Voda and Entel In Chilean Alliance

Vodafone and Entel PCS  have signed a Partner Market agreement; a strategic alliance which will see the introduction of an exclusive range of Vodafone products and services made available for Entel PCS customers in the Republic of Chile.
Under the terms of the agreement, Entel PCS has access to specific Vodafone knowledge and expertise, and will be able to provide its customers with selected Vodafone roaming, and eventually, business and consumer products. These products and services will include a range of push-email devices and Vodafone branded handsets.
In addition to Entel PCS’s current product portfolio, the company will be able to offer a series of Vodafone-branded mobile broadband USB modems, which will enable customers to access the Internet from their laptops at broadband speeds over Entel PCS’s mobile network.
Vodafone's products and services will be marketed in Chile under Vodafone’s global brand, enhancing Entel PCS’s nationally recognised brand. In addition, the two companies will also work closely on information and best-practice sharing in order to enhance future offerings and customer services.
Commenting on the agreement, Hatem Dowidar, CEO, Vodafone Partner Markets, says:
“Through this agreement with Entel PCS, Vodafone will be able to increase its brand recognition and extend its product range to one of the most developed markets in Latin America. Chile is a leading market for mobile communications in the region, and Entel PCS is in a stronger position to improve the provision of enhanced voice and data products, including Entel PCS’s current HSDPA internet access mobile network for customers eager for greater access to international products and services.”

Sun Ties Up with On2 to Add Video to JavaFX

Sun Microsystems has entered into a multi-year agreement with On2 Technologies to add comprehensive video capabilities, using On2 Technologies’ TrueMotion video codecs, to Sun's JavaFX, a family of products for creating Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) with immersive media and content across “all the screens of your life”.
The companies note that consumers are demanding a rich video experience across multiple screens, and say that this deal compliments the Java platform for RIAs by adding On2 Technologies TrueMotion codecs to deliver the essential technologies and services that are designed to power compelling video applications. With JavaFX rich client technology, the same high resolution video and media applications can run across the billions of devices that use the Java platform, including browsers, desktops, mobile and embedded devices. The first availability of On2 video codec for JavaFX software products is scheduled for autumn 2008.
“The JavaFX runtime environment is designed from the ground up to support high fidelity media, empowering content authors to deliver media-rich content and applications across multiple screens,” says Rich Green, Executive Vice President, Software at Sun. “On2 shares Sun's vision of driving video convergence across desktops and mobile devices and we look forward to working with On2 to deliver this capability as part of the JavaFX family of products.”
The Java platform powers billions of devices, from desktop browsers and computers (91%) to mobile phones (more than 2 billion), Blu-ray Disc players (13 million), TVs (9 million) and other connected consumer products. On2’s TrueMotion video codecs are deployed on more than 2 billion desktops and 200 million mobile devices worldwide.

Greystripe Signs Up Sega

Ad-supported mobile games and applications distributor Greystripe has signed a deal with Sega to deliver free mobile games.
Three classic game titles from the Sega collection will be delivered across mobile phones worldwide through all 50 of Greystripe's Catalog Platform partners in addition to GameJump.com, the world's largest ad-supported mobile game portal. Additionally, Sega will monetize its mobile game content via Greystripe's AdWRAP advertising network, which includes brands like Diet Coke, Yahoo!, New Line Cinema and eBay. The three games available initially are ‘Sonic Jump’, ‘Afterburner II’, and ‘Golden Axe’.
“Sega has selected to be a part of the Greystripe’s distribution network of sites as it opens up the category to a whole new market of consumers,” says Linda Chaplin, VP of Mobile at Sega. “The ‘free games’ proposition allows consumers to try mobile games without risk, and we’re confident that our brands and commitment to quality will convince consumers to stay and continue gaming on their mobile phones.”
Greystripe CEO Michael Chang adds:
“Besides being the biggest name in gaming, Sega has incredible IP and truly understands the move to mobile with their classic game titles. Our partnership with them is a huge win for our end users and demonstrates that Greystripe is able to bring the biggest brands to the mobile gaming audience.”
Greystripe recently celebrated 50 million game downloads, including titles from Sega, Digital Chocolate, Vivendi Games Mobile and Hands-On Mobile, downloaded from GameJump.com, Greystripe’s proprietary mobile game portal.
Greystripe's patent-pending AdWRAP technology automates the process that enables ads to be wrapped directly with mobile games and applications without any complex coding and development for the content owner.

ROK Buys Jalipo

ROK Entertainment Group has acquired IPTV firm Jalipo for total consideration of 600,000 ordinary shares. Jalipo Media, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Jalipo and the only operating function therein, is a UK-registered IPTV company which offers live streaming of TV content over the Internet. According to ROK, Jalipo is the first online marketplace for TV and video, allowing content owners to use the Internet to offer their channels, video-on-demand and live events direct to viewers around the world.
"This acquisition is of great strategic importance to ROK, as it furthers our presence in the Mobile TV market,” says ROK CEO, Laurence Alexander. "There are significant synergies between Jalipo's product offering and our own, which we look forward to incorporating within and, as a result, enhancing, ROK's delivery portfolio."

Voda Gets the iPhone

Vodafone has signed an agreement with Apple to sell the iPhone in 10 of its markets around the globe. Vodafone customers in Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey will be able to get their hands on the iPhone “later this year” according tor Vodafone.
We just called Vodafone to get more details. Three questions, three two-word answers, all beginnning with 'N'. Not much more to say then, but rest assured, we'll bring you more news on the deal as and when we have it.

Microsoft Abandons Yahoo! Bid

Microsoft has abandoned its bid to buy Yahoo! after the two companies failed to agree on a sale price. Microsoft had increased its original $44.6 billion (£22.5 billion, $29.4 per share) offer to $47.5 billion ($33 per share), but Yahoo! was holding out for $53 billion ($37 per share), and in any case, had been extremely reluctant to enter into any deal with Microsoft. The news comes just a couple of days after rumours suggested that the two sides were close to agreeing a deal somewhere between these two valuations.
Since it launched its bid on 31 January, however, Microsoft had grow increasingly exasperated by Yahoo’s refusal to play ball. On 5 April, Microsoft threatened Yahoo! with a proxy battle to remove the existing Yahoo! board if it didn't agree to a deal by 26 April, just over a week ago. Microsoft was also unhappy with Yahoo’s plan to respond to what it saw as a hostile bid for the company by seeking to outsource key paid Internet search terms offered by Yahoo! to Google. Such a move, Microsoft believed would “fundamentally undermine Yahoo!’s own strategy and long-term viability by encouraging advertisers to use Google as opposed to your Panama paid search system.” The move would also fragment Yahoo’s search advertising and display advertising strategies and the ecosystem surrounding them, said Microsoft. 
Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer formally withdrew the offer in a letter to Yahoo chief executive Jerry Yang. In the letter, a clearly disappointed Ballmer says:
“Despite our best efforts, including raising our bid by roughly $5 billion, Yahoo! has not moved toward accepting our offer. After careful consideration, we believe the economics demanded by Yahoo! do not make sense for us, and it is in the best interests of Microsoft stockholders, employees and other stakeholders to withdraw our proposal.”
The letter concludes:
“I still believe even today that our offer remains the only alternative put forward that provides your stockholders full and fair value for their shares. By failing to reach an agreement with us, you and your stockholders have left significant value on the table. But clearly a deal is not to be.”
The news may not be the end of Microsoft’s interest in Yahoo! however. With Jang already coming in for plenty of criticism on the blogoshpere for rejecting the Microsoft approach, all eyes now will be on the Yahoo! share price, currently $28.67. With many analysts predicting that it could drop in to the mid-teens if Yahoo’s turnaround efforts fail, the company’s days as a takeover target may not be over yet.

