Mobile Entertainment Issue 46, December 2008 by Intent Media (now Newbay Media Europe)

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DECEMBER 2008 ISSUE 46

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MOBILE ENTERTAINMENT FOR EVERYONE IN MOBILE CONTENT

Who’s shaping the future of the world’s most exciting media channel? After much consultation, we present...

THE TOP

50 ALSO INSIDE: NEWS • FEATURES • ANALYSIS • MOVES • STATS • EVENTS GUIDE • CHARTS

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ISSUE 46 December 08

Written in the Sky

News 4-6 Features 9 The Top 50

17 Black to front?

It’s that time of year again, as ME canvasses the industry to find the execs shaping events. Everyone wants to be on it, but who made the list in 2008?

A look at RIM’s new touchscreen Storm and its strategy for selling BlackBerry apps.

20 Pay check What’s everyone earning? Find out here.

13 Escaping the banner Saffron Digital convened some friends to talk about mobile advertising and video. ME listened in...

23 After the hype Direct2 Mobile’s Nick Lane expresses mild relief as reality strikes the mobile ad space.

Reference Section 27 Games spotlight 28 Shows 29 Databox 30 Product focus 32 Charts 34 Network subs 44 Discontent

Mobile Entertainment magazine – your direct link to the content biz No other B2B mobile content news source hits more eyeballs. Here's why: Monthly direct-to-desk print circ: 8,012 Monthly digital downloads: 2,236 Online uniques: 37,518 (Google Analytics) Email news digest subscribers: 12,129 Need to get your message across? Work with Mobile Entertainment magazine to maximise your exposure and reach all sectors of the industry, using print, online and events. Contact Tom.Roberts@intentmedia.co.uk for more details or call +44 (0) 1992 535 647

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SIX months ago a very well-known mobile content services provider told me the industry was heading for a sea-change, with the big entertainment brands ready to jump in and take control of their wireless destinies. And he wasn't talking about them merely running their own WAP portals. Those that had licensed their content (particularly rich content like video) to operators and had it all managed by third parties, were preparing to take it in-house. And now, it seems, this process is beginning to gather pace. Take UK pay TV giant Sky, for example. The last few months have seen the company realign its mobile management, take control of its “Brands are taking mobile ad inventory and, control of their a new deal wireless destinies – in with 3UK, beyond just stream all of its mobile TV running their own content itself WAP portals.” from outside the operator portal. In the latter instance, the operator is now merely playing the role of promoter. Sky holds the key to its own kingdom in mobile, just as it does on other platforms. And the content likely to be promoted most? The Sky Sports channels and, more importantly, Premier League football coverage. Now, no one's suggesting that Sky is suddenly going to have millions of people watching live footy on an N96, but it's a situation that nicely encapsulates the shifting sands. Back in 2003, Vodafone and 3 netted rights to show 380 Premier League matches on a delayed basis (part of a £100 million deal that included Sky taking web rights). Fast forward five years and Sky is live streaming all of its sports channels across 3, Voda, Orange, TMobile and, soon, O2. Vodafone and 3 could have fought to hang on to those footy rights. They could even have (competition rules withstanding) made a joint bid with the other UK operators to ease the financial burden. If there was ever going to be an ‘operator as media company’ dream,’ as opposed to the cliched ‘dumb pipe’ nightmare, then those were the kinds of properties the operators needed to be bidding for. They didn’t. Stuart.Obrien@intentmedia.co.uk

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NEWS

Introducing the social phone 3UK unveils the ‘ultimate’ social networking device, with Facebook, IM and more NEARLY three years after terrifying everyone with its Skypephone, Hutchison Whampoa has made another assault on the status quo with the INQ1. 3UK’s new device integrates Facebook, Skype, Windows Live Messenger and Last.fm to deliver what the network terms the ‘ultimate social networking experience', the INQ1. Audaciously, it will be available free on a contract from £15 per month offering unlimited free access to the apps and the web. The prepay price is £79.99, with internet packages available from £5 per month.

