Report Studies Wireless VoIP Prospects

Juniper Research has released its report, ‘Converged Wireless VoIP Handsets & Equipment’, which combines high level industry interviews, with current vendor market share analysis, and forecasts for the next five years concerning shipments and revenues for equipment and handset markets.
The marriage of VoIP and wireless technology has gained a lot of attention in the last couple of years, says Juniper, with many industry experts believing it to be the next killer application to revolutionise the telecoms space. Juniper's report addresses the potential for, and challenges associated with implementing, wireless VoIP technology, offering a clear prognosis and understanding of future market development.
It analyses the business opportunities for VoIP over wi-fi/WiMAX, including the drivers and barriers to successful VoIP over wi-fi implementation. It also provides an evaluation of future technologies and challenges associated with interoperability between wireless & cellular infrastructure.
Converged Wireless VoIP Handsets & Equipment offers a practical analysis of the emerging opportunities available to vendors, operators and content providers by profiling and interviewing over 40 of today's leading industry players. The report, says Juniper, answers questions such as:
What are the current market shares of wireless VoIP Equipment vendors in the market? What implications can VoIP over wi-fi technology have on providers, operators, and hotspot owners? What are the latest trends that have emerged in the VoIP over Wi-Fi equipment markets? How large will the market for wireless VoIP technology be in terms of shipments and revenue by the year 2012? Why is the dual mode cellular/VoIP over wi-fi handset market expected to show a phenomenal growth in the coming years? And what are the challenges for VoIP over wi-fi/mobile convergence technology and the factors that will determine the rate of adoption?
The report costs £1,490 for a hardback copy or single-user licence, £1,990 for a 5-user PDF licence, or £2,990 for an enterprise-wide PDF licence.
You can download a brochure here. Or get a free white paper here.

ROK Takes On the iPod

ROK is to launch the Beta version of its ROK Media Store application. ROK Media Store is designed to turn any mobile phone with a removable memory card into a video iPod. ROK says it will become the ultimate management tool and resource for people's mobile entertainment needs.
98% of all content stored on iPods, says ROK, is uploaded personal music collections. 2% is specifically purchased from sites such as iTunes or is gifted to the user. In exactly the same way, but not limited to audio and music videos only, ROK Media Store will offer consumers the ability to upload their entire personal music and movie collections to their PC's, protected by ROK's patented DRM solution, and side-load the content to their memory cards for play on their mobile phones. In addition, ROK Media Store will offer hundreds of movies, music videos and other content for online purchase, as per iTunes, for storage and play on their mobiles.
Put simply, ROK says, ROK Media Store will be everything iTunes is for the iPod - but for the mobile phone.

ICA Launches Cameraphone Competition

The Institute of Contemporary Arts is collaborating with Sony Ericsson to launch an initiative called ‘All Tomorrow’s Pictures’ to help celebrate its 60th anniversary. Members of the public are being invited to take part via a cameraphone competition.
59 high profile names, spanning film, design, art, literature, music, fashion, science and politics, and including Bloc Party, Peter Blake, Chapman Brothers, Alison Goldfrapp, Helena Christensen and Nathalie Press, have committed to produce images for a book and exhibition inspired by the theme of ‘Tomorrow’. All images will be taken using a Sony Ericsson K800i Cybershot phone. One member of the public will be chosen to produce the final 60th image for the project. This can be shot on any cameraphone.
The winning participant will get to see their work form part of a visionary exhibition as well as having their image unveiled in a beautifully produced hardback book at a gala charity event, both at London’s ICA.
In addition, the winner will also receive a Sony Ericsson K800i Cybershot phone, a Bluetooth printer, a year’s membership at the ICA, and a day with a professional photographer to learn tips from a master.
A judging panel comprising Ekow Eshun, Artistic Director of the ICA, John Harber, Managing Director of Sony Ericsson UK & Ireland and two of the 59 contributors will decide upon the all important 60th contribution from a member of the British public.
To enter, simply send your photo, shot on a K800i, via MMS to: tomorrow@ica.org.uk. The competition is open until 2 March. Further information and inspiration for pictures can be accessed via the ICA website.
“This competition offers a member of the public the chance to become part of history,  while looking to the future for inspiration” says Sony Ericsson UK & Ireland MD, John Harber. “The Sony Ericsson K800i is one of the world’s most innovative and feature rich imaging phones, so our creative talent will be well equipped to successfully capture their visions of tomorrow.”

T-Mobile and Cecure in Poker Partnership

Cecure Gaming and T-Mobile UK have announced a partnership to provide real money multiplayer poker to T-Mobile customers. Cecure Gaming will provide T-Mobile UK customers with branded real money poker solutions, including leading brands such as World Poker Tour, Poker Million and Aces Royal. The games are available to download for free by selecting the Cash Games option from the Games portal in t-zones. Alternatively users can text POKER to 49014 and receive a free link to access the site directly.
“We are very excited to be bringing real money poker solutions to T-Mobile customers," says Cecure Gaming CEO Peter Karsten.  "Cecure has a strong reputation for providing dynamic yet secure solutions for one of the world's popular games, poker. Through this partnership we will enable mobile poker fans to play where and when they want."
Neil Holroyd, UK Games and Gambling Manager for T-Mobile adds:
"T-Mobile customers demand the latest entertainment, information and excitement from their mobile phone and receive the best in security and control when using such services. By working with Cecure Gaming we are confident that all necessary measures are taken to provide a secure environment for users to have fun and enjoy playing poker on their mobile phone."

Making Ringbacks Sing

David Murphy talks to Jon Orlando, CMO and VP Marketing at ringback tone company NMS Communications about the company’s recent NMS Success survey

DM: What was this survey all about John?

JO: The survey began in the first quarter of 2006 among an audience of mobile operators. We surveyed 26 mobile operators that have deployed the NMS MyCaller ringback tone service to look at penetration rates and to compare and contrast the performance in different regions and look at some of issues that have cropped up with the service. It’s a bit of a thought leadership piece on ringback that we will make available to the operators that worked with us.
In each region, we looked at the clear leaders and clear laggards and spent lot of time talking to the operators, especially the ones who were not seeing the results they wanted, about what they can do.

DM: So what did you find out?

Tie-up Enables Post-sale Customisation

Oberthur Card Systems and developer Abaxia have entered into a strategic collaboration which will enable mobile operators to customise handsets after they have been sold.
The embedded application will enable the mobile handset home page to be personalised according to the basic features of the phone and operator services. The SIM-based software and all other customization elements, such as user interface, themes, ringtones, settings, and shortcuts to data services, are automatically installed on the handset. Previously, this solution was installed over-the-air. Now, the companies say, large memory capacity of Oberthur’s 'GIGAntIC' SIM/Flash memory card can be used to turn any generic phone into a fully customised, operator-branded handset.
“Thanks to this partnership, Oberthur Card Systems will propose to its customers an innovative solution that will allow mobile operators to customise their subscribers' handset post-issuance at the latest time with the most up-to-date applications, contents and interface," says Alain Jarre, Head of Mobile Marketing & Solutions at Oberthur Card Systems. "This is a key point for mobile operators to be independent of their end-users' handset and this is increasing the usage of their services."
For Abaxia, CEO Cédric Mangaud adds:
“We are pleased to work with Oberthur Card Systems on such a pioneering application that will be crucial for operators. Wireless carriers will now be able to change the ‘look and feel’ of a mobile, and to control the user interface through the SIM."

Cell-C Brief for Mformation

South African mobile operator Cell-C is to use Mformation's Service Manager device management suite to remotely manage its device portfolio, and will benefit from real-time control over devices. The solution is integrated with HP’s Automatic Device Detection (ADD) software and will allow Cell-C to remotely detect and configure phones and devices throughout all phases of their life, allowing the operator to use next-generation wireless technology profitably.
“At Cell-C, we pride ourselves on our ability to meet our customers demands and offer them a  satisfactory customer experience” says Cell-C Acting Head of Customer Experience Management, Steve Bailey. “The Mformation Service Manager suite will allow us to support improved service levels for our customers. Services are becoming increasingly complex, which means that sophisticated automated, or ‘Over-The-Air’, management capabilities are critical to a leading edge customer support strategy. Being able to seamlessly set up services and resolve faults is a key component of improving our customers’ experience”
Mformation’s CEO Mark Edwards adds:
“We are excited to be working with Cell-C to support them in realising the highest levels of customer satisfaction, and by accelerating the deployment of new mobile devices and data services. At the same time, this heightened service provision will allow Cell-C to increase revenues and profits. Cell-C is a forerunner of innovation within the South African mobile market, and as such, the company realises the importance of making a step-change in their customer support.  We look forward to supporting them in realising this strategy.”Cell-CV Brief for Mformation

Music Gig for MIG

Mobile network O2 has selected Mobile Interactive Group (MIG) to provide interactive services for O2 Undiscovered, a programme dedicated to discovering and nurturing music talent in the UK.
The programme, now in its second year, launched on 31 January, and over the coming weeks, will seek to unearth undiscovered talent across the UK. MIG is building the WAP site which provides information on how to submit music tracks to the programme. The site also contains information on prizes and the judging panel, which includes Andy Taylor from Duran Duran, DJ Spoony and Music Week Talent Editor Stuart Clarke.
To access the O2 Undiscovered WAP site, consumers text the keyword ‘UNDISCOVER’ to 80988. Consumers can also register for Undiscovered News Alerts by texting the keyword ‘DISCOVER’ to the same shortcode.
During March, the top 30 selected tracks will be available for download. Once the 10 finalists have been selected by the judges, an SMS vote will take place for the public to select their winner. The winner of the public vote will get a wildcard to take part in the final in April in London, where the 11 finalists will perform in front of the O2 Undiscovered panel. The winner will be invited to perform at the O2 Wireless Festival, which takes place in June.
“MIG worked closely with O2 to manage and deliver a variety of interactive services at the O2 Wireless Festival in June 2006, so we were happy to get involved with O2 Undiscovered” says MIG Business Development Director, Anthony Nelson. “The programme is open to aspiring musicians across all music genres and is a fantastic opportunity for artists to gain much needed support and exposure.”