Qualcomm and Sky Link in Russian Tie-up

Communications provider Sky Link, the largest CDMA operator in the Russian Federation, and Qualcomm, which develops advanced wireless technologies and data solutions, have signed an agreement to commercially launch BREW wireless data services in 31 regions of the Russian Federation, as well as in countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Eastern Europe, including Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. Under the terms of the agreement, Sky Link will deliver BREW services to subscribers within its network of licensed territories, and also host BREW services on behalf of regional operators to deliver advanced mobile content to millions of consumers.
Sky Link launched BREW services on a single device to its subscribers in Moscow and Saint Petersburg in November 2006.  In 2007, Sky Link recognized the growth in popularity of non-voice data services in other regions of Russia and saw profits from all of its high-speed mobile data services grow to 35% of its annual revenue. With this latest agreement, BREW data services will be launched within Sky Link’s network and partner operator networks by Q3 2008 on a number of BREW devices. Leveraging its CDMA450 network and advanced BREW applications and services, Sky Link will provide its subscribers with access to the latest in mobile content, including mobile games, ringtones, media players and mobile business services.
“Since launching BREW in Russia in late 2006, we’ve had very successful results in offering data services to subscribers in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, with the popularity of non-voice data services greatly increasing in other regions of Russia,” says Sky Link CEO, Gulnarah Hasianova. “This new agreement greatly expands BREW data services, enabling us to provide content to our subscribers in Russia, as well as to the operators we provide voice and data roaming to in Eastern Europe and other regions of the Russian Federation. In addition, with our planned future launch of CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Rev. A technology, we will be able to offer video services to our subscribers.”
Qualcomm Internet Services enables mobile retailing solutions and Internet services that accelerate consumer adoption and usage of mobile data worldwide for its operator, brand & affinity and content provider customers. Its BREW and BrandXtend solutions are aimed at customers seeking to bring high-value wireless services to market and enhance the mobile experience for consumers. Customers also can benefit from a portfolio of adaptable, modular products that can be used to address specific mobile retail needs, from general merchandizing to personalised recommendations.

Sybase 365 Targets Call Centres

Sybase 365, a subsidiary of mobile messaging company Sybase, says it has identified the call centre industry as a key market for the company’s SMS messaging services. As part of its strategic move into the industry, Sybase 365 has formed a partnership with Datasquirt, a New Zealand company specialising in mobile solutions and multi-channel contact management, with offices in Australia, North America, the UK and Germany.
Targeting contact centres worldwide, the partnership will bring together Sybase 365’s expertise in mobile messaging delivery and Datasquirt’s hosted software solution for contact management, ‘CONTACT’.
“Text messaging has become the preferred form of communication for many consumers, and more and more enterprises are beginning to embrace mobile services as an effective tool to improve customer satisfaction in the face of changing consumer attitudes,” says Howard Stevens, Senior Vice President, International Operations at Sybase 365. “Our partnership with Datasquirt is a milestone in our strategy to offer messaging solutions to the global call centre industry. It is a testament to Sybase 365’s commitment to strengthen its foothold in this industry and is the first of other application partnerships to come.”
The bundled solution will enable call centres to utilise SMS as a two-way real-time communications channel, to improve both inbound and outbound customer interactions. Datasquirt’s platform complements existing ACD (Automatic Call Distribution) systems with the distribution of text messages to pre-defined segments of a corporate customer base, and management of customer enquiries and feedback through the SMS channel.
“Text messaging has become a central part of people’s lifestyles, and contact centres can’t afford to be left behind and ignore changes in consumer behaviour when executing their customer service and marketing campaigns,” says Datasquirt CEO, Aaron Ridgway. “We see great potential for our solution, and are excited to partner with Sybase 365 to deliver reliable SMS functionality to call centres worldwide."

Sony Ericsson and Def Jam in Walkman Tie-up

Sony Ericsson and The Carphone Warehouse have teamed up with record company Def Jam Records to offer customers a limited edition white and gold W910i Walkman handset and matching MPS 75 speakers in black and gold.
The “hip-hop heavy” handsets containing exclusive Def Jam label content will be on sale exclusively at The Carphone Warehouse stores in the UK from today. The partnership represents the first time a major record label has teamed up with a mobile phone manufacturer to offer customers a collection of exclusive content from a number of artists on one label in the UK.
The special edition handset will come preloaded with seven music tracks and six music videos, featuring an assortment of chart-topping Def Jam artists, including Kanye West, Rihanna and Mariah Carey. Consumers will also be also able to enter a competition to win “one-off” customized W910i white and gold Walkman handsets (plural? Ed), designed in collaboration with Def Jam.
“As a powerful portable music device, the W910i is the perfect suitor for a Def Jam makeover,” says Sony Ericsson, UK & Ireland Head of Marketing, Dave Hilton. “The content Def Jam has supplied looks and sounds fantastic and somehow just fits perfectly with the white and gold exterior. We're hoping it will help make the W910i a Carphone Warehouse chart-topper."
George Dymond, UK Trading Director at The Carphone Warehouse adds:
“Our customers regularly tell us just how much they love music. Mobile Life research reveals that nearly 40% of people download and listen to music on their mobiles, rising to well over half of young people. We are excited to bring them such a great range of Def Jam content on the W910i.”
The first Walkman phone was launched in August 2005. By the end of Q4, 2007, 57 million Walkman handsets had been sold worldwide.

