GoMo Mobile Search News

Vodafone and Facebook? Vodache?

Rating: ding dong the witch is dead

by Bena Roberts

I am not sure if it was when Vodafone’s analyst relations told me I wasn’t an analyst and they didn’t want to talk to me or if it was when Vodafone’s media department said – “we don’t do bloggers” that I cancelled my Vodafone contract.

Movius and Action Engine partner for interactive mobile media applications

Rating: psychic

by Bena Roberts

I was just thinking about Action Engine today as I wrote the article about Medio ODP and hey presto here the company is with its own press release.

Action Engine has teamed with Movius a messaging and solutions company to create intuitive and personalised media applications.

Miyowa to launch InTouch 5 at Mobile World Congress

Rating: Touch me, Touch me (Sam Fox)

By Bena Roberts

Miyowa is offering a new complete service to mobile operators for IM, content sharing, TV, mobile, internet and entertainment.

Basically the name of the service is InTouch5 (in touch with five services) or as the press release puts it: Quadplay plus 1 and the 1 addition is entertainment.

Interview with Leiki’s Petrus Pennanen on personalisation, advertising, widgets and more

Rating: OK – so now I get it!

By Bena Roberts

Yesterday, personalisation company Leiki released a press release announcing a new collaboration with Talentum. I thought Leiki was purely mobile and this was an online announcement so I had a lot of questions on the service.

Here is the explanation I received from Leiki’s CEO Petrus Pennanen

Talentum chooses Leiki Focus Dynamic Linking for Information and Advertisers

Rating: I had to interview the CEO

by Bena Roberts

Talentum, a leading Scandinavian business and technology publisher, has chosen Leiki Focus for content linking on all of its online publications. The intelligent Leiki Focus content discovery engine is used for recommending articles and advertisements that match a detailed analysis of the topics of each page.
The content on the different Talentum sites is combined automatically; at the end of the article there are links to other similar articles.

Location social network company Loopt launches developer program

Rating: I am feeling guilty now for missing several opportunities to talk to Loopt this week

by Bena Roberts

I get the feeling that LBS is definitely back in the air. Location seems to be fashionable again. Developers are being urged to jump on board with access to Loopt’s live location feed and then to create stronger n ewer fresher services.

Helio nightlife mobile search via Buzzd

Rating: Vodafone did this in Germany in 2001

by Bena Roberts

Funky youth MVNO Helio in the US has partnered with a company called Buzzd (source).
Buzzd powers mobile sites for with a mobile local search flair.

Basically the collaboration is for a Nightlife search via mobile powered by Buzzd

The service will be ad supported.

Phling! MusicStash

Rating: am I the only one in the world renting music?

by Bena Roberts

Phling! The music brand from Oxy Systems has announced MusicStash.

What is it?
It lets a phling! mobile music service subscriber stream music from their phone to the PC.

Trond Bugge – Making money from mobile social network SuperLocal.com

Rating: No way, Batman!

By Bena Roberts

Well shiver me timbers, Trond Bugge must be a Viking as his case study on superlocal.com location based advertising was one of the best during the mobile advertising and marketing conference in London.

Why did Trond hit me on the head with a baton?

See Me TV from 3 plus LookAtMe from O2 becomes EyeVibe

Rating: YoSpace!

A couple of years ago when 3 annouced SeeMeTV the 1p back video portal where users get paid to download – the hype was high. 3 also fuelled this by disclosing case studies of user generated mobile content where one woman’s flashed boob video got 100,000 downloads.

At the time I wasn’t sure of the hype but it didn’t stop MoMo from launching (and failing) with a similar platform. Then O2 jumped on the bandwagon.

Now 2 years See me TV and Look at me are merging the databases both run by company YoSpace!

MoMo Peer Awards Barcelona Shortlist

Rating: yeee haaaa

I am delighted to be a judge at the MoMo Peer Awards in Barcelona during Mobile World Congress. It's an honour to be invited and this list of finalists looks super.

There were a couple of super companies in the London section and it was tough - sorry if you didn't make it.

But apart from that the line up looks interesting and I will start doing some digging on the companies I don't know.