Telefónica Selects Mformation

Mobile device management (MDM) specialist Mformation has revealed that Spanish mobile operator Telefónica Móviles España (TME) has successfully deployed its Mformation Service Manager suite, providing “seamless” device management to its subscribers. Mformation says that by increasing visibility, allowing real-time control, and providing complete security, the Mformation Service Manager suite gives a fresh new perspective on connected devices.
TME is using Mformation’s solution to remotely configure, diagnose and manage feature phones and smart devices to satisfy customer’s needs. In addition, the company is offering a hosted mobile device management and security solution to its enterprise customers. The TME solution is being delivered by Mformation and its systems integration partner HP.
“Telefónica has an aggressive growth strategy across the globe, underpinned by our ability to drive the adoption of new applications and data-rich services, increasing average revenue per user” says TME Handset & SIMCards Senior Manage, Carlos Melendo. “Working with Mformation to deliver a fully supported customer experience brings us closer to fulfilling this strategy in Spain.”
Mformation CEO Mark Edwards adds:
“The Mformation mobile device management technology not only enables TME to access important revenue streams beyond traditional voice and SMS, but also to offer enhanced support services. In today’s competitive marketplace, it is vital for operators to invest in technologies that allow them to offer more to their customers, boosting their competitive offering and growing their revenues.”

Conference Looks at Pricing and Bundling

Informa Telecoms & Media is staging a ‘Mobile Pricing & Bundling’ conference from 21 - 23 May 2007, at the Holiday Inn, Regents Park, London. Informa says the conference, now in its 12th year, is the only event dedicated to the mobile pricing community.
The conference will explain how to establish successful pricing models for bundled services; implement flat-rate pricing; profit from successful data-pricing initiatives; attract and reward the right customers with compelling offers; comply with new European Roaming regulations; and leverage the value of the MVNO opportunity.
Speakers will discuss the key pricing and service bundling challenges that are pertinent to mobile operators in 2007, including  convergence, MVNO competitive discounting, mobile number portability and more. The conference programme will also look at  the role that emerging triple- and quad-play business models play in the market and at how to price offers at the optimum level to drive revenues.
Speakers include Robin Tucker, Head of Consumer Strategy & Pricing at Vodafone, Rob Wells, Head of Mobile Broadband and X Series at 3 UK, Bartolome Salas-Manzanedo, Director, Value Added Services, Mobile Broadband & Convergence at Orange Spain, and Marcin Kolenda, Pricing Specialist at tech consultancy ERA.
Prices range from £699 (+VAT) for one day, to £2,499 for all four days, including the post-conference workshop. There’s a 3-for-2 offer for anyone booking for two days or more. Prices increase after 26 March.
You can get more information and download a brochure here.

Report Analyses MVNO Prospects

Juniper Research has released its report, ‘Consumer MVNOs: Current Status, Future Markets & Strategies 2006-2012’, which looks at global MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) market developments and strategic options for the next five years, including voice, data and entertainment adoption, including subscriber and revenue predictions by region.
The confusion surrounding what constitutes a consumer MVNO makes it a difficult and subjective market to evaluate, says Jupiter, reducing the reliability of any business cases that may be used for investment purposes. This report, the company claims, cuts through the uncertainty, providing unambiguous definitions and clarity while affording valuable insight for current and potential industry players.
It discusses the current status of the MVNO market, providing a review of generic MVNO strategies, and impact assessments of MVNOs on the mobile market and end-users, along with case studies of MVNOs and MNOs, and an overview of MVNO activity in selected markets.
The report includes market forecasts to 2012 providing the latest market predictions for subscribers and revenues across all regions of specific strategic importance,  including North & South America, Western & Eastern Europe, the Far East & China,  the Indian Sub-Continent, the rest of Asia Pacific, and  Africa & the Middle East.
It also includes key market developments, assessing technological factors, end-user demand trends, and the supply environment. The report also looks at strategic options considering the value proposition for MVNOs/MNOs, and behaviour and segmentation in consumer markets. Finally, there is a detailed market status section., which analyses mobile penetration, network operators and usage trends, and considers current MVNOs and relative positioning for 12 key nations including the US, the UK, France, Australia and The Netherlands.
The report costs £1,490 for a single-user PDF licence or hardback copy,  £1,990 for a multi-user PDF licence, or £2,990 for an enterprise-wide licence.
There’s more information here.  And a free whitepaper here.

Telepo Nominated

Swedish software company Telepo has been nominated for the 2007 European Information and Communications Technology Grand Prize, which recognises companies with high technology and business potential. The nomination follows Telepo’s success last week in Barcelona, where it received the GSM Association 2007 Award for Best Mobile Enterprise Product or Service.
The European Information and Communications Technology Prize is one of Europe's most coveted technology prizes. It is supported by the European Commission as part of its efforts to promote Europe's ICT industry and boost growth. A total of 20 finalists have been selected. From these, three winners will be selected, with prize money of €200,000 (£134,000) for each of the winners.
All 20 nominated companies will be presented at the European ICT Prize exhibition at CeBIT in Hanover, where the winners will be announced by European Commissioner Mrs Viviane Reding on March 16.
“We have received remarkable recognition lately for our converged business communication solution” says Telepo CEO Lars-Michaël Paqvalén. “This month alone, we announced that leading telecom vendor Ericsson has licensed our software, and we won the 2007 GSMA Award in Barcelona. Being nominated for the 2007 European ICT Grand Prize is another great achievement.”
Telepo specialises in the international fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) market. The company’s business communication solutions have been specifically developed to enable mobility for users. They offer an intuitive user interface and single identity. This enables a consistent service offering across locations and devices, such as mobile phones, softphones on PC’s, VoIP clients, IP phones and other desktop devices.
Telepo says its Business Communication Solution 3.0 solves the converged needs of enterprises with rapidly growing mobile workforces. It extends the range of advanced voice and messaging functions and provides intelligent call routing across fixed, IP and mobile devices. The solution enhances voice and data integration, allowing enterprises to control and expand their business communication.
There’s more information on the prize here.

Bolly Good News for Movie Fans

Mobile entertainment company Hungama Mobile is partnering with Actimagine to enable mobile phone users around the world to view Bollywood films on mobile devices. Hungama Mobile has selected Actimagine’s Mobiclip video codec to deliver “DVD-quality” 24-frames-per- content, without draining batteries or placing excessive load on the mobile’s CPU.
Under the terms of the strategic alliance, Actimagine and Hungama Mobile will first release Bollywood movies worldwide on memory cards, via partnerships with handset manufacturers and through classic retail distribution networks. The two companies will also make the movies available to download through portals such as Hungama's Bollywood portal, Indiafm.com, which attracts 11 million users each month.
Bollywood today is the world's largest movie industry, producing more than 1,000 movies a year, with an audience of more than 2 billion viewers across 127 countries. Indian cinema is now dubbed in over 35 languages and Indian films have made it into the Top 10 charts in markets including the US, the UK, Germany, Australia, Singapore and South Africa.
Hungama Mobile is the largest aggregator, distributor, developer and publisher of Indian entertainment and Bollywood on the digital and mobile platforms. It has worldwide exclusive rights to more than 70% of Bollywood content on mobile and digital platforms.
"Hungama Mobile has pioneered the delivery of Bollywood entertainment content to the world,  and has been instrumental in promoting Bollywood in the wireless world,” says Hungama Mobile CEO, Neeraj Roy. “From providing music, imagery, video and games, we are now preparing to introduce full-length movies on mobile devices, which offers tremendous promise as a content category for carriers in over 125 countries."
Actimagine CEO André Pagnac adds:
“Bollywood is one of the fastest-growing entertainment industry segments, so the deal between Actimagine and Hungama Mobile will appeal not only for the 160 million mobile phone users in India but for markets across all continents that demand a unique user experience.  And as Mobiclip is optimised for mobile platforms, it is the perfect choice for Hungama Mobile to extend the prosperous Bollywood market.”

Mobileshop.com Triumphs

As regular readers will know, we’re not too obsessed with mobile devices here at Mobile Marketing Mag, but there are so many out there that when someone wins an award for being the best place to buy one, we think it’s worth a mention.
So congratulations to Mobileshop.com, which has been judged Best Mobile Phone Retailer by independent consumers who submitted reviews to ReviewCentre.com, the consumer review website.
Mobileshop.com outscored 152 other online mobile phone retailers listed on the site, to win the award.
“We are delighted to have won this award, as Mobileshop.com's proposition is built upon our customer experience and the service we provide” says Mobileshop.com Marketing Director Tony Barker. “In particular, we believe in measuring this through customer reviews, and whil we have consistently received positive feedback directly in the form of customer testimonials, it is even better to receive such reviews from an independent source. As a team we are particularly proud to have beaten 152 other mobile phone retailers."
The Review Centre award for Mobileshop.com is based on averages of ratings and user comments submitted by customers to the Online Mobile Phone Shops category on Review Centre throughout 2006, and on overall ratings. Mobileshop.com achieved consistently high scores in the Online Shops   category for value for money, quality of service and website layout.
Research during Review Centre's annual survey of reviews revealed that many customers rated Mobileshop.com's customer service levels to be of an excellent standard. Indeed, the company receiving a perfect overall score of 10 out of 10 for the quality of its service, based on average ratings collected from all reviews.
“Mobileshop.com is an example of an online retailer which is building an excellent reputation among consumers for the reliability and quality of its service” says ReviewCentre.com Chief Operations Officer, Gaynor Holt. “Mobileshop.com deserves this award due to the consistently high standards of service it offers."

Recruitment Brief for Flexta

Marketing agency Flexta has been selected to provide a series of SMS marketing campaigns on behalf of UK job board theACCOUNTANCYjob.com, part of the TipTopJob.com global portfolio of recruitment websites.
By texting ‘Flexta Jobs’ and their email address to 80806, candidates will receive information about the jobsite and an exclusive sample of high-profile jobs direct to their mobile phone and email address.
“In selecting our SMS marketing technologies to attract candidates, theACCOUNTANCYjob.com is offering jobseekers a simple, convenient, and automatic method of accessing real-time job information” says Flexta MD Stephen Jones.
Mike Dauncey, CEO of theACCOUNTANCYjob.com adds:
"This is a new form of attracting candidates for job boards, so it will be an interesting experiment. With the imminent re-launch of theACCOUNTANCYjob.com, it is a great time to give SMS marketing a try.”