The arrival of the INQ1 could fuel the argument that operators are becoming dumb pipes, because it routes users to third party services and all 3 gets in return is a monthly flat fee. But after the launch of Skypephone and a major push into the broadband market (via USB dongles), that seems to be perfectly fine with operator. It all seems like a long time since 3 was proudly describing itself as a media company. Kevin Russell, CEO of 3 UK, said: “3 has already delivered the first unlimited

3UK’s INQ1 phone is the network’s most audacious handset package since the Skypephone

It seems like a long time since 3UK was describing itself as a mobile media company.

www.three.co.uk

Sky’s the limit in mobile for BSkyB BSKYB has flexed its muscles in mobile by taking direct control of its on-portal ad sales network. The UK pay TV giant has begun to sell display inventory around its own syndicated on-portal content, in addition to its off-portal inventory on Vodafone and T-Mobile. It’s also offering mobile content within its cross-platform adverting rate card, which also includes TV and online. Adidas and Fiat are the first brands to sign up to an integrated mobile ad offering that embraces placements around Sky Sports, Sky News and Football 365. Sky is using Ad Infuse's adInMotion platform to serve campaigns within its mobile content, with ads targeted according to content type 4

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Sky is taking back control of its content services and mobile ad network in the UK

data tariffs, the first free, open Instant Messenger services and the first fullyintegrated Skype-enabled phone. INQ1 takes these services, and more, to offer a uniquely powerful and competitively priced mass market internet phone.” The news was announced to a background of rising mobile broadband connectivity. The GSM Association confirmed last month that high speed mobile broadband subs using HSPA are flying all over the world. It said there are now 60 million people using HSPA via various devices, a tenfold increase in monthly subs between June 2007 and June 2008. There are now 199 live HSPA networks in 93 countries today.

and context, time of day, geographical information and in-network browsing behaviour. Tim Hussain, BSkyB’s head of mobile advertising, said: “By expanding our range of advertising opportunities to include mobile, we can offer advertisers a seamless brand experience across the three principle platforms through which our customers now consume content.” Another indication of BSkyB’s increasing selfdetermination in mobile came in the new deal with 3UK that sees the media firm streaming content from an off-portal site. The service is not zero rated, so customers have to take a data add-on starting at £2.50 a month. www.sky.com

Search is on Yahoo closes T-Mobile USA deal to keep the pressure on search rivals

THE BATTLE to boss mobile search is hotting up, as the monolithic online search brands renew their focus on the small screen. Last month T-Mobile USA selected Yahoo as the default search partner for most of its devices. The deal will also see Yahoo power the ‘web2go’ app store that’s replacing the T-Zones portal. The search giant will show sponsored links and display ads on the results page. The activity sustains Yahoo’s push into mobile and keeps the pressure on

pureplays such as Medio and Jumptap. Yahoo squeezed out Medio and Google when it took over T-Mobile Europe’s search role in March. However, Medio stressed that its deal with T-Mobile USA on consumable content ‘remains in place’. Meanwhile, over at Verizon, Google and Microsoft are battling to become designated search provider. Reports say the deal would include guaranteed payments to Verzion of up to $650 million. http://mobile.yahoo.com

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App store idea rises in the East World’s biggest opco to support open developer store concept China Mobile’s Jianzhou says the new store will welcome “all content providers”

THE Apple App store model is still inspiring the business – now China Mobile is preparing to adopt it. The world’s biggest operator, with over 450 million subs, outlined its intentions at the GSMA Mobile Asia Congress. Its CEO Wang Jianzhou, said: “We will set up our own shop and, we hope, welcome all content providers to sell their software applications, games, songs and any other products.” The app store model gives

developers free access to the deck and ranks products according to popularity. It’s different from the typical operator approach, which limits content to that selected by in-house teams. It’s unclear when China Mobile will launch, and what its rev share would be. Apple gives 70 per cent back to developers, while BlackBerry’s forthcoming app store will return 80 per cent. www.chinamobile.com

It’s TIM for an expansion Investor tour planned as B2B, D2C and marketing activities ramp up PORTUGAL’S TIM w.e. has launched a funding drive to consolidate its position in B2B and D2C content. The firm will embark on an international roadshow this month, meeting private equity investors in an attempt to sell a 15 per cent to 25 per cent share in the company. It will visit London, New York, Boston and San Francisco and is seeking investors with existing interests in media. The company already has a formidable presence in much of the world – especially in Spanish and Portuguese speaking markets. It claims to reach almost two billion mobile users through its 21 direct sales channels and 200 www.mobile-ent.biz

plus operator partners. TIM w.e. offers white-label content stores, interactive TV services and D2C portals via its own brand Natta! The latter is now live in 11 countries across Europe, the US, South Africa and elsewhere. TIM w.e. also plans to accelerate its work in mobile marketing. It recently launched an agency, MKTM, to offer everything from creative to planning and buying. It’s already active in 14 countries. The company can present a pretty compelling offer to would-be investors. It posted a E67 million turnover in 2007 and plans to post up to E120 million this year. www.timwe.com

Amdocs is Changing Amdocs is to buy the personalisation specialist ChangingWorlds for $60 million. The transactions giant intends to expand ChangingWorlds’ technology to three screens (mobile, PC and TV). ChangingWorlds works with operators to help deliver a more personalised browsing experience to users.