PwC Offers M&A Insights

Africa and the Middle East are poised for increased M&A activity and consolidation in the telecoms industry following a global decline in deal value and volumes in 2007. That’s the conclusion of a study, ‘Telecoms M&A Insights’ from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), which reveals that the total global disclosed deal value fell from €332 billion (£262 billion) in 2006, to €185 billion in 2007, while deal volumes declined from 1,260 in 2006 to 1,190 in 2007.
One of the principal reasons for the decline in deal value in 2007 was the lack of mega-deals compared with 2006. The only deal in 2007 that exceeded €20 billion was the €23 billion merger of America Telecom with America Movil in Latin America, whereas in 2006, there was the Bell South acquisition by AT&T for €58 billion plus a number deals greater than €10 billion. The much-discussed €25 billion acquisition of Bell Canada has yet to complete, though recent regulatory approvals are encouraging.
“Last year was a curate’s egg in the telecoms deal market, with funding conditions in the first three quarters promoting a high level of activity, particularly by private equity, followed by the black cloud of the credit crunch in the fourth quarter,” says Philip Shepherd, Partner and TMT Strategy Leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. “Private equity transactions led the way, reaching a high of nearly 30% of the total value, but this activity has all but ceased now.”
There was surprisingly limited activity from the major operators other than Vodafone, though interestingly, the proportion of deals transacted in the emerging markets of Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America and Middle East and Africa regions actually grew as a proportion of global deal activity since 2005, accounting for 22% of all deals in 2007, compared with 11% in 2004.
“As consolidation in the developed markets of the US and Western Europe appears to have largely played out for now, it will be Africa and the Middle East that will see the greatest growth and potential for acquisition and consolidation, with interest in wireless being the principal driver,” says Shepherd.
PwC notes that some of the largest operators in the Middle East have been rapidly consolidating their presence across the region. Kuwait’s Zain (formerly MTC Group) has expanded its operations in the region, securing the licence to launch a third wireless operator in Saudi Arabia for €4 billion. It has operations in six countries in the Middle East and 14 in Africa, joining Etisilat and the South African companies of Vodacom, MTN and France Telecom as the key players in Africa. Qtel and Saudi Telecom have joined the fray with Qtel’s acquisition of Watanyia, which, at €2.8 billion, was the largest in the region, and Saudi Telecom’s acquisition of a 35% stake in Oger Telecom.
Elsewhere in developing markets, India has finally been cracked by a western operator, with Vodafone’s acquisition of Hutchison Essar. It is the potential of the enormous Indian and Chinese operators to make moves outside the region, however, which is most intriguing. While there has been nothing of note yet, says PwC, there is a changing sentiment amongst businesses in both countries encouraging overseas acquisitions. The firms adds that the credit crunch will have a significant impact on the market in the future, with private equity the hardest hit, as its ability to leverage large deals will be severely constrained.

V-ENABLE Gets the buzzd

V-ENABLE, which offers local mobile search and directory assistance services, has announced a strategic partnership with buzzd, an emerging location-based mobile entertainment service that provides real-time information for bars, clubs events and restaurants.
The partnership will combine V-ENABLE's popular mobile local search services with content from buzzd's unique mix of user generated content (UGC), and all the best listings from CitySearch, Flavorpill and Time Out Magazine, among others.
Currently, V-ENABLE's popular Mobile411 search application is available on carriers such as MetroPCS, and Alltel. The Mobile411 app gives mobile searchers all the best in local listings, whether it's residential, category or location-based directions/map searches.
“What's so natural about this partnership is that both V-ENABLE and buzzd serve consumers on the go who are looking for something local,” says V-ENABLE Executive VP and CMO, Craig Hagopian.
Earlier this week, V-ENABLE announced the launch of its Web Services API, which the company says is the first stage of an expansion into new off-deck local search services. buzzd will be using the Web Services API in addition to specific and strategic content arrangements with V-ENABLE to allow users to benefit from the best of both services.

Advantage, Traders

Blue Systems, a London-based provider of global financial information software, and Advantage Cellular Communications, which provides mobile telecoms solutions, have entered into a partnership to bundle a complete package combining Blue Systems’ blue mobile application, a Smartphone and mobile data, plus voice and text options if required.
blue mobile provides professional and retail investors with access to global stock market information in their offices, at home, or on the move, 24/7. The application is data hungry and, says Blue Systems, runs only on “the latest phones”. Network operators are able to increase revenue from the adoption and upgrade of data tariffs and device manufacturers have a compelling and sticky application with which to generate Smartphone sales and upgrades.
Advantage supplies devices from Smartphone manufacturers, including RIM (BlackBerry), Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and HTC, as well as data, voice and text packages from all the major network operators to corporate customers and individuals. The partnership means that customers of both companies will be offered a choice of devices pre-loaded with blue mobile, along with the data, voice and text packages.
“Typically those who trade spend more than 95% of their day analysing their positions and less than 5% actually trading,” says Blue Systems CEO, Sulim Malook. “Mobile data can be very confusing to these heavy data users, especially with continuously changing tariffs. Our partnership with Advantage will ensure that our customers get the best deals available at any time, and also keep abreast of the ever-changing marketplace. They are an important part of our growth strategy, and their expansion plans complement our own ambitions perfectly.”

Local News

Local Matters, a US-based media technology solutions provider, and local mobile search and advertising company mobilePeople, have entered into a Share Purchase Agreement, under the terms of which Local Matters will acquire all of the outstanding capital stock of mobilePeople in exchange for a combination of cash and Local Matters stock. The combined company will provide directory publishers, media publishers and directory assistance providers with media technology solutions that connect consumers and advertisers across digital channels including the Internet, wireless and voice.
There are now more than 3 billion mobile users globally, and local search ranks among the top content categories that consumers use on their mobiles. Publishers are increasingly extending into Internet and mobile to capture users and local advertisers.
“We chose mobilePeople because we believe they have the best technology to create a mobile distribution presence for publishers,” says Local Matters CEO Perry Evans. “Its expertise, its track record and its innovation cycles set them apart from the many other companies in this space. Our aim now is to be the preferred one-stop shop for directory publishers and directory assistance providers for outsourced media technology solutions online, on wireless and on voice.”
The two companies formed a business partnership in 2006 and have several joint initiatives in progress. The closing of the transaction is subject to additional closing conditions and is currently expected to close in the second quarter of 2008.

KPN Ties Up with Artilium for User-generated Apps

KPN Mobile International, which provides next-generation telecommunications services, has announced a partnership with Artilium, which develops software for mobile network operators, to create new opportunities for user-generated applications on KPN’s mobile networks.
At the heart of the partnership is Artilium’s ‘Real-Time Architecture (ARTA) for Connected Mobile Services’ software, which is designed to facilitate rapid creation of new mobile applications, packaged as services. ARTA is designed and developed by Artilium on the Microsoft Platform.
The partnership includes a licensing agreement, allowing KPN deployment of ARTA as a platform for next-generation converged services across its growing base of over 27 million mobile subscribers in the Benelux, Germany and Spain.
“This agreement is a major boost for KPN’s strategy on MVNO’s (Mobile Virtual Network Operators) in Europe,” says KPN Mobile International CEO, Stan Miller. “Artilium software allows KPN to surge to the forefront of mobile/web innovation. We are able to open our network to developer communities worldwide to deliver an infinite range of differentiated services and an exciting new level of personalisation and interactivity for subscribers. In doing so, we begin to transform the very essence of our business, creating new service-centric business models across a broad value-chain that includes developers, advertisers and our commercial partners.”   