AirG Claims Custom Campaign Success

Boost Mobile, a lifestyle-based telecommunications brand that develops and distributes wireless communications products for the youth market, and AirG, which powers branded mobile communities, have announced the results of one of the largest mobile marketing campaigns run in the United States. 
The ‘Get Hookt Up With a New Ride’ campaign combined the resources of Boost Mobile, AirG and custom car specialist West Coast Customs, to offer Boost Mobile customers across the country the opportunity to win a new, customised Dodge Charger. The winner of the contest was James Fauntleroy of Burlington, New Jersey, one of 10 children and also works at a local gas station.
Between 15 October 2006 and 15 January 2007, more than 1.5 million entries were received for the Get Hookt Up With A New Ride campaign via online and offline channels, including the mobile phone through Boost Hookt – Boost Mobile’s popular mobile community, retail mail-in, a national radio text-to-join campaign, an online signup promoted through MySpace viral referrals, and online signups through the West Coast Customs and Boost Mobile websites.  Throughout the campaign period, more than 98% of the more than 1.5 million entries were received through mobile phones via the Boost Hookt mobile community, which, AirG says, demonstrates that the mobile phone is rapidly becoming the fastest and easiest way for advertisers to interact with consumers. 
"Boost Hookt demonstrates Boost Mobile's commitment to providing its customers with new and innovative ways to communicate and stay in touch with their friends," says Boost Mobile Director of Value Added Services, Craig Thole. "Based on the phenomenal results revealed today, we believe that Boost Hookt can also act as an important business platform for advertisers and media companies to engage and interact with consumers on their mobile phones, while at the same time upholding the brand values and consumer experience of Boost Mobile."
AirG recently conducted a series of surveys in its 10 million strong mobile community, where it took just 22 minutes to survey 10,000 users. Community members proactively provided valuable insights into their spending habits and behaviour, and revealed the importance of the mobile platform for marketers and advertisers. 65.6% of users surveyed said texting was their favourite activity on the mobile, while 75% prefer chatting on their phone to watching television and 59% do not personally own a PC.
"Through this national campaign, we have demonstrated that the mobile platform should become a part of every media buyer's marketing mix," says AirG Director  Frederick Ghahramani. "Mobile communities like Boost Hookt captivate users every day, providing advertisers a tremendous platform to formulate creative and interactive campaigns that engage customers and effectively promote their brands." 
Boost Hookt is a private labelled mobile community on Boost Mobile, powered by AirG.  It has multiple unique features such as instant messaging, picture profiles, blogging, public and private messaging, targeted promotions and contests, and comes complete with AirG's suite of mobile community software including the Community Marketing Engine, Community Patrol, Community Storefront, and Community Marketing Toolkit.

We'll have an interview with AirG next week. The company has, over the past six years, built a mobile community of 10 million users, 5 million of those added in the past eight months.

A Question of Security

David Murphy talks to Lorcan Burke, CEO of Irish mobile security company, Adaptive Mobile

DM: So Lorcan, tell us about Adaptive.

LB: We started off in 2003. Half the founders were from a security background, the other half from the telco side. We wanted to look at how to address the security issues of mobile operators in particular. There were lots of solutions for enterprise, but nothing for the carrier for anti-spam, anti-virus, content filtering and control. We said that if the operators wanted to secure the network or provide security services to their customers, they would need a highly scalable platform that works across, SMS, MMS, email, WAP, all their data services, in fact. So that’s what we set out to deliver. Our solution plugs into the SMSCs, WAP gateways etc. It’s like an intelligent network control platform, on top of which we plug in third party applications from people like Symantec and SurfControl and Websense. Then on the basis of the traffic coming in, we work out, in real-time, what security policy should be applied and apply anti-virus controls or content filtering or whatever’s needed.

DM: Can you explain how that works in practice?

LB: Sure. On the web and WAP traffic side of things, if someone is using their browser to access content, we would work out who the user is, what content they are trying to access, and what content they are allowed access. So if it was a minor trying to access an adult site, or someone trying to access an illegal site, we would lock it out. And if there were viruses within the network being propagated by SMS, we would work out which users had been infected and push a disinfect tool out to their handset.

DM: And how does the content filtering work?

Greystripe Makes In-game Ads Easy

Mobile in-game advertising network Greystripe,  creator of GameJump.com,  the world's largest free, ad-supported mobile game portal has unveiled its AdWRAP Marketplace portal. AdWRAP Marketplace is a bid-based, self-service ad purchasing tool, available worldwide, that enables advertisers to place full screen ads into mobile games.
AdWRAP Marketplace provides worldwide targeting, real-time reporting, and streamlined ad creation, says Greystripe. Advertisers can now create and manage their own campaigns with easy-to-use wizards that support multiple ad formats, with innovative click features and geographic targeting. Claiming a first for the mobile industry, Gamestripe says this is a quick and easy way to launch mobile in-game ad campaigns. 
The AdWRAP Marketplace interface provides a simple step-by-step process that
enables advertisers to launch mobile in-game ad campaigns within minutes. First, go to the Greystripe website  and click ‘Buy Now’ to sign up as a new advertiser. Next, create your ad and select a campaign type. Choose from Branding, which delivers a full-screen, graphical brand message; Click-to-Browse, which delivers a full-screen brand message with clickthrough to the advertiser’s mobile web portal; Click-to-Call, which offers the same, but with clickthrough to call the advertiser’s call centre; and Click-to-Jump, which offers a full-screen brand message with an integrated user survey. After selecting the campaign type, set your CPM bid and optional geographic targeting. Then upload your ad creative, preview and launch the campaign, with funding via PayPal or credit card.
“We have created an easy-to-use interface for advertisers to purchase ads and reach Greystripe’s worldwide mobile audience of gamers,” says Greystripe Director of Product Management, Jim Durrell. “The AdWRAP Marketplace’s full screen ad format is compelling because it delivers a high impact brand message to the mobile consumer. It’s like having a huge billboard in front of gamers delivered through a media channel that is inherently opt-in, because gamers are getting the games for free.” 

What's Your Favourite Mobile Blog?

Search engine ask.com and London freesheet Metro have launched the ‘Best of Brit Blog Awards 2007' (the BOBBs) to find the best UK blogs and bloggers. There are eight categories: Fashion, Travel, Sport, Politics, Art & Entertainment, Technology, Youth (under 18s) and the Weird & Wonderful. There’s no business category, otherwise we would be imploring you to log on to the Awards website  now and vote for Mobile Marketing Mag. You still can, of course, just put us down under Technology or Weird & Wonderful depending on your preference.
The BOBBs judging panel includes Creation Records Founder Alan McGee, fashion Journalist and Broadcaster Brenda Polan, England Cricketer Alastair Cook, Conservative MP Ed Vaizeye, Lonely Planet Author Tom Hall,  Jason Bradbury Presenter of Five’s ‘Gadget Show’, and Shaa Wasmund, Founder of mykindapplace and Bebo.
The judges will select the winner in each category, except for Weird & Wonderful, which will be decided by a public vote. The deadline for voting is 22 March. The winners will be announced on 20 April.
Ask.com and Metro have also teamed up with blogging company Six Apart to ensure that all keen bloggers inspired by the awards are given the chance to set up their own blog for free directly from Metro.co.uk.
“2006 was a landmark year in the development of blogging in the UK” says Ask.com General Manager for Europe Myles Runham. “With so much interest in this area, we thought it was time that someone recognised the best British blogs.”
A three part podcast on the World of blogging, featuring judges Alan McGee and Brenda Polan, is available to download from iTunes and BOBBs awards website from today.

Wattpad Expands with Gutenberg Books

Mobile story-sharing community Wattpad has announced the immediate availability of 17,000 eBooks from Project Gutenberg,
the world's first and largest single collection of eBooks, founded in 1971. The new content means that Wattpad now boasts close to 25,000 stories available to 2 billion mobile users worldwide, in nine languages, including English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese.
Wattpad launched its mobile book service in January. Books are available in several categories, including Science Fiction, History, Science & Technology and “All Time Classics.
Authors include Dickens, Jules Verne, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, HG Wells and  Albert Einstein.
“Since Wattpad's launch, our users have uploaded thousands of stories" says Wattpad Founder Ivan Yuen. “Now with the inclusion of Project Gutenberg's eBooks, we have one of the world's largest selections of stories for our users."
To download Wattpad's mobile application, go to get.wattpad.com on your mobile phone's browser and follow the link to download. Wattpad works with most mobile phones from major manufacturers such as Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, LG, Sharp, Sanyo and Panasonic.

The Numbers Game

They’ve been around since the days when mobile was being hyped first time around, and they’re still around today. David Murphy gets a history lesson from Anil Malhotra, VP, Marketing & Alliances at Bango

It’s 2001, and UK start-up Bango has come up with a cunning plan called Bango Numbers that will make it easy for consumers to access mobile Internet sites using numbers instead of letters. The idea is simple. If you are, for example, Nokia, you register the Bango Number ‘66542’ which of course spells ‘Nokia’ and then all consumers have to do to find your WAP site is key that number on their handset from a compatible portal. Nokia’s happy, the consumer is happy, and Bango has made some money from selling Nokia the Bango Number so it’s happy too.
Fast Forward six years and you don’t hear much about Bango Numbers any more, but Bango is still very much on the scene, and as a glance at its website confirms, it is still very much concerned with making it easy for consumers to access mobile Internet sites through things like Bango Txt Trigger and Bango Web Trigger. So what has the company been up to in the six years since the world first heard, and got excited, about Bango numbers? Over to you Anil…

AM: The first idea we had, in 2000, was that the mobile Internet is going to be extremely pervasive; that more people on the planet will be able to access entertainment and information on the mobile, than on any other device, and that we have to make it easier to use.
So we started by asking ourselves how we could provide a platform that would enable a content provider to tell someone how to get to their mobile Internet site on any network on any device: a generic, global way to access services from mobile phones.
To turn this into a business, we needed to be able to extract value from that idea. We knew that end users would pay for content, but that they would not pay for the right to access that content. The parties that would pay, we thought, would be the ones who benefit from end users being able to access content, namely, the content providers, so our business model was: ‘Let’s extract money from content owners for driving people to their content.’
So then we had to decide how we would do it so we looked at: what is the unique, global universal way that anyone with a mobile can access something on the mobile Internet and we decided that the one thing the 1 billion then, and 2-3 billion now, mobile phone owners in the world could all do, whatever language they speak, was type a number into the phone.
We also had enough foresight at that time to say that even if people would not type a number into the phone, the numeric address would be the way of getting to the thing, so even in 2000, we thought maybe there will be a way of scanning the number through a barcode or whatever, so we saw numbers as a good platform, both in terms of people using numbers to access sites, and also in terms of building better technologies on top of a number-based system.
The one thing I would concede is that back then, we said that people would no type a URL into a mobile phone. In actual fact, people do.

