up-to-date market sector insight with forecasts, split by national and international status across eight key regions for transaction traffic; transaction size; transaction value; service provider revenues; subscriber take-up; and remittance user data. The report costs £1,750 for a single-user PDF or hardback copy; £2,500 for a multi-user licence; or £3,750 for an enterprise-wide licence.
There’s more information here. And a free Whitepaper here.

The Mobile Olympics

Stephen Dunford, CEO of mobile idle screen marketing company Celltick, considers the impact of mobile marketing at the Beijing Olympics.

The numbers say it all: the Beijing Olympics are looking like the most heavily-branded event the world has ever seen. Between 8 and 24 August, the world is tuning into Beijing. An estimated 8 million consumers will pass through the city to see the sporting pinnacle and immense cultural show that the Olympics have now become. With each Olympic Games host country striving to outdo the last, nobody is quite sure what to expect, but they are sure to see a spectacle never seen before.
Advertising at the Olympics will be overcrowded, to say the least. There are over 60 official Olympics sponsors targeting the 8 million visitors that the city is expecting while the Games are taking place. The anticipated global audience of 4 billion will be tuning into digital media coverage via TV, web and mobile before, during and after the event, in addition to experiencing brand outreach through official merchandising.

Voda Rolls Out More Stores

Vodafone UK says it plans to open a further 50 stores over the coming financial year, taking the total to 400, as part of its continued commitment to improve customer service and drive revenue.
The new stores will enable consumers to try out services such as mobile email and web browsing before making a purchase, and thus stimulate revenue. The expansion plans build on Vodafone’s announcement in March that it would be recruiting over 300 more retail employees to ensure customers get the help and advice they need to buy and use Vodafone’s products and services. These new stores will create approximately 200 additional roles in retail.
The new stores will start to appear on the high street and in shopping centres from September, starting with Bristol Cabot Circus and White City London in September and Liverpool One in October. It is planned that the majority of the new retail locations will be found, and work completed to turn them into stores by spring 2009.
“Vodafone UK is focused on ensuring that our customers get the best customer service experience possible on the high street,” says Vodafone UK Director of Consumer Sales, Tom Devine. “To deliver this we need to make sure that our customers and potential customers can speak face-to-face with a retail advisor at a town near them. This multi-million pound investment will bring our total number of stores to 400 and ensure we can not only meet, but surpass our customers’ expectations.”
Most of the new stores will follow the new store design template introduced in June 2006, which incorporates defined zones such as a ‘self-service’ area at the front of the store for products including phone covers and top-ups, as well as online self-help, while at the back of the store there will be a ‘pharmacy for phones’ where customers can receive advice on a phone or service. 
There will also be a distinct area for business customers, as well as sales pods with working handsets so customers can try live services.

Don’t Mention the ‘VoIP’ word

You can perhaps understand mobile operators running scared from mobile VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), offering, as it does, free, or almost-free calls over the web from a mobile phone via wireless networks. But in a meeting with Aaron Powers, Head of Business Development at VoIP company Vyke Communications this morning, he told me the operators have got it all wrong.
“The operators are failing to address the fact that market is changing at fundamental level,” Powers told me. “They should be pursuing a strategy of enablement. Instead, you have situations like the one where Nokia launched the N95 in the UK, and Vodafone removed its VoIP capabilities, claiming they could help terrorists. Limiting consumer’s choices and fighting technological progress has yet to work out well for anyone in the long term.”
Companies like Vyke, with its wi-fi-focused mobile VoIP service and its operator independent SMS service, FreeTxT, are already taking business from the operators, Powers argues. That being the case, he says, what’s needed is a constructive approach. He notes that 87% of Vodafone’s revenues come from SMS and voice, and says that it is important to remember that an average of 64% of mobile calling minutes are made from the home or office, both places where wi-fi is commonly found. He feels that failing to address such an acute threat to a primary revenue stream is an error on the part of the likes of Vodafone.
Operators, he believes, should instead move to a wireless ISP model, replicating that of fixed-line ISPs, where they provide these basic services, along with customer billing, and allow specialist providers to offer value-added services, such as, of course, VoIP. That’s probably not a model any self-respecting network operator is in any rush to embrace, and Powers says he’s not wasting his time talking to them.
“We are 100 people, and the opportunity cost of cultivating those relationships is just too high,” he says. “We did it when we started out, and I could not have been less impressed. There’s a very long pitch process, and then you find the people you were pitching to have moved on and you have to start all over again.”
He does have a good word for one operator, however, describing 3’s Skypephone as the first signs of a constructive response to the VoIP threat from any network operator. Powers concedes that current mobile VoIP applications are perceived as fiddly and says the company is doing all it can to make its own apps as easy as possible to use. He’s enthused by the growth in the number of wi-fi networks, especially metropolitan networks such as those popping up in cities such as London, Manchester and Amsterdam. Vyke has a deal with The Cloud, allowing users to access Vyke’s mobile VoIP calling service for free from any of its 10,000+ wireless hotspots in Europe.
The company is also launching a b2b offering, working through systems integrators to get Vyke Mobile installed on corporate handsets. In this scenario, any concerns about the ease-of-use, or otherwise, of VoIP, would be neatly sidestepped. Apart from the fact that businesses could offer training to their employees on how to use the application, the costs savings would be such that they would simply be told that they must use it.
“Revenues from the b2b side could dwarf what we make from the consumer side, there is high demand for a low cost alternative to enterprise-sized mobile phone bills,” says Powers. The network operators may not like companies like Vyke very much, but they have better get used to them, because they’re not going to disappear.