I am taking this quite seriously so finalists please feel free to email me gomonews (@) yahoo.com

My PC is still broken so no attachments but if you could say what you do and how you are super in 5 lines - it would be great and I might blog the best answers.

Ofcom bewails data roaming charges

Rating: GSMA points out they're falling rapidly, anyway
by Tony Dennis

High data roaming charges within the EU are hurting content providers given that it can cost almost three times as much to download one megabyte's worth of data abroad as opposed to in the UK.
Or so Ofcom's Ed Richards is claiming. He calculates that it costs a typical Brit subscriber £1.50 ($3) per megabyte at home compared to £4.10 ($8.20) when roaming.
He's therefore told a meeting of the ERG (European regulators Group) that prices must drop as they're hurting business competitiveness.

MYiOTA WONDER BROWSER

Rating: Thank-you MYiOTA for putting us on this and everyone reading this please sign up for the MYiOTA ODP or get WAPPING on the new browser.

MYiOTA today launched a central repository of information and mobile blog on the best parties and news at this years’ Mobile World Congress 2008.

The free service allows users to post comments, interact, collate information, and find the best parties at Europe’s premier mobile conference and exhibition – all from a simple application which delivers a browser experience all from and an SMS style interface.

In addition to the party list MYiOTA’s service also provides feeds and links to leading mobile news services including: GoMo News, Mobile Entertainment, Pocket Picks, Total Telecom, Telecom Asia, Telecoms Insight and Wireless Week.

The free service, launched today, already has a growing list of top destinations for mobile executives hungry to network and sample some of the party delights of Barcelona.

To get up and running on the MYiOTA service simply type: wap.myiota.co.uk/mwc into your browser.

Bruce Eley, CEO, MYiOTA, said: “With more than 100,000 users MYiOTA is fast becoming the service of choice for mobile content aficionados. 25 second access to mobile content without the browsing hassle is now a reality thanks to our ‘what the consumer wants’ philosophy. We hope that this specially developed Mobile World Congress service will strike a c

Changing Worlds Collaborates with O2 on personalisation

Rating: only blogging big headlines!

by Bena Roberts

I am at the BKI HQ in Norwich today and am desperately trying to work on an Apple. But will try and blog some headlines.

What is the story?
O2 Active is now using the ClixSmart personalised content platform from O2. Personalisation is a buzz word but this is the type of personalisation that drives what users click on most to the top of the page. So something that has been available for a long time.

If you read my analysis of the O2 Active Portal in The Mobile Search Analyst its clear to see that the portal even with a face lift isn't very good and O2 is way behind in the portal race. This personalised addition might be a giant step for O2 - but its a very small step for mobility

From the press release

O2 and Vodafone in Germany create new mobile payment system

Rating: O2, Vodafone what happend to E-Plus and T-Mobile?

Vodafone Gemany and O2 are going to launch a new Bezhal- Service. This service will enable consumers with a Intenret handset to may secure payments via the phone on the move.

The new Bezahl System works by combinging requests with SMS. So the user orders a product via the mobile portal or Internet shop. He/she gives the mobile phone number and password. Then an SMS is sent with the confirmation and the money is booked from the bank account.

This is a free service for post and prepaid users.

Orange turns up music services with Radio FG

Rating: its all about the Soundtribes or Pikeo and reality radio, man

Orange has teamed up with Radio FG to offer mobile and internet services to users with exclusive editorial and music content.

What?
Basically, Orange customers can now listen to Radio FG live on the mobile device or the Internet when it is broadcast over Liveradio.

What else?
Radio FG can also plug into Orange flagship services Soundtribes and Pikeo.

Soundtribes?

Disney mobile in Japan to target women? Yikes.

Rating: it gets worse

Disney mobile in Japan is going to target women with a Sharp phone that is a flip and is a pink and has a Disney head at the bottom.

OMG. How awful. As a mother of two and having had holidays at Disneyland and Centre Parcs with the kids (Sequoia National Park is next) – I have to say that holidays are great for Disney etc. But seeing that head every day. Brandishing the trademark as a mother?

Docomo Google for i-mode search

Rating: I thought i-mode wasn’t that big anymore?

OK, i-mode was the rage in Japan but then FOMA 3G arrived. NTTDoCoMo was the king of i-mode but since its rise uptake has stalled and is it now banking on Google to help to revive the service?