Music subs on 3 Austria

MPEX prepares for impact New content affiliate system being rolled out by Vertigo Agency

24-7 Entertainment has launched a dual delivery store for Hutchison 3G Austria that includes allyou-can-eat music. The ala-carte offering features over 3.3 million audio tracks in MP3 and WMA and over 60,000 video tracks in WMV. The subscription service, called MoreMusic, offers a weekly sub for €2.99, and a monthly sub for €10. Universal Music is the only major participating.

Big Blyk cheque Blyk has raised €40 million to ‘support its ongoing operations and international expansion’. The MVNO offers free calls and texts to 16-24 year-olds in return for them receiving ads on their phone. It is live in the UK and claims to have 200,000 customers.

GSMA gets touchy The GSMA has accelerated its work in near field communications (NFC). It’s revealed a new initiative to promote use of 'pay-buy-mobile' handsets, calling for full functionality to be built into commercially available handsets from mid-2009. NFC lets users wave their handset across a reader and have the amount deducted from their phone bill, credit or debit card.

IMI into Europe IMI Mobile has acquired dx3, a UK digital content delivery specialist. The Indian firm says the deal is the first step in a European expansion plan designed to make the company one of the largest managed service providers for digital content in the region.

Vertigo Agency is readying the roll out of its mobile content affiliate system. MPEX (Mobile Portal Exchange) generates a network of ring-fenced, offdeck WAP sites, with the aim of creating a virtuous circle of visitor traffic that benefits both site ‘promoters’ and content providers alike.

compliant with Payforit, and provides live stats and scheduled royalty payments. It will initially roll out in the UK, Spain, Australia and South Africa. The firm already has relationships with adult providers, and is now looking to expand into nonadult, with Player X and Melodi already on board.

Sites contain links to others in the marketplace, thus keeping users within the network. So, a promoter (a magazine publisher, for example) can select content from the catalogue of approved MPEX providers. Its site then contains banner links to other sites in the marketplace, thus keeping users within the network. Revenue from content purchases is split between Vertigo, site promoter and content provider. This means there’s even greater incentive for companies acting as both promoters and content providers. Vertigo says the system is

Dean Butler, account director at Vertigo, told ME: “We’re open to all promoters and suppliers, particularly on the nonadult side, games. The key thing is that partners will benefit from every individual MPEX network, regardless of where the surfer finally buys from. We are also keen to speak with international aggregators who wish to bolt MPEX into their existing billing infrastructures and customer bases.” www.vertigoagency.com

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NEWS

A Gig for the world After success in Russia, Gigafone claims its pre-call and text message ad insertion platform is now winning fans all over the world. RUSSIA’S Gigafone says it has rolled out its mobile advertising solution with operators across 10 countries and three continents. The company announced its intention to white-label its platform beyond its home country at Mobile World Congress in February. Now, it claims deployments in Germany, Philippines,

Thailand, Malaysia, China, Taiwan, India, Indonesia and South Africa. Partners such as AIS Thailand and Zing Mobile Indonesia have signed up to deploy a proprietary platform that presents full screen interactive ads that are displayed on screen before an incoming call or message. According to Gigafone, this system delivers ads at the

moment when the phone is most visible. And once the call is ended, consumers can interact with the on-screen message, clicking through to mobile internet micro sites or clicking to call. Gigafone believes the combination of a ubiquitous initial presentation with a multiplicity of channels to ‘action’ is what makes its service compelling. Gregory Khaldey, founder and president of the company said: “Cell broadcast, mobile social networking, content upsell, ticketing, mobile TV, sport and loyalty programmes can all be supported by the full screen platform.” Just as important is the question of user permission and privacy. Khaldey adds that the

Nokia does an E with consumers

enthusiasm of users to signup is another reason why operators have come on board. “The mobile phone is a deeply personal device, and content delivered through that channel should respect permission, preference and privacy protocols,” he said. Gigafone is now on an expansion drive as it seeks to accelerate its deployments around the world. It currently exploys 120 at sites in Siberia, Amsterdam and Moscow. It is also opening an office in Singapore to boost its technological base. Gigafone’s platform first launched in Russia in 2005, and quickly attracted major brand advertisers. The firm says it yielded click-through rates of between 40 and 55 per cent.