David Murphy
Editor

Adaptive Urges Mobile Broadband Rethink

AdaptiveMobile, which provides mobile subscriber protection for enterprises and individuals, is recommending that mobile operators carefully consider their international mobile broadband strategies.
This follows the European Union’s threat to impose legal measures to make operators cut the amount they charge their mobile broadband customers for roaming on overseas networks, which has made some operators consider banning all customers from downloading data through their mobile broadband service while abroad to avoid getting involved in a high-profile legal wrangle.
However, AdaptiveMobile argues that operators taking a simplistic view to blocking subscribers’ mobile broadband usage while abroad run the risk of losing the significant revenues promised by mobile broadband subscribers willing to pay for a high-quality roaming service.
“Whilst operators understandably don’t want to be perceived as trying to unfairly glean excess revenues from unwitting subscribers while abroad, taking a ‘one size fits all’ approach, blocking their usage while abroad will result in them losing very significant revenues, at a time when you would expect them to be looking to maximise their 3G network investments,” says AdaptiveMobile COO, Gareth Maclachlan. “Even though there is the suggestion that subscribers would be able to lift the block, for a high proportion, this would be too disruptive and operators would never maximise their average revenue per user (ARPU).”
Maclachlan believes that operators need to take better control of their network assets, so that they can offer a bespoke service to each user on a case-by-case basis.
“In this way, they can not only control subscribers’ mobile broadband usage in the UK and abroad, but also the type of content that is being delivered over their network to the user, in terms of blocking spam and viruses, and in the case of vulnerable users, inappropriate or intimidating messages and imagery,” he says. “They should also make steps to better protect roaming users from unnecessary data usage, such as application and operating system updates, which can be upto 500Mb in size and in many cases are downloaded without user knowledge.
“In a competitive European market, where operators are increasingly trying to differentiate their service and the many millions of corporate subscribers are becoming increasingly international, operators surely have no choice but to ensure they maximise all mobile broadband revenue opportunities whilst offering subscribers the best possible service,” he concludes.
AdaptiveMobile’s Policy Control Framework is used by Tier 1 mobile operators globally, sits on the network and protects subscribers against illegal or inappropriate content, unsolicited or unauthorised communications, preventing it reaching the network. It works across all mobile services (WAP, SMS, MMS, email), all forms of access (mobile, wi-fi, WiMax) and media, including mobile Internet, text, images, music, voice and video. Mobile operators globally are using the Policy Control Framework to respond to regulatory pressures, provide Parental Controls and extend corporate security policies through to mobile devices.

Airwide Engineer Recalls First Text

The engineer who was responsible for delivering the first ever text message in December 1992 has responded to Ofcom's ‘Communication Nation’ report, released today, which shows that people in the UK are spending more time using communications services than ever before.
The report shows that in 2007 we spent an average of 7 hours and 9 minutes a day using an array of communications services - up by 6 minutes from 2002. This includes watching TV, surfing the net, using our mobiles, talking on a landline phone and listening to the radio.
Mobile and Internet use has increased by the greatest amount. Between 2002 and 2007 the time we spent talking and texting on our mobiles doubled, up from 5 minutes to 10 minutes each day. Meanwhile, time spent on PCs and lap-tops has grown fourfold between 2002 and 2007 - from 6 minutes to 24 minutes per person every day.
By the end of 2007, there were almost 74 million mobile connections serving a population of 60 million in the UK. This was an increase of 3.7 million connections since the end of 2006. The total number of mobile connections increased by 48% in the five years from 2002.
Seven out of 10 people with a mobile phone and a landline use their mobile to make calls, even when they are at home. One in 10 people with a landline at home said that they never use it to make calls.
The report also found what most people already know: we are a nation of texters. In the UK, nearly 60 billion text messages were sent in 2007 - an increase of 36% since 2006 and up by 234% since 2002, when we sent 17 billion texts. The average mobile phone user sent 67 texts per month from each mobile in 2007, compared to 53 texts per month in 2006.
Back in December 1992, Neil Papworth  was working as a test engineer for Airwide Solutions, who sent that first text message, saying ‘Happy Christmas’ over the Vodafone network. Still employed by Airwide, as Principal Software Engineer, Papworth said today:
“I was a young engineer working on new communications technologies. We thought SMS was a clever way for a company’s staff to send simple messages to one another. I’d never have predicted that it would spread into the consumer world and become what it is today. At the time it didn’t seem like a big deal.”
Jay Seaton, Chief Marketing Officer at Airwide Solutions, adds:
“Text messaging has come a long way since 1992. What started off as a clever and innovative internal communications tool has become a huge revenue-generating tool for mobile operators worldwide.We are still seeing SMS volumes continue to increase, particularly in countries with developing mobile networks, such as the Middle East, Eastern Europe, North Africa and parts of Asia. Not only do we expect this growth to continue well into the future, but SMS will be one of the underpinning technologies that drives many new uses beyond person-to-person texting.”