DM: So what happened to Bango Numbers?

God Goes Mobile

The Church of England is turning to mobile to encourage people to do good during Lent. From today, the first day of Lent, officially described by the CofE as “a period of penitence in preparation for Easter”, members of the public can text the word ‘Lent’ to the shortcode 64343 to receive a daily suggestion of action they can take. The suggestions will be sent, one a day, right through to Easter Monday (unless the user opts out) at a price of 10p a day.
Suggestions include: ‘Have a TV-free day and do something you have meant to do for ages’; ‘Take part in an environmental clean up’; ‘Watch the news and pray about what you see’; ‘Leave a £1 coin in the shopping trolley or where someone will find it’; and ‘Give up your place to someone in a traffic jam or a queue’. Worthy sentiments perhaps, though how you give up your place in a traffic seems like a moot point to us.
The SMS alerts are part of the CofE’s ‘Love Life Live Lent’ campaign. The campaign website features  games, resources, and an opportunity to share experiences with other people who have tried out the suggestions through a forum area. A special area of the website, supported by a separate booklet with activities focused on school life, have been designed for under 15s to join in. The website also has a range of resources and links to help explore Christianity and the Bible.
The campaign started out in the Diocese of Birmingham in 2006 as a series of booklets, inspired by a local pilgrimage. The booklets were such a hit that the original print run had to be increased repeatedly, and 70,000 copies were eventually distributed through churches, schools and community centres.
The Rt Revd David Urquhart, Bishop of Birmingham, believes the campaign shows a different side to Lent. He says:
“Doing something positive or generous can be as transforming as giving something up. It helps us to reflect on how we normally behave, and how we can make changes to our lifestyles that reflect God’s love more fully.”

Emoze in 'Shoot-out' Success

Emoze has announced that it was victorious in its mobile push email showdown with BlackBerry at 3GSM last week. Two duellers using Emoze and BlackBerry battled it out to see who could provide users with their emails quickest, and Emoze says it emerged as a comfortable winner. 
The duellers stood back to back with their respective handsets – one a BlackBerry, the other a regular mobile phone with the Emoze push email application installed. A Gmail account was opened and the email address given to the two duelers. They both created an email on their handsets, walked three paces and on the count of three, turned around and pushed 'Send'. The audience watched a screen to see whether the email sent via BlackBerry or Emoze would arrive fastest, and as the tension started to build, the Emoze email appeared in the inbox first. (If only they could get their press releases out as fast –Ed)
“BlackBerry is considered the mobile push email gold standard, and the Emoze vs. BlackBerry showdown at 3GSM clearly demonstrated the benefits of equipping your mobile device to send and receive real-time push email, through a simple free download,” says Emoze CEO Benny Ballin.  “With Emoze, mobile users can now effectively revolutionise the capabilities of their devices. Emoze provides the means for both consumer and enterprise mobile users to securely send and receive mobile email and other data, enabling them to stay connected wherever they are. We also place great emphasis on the quality of user experience and efficiency of the mobile device.”
The Emoze application can be downloaded from the Emoze website, enabling mobile users to send and receive mobile email and personal information management (PIM) data in real-time – anytime, anywhere. All you need is a compatible phone and a data package from a mobile operator.  The emoze download and interface is available in English, German, Russian, French, Italian, Spanish, Chinese and Arabic.
Emoze’s real push-event technology synchronizes only on incoming and outgoing events, rather than via periodical connections to the email server, and checks for change. This not only saves the user connectivity-related costs but also delivers increased efficiency in device power consumption, memory use and CPU.

MIG Gets Busy at the BRITs

Mobile Interactive Group (MIG) has revealed that it provided a range of interactive services for the BRITs 2007, which took place last Wednesday in London.
2007 saw a return to a live televised broadcast of The BRIT Awards, organised by British record industry body the BPI and hosted by Russell Brand. The awards featured a live vote, utilising MIG's award-winning high capacity voting system, VoteWinner, which recorded 120,000 votes on the night, crowning Take That's ‘Patience’ as the winner of the British Single category.
MIG's mobile video production team produced an extensive selection of video content for O2 and the BPI, which included exclusive video footage. Working with the BRITs archive, MIG produced a series of themed highlights from the last 20 years. MIG also shot and produced exclusive made-for-mobile red carpet interviews with some of the stars attending the event, including Oasis, Jamelia and Lily Allen.
On the night, MIG also captured the live show, direct off air, then edited, encoded and delivered mobile highlights to O2 to be offered exclusively to their customers.
"The evening was a big success for the BPI” says MIG Managing Director Barry Houlihan. “Mobile is now a central part of the BRITs experience and the live vote has helped to add a fantastic interactive element for the viewers at home. Our mobile production team delivered a great interactive experience on the night. This was a real production challenge and I am delighted with how the team delivered.”
BPI Chairman Peter Jamieson adds: 
“With the current success of British music both at home and overseas, it was especially important to have a live and interactive aspect to this year's BRITs. We always look to innovate and improve the show for those watching at home - the live public vote for Best British Single on the night certainly delivered on that front and MIG proved to be the perfect partners."

Hypertag Speeds Up

Proximity marketing technology provider Hypertag has introduced two technology innovations that it says promise to significantly enhance the performance of Bluetooth proximity marketing in high traffic environments. 
The innovations enable proximity marketing campaigns to connect to more devices simultaneously while maintaining maximum download speeds, which Hypertag says was previously an issue for Bluetooth devices in high footfall environments. 
The enhancements work on the way that Bluetooth connects with remote devices.  The first, Co-operative Channel Alignment (CCA), works to ensure that devices don't conflict on the same Bluetooth channel. The second, Split Bluetooth MAC Address (SBMA), enables multiple Bluetooth devices to work together effectively for the first time.
By allowing devices to collaborate, says Hypertag, consumers can experience enhanced connection and download speeds compared to a standard Bluetooth proximity marketing implementation, providing increased positive interactions for advertisers.
"While great creative and innovative campaign mechanics are essential to an effective proximity marketing implementation, the technology that backs these up is just as important” says Hypertag co-founder, Rachel Harker. “You can encourage a consumer to interact with a poster, an installation or a field marketer, but if the experience they then receive is slow or unreliable, you've done more damage than good."

Logica Sells Telecom Products Business

LogicaCMG's Telecom Products business has been sold to a consortium of private equity buyers for £265 million. The consortium is led by Atlantic Bridge Ventures. The investment will enable the new company, to be known as 'Acision', to enhance its product offering, building on the firm's heritage of pioneering innovation.
Acision will continue to provide intuitive messaging, intelligent charging, content enablement and customer intelligence management solutions to the global telecoms and media industries.  The company employs approximately 1,700 people across 22 countries and serves over 1 billion end users, through its relationships with over 300 network operators and service providers. It says it will have revenues of $500 million £256 million) from day one.
Over the last five years, LogicaCMG Telecoms Products has established a reputation for innovation, achieving a number of world firsts within the mobile industry. Recently, the convergence of fixed and mobile telecoms with the media industry has created new opportunities for the business to offer its expertise and products to a wider range of service providers. The divestment is expected to open opportunities for the new entity, Acision, to expand its customer base through channel relationships with other systems integration and services companies, while continuing to work with LogicaCMG's remaining integration business.
"Recently the objectives of LogicaCMG's consulting and integration business and those of Telecoms Products have become less aligned” says LogicaCMG Telecoms Chief Executive, Chris McDermott. “This separation is a logical step for our business, enabling us to grow our channels and enhance our position as a trusted partner for network operators and service providers, while having the agility to continue to innovate and remain a global market leader."
LogicaCMG Telecoms Products pioneered SMS, and continues to lead the market today, processing over half of the world's text and multimedia messages every day.  In addition to maintaining its strong roots in messaging, the company also serves three out of every four videomail users, while its content and messaging payment systems have processed over $100 billion of revenues. 

