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  • Italian Mobile Entertainment Company Neomobile Raises $13.5 Million

    Neomobile , an Italian mobile entertainment company, has raised $13.5 million (10 million euros) from the Private Equity arm of Monte Paschi Siena, which will recieve a 16 percent stake in the company. The capital will be used for Neomobile's growth strategy and to help the company to fund international expansion. The company said the highest growth rates are expected in Brazil, Russia, India, China and other emerging markets like Turkey and Mexico, where Neomobile already has a presence or aims to start operations. Neomobile was founded in February 2007 after being spun off from Teleunit. It focuses on distributing music, games and bundled entertainment packages. Release . A Complimentary Webinar from Innodata Isogen-- Beyond Cost Arbitrage: Best Practices for Delivering Large-Scale Editorial Outsourcing Services . Register now .
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  • Vodafone Puts Premium SMS Gateway Inside Facebook

    Vodafone ( NYSE: VOD ) is making a play for the social graph , unveiling a Facebook App that acts as a web-to-SMS gateway. Called Vodafone Connect To Friends , the app integrates with Facebook's contacts system to let users send messages to friends' mobiles, if their profile contains their number; but it can also send to non-Facebook users' mobiles by creating a new contact. Later this month, the service will expand to let people send pictures from Facebook as MMS messages. If you think this means an SMS free-for-all, however, think again: whilst users get 25 free messages, thereafter users must fill up with premium credits costing £0.10 each ($0.17), whereby SMS uses one credit (£0.10) and an MMS three (£0.30). So the whole exercise merely shifts the message sending from the handset to the computer. Vodafone Connect To Friends is not limited to those on Vodafone's own network but, as it doesn't appear to sync up to Vodafone accounts for those who are , it means Voda customers have little incentive to use the premium-rate messaging from Facebook and every reason to use their bundled messaging allocation on their handset. Still, this is billed as a trial - it's one of the first projects to come out of Vodafone's new UK internet services division and was developed along with IBM. The service is only available to those in the UK. 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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  • MySpace's Launches Local European Mobile Site

    Not sure what value it has, but MySpace has launched a local European mobile site for its users. The new landing page directs visitors to new features including the ability to update and share status with friends, check mail, post blogs and add friends, which I am assuming is true for its U.S. mobile site as well. The social network is in Europe through its mobile deal with Vodafone. 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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  • Wireless Carriers Are Increasingly Interested In An App Store-Like Business, GetJar Says

    GetJar , which distributes free mobile applications to consumers on the Internet and over the phone, said it is branching out its business by building application storefronts for wireless carriers. A few months ago, that would have been unheard of because carriers typically want to own the relationship with their subscribers. But with the success of Apple's ( NSDQ: AAPL ) App store, which Steve Jobs said made $30 million in its first four weeks, copycats are really starting to take off. For example, earlier this month, I reported that T-Mobile will create an open storefront this Fall that would allow developers to sell their applications freely to their subscribers, and yesterday Google ( NSDQ: GOOG ) announced the Android Market, a store for Android phones when they become available later this year. Of course, there's other app stores too, including Handango, which sells apps to smartphone users. When I met up with Bill Scott, GetJar Network's VP of sales and business development in Seattle this week, he said GetJar is seeing the same trend and is starting to work with carriers to distribute free apps on their decks. The numbers are convincing. So far, GetJar claims that consumers have downloaded 300 million applications in total from its site, with a monthly average of about 13 million downloads worldwide and more than 500,000 in the U.S. It distributes everything from Google Maps and Yahoo's ( NSDQ: YHOO ) Go to nifty, but also less useful items, such as Disco Light, which makes your phone flash, and Battery Drainer, which makes your phone flash and beep until it's dead. Adult entertainment is also fair game. The company initially had no intentions of being an app store, but Founder Ilja Laurs of Lithuania stumbled into it. As a game developer, he always had a hard time getting his games tested. One day he posted it on a Web site, asking people to download it for free and report any bugs (That also explains the company's name...Jar is the suffix...
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  • Mobile Content Bits: Obama Texts 2.9 Million; Kinoma Player, Hi5 Mobile; USOpen.org WAP; MailTXT