Survey Highlights Mobile Content Issues

Valista, which provides digital commerce software and managed services, has released the results of a survey conducted at the Building Blocks 2008 conference held last week in San Jose, California. Over 86% of the industry insiders interviewed believe that it should take less than a month to launch new mobile content and services with an operator. This expectation is far from reality, however, as 80% of respondents stated that it actually takes three to nine months to introduce new mobile content and services.
The Valista survey also found that the mobile industry is not taking advantage of customer loyalty programs as a way to encourage consumers to buy more downloaded content. Surprisingly, none of the respondents said that they use any form of loyalty scheme as an incentive to increase content purchasing or encourage repeat buyers. Over 70% of those surveyed, however, use other promotional methods to entice customers to buy more content and services, including discounts, free trials and product bundling. The survey confirmed an increasing preference for putting charges on the mobile bill. Over three quarters of respondents believe that mobile customers today pay for content and services through their monthly bill, with 9% believing credit and debit cards are still widely used. Only 7% of those surveyed believe that Premium SMS is still the primary mode of payment for mobile content purchases.
Conversely, over 78% of respondents said that broadband customers today still use credit/debit cards and Paypal to pay for digital content and services. This figure shows that the market is still largely dependent on the use of credit/debit cards for broadband content and service purchases, with less than a quarter of respondents believing the monthly bill and ad-support are other methods used to acquire content and services in the broadband channel.
Regarding which channel will experience the highest growth for content purchases in the next two years, respondents were split almost evenly with 51% believing in the broadband/cable channel and 48% predicting mobile.
The survey also asked industry insiders for their views on payments via Near Field Communications (NFC). Those polled remain sceptical about NFC becoming a reality, with more than half of the respondents stating that it will take over five years for contactless mobile payments to be widely used. This is consistent with a recent report by Juniper Research, which said that NFC mobile wallet devices will remain limited in the next couple of years except in the Far East, particularly in Japan where the technology is already widely used. The Juniper Research report predicts that by 2013, one in five phones will have NFC. 
“It’s clear that the mobile industry is looking for more streamlined ways to manage content and services,” says Valista CTO, Fran Heeran. “It can typically take months to introduce new mobile content and services across all the carriers. This clearly needs to change, as content and services lose relevancy with each passing month and some content is never considered because of the production time. Mobile service and content providers need to be able to react to the market quickly and provision new mobile content and services in a more dynamic fashion.”

Innopath Claims MDM Success

InnoPath Software, which specializes in Mobile Device Management (MDM), has revealed that Samsung is now shipping more than 1 million u340 featurephones per quarter with the InnoPath device management client preloaded. The Samsung u430 is the latest phone to ship with InnoPath device management technology. The InnoPath client, coupled with the company’s server at the wireless operator, helps avoid device recalls and provides a better end user experience with firmware updates over the air (FOTA).
FOTA, a relatively new technology for North American operators, allows the update of firmware on devices such as mobile phones deployed in the field. In the past, firmware updates needed to be done by re-flashing the device at a retail store or service center. Because FOTA allows operators to upgrade features or patch firmware without needing to physically touch or recall the device, says Innopath, the technology is increasingly popular with operators trying to deliver the best possible subscriber experience. Indeed, the company says,  some operators have mandated that all new phones ship with FOTA capability.
InnoPath says it offers the MDM industry’s only standards-based client and server solution. In addition, it couples a rich porting and verification program with testing tools such as the Server Simulator. InnoPath’s client technology consists of both the device management engine and the firmware update agent, known as the Device Update Agent (DUA). These are based on years of experience in working with major handset vendors.
InnoPath’s ‘Port-to-Production’ program addresses OEM goals for accelerated time-to-market of new devices, management of costs, and ultimately heightened uptake of new high ARPU handsets with maximum customer satisfaction. InnoPath works hand-in-hand with its OEM partners, such as Samsung, from initial client port through testing, until final acceptance by the wireless operator.
“The growing installed base of FOTA-enabled phones is evidence that this is a capability critical to both operators and to their handset vendor partners,” says Innopath Vice President of Operations, Terry Hartsfield. “The ease with which our OEM partners can port the client to new phones is testament to our end-to-end operational capabilities.”