Free Games for Me and You

Mobile entertainment company MoConDi has announced a partnership with Greystripe to make over 800 free mobile games available to members of the MoConDi-run ‘MeYou’ Community.
The deal means that MeYou users can browse through the Greystripe catalogue and download desired games, recommend them to other users, or share them web-to-mobile or mobile-to-mobile with one click for free. Friends receive mobile message recommendations that contain a message from users, a download link for the content and a link to install the MeYou application.
“Mobile social networks are an ideal place for users to discover and share ad-supported mobile games and we are thrilled to provide MoConDi’s users with our catalogue.” Says Alvaro Bravo, VP of Business Development at Greystripe. “By implementing our AdWRAP Catalog Platform, they are joining a worldwide movement of shifting from for-pay mobile content to one that is entirely ad-supported.”
Greystripe notes that ad-supported content has been shown to increase user stickiness, while providing a new, scalable revenue source. MoConDi will now be able to offer its MeYou users the largest collection of mobile games from top tier publishers such as Vivendi Games Mobile, Hands-On Mobile, Skyzone, Punch Entertainment, and Digital Chocolate. Greystripe’s games, in turn, will benefit from the viral distribution of mobile content through the users of the MeYou social network. The partnership allows Greystripe to extend its products and services into an on-device portal, exposing free games to more consumers than traditional off-deck markets.
“We are thrilled to enter into a partnership with Greystripe,” says MoConDi CEO, JT Klepp. “They are pioneering ad-supported mobile games and provide the best quality and quantity of entertainment for our audience. The initial response from our community is overwhelmingly positive.”

LiveWire Completes Groove Acquisition

LiveWire Mobile, a subsidiary of NMS Communications Corporation, has acquired privately-owned Groove Mobile, the mobile music solutions provider based in Bedford, Massachusetts. LiveWire says the acquisition will enable it to meet operators’ growing demand for a portfolio of managed services, including ringback tones, ringtones, and full track music and video downloads, delivered through an integrated storefront.
LiveWire notes that its acquisition of Groove Mobile triples its addressable market, and gives it the ability to deliver an integrated music and video solution. It also enables the company to tap into Groove Mobile’s significant customers and strategic relationships, and gives it increased scale and an accelerated path to profitability
NMS announced the creation of LiveWire Mobile as a separate division delivering mobile personalisation services to operators in December 2007. NMS has now created a new subsidiary, LiveWire Mobile, Inc., to which it will transfer all the people and contribute all the business assets, including the cash required to fund theacquisition, related liabilities and intellectual property rights associated with the LiveWire Mobile business.
Under the terms of the acquisition agreement, LiveWire Mobile acquired all the outstanding shares of Groove Mobile for the purchase price of $14.5 million, and Groove Mobile shareholders were required to retire all previously outstanding non-trade indebtedness. LiveWire Mobile will hire most of the Groove Mobile employees and the two companies will consolidate office locations.
“With the acquisition of Groove Mobile, LiveWire Mobile gains significant new customers, enhances its value proposition to operators and improves its financial profile by adding a rapidly growing base of managed services revenue and accelerating its expected time to non-GAAP profitability into the fourth quarter of this year,” says NMA CXChairman and CEO, Bob Schechter. “Over the past year, we have taken a series of steps to more clearly delineate and enhance the value of each of our LiveWire Mobile and NMS Communications businesses. Ultimately, we believe the best way to realize value is to separate the two businesses and we are exploring options to do so in the most effective way for our shareholders.”
Groove Mobile provides fully-managed, turnkey mobile music solutions for operators and record labels. It has 12 global mobile operator customers, including Sprint, 3 UK and Bell Mobility, as well as relationships with the major music labels, including EMI, Sony BMG, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group.
“This acquisition represents a major milestone in solidifying LiveWire Mobile’s early leadership position in the large and rapidly growing market for mobile personalization services,” says  LiveWire Mobile President, Joel Hughes. “LiveWire Mobile now delivers the industry's most complete suite of personalization services, spanning the traditional service silos that exist today.”
With the addition of Groove Mobile, LiveWire Mobile’s personalization products and services are now deployed in 42 operators around the world reaching more than 260 million subscribers, including 15 million active subscribers.   

Jinny Makes Middle East Move

Jinny Software, which provides personalised messaging and media solutions to the mobile industry, has signed an exclusive partnership agreement with Dubai-based communications company, MCN Holding,  one of the Middle East’s best-known full-service advertising, marketing and media groups, which has numerous affiliates and subsidiaries throughout the Middle East and Africa.
Under the terms of the deal, MCN will work exclusively with Jinny and its Advertising Engine when it seeks to buy mobile network advertising space on behalf of its clients. This will apply to SMS, MMS or other emerging, messaging-based advertising methods. Jinny Software will, in turn, utilise the expertise of MCN as it seeks to deliver guidance and overall direction on mobile advertising to its existing customer base, as well as new clients throughout the region.
“The use of mobile communications for the delivery of targeted and effective advertising campaigns will grow rapidly, and is likely to become one of the most important media of the 21st Century,” says MCN Media Vice President, Oussama Jamal. “Our agreement with Jinny Software will make mobile advertising easier for operators and advertisers. Jinny’s technology allows us to go directly to our target audience, but, more importantly, allows us to show our clients exactly who has responded to a campaign, in real-time, something which has not existed in the industry before now.”
Built on Jinny’s messaging and filtering technologies, the Jinny Advertising Engine has the power to deliver tailored advertising in a variety of ways. Ads can be inserted into any type of peer-to-peer messaging traffic, in real-time, and with sophisticated internal algorithms, the solution ensures that the ad is relevant and useful to its audience. Employing easy-to-use tools to allow advertisers to deliver tailored advertising, Jinmny says the Advertising Engine makes it easy for advertisers to send their messages to a large number of targeted consumers via mobile networks.
“It is clear that in the early stages of this new business model for advertisement delivery, strategic partnerships are going to be crucial,” says Declan O’Mahony, Jinny Software Chief Commercial Officer. “Mobile operators have not had a lot of experience selling their multiple media channels to advertisers. With this agreement, MCN and Jinny can assist in bridging the gap between the advertisers and mobile operators.”

Ozura in Vinamob Tie-up

Mobile entertainment publisher Ozura Mobile has announced a strategic partnership for the distribution of mobile games with Vinamob Venture Company, a leading Vietnamese mobile content publisher. Vinamob has been officially assigned as Master Content Provider (MCP) of Ozura to publish and distribute Ozura’s mobile games to all mobile subscribers in the Vietnam market.
As part of the agreement, Vinamob will market and distribute all Ozura's new games, including ‘Beijing 2008’, ‘Music Revolution’ and ‘Cubix’ to mobile subscribers, through its distribution network, including Vietnam’s three main mobile operators, Viettel Mobile, Mobifone & Vinaphone, which together serve more than 35 million mobile subscribers. Vinamob will also sell Ozura’s mobile games directly to consumers through the Piggymob brand.
“The last three years have seen Vietnam's mobile phone market grow beyond the 8% average growth rate of the economy and registering the highest growth rates of mobile users globally,” says H.E.Mah, Chief Marketing Officer at Ozura. “We are excited about the collaboration with Vinamob to launch our new games to the market.”