Portio Predicts Continuing SMS Boom

A report from Portio Research predicts that global SMS revenues will reach $67 billion (£34 billion) by 2012. The report, 'Mobile Messaging Futures 2007 - 2012' outlines an exciting future for other mobile messaging technologies, especially Mobile Instant Messaging and mobile e-mail, amid continued strong worldwide subscriber growth.
The report highlights the phenomenal success of SMS as the cheapest, quickest and easiest-to-use form of peer-to-peer mobile communication. Markets have continued to grow, says Portio, and greatly exceeded the predictions of similar research carried out in 2005. In mature markets, SMS traffic has not flattened out,  but continued to boom, while the US market has grown much faster than expected.
The market continues to be fuelled by new subscribers, the report states. In Asia alone, says Portia, 2,267 people will buy their first mobile phone every five minutes for the next six years. For the majority, these new handsets will offer little affordable functionality apart from basic voice and SMS services. This translates into an additional 1.4 billion new mobile subscribers in Asia alone, with a consequent boom in SMS traffic in the region.
By 2011, the report predicts, Mobile Instant Messaging (MIM) will supplant SMS as the mainstream messaging service, especially in markets such as North America, as Smartphones and wireless Internet proliferate. Operators, the report suggests, need to strike a balance between SMS and IM pricing in order to prevent the future cannibalisation of SMS revenues.
The report provides detailed discussion of all mobile messaging technologies, including SMS, MMS, MIM, E-mail, Videomail and Unified Messaging, as well as business models, network technology impacts, value chain shifts and advice for operators, backed by charts and statistics.
The report costs £1,495 for a 1-5-user licence, £1,995 for a medium-size company licence, or £2,995 for an enterprise-wide licence. For more information, email info@portioresearch.com

Sicap Opens Joburg Office

Sicap, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Swisscom Mobile which provides software solutions for mobile operators, has opened a South African office in Johannesburg. The office strengthens the company's presence in the emerging African market and reinforces its commitment to its customers in the region.
Sicap's 2006 acquisition of French company, Swapcom, gave the company access to customers and local representatives in the region. For Swapcom's three founders, Philippe vial Grelier, Jean-Marc Truong and Olivier Graeff, who are now members of the Sicap executive team, the African region was always a very important growth market. With a representative office in Dakar, Senegal, Swapcom was able to quickly expand its African operation. With Sicap's additional resources, the regional office in Johannesburg will be opened in March, giving Sicap a base for further expansion into the African market.
Africa's mobile telecommunications sector is booming, as consumer and business demand for communications increases, and the need for cost-effective and proven mobile infrastructure is growing in parallel. With an average mobile penetration of only 24%, Sicap says the African telecoms market will continue to experience significant growth as new subscribers sign up and mobile operators introduce new services. A lack of fixed line infrastructure means that mobile telephony is the only alternative.
"African mobile operators have needs that are unique to the market in which they operate” says Sicap Business Development Executive Director Jean-Marc Truong. “Low income subscribers present a significant challenge, and therefore our offering of flexible and cost-effective solutions is compelling to African mobile operators. Our subsidiary in South Africa will facilitate our integration into the African business market and allow us to better serve our customers and partners. It is integral to our African expansion plans, not only because the African mobile market has grown into one of the most expansive and interesting in the world, but also because there is an ever increasing demand for the type of solutions that Sicap offers."

Conference Looks at Youth Marketing

Conference organiser Jacob Fleming is staging a ‘Youth Marketing in Telecoms’ conference, which aims to explore how to target young consumers successfully, by understanding their culture and requirements. 
The event takes place in Lisbon, Portugal, from 31 May - 1 June. Senior executives from T-Mobile International, MTS Russia, Vodafone, Telenor, BT, Telefonica Moviles and Kyivstar will share their experiences about how to cope with high churn rates, how to build youth brands, and how to communicate with the youth market. The event will include formal presentations, case studies, and interactive panel discussions. The organisers say the event is ideal for VPs and senior executives in charge of marketing, segmentation, youth segment, pricing, branding and CRM.
In 2005, according to the Annual Mobile Youth Study, young people spent eight times more on their mobiles than on music. But, says Jacob Fleming, it’s difficult to build a stable relationship with them as their decisions are highly influenced by their peer group and price. It points out that currently, consumers aged 5-24 make up 28% of the mobile phone ownership market. Their expenditure on mobiles creates 24% of the total spend on mobile, and more than 43% of their mobile bills are for messaging and data services. 
The conference costs £1,596  per delegate, or £1,436 if booked before 2 March. You can request a brochure with more information about the event here.

MMA Restructures

The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) is undergoing a radical restructure, which will see national Chapters, such as MMA UK, superceded by regional Chapters. An Asia-Pacific Chapter launched two weeks ago, and the EMEA Chapter launches officially on 15 March. The UK has been granted an unelected Founding Member position on the EMEA Board, and this will be taken by Enpocket Europe MD David Barker, who was selected for the role by the UK Chapter.
“I was Treasurer of MMA UK in 2006, but I think my selection also had something to do with the fact that at Enpocket, my remit is pan-European” says Barker. “I have a real passion for this, so I’m looking forward to the role.”
MMA Global Executive Director Laura Marriott told Mobile Marketing that the move to regional Chapters had been driven by the fact that brand, agency and operator members are increasingly looking for global guidelines and best practices, rather than national ones.
“It does not negate the importance of regional or national initiatives, but we will be gloablising as much as possible going forward” said Marriott. As an example, she cited the MMA’s mobile advertising guidelines, which were initially developed in the US, but which have since been deployed in Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Turkey and Spain.
The MMA UK is the first European chapter to sign an agreement with MMA EMEA. The UK Board of Directors will continue to operate for this calendar year, but after that, said Marriott, governance and administration will be handled at an EMEA level.
“National activities will still occur, and there will be leadership at a national level, but the formal governance structure will be at a regional level” she said. She added that the UK Chapter had been extremely supportive of the move and that Barker had been instrumental in making it happen.
But while governance will pass to the EMEA Board, Barker said that it is likely that the UK Board will continue to exist for many years to come.
“I would suggest that the UK board will continue as is, but that it will not have the legal status” said Barker. “Otherwise, how would things get done in the UK? If there is drive, enthusiasm and passion within the UK mobile marketing community, then there will be individuals wanting to join a board in the UK to drive things forward.”
Barker added that as the current Interim Chairman of the UK Chapter, while a new Chairman is being elected, he is seeing a lot of interest from senior people in agencies and at mobile operators wanting to get involved.
The MMA is currently in the process of taking nominations for the EMEA Board of Directors, with Marriott describing the quality of candidates putting their name forward as “outstanding”. Marriott confirmed that outgoing MMA UK Chairman Nick Wiggin has not put his name forward for election to the EMEA Board.

Seizing the Roaming 2.0 Opportunity

Orly Nesher, VP of Marketing at  roaming technology company Starhome, discusses why mobile operators must prepare for next generation roaming - 'Roaming 2.0' - and outlines the dynamic changes it will bring to the market

In today's highly competitive communications marketplace, mobile roaming is an important source of revenue for operators. The success of roaming is based on giving the international traveler an experience while they are abroad, that is similar to the one they enjoy at home.
As the telecommunications market moves towards converged mobility, however, the new challenge for operators is how to provide a consistent user experience, not only in different geographies and networks, but also across different ‘zones’.  These zones include the home, office, and hotspots, with each using a variety of access technologies, including GSM, wi-fi, WiMax, VoIP, 3G and WLAN. As the traditional concept of mobile roaming evolves to encompass all of these zones, we can begin to talk about the dawn of 'Roaming 2.0'.  This means that the evolving strategy for mobile operators will be to implement the next generation of roaming.
Users often have a variety of wireless and fixed devices to ensure they can be contacted wherever they are.  Despite using or carrying multiple devices, however, most users are not that concerned with the specifics of the access technology - simplicity is the basis of mobility success. Customers now expect the same user experience whether at home, on the move or travelling abroad. 

Voicemail Task for Logica

Belgian mobile operator Proximus, part of the Belgacom Group, has selected LogicaCMG's Voicemail Platform to replace its legacy system and provide next generation IP voicemail services. 
The LogicaCMG Voicemail Platform enables fixed and mobile operators to launch new and innovative services such as unified messaging, videomail, text-to-speech, and a media services portal, while reducing deployment and operational costs. The LogicaCMG Voicemail Platform is an IP-centric solution, with a modular and scalable architecture that enables operators to begin with voicemail or email services and expand with new applications as their requirements change and grow.
"We wanted to upgrade to an all-IP network to allow application expansion and lower the total cost of ownership” says Laurent Claus, Proximus Executive Vice President, Customer and Technical Services. “Moreover, the LogicaCMG solution will also allow the Belgacom Group to provide convergent products to our customers. LogicaCMG's reputation as the leading global provider of voicemail and messaging, coupled with our previous experience with them, convinced us that they could play an integral role in our future success."

Radvision Unveils Version 2

Radvision, which provides video network infrastructure and developer tools for unified visual communications over IP, 3G, and emerging next-generation networks, has announced the release of Version 2.0 of its SCOPIA Interactive Video Platform. 
The Interactive Video Platform enables development and deployment of compelling interactive and enhanced video services, says Radvision, leveraging a one-time infrastructure investment to deliver carrier-class, interoperable solutions that enhance the user experience. The core platform’s flexible API facilitates multiple-service deployment in UMTS, CDMA EV-DO, cable and other IP networks, allowing operators and service providers to increase chargeable bandwidth, in order to maximise ARPU, reduce churn and strengthen subscriber loyalty.
The SCOPIA feature set includes advanced video processing, LINUX-based network management, advanced media and VCR controls, a recording API, and an enhanced, IMS-ready SIP interface.
The SCOPIA Interactive Video Platform is used to develop and roll out value added interactive video services, such as mobile video conferencing, video portals, video ringback clips, video communities and chat, remote surveillance, video dating, live video blogs, and more. Several ready-to-deploy applications are available with the SCOPIA Interactive Platform, allowing the operator and service provider to immediately bring services to their subscribers no matter what bearer.
“The release of the IMS-ready SCOPIA Interactive Video Platform 2.0 reflects our steadfast commitment to driving increased 3G network usage and delivering a converged offering today,” says Alon Barnea, General Manager of the Radvision Mobility & Service Provider Business Unit. “We are continuing to deliver on the promise of leveraging today’s mobile lifestyles; enabling carriers to offer a variety of applications to their customers no matter where they are – at home, at work or on the move. With the SCOPIA Interactive Video Platform, mobile operators, service providers and application service providers build on the visual nature of communications, allowing people to visually interact in real-time and fully and share their experiences while on the go.”

ROK Brings Chinese Gala to Mobiles

Mobile TV company ROK has announced that it’s Chinese arm, ROK New Net, has made the Chinese CCTV 2007 Spring Festival Evening Gala, one of China’s most popular annual television events, available to consumers in the UK on mobiles via its RokTV and FreeBeTV services. ROK New Net streamed the Gala, which took place on Saturday evening, live, in conjunction with CCTV.com, as part of a video streaming trial.
The Evening Gala is one of the highest-rated TV shows in China, and one of the highest-rated worldwide. It has become a Spring Festival tradition for millions of Chinese families to watch the four-and-a-half-hour long Spring Festival Evening programme on Chinese New Year’s Eve, which is the last night of the Lunar Year, and the most important night of the year for the Chinese people.
After the live stream on Saturday on ROK TV and FreeBeTV, the Gala will be replayed on FreeBeTV until 5 March. FreeBeTV is available to compatible mobile phones, with the content streamed over GPRS. Viewers can sign-up to FreeBeTV online here in the US, and here in the UK.
“We are very excited to be working with CCTV.com in delivering this spectacular live and recorded footage of the Spring Festival Evening Gala to mobile subscribers" says ROK New Net CEO, Paul Lessells. “We will be concentrating our marketing efforts on generating viewers from amongst the Chinese communities in the US and the UK in particular.”
The Mobile TV market is predicted to become a multi-billion dollar industry globally over the next five years. CCTV International Network Company Ltd. (CCTV.com), with its focus on the development of Mobile TV, is currently the largest Mobile TV service provider in China.