SpinVox Hires Voicemail Veteran

Voice-to-screen messaging company SpinVox has appointed Rich Cohen as Vice President, Market Strategy and Solutions. Cohen joins SpinVox following a distinguished career that includes being awarded patents - including US patent 5,193,110 (with 3 other inventors) for a multimedia messaging server architecture that has generated more than $1 billion (£500 million) in revenue. He previously spent almost a decade running his own consulting firm where client engagements included: Comverse Network Systems, AT&T, Openwave and General Electric.
Prior to establishing his own business, Cohen was director of product management at Software.com which he joined after a stint as Director of Innovative Projects at Art Technology Group. Previously, he served as Director of Strategic Consulting at Boston Technology (now part of Comverse) where, in a seven-year career, he was responsible for designing the first voicemail applications deployed on public telephone networks in North America and Japan. He has advised network operators in more than 20 countries on the development and rollout of value-added services.
“For two decades, Rich has managed the creation and promotion of Internet and telecommunications services that make a positive difference in people’s lives,” says SpinVox Co-founder and CEO, Christina Domecq. “Millions of people around the world regularly use products and services that he has championed, designed and marketed, including messaging, community-building and content publishing. He was instrumental in establishing voicemail and seeing it through to the end of its natural life, so we’re delighted to have him on board as a key member of the team driving the next paradigm shift in voice – delivering voice content to screens.”
Cohen is a graduate of Williams College (Williamstown MA) and of both Brown and Harvard Universities.

Mobile Ad Solution Hits the Target

Packet Vision, which specializes in advanced video advertising, and UDcast, which provides IP broadcast solutions for the delivery of content over wireless networks, have announced what they believe to be the world’s first solution for targeted television advertising via Mobile TV. The two companies have developed a technology showcase to demonstrate how targeted advertising will be delivered across Mobile TV.  The first public presentation of their technology will take place at this year’s IBC, the annual event for the broadcasting industry, which takes place in Amsterdam in September.
The technology showcase on UDcast’s booth, 1E-90, will include an example of a geographically-targeted advertising campaign, showing how content can be delivered to Mobile TV users over standard DVB-H networks. The showcase also aims to highlight the symbiotic relationship between Mobile TV and targeted advertising; the latter bringing revenue to Mobile TV, which in turn, provides the targetable platform and customer base which will help to accelerate the growth of addressable television advertising. According to MultiMedia Intelligence, mobile video revenue will exceed $3.5 billion (£1.75 billion) in 2008, and grow to $15 billion by 2012.
The demonstration of targeted advertising over Mobile TV follows a number of successful  targeted advertising campaigns managed by Packet Vision over commercial IPTV networks during the past 12 months. In addition, UDcast Mobile TV, including geographic targeted content and advertising support, is already integrated into the transmitters of a number of vendors, with further announcements expected to follow at this year’s IBC. 
“The timing is right for this demonstration,” says Packet Vision Business Development Director, Tony Hart. “We’ve seen a massive increase of interest in targeted advertising and are already working with IPTV broadcasters, network owners and vendors, not to mention advertising agencies and brands. Mobile TV is a vital part of the rapidly-changing world of TV and is a vital part of our roadmap.”

Parlez Vous iPhone?

Paragon Software Group, which develops software and provides content for mobiles and desktop PCs, has teamed up with PONS, which supplies ‘green’ dictionaries and self-study materials, to launch a series of multilingual dictionaries for the iPhone and iPod Touch.
PONS’ linguistic dictionary content has been combined with Paragon’s ‘SlovoEd’ engine to bring dictionary content to iPhone users, beginning with the most popular titles: PONS Advanced English, PONS Advanced French and PONS Advanced Italian.
The dictionary database is powered by PONS under the SlovoEd application engine and contains 117,171 entries. No Internet connection is required to use the application. Simply download the dictionary once to use it on the iPhone or iPod Touch. Audio modules contain nearly 40,000 live voice pronunciations pre-recorded by native speakers. The ‘History’ feature shows the last 15 translated words, while the ‘Cross-Lookup’ feature offers an easy check of language comprehension.
The SlovoEd engine compresses the dictionary content to a minimum of memory space, while allowing the user to perform multiple learning, word reference and translation functions as quickly as possible. The SlovoEd dictionary offers users a wide choice of more than 120 dictionaries for 30 languages, and the best dictionary content from such world-famous publishers.
The multilingual PONS dictionary series is available now for $24.99 (£12.50) from the Apple Store. The programs are supported by iPhones with firmware 2.0, iPhone 3G and iPod Touch with firmware 2.0.

Lennartz Takes Airwide Role

Airwide Solutions, which provides next-generation mobile messaging and mobile Internet infrastructure, applications and solutions, has appointed Chris Lennartz as Vice President of Product Marketing. In his new role, Lennartz will be responsible for the global go-to-market strategy and product positioning for Airwide’s mobile internet and messaging product and solution portfolio.
Lennartz brings a wealth of experience to the role, including five years as the Director of Marketing and Business Development for both Acision’s mobile Internet and mobile messaging business units. Prior to his time at Acision, Lennartz served as the Director of Strategic and Product Marketing across LogicaCMG Telecoms’ mobile Internet and messaging businesses. In addition, Lennartz has also worked for Ericsson in the Netherlands and Sweden in various sales, marketing and business development activities. At Ericsson, he was responsible for the market development of datacom networks and IP services, access networks and mobile applications in the Benelux region.
“We’re excited to have Chris as a part of our team and are confident that his strong background and history of success in portfolio positioning, product strategy and customer engagement will help Airwide continue to enhance its market leadership position,” says Airwide CMO, Jay Seaton. “To have people such as Chris continue to join us is a reflection of the market momentum that Airwide Solutions is building.”

