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  • Mobile Content Bits: Yahoo Voice-Enabled Search; Playboy Pool Party; WeatherBug Gets Mobile Ads

    Voice-Enabled Search Comes to Yahoo ( NSDQ: YHOO ) oneSearch and Yahoo Go 3.0: Yahoo has integrated a voice-enabled search engine into its oneSearch application on Nokia ( NYSE: NOK ) Series 60 devices and Yahoo Go 3.0. Once the new version of oneSearch is installed, users can access the voice-enabled search with a single click from their home screen. Users will also have to re-install the latest version of Yahoo Go 3.0 to get access to the new enhancements, which are initially being made available in the U.S., UK, India, Singapore, Philippines and Canada. Playboy ( NYSE: PLA ) Pool Party: THQ ( NSDQ: THQI ) has launched Playboy Games: Pool Party on major carriers in the U.S. and more than 70 other countries for $7 retail. The title is the first of a multi-year agreement THQ holds for the development and publishing rights on all Playboy lifestyle-themed, non-nude mobile games. In the game, caricatures of Playboy models give players objectives such as pool jumping, poolside water-balloon fights, Frisbee throwing and bucking-bronco rides. Players can also edit the models to customize their look, including hairstyle, bikini, footwear, jewelry and accessories. Release . WeatherBug Taps Mobile Posse For Ad-Supported Weather Info: WeatherBug is trying to ad more relevant advertising to its live, local weather information through Mobile Posse 's advertising platform. The deal calls for a series of ad-supported sponsorships. Release . Landscape Mode Email On iPhone: TouchType, a new 99-cent iPhone application, finally does what Apple ( NSDQ: AAPL ) should have done with its email system all along: allows users to compose in landscape mode, TechCrunch reports . Our mobile application for Blackberry and other Smartphones brings you the latest headlines when you're on the go. Go here to download .
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  • Connect2Media Planning A Dozen Game Titles For Android Platform

    Connect2Media is preparing to release 12 games for the Android operating system, Mobile Entertainment reports . Less than two months after merging with the European operations of Hands-On Mobile, the firm is gearing up to make the games available when Google ( NSDQ: GOOG ) launches the Android Market commercially early next year. The first releases include 4 In A Row EX and Classic Card Games EX . The company promises bringing a "brand new and groundbreaking, as yet-to-be-announced, multi-platform franchise to Google Android," with new titles also planned for Apple's iPhone, Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii. Glu Mobile ( NSDQ: GLUU ) has already announced plans for a new game called Bonsai Blast that it's developing for the Android platform, but EA Mobile is reportedly waiting to learn more about Google's content billing system plans before it commits to anything. Related Hands-On Mobile Sheds European Business; Merges With Connect 2 Media As Minority Shareholder Connect2Media Buys Israeli-based RayFusion Social Media Deals Report: This 199-page report, filled with charts and data, examines the categories, number and size of VC and M&A deal in social media from 2007 through 2008. Visit the ContentNext Reports page
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  • Interview: Mobile Game Guru Trip Hawkins Transforms Strategy; Denies Digital Chocolate Was For Sale

    Trip Hawkins is in the middle of transitioning Digital Chocolate from a company he started almost five years ago as a pureplay mobile game company to a social media company leveraging Facebook and others. "We sort of backed into it ... In the beginning, we thought we were always going to be a mobile company." Instead, Hawkins says he eventually tuned into a concept he calls "omnimedia," a theme he also talked about in his CTIA keynote earlier this month. Digital Chocolate has a staff of more than 300 and has raised almost $44 million in three rounds led by Sequoia Capital, Sutter Hill and Bridgescale. In all, almost a dozen venture capital firms have invested as well as Bob Pittman, of MTV and AOL fame. The bulk of the company's revenue comes from feature phone users, with Europe as its largest market. A year in, he talks to mocoNews, insisting he's on the right path and knocking down reports that the company was for sale. Some highlights: 'Never been on the block': We and others have reported on Digital Chocolate possibly being for sale, but Hawkins dismisses everything along those lines: "I just want to not have this continuing speculation out there. The reality is that we have never been on the block. In the entire history of the company there's never been an offer. We've never even had an unsolicited offer ." Still, it doesn't negate the test Digital Chocolate is now facing as it transforms the company even further into the PC, virtual and console worlds over the next year. Always the believer, Hawkins concludes: "the future is brighter once you move over to more socially driven business models." John the Baptist : When Hawkins formed Digital Chocolate he was one of the first gaming executives to talk about mobile games in the social aspect. Since then, an influx of social games launched on sites like Facebook has somewhat stolen his thunder, forcing him to begin building brand name awareness and...
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  • China Mobile Preparing To Sell Stripped Down iPhone