Maybe I am wrong as it seems that DoCoMo is banging the drums for i-mode with Google.

The plans are:

Buzzcity launches wireless community report

Rating: it’s the buzz

The main point of the Buzzcity global report:

90% access social networking sites 1-5 times a day; 80% accessing the site while at home, at work or at a desk

And

Jump Games jumps into bed with Manchester United for mobile games deal

Rating: I have to say, I used to really like Manchester United, I even was at the 1999 Champions league win again Bayern Munich in Barcelona - but after all the roasting and rape allegations am not too impressed anymore.

But, back to the point.

Jump Games has signed an exclusive global deal to design, develop and distribute mobile games with Manchester United

Six games will be launched the first called Manchester United Word It and they will each cost GBP 5.

Cellular South introduces LOC-AID Technologies

Rating: is it a bird, is it a drink no its LOC-AID LBS!

Location Based Services (LBS) provided by LOC-AID Technologies portfolio of applications (Find LOC-AID People, LOC-AID LITE and LOC-AID Web Portal) makes use of position data from wireless devices, including latitude/longitude, speed and heading.

Cellular South is working with LOC-AID to find point of interest and local attractions using Geo-Fencing.

KPN takes over SMS Michel

Rating: sexy message sugar?

After years of successful collaboration, mobile operator KPN has bought SMS Michel GmbH for its subsidiary E-Plus.

The aim is to change the name of SMS from short message service to Smart Mobile Services – which is pretty nifty.

Mobile phones should be car stereo compatible

Rating: Easy swapping between car and handset needed
by Tony Dennis

I thought I'd stumbled across a way to help my mate Bruce Renny at Rok Entertainment get rid of old stocks of rock and pop albums his company produced and sold on MMC cards. The solution should have been to pop them into a car music centre.
But it didn't work. In the process, I discovered the need for a common format between car stereos and mobile handsets. The chief reason Rok's album wouldn't play is that that old spoilsport, DRM, reared its ugly head again.

Openwave and Zero launch Mobile Mini Blog

Rating: Blogging rules, man

Openwave has teamed up with Japanese Internet start-up Zero Start Communications to launch a mobile Mini-Blog service. The service will be branded “chopi”. More information at http://chopi.jp)

From the press release
“As the mobile Internet continues to become more sophisticated, consumers are demanding a deeper level of personalization and more dynamic ways to communicate,” said Hari Haran, senior vice president of worldwide field operations, Openwave Systems. “We’re thrilled to see our industry-proven converged communications platform take new directions, driving innovative mobile Web 2.0 communication options to Japanese consumers.”

G8wave launch mobile services with Sapporo

Rating: mobile beer belly

The Japanese beer company Sapporo is to launch mobile services provided by g8wave.
The WAP site will be available in Japanese and English?

What we think?
It’s an interesting idea but beer and mobile? I suppose if coupons and vouchers and prizes or pictures of the best bottle were awarded it might be a bit interactive.

Virgin sources games & video from Player X

Rating: Music plus video is the way to go
by Tony Dennis 

It's becoming increasingly obvious that Player X is one of the mobile industry's rising stars. First it manages to co-brand the prestigious Nokia party at the forthcoming MWC. Now it's announced a tie up with Virgin Mobile.
According to X's Monty Munford this is a unique deal in the industry. Player X now will source not only all of Virgin Mobile's games but it will also liaise with content providers to bring all video content to Virgin Mobile.
I notice there's a mention of  ' adult' comedy mobile video in the announcement, too.

Yahoo! T-Mobile Mobile display advertising

Source: Reuters

Yahoo!’s aggressive sales strategy seems to be working and according to Reuters T-Mobile has signed up Yahoo! to provide display advertising on T-Mobile’s Web ‘n’ walk service.

What we think?
This is the mash-up of the year as T-Mobile gets jiggy with nearly all the mobile search advertising providers out there.

News12 partners with UpSNAP

Rating: really boring press release, please take some drugs before writing the next one

News 12 is a Cable company. It’s offering a mobile service via UpSnap. Basically, users phone to register. When registered they can access free information on news, traffic and weather. This is completely free for Cablevision customers. The number to dial is 646-273-1212.