GIPS Targets iPhone Users

Global IP Solutions (GIPS) has revealed that it is enabling Voice over IP (VoIP) for the iPhone. Using GIPS VoiceEngine Mobile, the company says, iPhone application developers can quickly integrate quality, real-time VoIP applications, making it easier for consumers to enjoy their favourite iPhone games, applications and social networking experiences.
GIPS is the inventor of the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) iLBC codec standard, a narrowband speech algorithm designed to optimize calls made over the Internet. The company has also deployed VoIP technology for Internet Service Providers (ISPs), application developers and hardware manufacturers worldwide. The iLBC is built into the iPhone.
The company notes that GIPS VoiceEngines have been downloaded more than any other voice engine worldwide, enabling consumers and businesses to enjoy high-quality IP-based communications, even under adverse network conditions.
Emerick Woods, GIPS' Chief Executive Officer. 
“We are excited to enable the iPhone with VoIP capabilities and lead the mobile communications market with our voice processing technology,” says GIPS CEO, Emerick Woods. “With GIPS VoiceEngine Mobile, we are providing the capabilities that turn voice into IP packets so they can be transmitted via wi-fi, making it easier for applications developers to come to market quickly with integrated VoIP applications."

Voda and MTV Launch Vodafone Soundbites

Vodafone and MTV have announced the launch of a multi-platform programme, Vodafone Soundbites. The companies say the programme will explore every aspect of the global music scene, featuring international artists’ interviews at gigs and festivals, bands’ fantasy group line-ups, pre-show rituals and performers describing their first time on stage.
Vodafone Soundbites is available now on TV, online, and on mobile at: wap.mtv-vodafonesoundbites.com as a series of 21, three-minute shows. The website and mobile service carry additional footage, as well as editorial and news elements.
Vodafone Soundbites is available in seven languages on MTV in Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Turkey, the UK and Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and on the MTV European feed, covering 16 countries. The programme is supported by an MTV-created promotional spot, driving viewers to the premiere of each show. Each show will air four times in each territory on TV.
The launch of Vodafone Soundbites follows the two companies’ recent collaboration on Vodafone Music Reporter’, which they describe as “an online global interactive profile”, hosted by Myspace. Vodafone Music Reporter offers music fans in some countries a chance to become an MTV reporter in an online and mobile episode of Vodafone Soundbites.
“Through our partnership with MTV, Vodafone is successfully building on its long-lasting music heritage and continues to bring music to its customers whenever they want it, wherever they are,” says Vodafone Global Brand Director, David Wheldon. “Vodafone Soundbites is a pioneering multiplatform communications show, will be delivered in 29 countries and will allow millions of fans to experience music on mobile  through Vodafone and its partners’ high speed, reliable networks, online and TV.”

MMA Invites Feedback on Ad Guidelines

The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) has announced the opening of its global Mobile Advertising Guidelines for public feedback. The guidelines are designed to encourage the uptake of mobile advertising by brands worldwide, whilst enhancing and protecting the customer’s experience, by creating a framework for brands and media companies to deliver mobile advertising in a positive and consistent way.
The opportunity for public comment will remain extends until 5pm GMT on 5 September 2008, at which point the feedback will be reviewed and the document finalized, with the release of the updated guidelines planned for early October 2008. The current version of the guidelines can be downloaded here http://mmaglobal.com/modules/content/index.php?id=528 and comments can be entered on the Public Forum site here http://mmaglobal.com/modules/newbb/viewforum.php?forum=77.
“In order for the mobile marketing industry to grow, guidelines that ensure ease of entry for brands and agencies and consistency of experience globally are vital,” says MMA President, Laura Marriott. “The MMA feels that it is important to open its Mobile Advertising Guidelines for public comment to ensure their acceptance across the wireless and advertising industries, and to further the causes of industry standardization, best practice and positive consumer experience.”

Dog and Bone

The RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) has launched a mobile game called ‘MobiDog’ to help spread the message of responsible pet ownership.
Following the success of the cyberpet - a pet that lives on your  desktop and needs to be looked after - the RSPCA decided to create a new tool for mobile phones, in conjunction with the game’s developer, digital communications agency, Lateral.
The game has five sections, each designed to teach players about animals’ different needs, from food and water to company and exercise.
“The aim of the game is to educate the user on the Animal Welfare Act 2006, which places a ‘duty of care’ on pet owners to ensure they look after their pet,” says RSPCA campaigner, Helen Ball. “The main aim is to convey, in an entertaining way, an animal’s prime welfare needs, which include the need for food and water, shelter, exercise, and companionship and veterinary care when necessary. Mobidog is interactive, playful and educational, with a competitive slant, which we hope will help get the message about looking after pets properly to a young audience.”
To download Mobidog to your phone text GAME to 60022 or go to www.rspca-cyberpet.com

Voda in Olympics Move

Vodafone UK has launched a free, personalised service, enabling customer users to access BBC Sport coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. The service will bring BBC Sport news from the Olympic Games to Vodafone customers in the UK via Vodafone Live!
Sports fans will be able to personalise the Vodafone sport homepage for a tailored experience of the BBC’s coverage of the Olympic Games. Where provided as part of the BBC’s Olympic Games coverage, Vodafone customers will also have access to video highlights free of charge.
Additionally, Vodafone customers who use the N95 8Gb handsets will be able to download and install a mobile BBC Sports news widget, which will make the content more immediately accessible.