    China Mobile is expected to start selling an Apple ( NSDQ: AAPL ) iPhone, stripped of 3G and Wi-Fi in order to comply with Chinese regulations, according to The South China Morning Post, citing a report from the Daiwa Institute of Research ( via Cellular-News ). Of course, being able to sell the device in the most populated country in the world could seriously boost sales, even if more than China Mobile is detecting at least 400,000 jail-broken iPhones on its network today. One reason it may not want 3G as part of the phone is because the carrier is widely expected to build out its eventual 3G network using the Chinese developed TD-SCDMA format, and by disabling the 3G functionality the iPhone would less appealing to users who might buy the handset and unlock it to be used on the expected W-CDMA network from China Telecom. In-Stat said there's other reasons the iPhone will do well in China. The smartphone market in China is driven by people using their phones for entertainment purposes, such as music players, cameras and video and to access the mobile Internet, like IM, e-book, and games. The research firm also estimates that 20 percent of handsets sold in China last year cost more than 4,000 RMB (US $533), which would put the potential iPhone market at 28 million users. Related Still No iPhone 3G On China Mobile Check out the best business jobs in digital media. Go here for paidContent.org Job Board.
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  • Mobile Content Bits: Games Go Mainstream At Handango; Animal House Going Mobile; Nokia Media Network

    -- Games and entertainment are hottest categories at Handango: Handango released its Yardstick for the first half of the year and reported that games jumped from fourth place to first place in just six months, followed close behind by the entertainment category—a first since the mobile content storefront began releasing the report. Entertainment and games comprised 42 percent of all sales in the top ten categories while business applications stood at 15 percent and productivity apps came in fourth place at 9 percent. Strong sales from EA Mobile and Capcom Interactive helped drive the surge in game-related sales. Handango also added more than 370 developers to its roster of more than 23,000 in the first half of the year. ( Release ). -- Bluto, Otter and Boon go mobile: Animal House and Tic-Tac-Dough are being revived as mobile games thanks to a new deal between SkyZone Entertainment and Universal Pictures Digital Platforms Group . Animal House , which is scheduled for release on most major carriers late next month to coincide with a 30th anniversary DVD release, brings players into the Delta House to help throw more of those epic frat parties. Memorable quotes, characters and images from the film will be used throughout the game. Tic-Tac-Dough , a play on the TV game show which tests players' trivia knowledge across six categories, is slated to launch early next year. ( Release ). -- Nokia Media Network's lineup expands: A group of major European media companies have joined Nokia ( NYSE: NOK ) Media Network, a division formed out of the firm's Enpocket purchase last year that allows advertisers to buy inventory on mobile sites, operators and a range of Nokia services such as Ovi. Agence France-Presse, RTL Mobile, Cuatro, Grupo Prisa, Unidad Editorial, CNET ( NSDQ: CNET ), Telegraph Media Group, Trinity Mirror and International Herald Tribune all signed on, Mobile Entertainment reports . -- More than 20 million U.S. households are landline-free: Americans and...
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  • Verizon Wireless Quietly Launches Flash-Based Storefront

    Verizon Wireless ( NYSE: VZ ) has quietly released Dashboard , a new storefront found on its phones using Adobe's ( NSDQ: ADBE ) Flash technology, mocoNews has learned. So far, Dashboard has launched on the LG Chocolate 3, and more phones are expected by the end of the year, making it one of the largest mobile implementations of Flash in the U.S., both Verizon Wireless and Adobe confirmed. Todd Murphy, Verizon Wireless's director of digital media programming, explained to us the platform stands alongside the carrier's Get It Now platform, and is designed to be an easy place for consumers to find both content from Verizon's deck, but also links that take you to the mobile Web, "It's a dynamic real-time store. It's one click up on the Chocolate 3. We have a system on the back end that allows you to merchandise and change things every couple of hours." The launch of Dashboard comes just before Adobe's CEO Shantanu Narayen keynoted at CTIA , where he pleaded for more standards in the industry, so that content can be developed once and published across many mobile devices and also the Internet and TV. However, operators in the U.S. have been slow to adopt Flash, even though it's embedded in a lot of handsets. Lack of Flash is a constant complaint about the iPhone. Verizon has been one of the more aggressive companies on that front, providing a Flash Lite extension to its Brew platform, which features content from game companies, such as Smashing Ideas and Mobitween, but also videos from MTV's Atom Entertainment. Anup Murarka, Adobe's director for technical marketing, who also appeared at CTIA, told us: "In terms of Flash Lite, Japan has been the first and foremost, and then Europe and now it is gaining in the U.S." For instance, little do people know that Flash is used on some of the popular phones, including the LG (SEO: 066570) Shine, Venus and Voyager. "We can enable these experiences to be richer, or more...
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  • EA Mobile To Develop Tomb Raider Underworld And Other Eidos Interactive Titles