3BILL Snaps Up Faces.com

Hot on the heels of its acquisition of social networking platform Profile heaven, 3BILL, the mobile division of Symbios Group, has acquired another social network platform, Faces.com.
The acquisition includes all the assets owned by the company, including the transfer of the domain www.faces.com, the site’s user base and the intellectual property operating the platform. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Faces.com offers social networking with a focus on music, blogging and photos. The site is designed to allow members to view each others profiles, communicate with old friends and meet new ones. Users can share photos, blog, display classified ads and express their interests via their own bespoke faces.com page.Customisable themes and profile pages are also available on the site, via open features, allowing users to explore each others media, based on tags, ratings and searchable content.
Originally launched in 2004, Faces.com has raised millions of dollars in funding to develop the its platform, which comes packed with widgets such as TuneFeed, a Flash-based player which can be used on external sites such as MySpace.
“Social networking has really taken off globally,” says 3BILL CEO, Martin Montague. “Literally hundreds of millions of people around the world are visiting social network sites each month, many on a daily basis. With such a great brand and domain name such as www.faces.com this targeted acquisition will help us reach critical mass quickly, and give us a great rolling start to centralise our assets into one new dynamic social network platform rich in web, mobile and music content – all to the delight of our users.”
3BILL’s plans for the site include the amalgamation of the recent acquisitions into a ‘super community’ with a wide range of previously- unseen features that will coincide with a re-launch mid 2008. The company will not include TuneFeed in the platform initially due to license constraints, but will make use of its proprietary mobile software and expertise online.

Qualcomm Bags Xiam

Qualcomm, the developer and innovator of advanced wireless technologies and data solutions, has acquired Xiam Technologies, an Ireland-based pioneer of wireless content targeting solutions, for around $32 million (£16 million). Xiam’s My Personal Offers System (MPOS) provides targeting and personalisation technology that accelerates discovery and individualises the user experience by presenting relevant content offers and advertisements to consumers. 
Xiam’s MPOS technology enables mobile operators and brands to make personalised recommendations to individual consumers that are tailored to their unique tastes and preferences, using advanced profiling techniques. Consumers can receive personalised offers of new and relevant content over wireless and web channels, both before and after purchase. MPOS also leverages demographic, contextual and behavioural profiling to enable true one-to-one mobile advertising. Coupled with the global reach of Qualcomm’s ecosystem, MPOS will provide a powerful way for operators and brands to quickly and easily target their customers with relevant content offers and advertisements, Qualcomm says.
Qualcomm plans to continue to offer MPOS as a standalone product through Xiam as a wholly-owned subsidiary, as well as offering the targeting technology as part of its core solutions and products to present operators and brands with powerful subscriber intelligence and personalization tools that help spur wireless data growth. 
“Qualcomm’s acquisition of Xiam provides us with advanced content discovery and recommendation technology that strengthens Qualcomm’s services portfolio,” says Andrew Gilbert, Executive Vice President of Qualcomm and President of Qualcomm Internet Services, MediaFLO Technologies and Qualcomm Europe. “With this acquisition, we are excited to further demonstrate our ongoing commitment to operators, brands and consumers worldwide.”
Xiam CEO Colm Healy adds:
“Qualcomm and Xiam are both committed to helping operators and brands reach their customers more effectively by providing them with the technology to make informed and relevant content recommendations. Qualcomm’s suite of solutions and products are designed to help operators and brands deliver a wide range of content quickly and efficiently, and the addition of MPOS will only make that process more intuitive as consumers receive highly personalized offers attuned to their unique interests.”

3BILL in Profile Heaven

3BILL, the mobile division of Symbios Group, has acquired Profile Heaven, a UK social networking platform aimed at 15-24 year olds. The company has not disclosed terms of the purchase for the site,  www.profileheaven.com  which in 2006 won a UK Website of the Year  award for Best Community Site
3BILL believes that the acquisition of Profile Heaven will benefit users of the site, allowing them to stay connected to their friends through a range of new, free applications and services that are planned as part of a re-development of the site. These services will make it easier to keep in touch, enabling members to access the site using a mobile phone when they do not have access to a PC. 3BILL will use its own software and content platform to integrate the mobile features to enhance usage of the site as well as offering higher levels of social interaction between users.
The site will be extensively improved over the coming months with a re-launch planned for early summer. 3BILL says the improvements will include a wide range of previously unseen web and mobile applications specifically tailored to deliver an extremely rich web and mobile experience to the site’s well-established and fast growing community. The site will also be re-branded as part of the re-launch.
“This is a natural step for our business within the exciting social networking channel, especially at a time when analysts remain bullish about the market,” says 3BILL CEO, Martin Montague. “Users accessing social networks are on the increase too. I believe we can create a unique and exciting proposition that will become a benchmark for the next generation of users and social networking sites.”

Voda Partners with Telmap for SatNav Solution

Vodafone UK has teamed up with mobile mapping and navigation specialist Telmap to launch Vodafone Sat Nav, the first operator-branded mobile navigation service aimed at UK consumers. Vodafone Sat Nav has already been launched into the enterprise market, where it is available on a number of devices, including the BlackBerry Curve 8310, and the BlackBerry Pearl 8110.
Vodafone says the solution provides users with a complete mobile navigation experience, including both in-car and pedestrian navigation. Featuring 3D maps that enhance the navigation experience, up-to-date maps and directions, it also gives the customer instant access to live traffic alerts and millions of points-of-interest, such as hotels, restaurants, shopping and attractions.
“This consumer launch further strengthens the partnership between Telmap and Vodafone UK and allows us to build on the success we have achieved with Vodafone Sat Nav in the enterprise market,” says Telmap CEO, Oren Nissim. “As the first operator-branded mobile navigation service for UK consumers, this launch marks a significant milestone for both Telmap and the industry in bringing a fully featured SatNav experience to the mass-market mobile phone.” 
Vodafone Sat Nav is launching initially on three of Vodafone UK’s GPS-embedded handsets, the Nokia N95, Nokia N95 8GB and Nokia 6110, as well as the new BlackBerry Pearl 8110 smartphone. Subscription to the service costs £5 per month, with the first month free. Data charges apply when using the service. Customers can sign up for the service from any Vodafone retail store, through telesales or directly from the Vodafone live! portal. BlackBerry Pearl 8110 customer will get 12 months SatNav included, when they buy the phone.

Microsoft Offers $44bn for Yahoo!

Microsoft has tabled a cash and shares bid for Yahoo! that values the Internet company at $44.6 billion (£22.5 billion). The offer price represents a 62% premium on Yahoo’s closing share price on Thursday. It appears from the letter with which Microsoft tabled the bid that the software company attempted to enter into negotiations to buy Yahoo! a year ago, but without success.
Earlier this week, Yahoo! announced that it was to lay off 1,000 workers, representing 7% of its total workforce. Non-executive Chairman Terry Semel resigned his post yesterday.
With both companies competing against Google on various fronts, Microsoft obviously feels a tie-up between the two would be good for both of them. Google’s dominance on the search front is shown by figures from Nielsen NetRatings which show that in August 2007, Google accounted for 81.2% of all successful clickthroughs from search engines in the UK in August 2007. Yahoo (6.8%) and AOL (5.5%) accounted for most of the rest.
Yahoo’s board is currently evaluating the Microsoft offer.