Brazilian Jobs for Telit

Telit Wireless Solutions, the M2M (machine-to-machine) mobile technology arm of Telit Communications PLC, has announced the appointment of six wireless industry executives to guide the launch of the company’s operations and sales force in South America. Telit will begin manufacturing the company’s M2M modules in São Paulo, Brazil, this month.
The Telit Brazil executive leadership team will be led by former Siemens Wireless Modules Customer Manager and Strategic Marketing Consultant Marcos Kinzkowski. As General Director of Telit Brazil, Kinzkowski will lead Telit’s regional sales force. His knowledge of the Brazilian wireless market and established operator and integrator relationships will play an integral role in introducing Telit’s M2M technology to the South American marketplace.
Telit has also appointed Ivan Braz as Regional Director of Manufacturing, Operations and Logistics; Hamilton Marques da Silva as Head Field Applications Engineer; Anderson Benino as Regional Sales Manager; Ricardo Stefanato Buranello as Regional Finance Manager; and Diogo Sae as Regional Sales Director
“Brazil is one of the fastest-growing wireless markets,” says Telit Communications CEO, Oozi Cats. “With the appointment of experienced leadership executives (and) the company’s innovative technology, Telit will quickly become a major player in the South American M2M industry.”

Tech Award for Synchronica Mobile Gateway

Synchronica's Mobile Gateway solution has won the 2008 Reader Trust Award for Best in Mobile Solution from Network Products Guide, a Silicon Valley Communications publication focused on technologies and solutions. The annual award honours products and services that represent the rapidly-changing needs and interests of the end-users of technology worldwide. As part of the tech industry's leading global awards program, this year's Best Products and Services were nominated from all over the world.
Synchronica Mobile Gateway provides carrier-grade push email and synchronization services for virtually all mass-market feature phones and Smartphones on the market today. Based on the dominant open industry standards, Push IMAP for mobile email, and SyncML (OMA DS) for contact, calendar, notes, and task synchronization, it works with the built-in email and synchronization clients found in more than 1.5 billion phones worldwide.
Mobile Gateway was also the first solution to deliver Microsoft Exchange connectivity to the iPhone and continues to deliver push email and synchronization services to devices from all major handset manufacturers, including Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Palm, Samsung, and Motorola.
Mobile Gateway does not require any additional software installation on the user’s PC, on the mobile phone, or firewall modification in the corporate network. Instead, Mobile Gateway is operated in the data centre of the service provider and connects to the user's mail server through a secure connection. The combination of this zero-footprint architecture with the built-in over-the-air provisioning module, eases service activation and improves adoption rates.
“Increased end-user awareness and ongoing advances in mobile technology are helping shape better products and services”, says Network Products Guide Chief Editor, Rake Narang. “As workforces become increasingly mobile, consumers are demanding access to email, calendar, and contact information, no matter their location or type of phone. Synchronica Mobile Gateway solves this problem by delivering a superior mobile email solution to the global mass market, that is both cost-effective and offers a high-quality user experience.”

Celltick Opens Singapore Office

Celltick, which provides mobile idle screen marketing solutions, has opened an office in Singapore to manage and support its extensive client base in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region. The company says this is an additional step towards its strategy of expanding the use of idle screen mobile marketing around the world with its  LiveScreen Media solution.
“We are very focused on building up our customer base in APAC and the surrounding regions,” says Celltick CEO, Stephen Dunford. “We have taken the strategic decision to open a dedicated office in Singapore at this time to support our current customers, and in anticipation of several further significant deals we will be announcing in the next few months. Singapore is a hub for innovation in the mobile sector and opening this office confirms our presence and expertise within the APAC region and enables us to interact more easily with our local customers and partner network.”
Celltick’s existing APAC customers for LiveScreen Media include Vodafone India, AIS in Thailand, Globe in the Philippines, Spice in Nepal, VMS in Vietnam, and Dialog in Sri Lanka. The company has a total of 10 agreements in place in APAC and also boasts an excellent working relationship with all major SIM vendors in the region.
LiveScreen Media is an effective and cost-efficient mass reach solution that successfully sends personalised content and advertising to consumers’ mobile idle screen using cell broadcast technology. For the consumer, it means that they receive relevant information, at a convenient time, in a non-intrusive fashion.
Celltick notes that over 80% of LiveScreen users choose to keep the service on. About 35% click on teasers regularly, and each active user makes, on average, 8.3 transactions per month. As a result, operators and partners have a new channel to generate revenue, while subscribers have a high-value, well-targeted service.
Celltick continues to build momentum for its LiveScreen Media product, which is now deployed by over 25 operators globally, generating over 35 million monthly transactions.