UpSnap is a mobile search, content company that users voice, audio, podcasts and advertising to deliver media messages or ads.

KongZhong launches official mobile website for Chinese Basketball

Rating: is it a bird, is it a plane No! It’s a kong with a basketball!

KongZhong Corporation and Infront, the exclusive commercial partner to the Chinese Basketball Association ("CBA"), jointly announced today a multi-year cooperation agreement and launched the official CBA mobile website.

Mixipix Mixibodz

Rating: na, na, na, na na
Just wanted to highlight an interview with one of our site sponsors Mixibodz (owned by Mixipix) in the Guardian today.
Jemima Kiss interviews Lesley Keen.

XOX MVNO in Malyasia; Tele2 Austria MVNO cartel?

Rating: it’s in the XOX

So in cold Austria (where I spent Christmas this year) the cartel authority is investing the sale of Tele 2 to Telekom Austria. Just when you think its all going good for MVNO’s - this.

4INFO announces new publishing partner Gaia Online

Rating: another teen network

4INFO has announced that social networking company Gaia Online has joined the 4Info publishing family.

What?
This means that it will not use the 4INFO SMS publishing platform. So its member can receive text from anywhere, get secret or private messages etc. Gaia Online joines Evite, Phonezoo, SayNow, TuneFly and the FoneShow.

Kajeet, Gamma, Euphony is 2008 the year of the MVNO?

Rating: mvno8

In the past week, 3 UK has announced its first MVNO; KPN in the Netherlands has signed an agreement with Euphony to market a new brand Talkout in Spain and now Kajeet has landed USD 10 million.

I understand the continued niche targeting of an MVNO to foreigners like Talkout will be in Spain. There are a number of Brits in Spain and Euphony MVNO might be on to a winner.

I further sort of get 3 jumping on the MVNO bandwagon with Gamma. IP is the future and with Gamma 3 can make sure it has a slice of the action.

But Kajeet. I wish the company success but the company has already had USD 64 million in funding – and now it needs USD 10 million in debt financing. Hmmm. This doesn’t sound healthy. It sounds as though the vision of Kajeet remains but the turn around to a healthy MVNO is tough.

The retail market is essential for the growth and success of an MVNO. Kajeet has retail partnerships with Toys “R” Us but if Disney couldn’t sell mobile to mums in Disney shops – how on earth will Kajeet do it?

But it gets worse. I just looked at the Kajeet site and it seems to be all prepaid. This means no regular income no fixed gains for the MVNO – but a great consumer service. It just doesn’t add up. The only way Kajeet is going to work is if it hits the supermarkets and services are decided at point of sale. Consumers want to leave a shop with a ready to go device and this is possible if Kajeet gets into the supermarket retail market where there is a partnership with a brand. For example, Kajeet kids phone from Walmart.

Agreed, supermarkets have their own MVNO’s but Kajeet needs to push social responsibility. This could be a way in which the MVNO does succeed. Buying a Kajeet phone for a child will not then be about Parental Controls but about social security and neighbourhood watch.

But moving on from Kajeet. It’s been a couple of bad years for MVNO start-ups. Fingers crossed for everyone that the Chinese lucky number 8 is successful for everyone in 2008.

Sony BMG and Radiohead boost DRM-free music

Rating: Faith in the handset as a music player restored
by Tony Dennis

To me, two seemingly unrelated events have restored my faith in the mobile handset as a music player: - Sony BMG's decision to sell DRM-free MP3s via Amazon; and Radiohead's latest album topping the US charts.

Both mean that sense has finally prevailed and it's going to be much, much easier to download tracks I like to the mobile phone of my choice. Basically, people want to play their music where they like and not how the music industry tells them.

Kadoink mobile widget maker raises USD 7 million from Sutter Hill Ventures

Rating: Source: Mercurynews.com

Kadoink is a San Francisco based widget maker. It creates music based widgets where fans of bands can sign up to receive songs or text news on the band. It has closed USD 7 Million Series A investment.

TynTec delivers SMS for Mobile Casino You are the King

Rating: I am the king, baby

Mobile messaging provider TynTec today announces that it has been selected by newly launched mobile casino youaretheking to provide business critical SMS delivery to user's devices. TynTec will provide guaranteed high-quality delivery of the WAP push SMS which users will use to download the youaretheking.com application once they have registered interest.