    -- 2.9 million text messages sent from Obama campaign: Nielsen Mobile estimates 2.9 million people received a text message from the Obama campaign that named its vice president over the weekend. Nic Covey, director of insights at the firm: "While much has been said of the timing and the scoop by news outlets, Obama's VP text-message still ranks as one of the most important text messages even sent and one of the most successful brand engagements using mobile media. The value of the message goes far beyond the 26 words and 2.9 million recipients. Here, Obama branded himself as cutting edge, inflated the already enormous press attention paid to his VP pick and further established a list of supporters' most coveted form of contact: their cell phone numbers." ( Release ). -- Kinoma releases mobile media Browser and player: Kinoma has launched Kinoma Play, a new mobile media browser and player that brings media capabilities to Windows Mobile smartphones. The application includes Kinoma Guide, a built-in search mechanism and catalog of more than a terabyte of media available online. Kinoma Play costs $29.99 and is compatible with Windows Mobile 5.0 and higher. ( Release ). -- Hi5 Mobile launches in 26 languages: San Francisco-based Hi5 launched a mobile version of its social network service in 26 languages, CNET reports . The site, which is used a lot in Latin America, has been optimized for the iPhone, BlackBerry and handsets from Nokia ( NYSE: NOK ) and Samsung. Hi5 doubled its visitor count over the past year, and recent comScore statistics show the social-networking space in Latin America has grown by a third since mid-2007. -- USOpen.org launches WAP site: USOpen.org has launched a WAP site and a variety of fresh mobile content ( http://www.usopen.org/en_US/interactive/sms/index.html?promo=hp_features ) along with almost 50 different types of text alerts, MobileContentToday reports . The site also launched a mobile sweepstakes with an opportunity to win...
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  • Facebook's Dedicated Button on 3 UK Phone; New Skypehone Integrates Other Social Nets

    3 UK is the first operator to integrate Facebook into the handset/device, with a "Facebook button" that will take users directly to the site. It will be part of an "ultimate handset", which will be launched for Christmas, reports MarketingWeek . This is the first such operator to do that, and in keeping with Facebook's huge popularity within UK...from 3's perspective, it is amping up its focus on mobile internet, which will be supported by a series of ad campaigns. Meanwhile, 3 has also launched a new version of Skypephone, with shipments to start August 27th. The new device gives users easy access to Facebook, Google ( NSDQ: GOOG ) and Windows Live Messenger and enables free Skype calls and IM. The new phone has added a new "carousel" interface, similar to what Sony ( NYSE: SNE ) has in its Clie PDA of yore. The switcher key on the side of the handset enables users to quickly move between applications from any screen on the phone. Details here . Related Skype And 3 launch Mobile Phone Service; In UK and 8 Other Countries 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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  • Mobile Content Bits: Nokia-Lonely Planet; Garmin-Where; UK Met Office; Palringo-iPhone

    -- Lonely Planet-Nokia Maps tie-up : Nokia ( NYSE: NOK ) has struck a distribution deal with Lonely Planet, which will provide Nokia Maps with downloadable destination guides. The guides, which are located in the Guides section in the Extras menu, cost 7.99 euros and can be downloaded over the air on select devices or sideloaded via a PC ( release ). -- Garmin gets local : Garmin has inked a deal with location-based application firm Ulocate to put its software Where.com on to some of its devices—though no specifics yet on which one, reports CNET . Where gives users access to Yelp reviews, GasBuddy, and the company's own Buddy Beacon software—which can be joined to a Facebook application to let users share their current locations with friends. -- UK weather service to provide video forecasts: The UK's state weather service Met Office is planning to offer made-for mobile video forecasts to operators, aggregators and handset firms, reports Mobile Entertainment. Currently, its mobile efforts have been confined to streamed bulletins on the MobiTV services of British broadcaster ITN. Met Office Media, the commercial arm of the weather tracker, has already plowed a "six-figure" sum to target new channels, including mobile. -- Palringo pushes talk on iPhone: Mobile instant messaging firm Palringo has added "Push to Talk"—or what it calls the vocal instant messaging—to its free iPhone application. Unlike most "push to talk" services from carriers, Palringo integrates with several existing IM services, including AOL's ( NYSE: TWX ) AIM, Google ( NSDQ: GOOG ) Talk, Yahoo! ( NSDQ: YHOO ) Messenger, Gadu Gadu, ICQ, Jabber, Windows Live Messenger, as well as Apple's iChat ( 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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  • Industry Moves: Bebo Hires Mobile Head; Will It Drop Premium Fees?

    Bebo is hiring Intercasting international GM Sean Kane as its first global head of mobile, charged with giving the teen-focused social net more legs in the wireless space. Bebo worked with Intercasting earlier this year to make its services available via the vendor's Anthem app, a white-label platform used by networks including T-Mobile (though other carriers like Orange offer Bebo via WAP). But the T-Mobile service (which, incidentally, refuses work on my handset) costs £0.05 per message and £0.20 per photo. Though the current Orange service is free, the initial deal , and Bebo's deal with O2 Ireland , asked users to pay monthly a Bebo Mobile fee on top of their carrier subscription. Bebo may have to jettison the premium model if it's really to drive up mobile use - after all, no-one pays to use Bebo on the desktop. Bebo's biz dev SVP Ziv Navoth, rather than AOL ( NYSE: TWX ) People Networks president Joanna Shields, fronted the press release; Kane said: "Mobile is emerging as a core part of the Bebo experience. By driving availability and adding compelling and unique mobile experiences we hope to make using Bebo Mobile as natural for our global userbase as connecting on a personal computer. We will ensure that our members can connect and enjoy the content, media and community Bebo has to offer in a mobile-relevant way." Kane had also been Vivendi ( EPA: VIV ) Universal's biz dev SVP and MP3.com Japan GM. Related Orange Readies Social Net Gateway; Bebo, Facebook Et Al On Board Bebo Added To T-Mobile Social Gateway, But It Will Cost You Orange UK Signs Up Social Network Bebo AOL's Purchase Of Bebo Could Boost Its Mobile Aspirations Check out the best business jobs in digital media. Go here for paidContent.org Job Board.
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  • 5.2B Mobile Subscribers By 2011, 1.7B On Mobile Web And 2.1B Mobile Purchases By 2013: Reports