Tempting the Video Virgins

Alon Barnea, General Manager of Radvision's mobile business, argues that video could be the light at the end of the 3G tunnel

It’s hardly a secret that 3G video hasn’t lived up to its original promise. What’s more, the industry is now running out of excuses like lack of availability of 3G phones or service. We’ve all heard talk of the long awaited killer application that failed to materialise, so what – if anything – can pull us out of the doom and gloom now surrounding the future of 3G? 
My belief is that there is light, and even video, at the end of this particularly murky tunnel. What’s more, I think there are a few reasons to be cheerful about the prospects for 3G video and 3G in general. One of them is the advent of interactive, real-time video applications. Current 3G video offerings have not found a real following. Even last year’s  World Cup failed to really set the Mobile TV market on fire in the way the industry had hoped. Part of the problem with this was that the delay in sending goal clips meant that they weren’t happening in real time. The use of video on mobile is a very different medium to the TV in your lounge. People expect a different experience from it - fast food on the go rather than a sit down full four-course meal. It should be a dialogue that engages and involves the user, and can inform or entertain and be adapted to each individual’s interests and needs at a given context.

Youngsters Wary of Mobile Music Download Costs

A survey from Q Research shows that almost a third of young people aged 11-25 are spending up to £5 a month to download MP3 music tracks, with 3% spending £25 or more each month.
The youngest respondents in the survey are the heaviest users of free downloads, with almost half of them taking advantage of these services. However, despite the fact that the majority of them rely on pocket money, 43% of under 16’s are paying up to £10 a month, with 9% paying as much as £10 to £25 every month. But it is the 20-24 year olds who are the biggest spenders. Two thirds of them spend up to £10 a month on downloads, and 16% spend between £10 and  £20 per month.
The survey was conducted among just over 1500 Q panellists aged 11 to 25 years between 30 January and 2 February 2007. The main objective of the research was to discover if young people would like to receive music on their mobile.
Three quarters of respondents said they would like to be able to listen to music on their mobile phone, with male respondents (81%) favouring it slightly more than female respondents (72%).
But the findings also indicate that this audience is very aware of the cost of using their mobiles, and although some already use them to listen to music, only 3% of them have downloaded tracks directly to their mobile from the Internet because of the high cost of doing so. The majority of respondents (82%) download tracks to their PC to listen to on the PC, or their MP3 player.
When asked if they could consider accepting advertising messages on their phones in exchange for free MP3 file downloads. 48% said yes and 34% said “maybe”. Further breakdown of this result shows that the older the respondent, the more opposed they are to receiving advertising to alleviate cost.
“This survey shows that while there is already a very buoyant market for paying for MP3 files from the Internet amongst young people, they are very aware of the cost of downloading files to their phones” says Q Research’s Dr Liz Nelson. “This finding is underlined by other projects we have done, where we’ve discovered opposition amongst young people to watching video or receiving video ads to their mobiles because of the cost. With so many companies creating additional services to be delivered by mobile phone, from music to advertising to social networking, it’s crucial that they get really close to young people to understand their attitudes and opinions before launching services aimed at them.”

Icelandic Brief for Logica

Icelandic communications provider Síminn has selected LogicaCMG's Message Charger solution to enable it to capture new revenue streams for advanced messaging and content services. Part of LogicaCMG's Intelligent Charging domain, the technology will allow Síminn to benefit from a single dedicated charging platform that integrates efficiently with both current pre- and post-paid environments, and enables the fast provision of the same service offers to all subscribers, with zero fraud risk from revenue leakage.
Síminn can now take advantage of new revenue streams that its existing billing platforms cannot capture, such as messaging bundle packages, tiered pricing, or varied wholesale international roaming services. The operator will also benefit from a simplified message charging architecture, which reduces the complexity and cost of launching new service plans across pre- and post-paid subscribers.
Traditionally, says Logica, operators have relied on billing platforms that only enable charging for mobile services and content after the service has been delivered. This method provides a window of opportunity for pre-paid subscribers to avoid paying for the selected service or content, and can create problematic revenue leakage issues for operators. LogicaCMG's Message Charger solution allows operators to move away from these methods by checking and securing funds before the final service is delivered, but with a millisecond response time to ensure a seamless customer experience. LogicaCMG's Message Charger is also a single flexible payments platform that supports pre-delivery real-time charging for multiple advanced messaging and content services to a subscriber at the same time. This enables Siminn to address increasingly complex business and revenue models more cost effectively, while continuing to deliver the latest services to their customers.
"The Icelandic market boasts one of the highest mobile penetration rates, with high volumes of customers demanding simplified charging solutions across an increasingly converged environment” says Erlendur Steinn Gudnason, Director for Development ICT, at Síminn. “Having worked together for over a decade, LogicaCMG has proven to be both a stable and innovative partner for Síminn, and will undoubtedly continue to contribute towards our future success."

Webinar Examines Mobile Music Strategies

iHollywood Forum is staging a free webinar on mobile music strategies on Thursday 22 Feabruary at 10am PST, 1pm EST (6pm GMT)Speakers include Jeff Spirer from Bango, Adm Sexton, Chief Marketing Officer at mobile music provider Groove Mobile, and Susan Kevorkian Program Manager, Consumer Markets, Audio at analyst IDCMobile music now accounts for approximately 40% of record company digital revenues, according to the IFPO. This is a significant market with digital music spending in the US forecast to reach $2.5 billion (£1.3 billion) in 2011. The fastest growing sector of the mobile music market is off-deck, where content owners are in control and experience higher margins and more repeat sales. The webinar will explore why going direct-to-consumer is so compelling. It will also look at how the mobile music market will evolve, and how companies can capitalise on this new opportunity. Questions it will address include: Will the launch of the iPhone change things?  Which of the two models – OTA and sideloading – will win out?  Why are more and more brands moving to the mobile web?  What are people downloading? What are the benefits of selling content direct-to-consumer.
For more information, contact IHollywood Forum on (001) 310 5667745, or register for the webinar here. The webinar is scheduled to last 45 minutes, followed by a Q&A session.

3GSM Interview: Mobile Cohesion

David Murphy catches up with Mobile Cohesion Founder and Chairman Denis Murphy

DM: Denis, first I should point out that we’re not, to the best of my knowledge, related, though we do share the same surname and initials which has rather screwed up the template for interviews, but I can live with that if you can. How has 3GSM been for you?

Denis: Fantastic. Absolutely manic. It’s like 1999 all over again.

DM: That’s good to hear. What have you been showing?

Denis: The big news for us is our new, hosted HYDRA/LIVE solution?

DM: Which is what, exactly?

Denis: We were set up in 2002 out of Openwave and the problem we set out to solve was around connecting people with the content to the network in order to help the operator monetise the relationships.
A lot of telcos thought they could be media companies and I think even Vodafone with Vodafone Live! Realises now that it’s not going to happen, and if Vodafone can’t do it, then it’s going to be really difficult for anyone to do it. What the networks need to do is to offer the most sophisticated communications capability out to third parties so that it is incorporated in the applications, and that keeps them relevant in the value chain.
It’s quite a simple idea, but unfortunately, we had two years of ‘nuclear winter’ where it was difficult to get any dialogue with the carriers round new products, but now the market definitely sees the need for this product. We are moving forward with the licensed product and what we are announcing here in Barcelona is that we are making this available as a hosted service, because there are a lot of smaller service providers that want this capability but don’t want to have to manage it themselves.

DM: So how long has the licensed version been available?

Denis: Since 2003. We’re on version 3.2 now, so it’s very mature, and we have six big customers, including Hutchison Indonesia and Iceland Telecom.

DM: So can you give us an example of how the hosted service will work.

Denis: Sure. We have a customer in Indonesia who we host the platform for in Belfast. They used to have no way of reconciling  what they were selling to subscribers and what they were paying back to content partners to provide the services, so they use our system to reconcile their payments to the content providers. It’s hosted in Belfast and they log in  over the web and it works very nicely for them.

DM: So why should an operator outsource this sort of thing to you, rather than doing it for themselves?

Denis: I think for smaller operators and MVNOs it’s very appealing. We are specialists in the area, and from our work with other carriers, we understand best practice business processes. There is a trend in a lot of telcos to outsource a lot of operations, and we are tapping into this.

DM: And is this on-portal, off-portal or both?

Denis: It’s all off-portal. There are companies that do something similar for on-portal services and applications, but all our work is off-portal, managing the third party communities, signing them up, putting in place the necessary agreements and managing the off-portal services those partners introduce.

First Hop Solution Targets Existing Subscribers

First Hop, which describes itself as a “mobile service control expert”, has launched its Intelligent Promotion Solution, and announced that it has already been deployed by five mobile operators in Europe and Asia. The Intelligent Service Promotion Solution gives mobile operators the ability to drive additional premium service revenues from its existing subscriber base, says First Hop. It enables operators to identify cross-selling and up-selling opportunities and launch targeted or personalised usage-stimulating campaigns.
The Intelligent Promotion Solution will broaden the subscriber usage of premium rate services by highlighting relevant new services, or associated complementary services based on the individual service usage history, says First Hop. The company says the solution will help to convert infrequent value-added service users into heavy users, or offer new, related service to already active value-added service users.
The flexibility offered by the Intelligent Promotion Solution allows operators to design and launch highly targeted campaigns by leveraging the usage data warehouse and combining it with user profile information. Operators can supplant this knowledge by breaking down their subscriber database into specific customer segments. The solution gives the operator the ability to target the smallest niche group or even a single individual.
This intelligent approach will eliminate the negative experience customers feel when they receive spam from their operator or service provider. By developing campaigns that target specific segments with appropriate services and promotions, the operators, says First Hop, can avoid using the hit-and-miss tactics associated with mass marketing.
“There is a lot of untapped potential to boost premium services revenues by active farming of the subscriber base” says First Hop CEO Timo T. Laaksonen. “Intelligent, relevant and targeted promotion, based on individual usage patterns, gives immediate business results. To accomplish this efficiently, operators need the technology and analytics to match each subscriber segment with the most appropriate proposition. First Hop combines its expertise in developing service delivery platforms with best practices on mobile service promotion to help operators and content providers to continue to drive the value of their mobile services."