2ergo Hires Caley

2ergo has announced the appointment of Janna Caley as Marketing Communications Manager. Caley joins 2ergo from Dandara North, a Manchester-based property development company.
Her arrival follows 2ergo’s recent unveiling of a new identity and rebranding of its US arm. The company says these are key steps in its plans to achieve ambitious growth targets in the next couple of years.
“I’m really excited to be joining a company which already has a global presence and is still growing fast,” says Caley “This is also a fantastic time to be getting involved in the mobile marketing industry.”
2ergo’s products, including its Multisend platform, allow speedy, cost-effective and highly personalised interaction, through the use of text or picture messaging, email and the mobileIinternet, or combinations of these. Its customers O2, Thomas Cook and Rightmove.

Wild Jack in Affiliate Deal

BrightShare, the exclusive affiliate network of the Jackpot Factory, has announced a partnership with TexoMobile, providing independent Wapmasters with seamless access to the mobile casino, Wild Jack Mobile Casino, and in turn, enabling them to turn their traffic into revenue.
Wild Jack Mobile Casino features 14 casino games including ‘3 Card Poker’, ‘Jacks or Better’ and ‘Tomb Raider’ as well as perennial favourites like Roulette and Blackjack. The application allows all transactions to be conducted via the mobile phone.
TexoMobile has some 20,000 Wapmaster members in its Mobpartner scheme, which provides a community forum and a central network to centralise all members’ affiliates, stats and earnings into a convenient interface.
“The expected and potential growth of mobile casinos is vast,” says BrightShare Mobile Account Manager, Candice Evans. “Teaming with the immensely successful TexoMobile network is a significant move and we look forward to a long and beneficial partnership.”

txtNation Powers Blossom Hill Campaign

Mobile messaging, billing and content company txtnation is running two SMS competitions for wine brand Blossom Hill, as part of a campaign created by Pulse Group.
The competition began in June as part of the build up to the Wimbledon tennis tournament. Blossom Hill is the official wine supplier to The Championships, Wimbledon. There are 10 weekly prize draws offering one person the chance to win a prize of a Garden Party. 1,000 pubs in the UK are promoting the MMS picture messaging competition with posters, coasters and vinyl fridge magnets.
To enter the competition, consumers need to take a photo of themselves enjoying Blossom Hill wine with friends and send it in with the word ‘SUMMER’ to the shortcode, 60999. For the second competition, users simply text in their name, address and date of birth together with the word 'BLOSSOM' to 60999 for the chance to win a range of prizes.
Blossom Hill is using txtNation’s mFusion and mBill services to run the campaign. txtNation also created the website that Blossom Hill is using to host the picture competition.
“txtNation have provided a quick and easy solution to our client’s varied promotional needs,” says Pulse Group’s Jon Harding. “They have set up a dedicated working area where all entries, both picture and text, can be viewed without any need for extensive IT training. It really has allowed us to run the campaign easily, whilst providing our client (with) all the data they need to evaluate post campaign.”
The competition runs until the end of August. 

Mippin Launches Olympic Channel

With the Olympic Opening Ceremony in full flow, Mippin, the free mobile media service that makes discovering, consuming, and sharing content on mobile phones easy, has launched an Olympic news channel. Mippin says the channel is a free, easy and faster way to access all the news and videos about the Olympic games on the mobile phone in one place, and works on any mobile device with Internet access. Research firm Nielsen Mobile estimates that 31.3% of mobile video users and 17.2% of mobile Internet users in the UK are likely to follow the Olympics on their mobile this summer.
The Mippin Olympic Channel currently has 30 sites categorized from all over the world, including BBC, CNN, AOL, Reuters, Yahoo, Google, NBC, etc, but it says more sites will be added on a daily basis.
To use Mippin and access the Mippin Olympic Channel go to www.mippin.com on your mobile phone and register. If you’ve already registered, navigate to http://mippin.com/olympics or browse in the 'Categories' section on the home page.
And don’t forget, you can also use Mippin to access Mobile Marketing Magazine on your mobile. Just go to www.mippin.com and search for www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com then add it as a Favourite.

Ad Infuse Goes Deeper with Swisscom

Ad Infuse, which specialises in delivering highly personalised mobile ad experiences, has expanded its relationship with Swiss mobile operator, Swisscom. As part of the enhanced agreement, Swisscom will deploy Ad Infuse’s adInMotion platform to integrate fully with its Vodafone live! portal. The deployment of adInMotion builds on the successful video advertising pilot that the two companies undertook in 2007 to encompass a broader solution, including WAP and SMS advertising.
Swisscom is Switzerland’ largest mobile operator, with 5 million mobile customers. Ad Infuse’s solution will serve all on-deck banner ads on the Swisscom Vodafone live! portal, and will enable Swisscom to roll out an ad-funded person-to-person SMS messaging service, that will offer free text messaging to subscribers. Ad Infuse says that adInMotion’s advanced matching engine and multi-format ad support will integrates seamlessly into the Vodafone live! API to deliver highly personal and targeted mobile advertising,
Through this new deployment, Swisscom will be able to launch multi-format, highly targeted on-deck advertising campaigns, using the advanced management and administrative dashboards that are built into the adInMotion platform. Campaigns will integrate with a wide variety of content and ensure that advertisers deliver a consistent and engaging message.
“Swisscom’s Vodafone live! portal is one of the most popular destinations in that market on the mobile web, and as such, represents some of the best real estate for advertisers and brands,” says Ad Infuse CEO, Brian Cowley. “By deploying the adInMotion platform, Swisscom gives brands the opportunity to deploy targeted campaigns that are compelling to consumers.”