    A trio of new research reports detail the dramatic and swift rise of mobile in terms of subscription growth, mobile web usage and mobile payments for goods downloaded to mobile phones. On Pace For 5.2 Billion Mobile Subscribers By 2011 Last year there were three times as many people using mobile phones than land lines worldwide (3.3 billion and 1.1 billion respectively), according to Infonetics Research. Mobile subscriptions jumped 31 percent year-over-year while land line subscriptions declined 5 percent in the same period. Latin America and the Caribbean are the only regions where land lines are expected to grow. Strong growth, no surprise, is expected to be primarily driven by voice services in Brazil, Russia, India and China – countries where double-digit GSM subscriber growth rates are common, the firm concluded. Based on the current rate of growth, it predicts there will be 5.2 billion mobile subscribers by 2011, at which time there will also be one wireless broadband subscriber for every four wireline broadband subscribers. ( Release ). 1.7 Mobile Web Users By 2013 The number of subscribers using the internet on their mobile phones is expect to nearly triple from 577 million today to more than 1.7 billion by 2013, according to a new report from Juniper Research. Social networking, user-generated content, instant messaging, location-based services and search and discovery are all driving a more open environment where users can share, collaborate and exploit content free from carrier restrictions, the firm wrote. Asia is expected to be the largest market for mobile web where almost 416 million users are anticipated to be surfing the internet on mobile phones in five years. Currently, 190 million users are accessing the mobile web there in those regions. Juniper Research predicts South America holds the "greatest untapped potential for mobile web" because of relatively low wireline broadband penetration in those countries. ( Release ). 2.1 Billion Mobile...
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  • Twitter 'Bigger In UK Than US', White Van Man Taking It Mainstream?

    And you thought it was mostly Americans addicted to the SMS/IM/web presence thingamy… ? Web measurer Hitwise says it's the reverse - at least, proportionally . "Last week the site's share of UK internet visits was 70 percent higher its share of visits in America," said analyst Robin Goad. " Twitter cannot yet be considered mainstream in the USA, but in the UK it's getting there ." Its growth here - 485 percent so far this year and 631 percent year-on-year - is slower than the eightfold annual international increase , though. Twitter may seem too esoteric and the crowd too geeky to be adopted by the Facebook masses, but Goad says the "demographics are also pointing towards more wide-spread adoption". Last month, the audience was evenly split on gender and over-45s made up 37 percent of users. And, while the most prevalent users are high-rolling "city adventures", students and young professionals, young families, ethnic-minority singles and "white van culture " (for our American readers, "a white van man" is sort of equivalent to a pick-up driving worker) are also heavily represented, suggesting "more mainstream appeal" , Goad said. Fancy metrics aside, the barometer I always use is the girlfriend test - if she's adopted a new technology (hey, it happened with Facebook and Last.fm), you know it's reached a tipping point; she started tweeting several weeks ago. Now if only Ev and Biz would tell us their business model.. Related Twitter Buys Micro-Blogging Search Site Summize; Reportedly $15M Cash+Stock
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  • German MoSo Aka-Aki Raises Investment To Go Full-Time

    German mobile social network Aka-Aki , which uses Bluetooth to do location-aware proximity networking and is also available in English, has raised a small investment of an undisclosed size from Crea Thor Ventures . The service started as a Berlin university diploma project but will, from August 15, have staff working full-time from an office in the city, Deutsche Startups says . This pretty mad explainer video is slightly confused but gets to the point in the end… ContentNext's EconCeleb Seminar examines what drives the economics of celebrity content. July 23, 2008 at the Roosevelt Hotel, Hollywood. Learn more .
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  • MySpace Mobile Goes To Russia With MTS Partnership

    Russia's largest mobile telco, MTS, has inked a deal to be the exclusive carrier of MySpace in the country and some of its former republics. The localized MySpace Russia will become part of MTS' WAP portal and the telco will launch a branded community back on the website, intending to get in to social and viral marketing. MTS said it had a strategy to develop Web 2.0 properties for the mobile. MySpace may still be popular around the world, but it doesn't figure in the list of Russia's top 15 websites, according to February comScore figures . There, social nets like Vkontakte , Odnoklassniki and LiveJournal rule the roost. ContentNext's EconCeleb Seminar examines what drives the economics of celebrity content. July 23, 2008 at the Roosevelt Hotel, Hollywood. Learn more .
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