Mobile– A Key Part of the Direct Marketer’s Toolbox

Nick Fuller, Chair of the DMA’s Mobile Marketing Council, explains why direct marketers need to ‘get’ mobile sooner rather than later

Mobile may still be seen as a marginal medium, but many direct marketers are considering how rather than whether to use it. Now, at the beginning of 2007, is a good time to consider why.
Change in the permission landscape is at the heart of this.  The transition from opt-out to opt-in is very much underway. Initially a new media initiative, it is now moving across traditional DM – recent threats by the Environment Secretary to apply opt-in to all DM is just the most dramatic example. Since mobile is probably the most personal of all media channels, it stands to reason that – for those consumers who invite marketers to communicate with them via the channel – messages will be welcome.
Indeed, responsiveness is already a compelling reason. Clients regularly report that, where text is added alongside phone and web response devices, upwards of 30% of respondents choose the text route. Mobile advertising is also achieving response rates 10 times those of online banner advertising (and though we all accept that there is a novelty angle here, the fact remains that mobile advertising is in its infancy so that many advanced models, services and targeting yet to come will almost certainly bolster performance if their permission and cost angles are right). 

Flexibility
Flexibility is another – maybe the best – reason. The biggest issue most marketers face with mobile is understanding what it can do. Starting with the idea of replicating mass direct mail is all wrong but even a relatively cursory look at some of the proven applications out there can soon reveal the real opportunities. Every day, marketers are running direct response fulfilment (brochures, call back); content (through paid alerts or mobile magazines); CRM-based mobile ticketing/couponing programmes that  deliver customer advantages; and sales promotion programmes in which mobile is the lead (or only) response device. All of these play to the ‘always with you and always on’ strength of the medium.
One thing is for sure – the days when marketers sat around and decided how best to communicate with consumers are gone. The power is increasingly in consumers’ hands. Direct marketers’ adoption of all things digital is well and truly underway, so marketers’ challenge now is to find mobile’s niche.

Nick Fuller is speaking at a half-day Interactive Mobile Marketing Workshop in Bristol on Tuesday 20 February. The event is being staged by DMA West, in conjunction with the Institute of Direct Marketing. To book a place, phone 020 614 0277, send an email to events@theidm.com with your name, company name and address, job title, email address, plus telephone, fax and mobile numbers. For additional event booking information, call 020 8614 0277.

Saudi Brief for SurfKitchen

SurfKitchen and its local Saudi partner and representative GHRRA Telecom  have announced that Saudi Arabia’s largest mobile operator ALJAWAL has selected SurfKitchen’s SurfKit desktop to support the launch of its on-device portal, which provides branded, menu-driven access to information and services.
With an expanding portfolio of over 150 services being offered to over 13 million users, ALJAWAL wanted to enhance its customers’ user experience by eliminating the need for subscribers to remember SMS codes or embark on lengthy WAP searches. By deploying SurfKit Desktop, ALJAWAL has been able to simplify the user experience, extending the reach and use of its customer portal.
SurfKitchen says its experience in the region, and its support for both English and Arabic languages, proved to be a compelling proposition, enabling ALJAWAL to seamlessly deploy its new customer portal to a broad range of handsets including popular feature phones and the latest 3G handsets.
“As the first operator to deploy both 3.5G and value-added services in the country, we are always looking at ways to enhance the customer experience,” says ALJAWAL Marketing General Manager, Jameel Al Molhem. “By deploying SurfKit Desktop, we have made it easy for users to discover our vast number of services, without having to remember shortcodes, or carry out complex WAP searches. The ease of discovery inherent in our new menu-driven portal will increase both the uptake and repeat use of our data services.”
ALJAWAL’s subscribers will benefit from constant access to up-to-date, relevant information and service details through SurfKit Desktop’s over-the-air portal management.
“A project of this size and scope with the largest mobile operator in Saudi Arabia is a natural progression from our technical expertise and proven experience in the region,” says SurfKitchen CEO Michel Quazza. “We are confident that we can help ALJAWAL improve user access to its impressive range of services, which will in turn boost customer loyalty and increase revenue from data services.”

3 in Social Networking Move

Mobile network 3 has signed a partnership with social networking gateway provider Intercasting  which will allow its customers users simple access to a raft of online communities from their mobile handset. The partnership will enable 3 subscribers to quickly and easily access social networking sites including LiveJournal, Xanga, Vox and BlackPlanet, wherever they are, whenever they want.   
3 says the partnership forms part of its ongoing commitment to give its users the most innovative mobile media services. It promises to provide an intuitive interface, which will act as a single point of access for a variety of social networking websites.
The two companies will work together to offer 3 UK subscribers access to their favourite online communities to allow them to interact with each other, share media and participate in groups and forums. These sites span a wide demographic of users, from social networks such as Xanga, to more focussed communities such as BlackPlanet. 
Intercasting allows mobile networks to aggregate the complex process of providing social networking functionalities through its Anthem Social Networking Service Gateway (SNS-G). A media-rich interface provides users with a functional, fast and straightforward experience, while the back-end handles technical integration, content management and transaction processing. 
“This is another step towards providing our customers with the best possible range of mobile broadband services” says 3UK Head of Mobile Broadband, Rob Wells. “ Using Intercasting’s unique technology, our entire user-base can enjoy the best possible mobile social networking experience on a variety of well-known sites with a community base of millions. 
For Intercasting, Vice President Sean Kane adds:
“3 is leading the way for mobile broadband services, and as such is well-placed to provide mobile social networking to their user-base. By using our unique technology, 3 will be able to offer its subscribers an easy-to-use and compelling experience.”

Netsize Offers Free Mobile Report

Netsize, supported by its statistical research partner Informa Telecoms & Media, has launched ‘The Netsize Guide 2007 (Convergence: Everything is going mobile)’, an industry report reviewing the global mobile market, and also assessing the impact of mobility on digital convergence. The report offers a snapshot of the global mobile data and content services market, and is free to download.
The report includes research on mobile data services in over 25 countries, supported by Informa. It also includes articles from senior industry leaders representing global brands including O2, Cisco, EDS, Google, Microsoft, MTV, Mobile Data Association, Nokia, Telefonica, Vodafone and many more.
“Netsize has published this report along with its partner Informa Telecoms to share important market information with brands who are interested in launching mobile services” says Netsize Marketing & Communications Director, Anuj Khanna. “The report is a must-have document for anyone who works in the mobile and ICT sectors, as it offers valuable data which will help in understanding the market and planning new services.”
The report highlights the impact of mobility converging into every aspect of consumers’ working and personal lives, tying in with other digital media such as the Internet, TV and fixed-line telephony. The impact of mobility on digital entertainment, marketing and enterprise is reported along with in-depth statistical data and opinion articles from global brands operating in the mobile space.
The report claims that the global mobile phone market, consisting of 2.2 billion consumers, is split into two. Developed markets see mobile penetration of almost 100% and average revenues per user as high as $65 per month. On the other hand,  developing markets such as India and China are fast growing, with much lower penetration rates and revenues, but with the highest number of new subscribers joining every month.
The report also highlights the changes in the slowing mobile handsets market,  which has seen double digit growth in recent years. However, it says that sales are still expected to reach 1.255 billion units by 2011.
Other predictions include the forecast for the Mobile Entertainment market,  which is expected to be worth $23.1 billion in 2007. There are more statistical analysis and predictions about the market for Mobile Advertising, User Generated Content and Mobile Business Solutions.
Mobile Commerce and micro-payments for digital goods is also fast developing into a multi billion dollar market according to the report. There is also research on mobile phone consumer demographics and their salient features. The report has examples of integration of wireless technology in cars, vending machines, security equipment, and utility meters, expanding the use of mobile technology beyond basic communication.
You can register to download your free copy of the report here.

3GSM Interview: Picsel Technologies

Picsel Technologies has had a busy 3GSM, announcing a deal to bring Marie Claire magazine to the mobile, as well as a $46 million funding deal, and another to bring PriceRunner to the mobile. As if all that was not enough, the company is also producing a mobile version of show Organiser Informa’s Telecoms.com magazine. David Murphy caught up with Head of Marketing Zubair Salim to find out more.

DM: Zubair, can you give us the 2-minute guide to Picsel for those who don’t know the company?

ZS: We started off back in 1999 with high performance graphics software for mobiles. It was clever stuff. We had comic pages that you could zoom and pan, and then within one of the frames you could actually go in and play a game. It was very new, unprecedented really, so people were very interested in what they could do with it, but it wasn’t easy to deploy on the handset because no-one could figure out a business model.
So we went away and put together a series of technologies we thought would be easier for the bigger players to consume, so we put together a File Viewer to support, Excel, Word, PDF, all the main applications, and deliver all of that through one application that did the job very well. This enabled people to look as documents on a mobile just as you would on a PC, using the zoom and pan interface.
This is now pre-loaded onto many devices from all the major manufacturers and those that have not yet deployed it are about to. We are on around 70 million devices overall. We have also done a mobile web browser that does all the things the File Viewer does, and also enables you to browse the web.

DM: So what are you up to currently?

ZS: Well now we find ourselves going back to the converged services angle. We have done a deal with Marie Claire to bring the magazine to the mobile. This is significant, because if you look at Marie Claire, it has very high production values and a very strong brand presence. Moving onto mobile was a big problem for them because they did not want the richness of the Marie Claire experience to be destroyed when it went across to mobile. But the solution we have developed on the handset looks fantastic, and for Marie Claire, it gives them an opportunity to go after new readers who might not have bought the magazine, but who will interact with it via mobile.
We also have the deal with Informa where delegates here at 3GSM can download the  Telecoms.com magazine on to the handset. Informa, in fact, has become the first member of the Picsel Media Consortium. This is a partnership programme where we invite key thought leaders to make sure they see our technology and help us to enhance their brand going forward.