HTC Opts for Parrot Fashion

Handset maker HTC Corp and Parrot, which specialises in wireless peripherals for mobile phones, have announced an alliance to develop improved compatibility and overall user experience between the companies’ products. The alliance will see HTC working closely with Parrot to align product roadmaps, marketing efforts and channel development to provide an enhanced complimentary solution for customers.
“While HTC smart devices offer users one device for all their content, Parrot provides the easy-to-use wireless peripherals to release that content wherever and whenever the user wants,” says Parrot Founder and CEO, Henri Seydoux. “This enables HTC users to maximise the use of their devices through Parrot’s technology.”
Parrot manufactures a wide range of wireless mobile phone accessories for the car and home, from Bluetooth handsfree car kits, to wireless digital picture frames and hi-fi speaker systems. Parrot’s product range includes wireless peripherals to suit every environment for HTC devices - be it in the car, at home or in the office.
Florian Seiche, Vice President, HTC Europe, says that by working in tandem with Parrot HTC can enhance its offering of mobility and connectivity and add value for customers by providing them expanded capabilities to their devices.
HTC has been manufacturing Microsoft Windows Mobile-based Smartphones and PDAs for more than 10 years. The company launched its own consumer brand in 2006 and has since made great strides into both the corporate and consumer mobile markets. Its latest developments include the new Touch family of products including the HTC Touch, HTC Touch Dual and HTC Touch Cruise. All three devices incorporate HTC’s touch-driven TouchFLO interface, and integrate seamlessly with Parrot accessories.

WIN Pockets Pocket Group

WIN Plc, which specializes in interactive mobile entertainment and information, has announced the acquisition of Pocket Group, the mobile music and video company, which provides content and marketing services to more than 50 operators across the world. Pocket Group works with record labels such as XL and Skint Records to help them implement a mobile music proposition and maximise their revenues from mobile distribution.
As a WIN company, Pocket Group will be a key driver in the company’s global growth strategy by developing and distributing cutting edge, made-for-mobile, music, content, video and marketing services. WIN says the acquisition will extend its reach internationally by growing new relationships and building on existing relationships with Tier One operators in Europe and Asia, such as Orange, O2, Vodafone, Smart and M1. WIN will also leverage Pocket Group’s existing ties with handset manufacturers such as Samsung, and with leading brands like ITN and Carlton.
“WIN is committed to developing an industry leading portfolio of services, offering operators category management, global content solutions,” says WIN CEO, Graham Rivers. “The Pocket Group acquisition is a milestone on the road to realising this vision. By developing an exceptional range of services with global reach, WIN offers unrivalled flexibility and scalability for mass market content delivery.”
Rivers adds that along with an exciting library of musical content, WIN will benefit from Pocket Group’s content merchandising abilities and a highly experienced management team.
Pocket Group is based in London, with further operations in Kuala Lumpur and Moscow. It works directly with mobile operators through the provision of managed services. Pocket Group directly targets consumers, offering specialised media and entertainment “bundles”, comprising music, wallpapers and videos.
Pocket Group Managing Director Andrew Hull says the company is very excited at becoming a member of the WIN Group. 
“Pocket Group is one of the leading providers of mobile music and entertainment content to network operators and consumers,” says Hull. “ Combined with WIN’s expertise across mobile networks and platforms, we can offer a world beating mobile solution.”

Game Set and Match Sony Ericsson

Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications has signed an exclusive four-year sponsorship agreement with female tennis player, Maria Sharapova, to become the company’s first global brand ambassador.
The Russian player, who turns 21 in April this year, will undertake what the company describes as “a series of innovative new consumer brand campaigns specifically designed to engage Sony Ericsson’s core target audiences and to utilise Maria away from the tennis court”. She will also be working with Sony Ericsson’s design team on a range of products and accessories.
The off-court agreement complements Sony Ericsson’s 6 year $88 million (£45 million) global title sponsorship of the WTA Tour, which was signed in January 2005 and is the biggest deal in the history of women’s sport. The company says its commitment to women’s tennis has energised the game by bringing fans closer to the experience and taking the sport to new audiences through cutting edge initiatives like night tennis – a fusion of tennis, fashion, music and dance.
“Now in our seventh year as a company, the brand has evolved significantly and securing a global brand ambassador is a natural progression to take our brand to the next level in an increasingly competitive market place,” says Dee Dutta, Corporate Vice President and Head of Marketing at Sony Ericsson. “Maria’s iconic status, determination, dynamism, success and charm match strongly with the Sony Ericsson brand, which prides itself on innovative and cool design with substance.”
Sharapova says she is excited exciting to be working with a cool brand like Sony Ericsson which has such a strong reputation in the entertainment industry. She says:
“Even though most people know me as a tennis player, I have so many passions beyond the sport like fashion, music, film and design, which Sony Ericsson and I are going to be exploring together through our partnership.”

3 Powers Gamma Business Service

Mobile operator 3 UK has announced an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) wholesale contract with telecoms distributor Gamma Telecom. Under the terms of the deal, Gamma Telecom will offer an own-branded mobile voice and data service to businesses, using the 3 network. The service will be targeted at small to medium-sized businesses (SMEs) and will be taken to market via Gamma's channel of more than 300 independent resellers.
The Gamma Telecom mobile service will make use of 3's voice and data network, including access to mobile broadband through 3's nationwide 3G and HSDPA data network. Subscribers will be able to access services such as mobile Internet and mobile email on a selection of leading-edge 3G business handsets. The Gamma own-brand business mobile service will complement  3's existing direct small business offer and represents a new route into the high-margin SME market for the operator.
Gamma Telecom is one of the UK's largest providers of voice services and voice applications, switching in excess of 8 billion minutes per annum and supplying services via its channel partners to over 100,000 UK businesses and over 400,000 residential customers.
“This is 3's first wholesale agreement and is a validation of the quality and reliability of the 3 network,” says 3  Sales Director, Marc Allera. “Our ability to offer great coverage, combined with high-speed data services marks us out as the business network of choice." 
Gamma Telecom CEO Bob Falconer adds:
“We looked at all the alternatives when it came to choosing a wholesale mobile partner and 3 was the clear choice in terms of quality, reliability and range of services. Working with
3, we can deliver our partners a powerful and competitively-priced mobile voice and data proposition.”