    EA Mobile is developing games for four Eidos Interactive titles under a new distribution and licensing deal for some of the publisher's catalog. EA will first get rights to Tomb Raider Underworld , Just Cause 2 , California Games X and Minesweeper and have the option to develop more Eidos games over the next three years. The Tomb Raider console game franchise has sold 35 million units, California Games X is a new take on the 1987 Commodore 64 game while Minesweeper is a refresh on the popular Windows PC game that launched in 1992. ( Release ). Social Media Deals Report: This 199-page report, filled with charts and data, examines the categories, number and size of VC and M&A deal in social media from 2007 through 2008. Visit the ContentNext Reports page
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  • @ CTIA: Teens Want Solar-Powered Phones And Simple Features

    CTIA closed today with a focus on teens. Following some seemingly requisite video footage of teens talking about their cellphones in Miami, Austin and Los Angeles, Trip Hawkins, CEO of Digital Chocolate and founder of EA, did a quick run through of a teen study released today by CTIA. Release . Hawkins: "We're in the middle of what I call an omni (meaning many) media revolution… Most of the people on earth grew up in the age of computers." Reflecting on what he saw as the inverse law of "omni media," Hawkins argued that less is more. "SMS is arguably the first omni media application that's being used by a billion people… The consumer is actually rejecting the most advanced technologies… People are feeling too checked out… What they want is to find new ways to check in… The consumer doesn't want to feel like they're being thrown into the deep end of the pool." And what could be simpler than SMS – more people use it than email. Then he introduced a group of seven teens ranging from ages 13 to 18. Initial thoughts from the group varied from in-network calling plans that free up minutes to texting, browsing the web and shoddy battery life. All of the teens text message their friends and family frequently, but only some use more advanced features like the internet or games. If it's not free, good luck getting the majority of these kids to use anything beyond voice or SMS. -- What about the iPhone? "They have, in my opinion, by far the greatest games," a 13-year old boy said. Another teen said it's all the privileged kids at his school that own iPhones. Still, all seven raised their hands saying they'd own an iPhone if they had the time and money. -- Games: "I think more people would buy (games) if they weren't so expensive… It's just a ton of money paying for games that for the most part don't have much in visual quality," the boy said. Another teen added: "If you want to browse...
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  • iPhone Boosts Mobile Games

    The iPhone comes to the rescue again. The WSJ reports in a lengthy feature that the time for mobile games may finally be arriving, thanks to better technology in handsets. Aside from faster processors, and increased memory, the major handset makers are putting in additional technology such as global positioning systems and accelerometers, that allow players to use physical motions to navigate a game. Better technology has meant that developers, in turn, have been able to offer more sophisticated and compelling games with better graphics and more interesting story lines, helping mobile games shed the image that they are a "little brother to console games." But it's the iPhone, apparently, that has sparked newfound interest among consumers. As it turns out the iPhone not only accommodates more powerful games and offers a better user experience, but the ease in which users can purchase the games from the App Store, means that consumers are actually paying for them. Indeed, Sega's Super Super Monkeyball game which costs $10 sold more than 300,000 copies in 20 days, which Sega's president of its U.S. unit called a "substantial business" that "gives iPhone a justifiable claim to being a viable gaming platform." Other handset makers are beefing up their own mobile game offerings. Sony Ericsson, for example, launched its W760 Walkman phone, which has a 2.2-inch screen and dedicated gaming buttons later this month, and will sell Electronic Arts Inc.'s Need for Speed ProStreet , for $6.99 among other games in its content store. Nokia, a strong backer of mobile gaming, recently launched adventure mystery game Dirk Dagger and the Fallen Idol , which makes use of the accelerometer and has 30,000 words of dialogue. It retails for $10. Related Apple's App Store Sales Top $30 Million In First Month; Can Free Apps Make Developers Money? Join us for EconMusic Sep. 23 in London featuring a Mobile Music panel with Nokia Music’s Tom Erskine...
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  • Verizon Wireless Releases Dozens Of Games From 10 Publishers