DM: So how do people get the Picsel technology that enables them to see these publications on their phone if it’s not already pre-loaded?

ZS: They can go to www.picselpowered.com and download it, or wait for the Marie Claire launch, text the shortcode that Marie Claire we will be promoting, and download the link with the application as part of it.

DM: And is there a definitive list of handsets that it’s pre-loaded on?

ZS: There isn’t in fact, but we are on over 300 models worldwide with all leading manufacturers. For example Samsung has deployed us across the board – so you can see us on the Samsung D600, D900, X820, Blackjack, Ultra series handsets. We’re also on the Motorola Q, the A-series, the Nokia 9300i and the Palm Treo700W and 700P.

DM: And yesterday you announced the PriceRunner deal.

ZS: Yes. We’re looking to put together the first mobile price comparison service. The service will run as a piloted in the UK in Q2 2007, and then roll out across multiple regions over the next 12 months.

DM: And on top of all that, the small matter of $46.5 million worth of funding?

ZS: Yes. In fact, we became profitable at the end of last year, so there were no real funding requirements, but we are trying to take the company towards an IPO round about the end of this year or beginning of the next, and these new shareholders are heavy investors who want a good return for their money, and they see us as a big opportunity for them to capitalise on the mobile content space.

Bringing Magazines to the Mobile. Read. 

AQA has the Answer – and It’s Free

To celebrate 5 million questions answered, AQA (Any Question Answered) is giving away a free answer to all new customers via the AQA website. Launched in April 2004, the service now answers over 12,000 questions each day, employing over 650 home-based researchers to provide the answers. Questions are texted to 63336 in the UK or 57275 in Ireland, charged at £1 and €2 respectively.
The free question service is simple to use. Simply go to the AQA  website, type in the question and mobile number, and AQA will send back the answer in minutes, completely free of charge.
"Ask what you will, we won't bat an eyelid," says AQA Marketing Director Paul Cockerton. "We have dealt with everything, from the obscure - Where can I get a heart-shaped bikini wax for Valentine's Day? - to the philosophical - What's the meaning of life? - to the downright abstruse - How many Rizla papers would it take to cover the inside of St Paul's cathedral?"
As an added incentive to visit the AQA website, AQA has launched a new feature where well known users of the AQA service answer a selection of questions posed by our customers. The first celebrity is Stephen Fry and he answers questions on everything from gadgets he would like invented, to his favourite joke, the meaning of life and much, much more.

Russian Brief for Logica

LogicaCMG has been selected by VimpelCom to support rapid uptake of SMS-based applications under its Beeline brand. VimpelCom provides mobile services in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Georgia and Armenia. The company has seen consumer demand for new SMS-based services, including a ‘Call Me’ offering and content services, grow dramatically over the last year. Vimpelcom has chosen LogicaCMG to support its rapid growth by purchasing an SMSC extension. It has also asked Logica to optimise its connectivity architecture and provide a dedicated interface for third party content with an SMS Gateway.
Recent LogicaCMG research with Ipsos MORI identified that Russian subscribers are far more likely than UK, German or Italian consumers to use, and be prepared to pay for, enhanced SMS services. With the market responding to SMS content services with enthusiasm, SMS traffic is set to grow even further in the next 12 to 18 months, and VimpelCom wanted to be fully prepared for increased uptake and use of SMS-based mobile services.
In order to prepare its network for these new demands, VimpelCom has selected LogicaCMG to increase its SMS capacity. The expanded SMSC will ensure that VimpelCom can process the newer application-to-person messages with the high service levels that customers have come to expect. LogicaCMG's SMS Gateway also means that Vimpelcom will be able to launch new SMS applications across its entire Russian customer base faster and easier.
"SMS-based mobile services are very popular in the Russian market, with consumers subscribing at a rapid rate, and they are looking set to continue to grow," says VimpelCom Product Director, Victor Markelov. “This is a very important technology upgrade for us, as it will ensure that we are able to continue offering the fast and reliable SMS experience that our customers expect, while extending the number and range of new services available. LogicaCMG has already proven its reliability, track record and SMS expertise globally, so we have no doubt that the company will help us achieve our goals."

3GSM Award Winners Revealed

The winners of the 3GSM Global Mobile Awards were revealed in Barcelona last night. There were triumphs for a few UK-based companies, including ShoZu, which won the award for Most Innovative Mobile Application or Content for its ShoZu Mobile MultiMedia Delivery Platform; 3UK, which own the award for Best Mobile Messaging Service  for Windows Live Messenger from its X-Series; and Empics, which took the award for Best Made for Mobile Infotainment for Sports & News Content for its GameOn FA Premier League football WAP service. Irish company Commprove also picked up the award for Best Network Quality Initiative - for its Netledge 3G Radio QoS monitoring system. The GSM Association Chairman's Award  was presented by GSMA Chairman Craig Ehrlich to  Mo Ibrahim, Founder and Chairman of Celtel International, which operates networks in 15 African countries.
Here’s the full list of all the winners and why they won. Congratulations to all of them.

Most Innovative Technology - Polymer Vision for the world’s first rollable electronic display.

Most Innovative Mobile Application or Content - ShoZu for the ShoZu Mobile MultiMedia Delivery Platform.

Best Made for Mobile Game - I-play for The Fast and the Furious.

Best Made for Mobile Music Service - Vodafone for Vodafone-MeinPC.

Best Made for Mobile Video Service - marblemedia, NFB, and Bravo! for FACT - Shorts in Motion: The Art of Seduction.   

Best Made for Mobile Infotainment for Sports & News Content – Empics for GameOn.

Mobile Enterprise Product or Service - Telepo for its Fixed-Mobile Convergence Solution. Orange was Highly Commended for its Business Everywhere solution.

Best Mobile Messaging Service - 3UK for Windows Live Messenger from 3’s X-Series.

Best GSM Mobile Handset or Device - Samsung Electronics for the SGH-D900.

Best 3GSM Mobile Handset or Device - Sony Ericsson for the K800 Cyber-Shot. Samsung was Highly Commended for the SGH-Z560.

Best Broadcast Commercial – Joint winners here.  Turkcell for the ‘Turkcell-im came, boredom’s gone’ campaign. And Ancel for the 'Ancel Baby’s Berp' campaign.

Best Mobile Advertising - Qwikker for the Virgin Mobile V-Festival.

Best Use of Mobile for Social & Economic Development - GrameenPhone for its Healthline initiative.

Best Ultra Low Cost Handset – Motorola for the MOTOFONE M3.

Best Radio Access Product or Service - ip.access for its femto3G system.

Best Network Quality Initiative - Commprove for its Netledge 3G Radio QoS monitoring system.

Best Service Delivery Platform - mFormation Technologies for mFormation Service Manager (MSM).

Best Billing or Customer Care Solution - IDEA Cellular for its CARE, SMS-based self-service solution.

Best Roaming Product or Service - TECORE Wireless Systems for the TECORE Over-the-Air Local Prepaid Roaming Service.

GSM Association Chairman's Award - Mo Ibrahim, Founder and Chairman of Celtel International, which operates networks in 15 African countries.

There’s tons more detail on each of the winners here.

OlistaSAM Targets Value-added Services

Service Adoption Management company Olista has launched its OlistaSAM solution at 3GSM. OlistaSAM is a complete managed services solution which Olista says enables mobile operators to improve the usage of value-added services by systematically uncovering and resolving adoption barriers and exploiting adoption opportunities. Today, just 15 - 30% of users equipped with mobile devices capable of using a mobile value-added service such as WAP, MMS or video, actually use them regularly, the company points out.
OlistaSAM complements traditional product marketing practices and management by focusing entirely on adoption. It uncovers usage patterns, reveals precisely where individual users encounter barriers, and triggers corrections, all in real time. This, Olista says, provides a complete solution for identifying and exploiting revenue generation opportunities and removing usability, training, pricing and other user experience barriers as well as technical barriers such as reliability and compatibility problems.
Armed with this highly granular insight into virtually any aspect of usage managers in charge of value-added services marketing and content can now make more informed decisions and better target offerings and campaigns. Mobile operators are able to time service launches and special offers to customer groups or individuals for maximum effect, turning unprofitable high churn value-added services offerings into successful services which stimulate customer loyalty, increase overall usage and generate meaningful profits. 
“By implementing OlistaSAM, mobile operators can improve adoption and usage of value-added services and ensure their high ARPU-generating customers are happier and remain active users” says Olista CEO, Oren Glanz. “Our belief is that without understanding the users’ real life experience and responding in real time, the mobile industry will continue to see a high rate of churn and slow uptake of 3G services and handsets.”

Text Sex Survey Shocker

A global study of over 8,500 people commissioned by LogicaCMG has revealed that one in seven people in Britain have sent 'sexy' or 'flirty' messages to someone other than their partner.
Ipsos MORI carried out the research among 8,518 consumers in the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Russia, Italy, the UK and Germany in November 2006. It found that Brits were second only to Malaysians in the ‘text rat’ stakes. Brits are also the most suspicious, with one in six people checking their partner's phone for 'suspicious messages'.
The study also found that millions of Italian men use text as their primary tool for wooing lovers. One in ten relationships in Italy started with a text invitation for a first date, and nearly a third started with text-flirting. At the opposite end of the love spectrum, almost one in ten Singaporeans have used SMS to break up with someone. Germans are the least likely to be text-ditched, while 3% of Brits have been dumped in this way.
"We deliver more than half of the world's text messages and therefore understand the depth of emotion tied up with sending and receiving just a few characters of text” says LogicaCMG telecoms Chief Marketing Officer  Jayne Chace. “The reaction people have when their phone beeps to signal an incoming message resonates deeply within them, and this brings out the best and worst in people, as we can see in this report. It is clear that wherever you go in the world, texting has become a primary tool for people to get into, and out of, relationships - sometimes without even meaning to."