Partnership Offers Video Streaming

Mobile TV enabler Gorillabox and new media entertainment content aggregator TIM w.e., have announced a partnership to provide video streaming capabilities to mobile operators. Gorillabox and TIM w.e. will co-operate on a non-exclusive basis to deploy the Gorillabox video streaming platform (the “g-box platform”) and to retail video content. TIM w.e. manages content for mobile operators such as Telefonica, Vodafone and Tigo in almost 60 countries, and the agreement is global in scope.
The companies say that discussions are already underway with a number of operators in Europe and South America, who are seeking a carrier-grade mobile streaming capability and a range of live channels which can be easily deployed and are language-free.
“While our existing platform covered the basic requirements that operators were receiving from their consumers, we needed an advanced video streaming platform,” says Thomas Kothuis, Chief Commercial Officer at TIM w.e. “Gorillabox is the ideal partner for us with its g-box platform, through which the video streaming is powered. Gorillabox also allows the service provision to be tailored for each client and its demands accordingly, meaning we can cater for each customer individually and continue maintaining good relationships with our clients.”
Gorillabox and TIM w.e. will cooperate on all video streaming deployment and will also offer a range of video content.
“It’s a great opportunity for Gorillabox,” says Gorillabox CEO and Founder Christian Harris. “This partnership will provide us with lots of scale over a short timeframe, and working with TIM w.e. globally with many different operators will open up new avenues for us.”

TVi and 5i in Distribution Deal

TVi Media (TVi) and mobile marketing firm 5th Finger International U.S. (5i), have formed a distribution relationship which will see 5i link its technical and marketing expertise with TVi’s current offerings to connect brands, media, and content with mobile marketing tools designed to engage consumers where, when, and how they prefer.
5i has run more than 5,000 mobile campaigns for marketers, media, and telecommunications companies. Air-cast, 5i’s proprietary online mobile marketing tool, enables media, entertainment companies, government, and corporations to quickly and easily set up and manage their own mobile marketing campaigns and services. Air-cast offers connectivity to 97% of mobile subscribers in the US for premium and standard rate SMS.
This summer, 5i worked alongside Verisign and the organizers of Live Earth 2007, a huge music event that brought together a global audience across seven continents to deliver a worldwide call to action to solve the climate crisis. The more than 10 million viewers of Live Earth 2007 were able to send in pledges via text, web, and interactive TV, which would then appear on the ticker broadcast alongside the show. espondents received an educational SMS reply and were signed up to receive regular SMS updates from Live Earth 2007 on how to fight climate change.
As the mobile phone continues to become a critical distribution tool for content, rich communications and advertising, TVi says it is looking to its relationship with 5i as a way to offer specialized skills and a world-class mobile marketing technology platform to clients, including leading professional sports leagues, and 25 syndicated programs and independently produced shows on NBC, ABC, and CBS Sports.
“5th Finger’s platform is unique in the market not only because it provides rich mobile marketing functionality, but also because it includes comprehensive onscreen TV capabilities, all in an easy to use package,” says Jeff Norman, President,
Mobile & Interactive Technologies at TVi Media. “This allows TVi to offer a complete mobile marketing solution to our media, sports, and FMCG clients, without the pain of managing multiple vendors.
“According to Air-wide solutions, by 2010 over half of brands (52 percent) expect to spend between five and 25 percent of total marketing budget on mobile marketing,” said Warren Billington, VP Mobile Marketing of 5th Finger.  “The partnership with TVi Media is a natural fit and will bring seven-plus years of mobile marketing experience and an award winning, highly interactive mobile platform to a diverse base of TVi contacts.”   

ROK Buys, er, Rock

ROK Entertainment Group, the UK-based mobile technologies, applications and entertainment development company, has acquired a 51% controlling interest in Rock, a performance notebook manufacturer and subsidiary of Eikon Group Limited.
Under the terms of the agreement, ROK and Rock will share expertise in IPTV, place- shifting, mobile Internet and mobile entertainment platforms. This will take advantage of the synergies between the mobile phone- and PC-oriented technologies respectively, says ROK, as well as the increasing convergence between the phone and notebook market. ROK notes that recent market research conducted by Intel found that every owner of a mobile phone will eventually own a notebook.
ROK says the acquisition forms part of its strategy to expand in all mobile communications markets, and will provide a further platform for the delivery of user-generated content, which constitutes a key strength of the company's product offering.
“Full-scale convergence of the notebook and mobile technologies, and how we use them both, has already begun,” says ROK CEO, Laurence Alexander. “Three years ago, virtually no-one browsed the web or received and sent emails on their mobile. In three years time, people will be using their mobile in very similar ways to how they are using their laptops at present. It's all about technological convergence of the mobile with the Internet to deliver 'total connectivity'."
Rock has a reputation for notebook technology innovation, and earlier this year, took its their first steps into Europe by offering a 3-year pan-European warranty on all notebook products, with a long-term plan to hit the US by 2010, where ROK already operates.

YooMedia Gets Fresh

YooMedia plc is to acquire a majority stake in Fresh Interactive Technologies, a leading Spanish interactive television company. YooMedia has agreed to acquire  95.2% of the issued share capital of Fresh I.T., and has conditionally raised £12.9 million, following a share consolidation and restructuring.
The combined businesses had revenues of £64m in 2006. It is intended that the new company, which will have 100 employees and operate out of London, Madrid and Exeter, will be renamed Mirada plc.
Fresh I.T. specialises in interactive digital television throughout Europe, including the development and creation of advertising formats in the sector. Its customers include Digital+, Euskaltel and Jazztel in Spain; BSkyB, ITV and Music Choice
in the United Kingdom; and Disney Television International, Universal Studios
Network and Warner Bros. YooMedia says the company’s services will complement its own current offerings, which include mobile marketing, interactive gaming and interactive TV.
Both YooMedia and Fresh have track records in developing and delivering products and services that produce transactions and interactions with consumers on behalf of content owners, major brands, broadcasters and platform operators. The company says that Mirada will lead innovation and growth in expanding digital media sectors in its core home markets of the UK and Spain, and will extend into other markets.
YooMedia CEO Neil MacDonald will become Mirada's Chief Operating Officer, and Fresh I.T.'s Chief Executive, José-Luis Vazquez will become CEO. Current YooMedia Chairman, Michael Sinclair, will remain in that role for the merged company.