FoneStarz Takes Turner Brands Mobile

Turner Broadcasting has appointed FoneStarz to publish content from its top brands to customers across numerous mobile network operators in the UK and Ireland. The agreement includes content from entertainment channels Cartoon Network, Boomerang and Adult Swim.Cartoon Network hits including ‘Ben 10’ and perennially popular shows like ‘Johnny Bravo and ‘The Powerpuff Girls’ (pictured) will be among the shows available, as will newer favourites such as cult hit ‘Robot Chicken’ which airs on Adult Swim.
Turner-branded wallpapers, video clips, games and ringtones will be available to Vodafone, T-Mobile and 3 subscribers across the UK as well as Vodafone, 3 and O2 customers in Ireland. In addition, customers can directly download content from Samsung’s Fun Club in the UK or FoneStarz’s direct-to-consumer offering ‘kazzip’.
“At Turner, we strive to engage with our viewers on as many available platforms as possible, and serving our content widely across mobile is a key part of this strategy,” says Turner Broadcasting Director of Mobile Sales, Joe Braman. “We’re delighted to be working with FoneStarz to facilitate this.”
FoneStarz hosts, manages and publishes multiple content formats for over 2,400 different handset types and currently licenses and aggregates content from more than 130 partners worldwide.

Incentivated Handed M&S Back to School Task

Marks & Spencer has engaged mobile marketing agency Incentivated for the first time to launch its mobile ‘Back to School’ campaign, and to assist with its use of mobile for Customer Relationship Management.
The ‘Back to School’ campaign invites customers to text keywords (e.g. SCHOOL1, SCHOOL2 …SCHOOL16) to a dedicated shortcode, 65006. The shortcode and keywords appear in national press and magazines, allowing M&S to track enquiries generated by the respective media channels used. Respondents then receive a bounce-back text message with a link to access M&S’ ‘Back to School’ mobile Internet site from their handsets.
The mobile internet site, designed and hosted by Incentivated, and built using its WAPsite publisher tool, features school uniforms for boys and girls, with photos and prices based on its brochures. Customers are also asked to reply with their email address in order to receive a branded email carrying voucher codes for online redemption.
Customers wanting to buy the Back to School range immediately can use the ‘click to call’ function on the mobile nternet site, which connects them to the M&S Direct call centre. Customers can qualify for discounts by quoting the unique voucher reference numbers contained on the mobile Internet site. Alternatively, the voucher reference numbers can be used on the Marks & Spencer website for online discounts.
Separately, M&S will use mobile to support its customer loyalty scheme. Personalised emails will carry banner links to a web registration page where customers can sign-up to receive a maximum of three SMS alerts for product news and offers over any two-month period. The web registration form was also built and hosted by Incentivated.
“Far from having free time off over the summer holidays, today’s parents tend to have their hands full keeping the children occupied, which leaves little time for buying school uniforms,” says
Incentivated Managing Director Jonathan Bass. “This mobile service allows mums and dads to browse the M&S Back to School ranges when they’re out and about, and the receive online discount vouchers which can be redeemed via mobile, or when they get a moment to access the PC.”

Celltick Seals Olympic Idle Screen Deal

Idle screen media company Celltick has announced the launch of a new and unique mobile media service over China Unicom's network, starting with the 2008 Olympic Games.
Designed and implemented as a managed service through Celltick’s LiveScreen Media platform, the new service provides official Olympics-related content directly from Xinhua News, the official news agency in China, including the latest news, results and anecdotes, accompanied by topical games and applications. The service will also include general news, lifestyle, fun, business and entertainment content. 
With LiveScreen Media, says Celltick, mobile operators can non-intrusively deliver segmented content, rich media and advertising to a virtually unlimited number of users, expanding operators’ offerings. China Unicom is an integrated telecommunications service provider, with over 180 million mobile subscribers nationwide.
“The Olympic Games represents an enormous opportunity for the mobile industry, and our managed LiveScreen Media application is ideally positioned to help China Unicom capitalise on its full potential.,” says Celltick CEO, Stephen Dunford. “We are very pleased to be working with China Unicom with their wide reach and significant customer base, both of which will help strengthen our presence across China as we roll out further LiveScreen Media deployments.”
Celltick says that the launch of the LiveScreen Media service in Beijing will be the first in a series of LiveScreen deployments across China.

Sony BMG and O2 Launch My Play Music Store

SONY BMG Music Entertainment UK and O2 UK have announced the launch of what they claim is the first operator-supported major label mobile music store.
The store, called ‘My Play’, will be available exclusively through O2 Active and is powered by Momac’s multimedia publishing platform GoMedia. It brings together the full suite of mobile music products in the shape of videos, full track audio and realtones in one store. Designed to help bring consumers closer to their favoured art