AdaptiveMobile links mobile ads to churn

Rating: operators must filter messages to prevent unwanted ads
by Tony Dennis

When it comes to predictions for 2008, Lorcan Burke from AdaptiveMobile errs towards gloom and doom. If the mobile network operators don't watch out, he warns, they could see churn rates rising steeply.
And why would this be? Essentially Burke reckons that operators will be tempted to accept filthy lucre from the big brand name advertisers. But the consequent adverts won't be targeted properly.
The net result? There will be mass desertions by subscribers from those operators who let such adverts be sent out willy-nilly to all handsets on their networks.

Veveo vTap agreement with Motorola for Web Video Discovery Application

Rating: vtapping

Veveo has reached an agreement with Motorola to licnese its vTap web video application. Motorola will hav eth eability to pre-install vTap software on new mobile devices and this will begin with the New MOTO Z10 device.

tvCompass marries WAP and TV remote

Rating: tie the digital media knot?

I've heard the word convergence being used in the high tech industry on multiple occasions, but never before had I thought that a merger between a WAP browser and a TV remote control was feasible. But tvCompass is offering such a device in the shape of a Digital Media Remote (DMR).
What tvCompass realised is that when you put an LCD screen inside a Wi-Fi enabled TV controller, you have to find some means of enabling the user to view internet content. Rather than re-invent the wheel, the company decided to use an existing standard – WAP.
So it struck up a deal with Winwap Technologies to incorporate a WAP browser inside its DMR. So WAP isn't dead after all.

Verizon Wireless and Firehorn create mobile banking services

Rating: money in the palm of my hand

Verizon Wireless has teamed up with Qualcomm company Firehorn to make mobile banking a reality.

With Verizon Wireless' mobile banking offering powered by Firethorn, customers can now access and manage their financial relationships while on-the-go for a seamless, real-time and secure user experience, including checking bank account balances, transferring funds between accounts within the same bank, and reviewing and paying bills for those bills already set up through the financial institution's online account service.

Zeetoo gets investment from Spanish VC firm Nauta Capital

Rating: Go! Zeetoo

by Bena Roberts

The mobile gaming joystick company Zeetoo powered by the all star female guru Beth Marcus (who has also been a guest blogger on GoMo News) has won EUR 4.7 million in investment. Nauta lead the investment with Commonwealth Ventures and Egan Capital.

Mobile Predictions 2008: Mobile Advertising, Search and Barcodes

1. The way in which data is consumed on mobile will finally change and advertising fuelled models will start to make a more aggressive impact.

2. Mobile Search branded players will still be “the face” of mobile operator portals at the start of the year – but by Q4 portals will change to accommodate the white label model – where brands results are brokered not headlining.

Wanted: an independent content watchdog

Rating: should the industry be watching itself?
by Tony Dennis

I suppose it might be a tad hypercritical to criticise one industry in the UK – the mobile content industry – for self-regulation when you've spent most of your life working in another industry – publishing – which is adamant that self-regulation works.
But I'm going to do it anyway. What has sparked this particular diatribe is a trawl through the latest adjudications from Phonepay Plus – which most surfers will know better as the body formerly known as ICSTIS. Who did it fine most? Only one of the captains of our very own industry – Mblox.

Bouygues pilots Miyowa’s MoveAD for mobile instant messaging

Rating: dynamic duo?

Miyowa?
Miyowa is an instant messaging provider passed in France. Its won a number of deployments in the past year focusing on interoperable IM services for mobile operators.

MC2 Mobile Codes Consortium convinces OMA and GSMA to drive mobile marketing using 2D barcodes

Rating: MC2, OMA, GSMA, 2D? Drowning in acronyms

MC2?
The MC2 is the Mobile Codes Consortium. It’s a cross industry group created by NeoMedia and Gavitec to enforce a global adoption of mobile marketing using 2D barcodes? Other founders and members of the MC2 are: Publicis Groupe, Hewlett-Packard, Deutsche Telekom, KPN, Nokia, Qualcomm and Telefonica/O2.