Airwide Acquires First Hop

Airwide Solutions, which provides next-generation mobile messaging infrastructure and applications, has announced the acquisition of Finnish company First Hop, which specialises in mobile service control and gateway technologies. These enable operators to move at the speed of the market by rapidly implementing new mobile services, business models and targeted content and campaigns.
First Hop’s service lifecycle management covers the end-to-end process of service provisioning, testing, launch, delivery, charging, and reporting through all mobile delivery channels. Operators can drive up service value and user experience through usage data analysis, subscription and campaign tools, and the capability of combining multiple network resources - such as location, billing, and device profile - to rapidly launch new service concepts, context-aware services, or personalised bundles. Coupled with Airwide’s Fusion architecture, customers will be able to take advantage of value-added services like ad insertion, personalisation, campaign management and promotion. 
Airwide’s Fusion tiered architecture breaks traditional messaging infrastructures into tiers, including storage, access and delivery, control, and application tiers, and uses independently scalable components to support multiple messaging and delivery types.   
With more than 120 mobile operators served by the combined company, Airwide says the First Hop deal  further establishes its position as a dominant player in the next-generation mobile messaging industry, and firmly secures the number one position in the market for mobile service control and messaging gateways.   
By acquiring First Hop, Airwide extends the flexibility of its tiered architecture for operators by adding the industry’s most advanced multi-channel gateway as another step in enabling operators to add ‘best-of-breed,’ open components to their networks.  Airwide will also incorporate First Hop’s powerful mobile service control capabilities into the next-generation Fusion architecture, expanding it beyond messaging, with solutions for wireless Internet browsing.
First Hop’s products, technology and team will be an integral part of Airwide’s mission to provide the most advanced and effective solutions for driving mobile messaging usage and revenues, and enabling operators to leverage multiple delivery channels and next-generation infrastructure in new and more powerful ways.  Together, says Airwide, the companies are uniquely positioned to address the emerging industry requirements for Mobile Messaging 2.0, which emphasizes open, interoperable systems, and is guiding the evolution of the mobile messaging industry.
By adding mobile service control, which enables functionality such as context, personalisation and profiling, to its Fusion tiered architecture, Airwide says it will enable operators to rapidly launch more services and to build a dynamic and broad service offering that will drive subscriber messaging usage and ultimately revenues.  Also, by expanding further into additional delivery channels like the HTTP- and WAP-based mobile Internet, Airwide creates a foundation for bridging Internet services and mobile networks that will let operators futureproof their business models and revenue streams and create new and unique mobile services.
“The mobile messaging industry is poised for great change, and Airwide today is making a solid statement that we are going to be the company that drives the next stage of the market,” says Airwide CEO, Kevin A. Wood. “Operators continue to struggle with driving new revenue from mobile messaging services, and they are grappling with how to develop new business models such as ad-sponsored services.  Combining First Hop’s service control strengths and multi-channel delivery strategy with Airwide’s next generation mobile messaging infrastructure, we address these issues head-on, and our expanded vision will help us to meet operator needs now and in the future.”   
First Hop CEO Timo Laaksonen adds:
“Airwide and First Hop together are a real-world example of the sum being greater than the parts. By combining First Hop’s strengths in service lifecycle management, context, profiling and personalization, with Airwide’s next-generation mobile messaging infrastructure, we are taking the market to an entirely new level. We are confident that our integrated product lines will yield the industry’s best performance, flexibility and functionality. With our combined resources we are better equipped to accelerate our R&D programs, enhance our worldwide service delivery capability and manage our commercial customer and partner relationships. In short, we are now ideally positioned for further business growth.”

Golden Gekko Secures Funding

Golden Gekko, a London-based company that has developed what it describes as: “a revolutionary mobile application platform that can be used for marketing purposes and as a mobile workforce application”, has closed its first financial round with Active Capital Partners (ACP), a European early-stage investor based in Barcelona.
There is an increasing demand from larger companies to find new ways of reaching end consumers through their mobile devices, the company notes. A number of companies have thrown themselves into this space in order to get a share of the market. The key is to find an attractive way of doing so, that is cost effective, that has an effective impact on the consumer without being intrusive and that is quickly deployable. Golden Gekko says it has found its way to offer all that with its Mobile Media Engine.
The Golden Gekko mobile application platform can be used to create sophisticated Java applications for marketing purposes in less than a week. It can also be used to create new sales channels or to automate simple business processes for a mobile workforce. All this with a very cost efficient platform that can be used on any of the over 500 different mobile models that exist today.
According to Informa Telecoms & Media, worldwide spending on mobile advertising last year was €622 million (£447 million), compared with €17 billion spent on Internet advertising, and €321 billion spent on advertising in general. Informa forecasts that annual expenditure on mobile advertising will reach €8 billion by 2011. Other analysts predict the market will be as big as $20 billion (£9.7 billion) by then.
Golden Gekko says that it has spent the last two years developing a mobile application platform and that it has successfully delivered turnkey projects for companies such as Absolut Vodka, Accenture, Arla Foods, Cadbury's, Coca-Cola, Novartis, Paramount, Perfetti, TV4, Unilever and Vodafone.
The company was founded in 2005 by CEO Magnus Jern and CTO Daniel Karlström in Sweden. It employs 14 people, has development facilities in Cambodia and Barcelona, with sales offices in the UK, Sweden and Spain.
“Advertising through mobiles is a very attractive market to be part of over the coming years,” says  ACP’s Ricard Söderberg. “What impressed us about Golden Gekko are the management, the volume of business and the key clients they have amassed in such a short time of period. We are thrilled to support Magnus and his team to gain a leading position in applications for mobile advertising.”
Golden Gekko CEO Magnus Jern adds:
“Having successfully developed and launched applications based on the GG Mobile Media Engine with more than 15 major customers, this new investment enables us to continue our unprecedented growth and invest in building a team that can effectively take advantage of the vast opportunities in front of us. We are also very fortunate to add new members to our board and advisory panel. They bring a wealth of experience that complements the strengths of our existing team very well.”
As part of the investment, Ricard Söderberg of ACP will join the board of directors of Golden Gekko.

ROK Acquires Fun Little Movies

ROK Entertainment Group, the UK-based mobile technologies, applications and entertainment development company, has acquired a 51% controlling interest in Los Angeles-based Fun Little Movies (FLM) for a combination of cash and shares in the company. Under the terms of the agreement, ROK and FLM will jointly offer made-for-mobile content, such as comedy short films, to network operators worldwide.
FLM specializes in the development, production and distribution of original mobile-oriented comedy for global distribution. In its nomination for Best Video Producer at the 2007 ME Awards, Mobile Entertainment Magazine said FLM “pioneered the advertiser-funded concept” for mobile video.
“ROK’s management team gets it,” says said Frank Chindamo, FLM President and Chief Creative Officer. “They see the same potential for the mobile space that we do.We are excited about the new synergies created by joining with a company that understands ‘synergy’ the way we do.” 
In addition to his role at FLM, which he founded in 2004, Chindamo is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Southern California, teaching Mobile and Internet Viral Screenwriting and Producing.
“We love what Frank Chindamo and his team at FLM have been doing in the mobile entertainment space,” says Laurence Alexander, President and Chief Executive Officer of ROK.” They really understand the medium and what people want from mobile movies. We look forward to expanding the footprint of FLM content worldwide and going forward to develop a whole new portfolio.”
FLM has distribution deals in place with Sprint, Verizon and ATT, as well as several handset makers and overseas partners, from China and Japan to Europe, Africa and South America.  ROK will be its primary distributor worldwide.
In addition to marketing ROK TV through mobile operators such as Vodacom South Africa, Avea Turkey, Telenor Pakistan and AIS in Thailand, ROK’s service is also available direct-to-consumers via Nokia Downloads on the Nokia Eseries handsets across Europe.