    It's all about games today for Verizon Wireless ( NYSE: VZ ). The carrier released dozens of mobile games from 10 publishers. Gameloft ( EPA: GFT ), Glu Mobile ( NSDQ: GLUU ), Konami Digital Entertainment, Mobitween, Namco Networks, RealNetworks ( NSDQ: RNWK ), SkyZone Entertainment, Smashing Ideas, Capcom Interactive and Sony ( NYSE: SNE ) Pictures Television all teamed up with the carrier to launch games such as The Dark Knight and Sally's Salon. The carrier said it is over performing in the mobile games space and increasing its market share. ( Release ). -- Capcom release -- RealNetworks release -- SkyZone Entertainment release -- Glu Mobile release -- Mobitween release -- Namco Networks release -- Konami Digital Entertainment release -- Sony Pictures Television release -- Smashing Ideas release Join us for EconMusic Sep. 23 in London featuring a Mobile Music panel with Nokia Music’s Tom Erskine, Sony BMG’s Ian Henderson, Vodafone UK’s Tom McLennan and O2’s Julian Zmood discussing the exciting future of this sector. Register at http://contentnext.com/econmusic .
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  • Zed Teams With Lionsgate To Co-Develop Content For Major Studio

    Zed is definitely not dead. The mobile content company announced a deal with Lionsgate to co-develop a suite of mobile entertainment projects based on Lionsgate films, TV programs, music and original content for mobile. The deal also calls for ringtones, wallpapers, games and interactive communities. Lionsgate has a catalog of around 12,000 film and TV titles including the Saw franchise, Dirty Dancing , Weeds , Mad Men and Crash . Both companies will contribute financing, development, production, marketing and distribution. Zed and Lionsgate hope to begin distributing content under this deal by the end of the year. ( Release ). Social Media Deals Report: This 199-page report, filled with charts and data, examines the categories, number and size of VC and M&A deal in social media from 2007 through 2008. Visit the ContentNext Reports page
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  • CTIA Wire: Comcast-Thumbplay; mywaves-Sony Ericsson; PointRoll-USA Today; Navteq-WaveMarket; Truveo

    -- Comcast adds entertainment library to Thumbplay site : With Thumbplay Open, a digital content management system, now in beta, Thumbplay will offer extensive content to Comcast High Speed Internet customers and Comcast.net users can download music, ringtones, videos and games directly to their phones on m.comcast.net.. Thumbplay Open enables indie music artists to package and sell their own data to customers and allows site publishers and app developers to sell downloads from any site, app or widget. These users will also get a cut of the subscriber fee, $5-8 per subscriber. -- mywaves launching new content, partners with Sony Ericsson : mywaves has launched "Captivate," its new service integrating ringtones, wallpaper and games with free mobile video and has expanded its distribution with Sony ( NYSE: SNE ) Ericsson ( NSDQ: ERIC ) by incorporating its mobile app on its multimedia handsets. mywaves has also teamed up with Audible ( NSDQ: ADBL ) Magic to develop a content filtering technology to protect ownership rights. Heavy users will be charged a $9.99 per month subscription fee, though not clear what exactly constitutes a "heavy" user. -- PointRoll and USA Today premiering expandable ad unit : The companies have launched an expandable rich media unit created specifically for the iPhone. Initially launching on the USA Today mobile site, it will feature campaigns for the Ford Flex and the new George Clooney-Brad Pitt flick from NBCU's Focus Features, Burn After Reading . The mobile ads are expandable upon user initiation and include video click-to-play, coupon downloads, mapping technology directly linked to Google ( NSDQ: GOOG ) Maps and user-initiated click-to-call. -- Navteq featuring WaveMarket's location access platform : Effective immediately, WaveMarket's Veriplace is available on Navteq's Network for Developers (NN4D) site. Based on WaveMarket's Family Locator products already available on mobile phones, the platform...
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