NOKIA is aiming its previously po-faced Eseries at the lifestyle market. Its marketing blurb describes the E63 as a ‘device that keeps people in touch with their social network’ as well as their business network. The switch may have been inspired by RIM’s makeover as seen in devices like the Bold and Storm. The E63 includes wi-fi, Files on Ovi, 1GB of online storage, a link to Nokia Music Store and a 3.5mm headphone jack for all that downloaded music. It will ship in the coming weeks at €199 without contract.

www.gigafone.com

www.nokia.com

Blogging without blunders A company blog can be a great business tool, but it comes with legal responsibilities, says Tahir Basheer, partner at media law firm Sheridans... "It's good to talk" ran the old BT slogan. Today, thanks to blogging, we don’t need encouragement to speak our minds. Before the web, it was hard to get opinions out there. Today, it’s easy, and even BT has a blog. Like everything online, blogging is a great leveller – if your opinions are exciting they’ll be linked across the Web. Blogging shortcuts editors, and can be a great way to reach trade contacts and consumers. But with power comes responsibility. Without an experienced publisher between words and audience, the unwary blogger can open his company up to risks. The result could simply be bad PR. But it could equally result in criminal proceedings. Don’t be put off, though. With care and legal 6

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oversight, blogging can get your firm heard in a crowded world. Here are Sheridan’s 12 rules to blog by: 1. Avoid obscene, racist, or intolerant material: It can lead to criminal proceedings. 2. Honour copyright: Link to relevant articles, rather than copying and pasting. 3. Privacy matters: People will sue over allegations made on an anonymous blog. 4. Opinions must be accurate: ‘Fair comment' protects honestly held opinions, but they must be based on accurate facts. 5. Watch reader comments: Disabling feedback may not be Web 2.0, but it's safer. 6. The internet is global: Acceptable in one country is actionable in another. 7. Consider rivals: Don’t give out trade secrets. 8. Investigate complaints: Remove anything illegal or

libellous. Acting slowly can weaken a defence. 9. PR and image: Expensive PR will be undermined if staff make spelling errors etc. 10. Don't bad-mouth competitors: It looks cheap, and you could be sued. 11. Out of hours blogging: Protection of company secrets and data should be part of staff contracts. 12. Don't fake it: UK law prohibits false blogs that give the impression they are written by consumers. www.mobile-ent.biz

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A mobile and interactive global marketing company. One of the fastest growing companies in new media entertainment, with 24 offices worldwide. Want to check us out? Find everything here

www.timwe.com

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TOP 50

The leading question After much consultation and with some trepidation, Mobile Entertainment presents its annual list of the 50 most important people in mobile content. Start arguing now... Ray Anderson CEO, Bango

Andrew Bud Executive chairman, Mblox

Bango is still innovating in and around the off-portal space, driving small companies into m-commerce with Bango Start and providing mobile advertisers with valuable metrics via Bango Analytics.

Bud saw the potential of premium SMS as a billing medium before most – and is now pioneering WAP billing and driving into the US. Recently elected chair of the MEF.

Rio Caraeff, EVP, UMG eLabs

Marco Argenti MD, Dada.net

Universal is the world’s biggest music company, and was first to commit to Nokia’s game changing Comes With Music idea. Caraeff has been at the top of the mobile team since the beginning.

Dada was building mobile communities before most others thought about it. It’s now merging social media with music, and has an interesting partnership with Sony BMG. Argenti also has a role on the MEF global board.

Stanislas Chesnais CEO, Netsize

Ron Czerny, CEO, PlayPhone Czerny has built PlayPhone into a major force in US D2C, and is now one of the most powerful players in the B2B space, thanks to deals with Walmart and many others. Now expanding into Europe with Pitch.

Jim Beddows Head of content and application partnerships, Microsoft Salil Bharava CEO, Jump Games With the backing of the giant Reliance corporation, India’s Jump Games was able to pull off a massive deal with Man Utd, and is now opening offices across the world. It’s also on the acquisitions trail – and there are bargains to be had. Greg Ballard CEO, Glu Mobile Glu is one of the big three games companies still standing. Ballard and team have had a tough time on the public markets, but Glu commands enough deck space to be a force in the business.

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Microsoft is slowly gathering OS market share – at least in the US. Beddows has a formidable track record with Disney, Bandai Networks and 20th Century Fox. He currently serves as MEF Americas chair too.

Martin Blomkvist Head of content acquisition and management, Sony Ericsson Not a great year for Sony Ericsson as a whole, but big things are happening at the content unit. The PlayNow music store has started selling DRMfree tracks and is working with Omnifone on flat-rate music subscription. Blomkvist should be busy through 2009.

Netsize remains a major influence in mobile payments and marketing services – especially in mainland Europe. It is now directly connected to 80 operators in the continent. Its Netsize Guide is an industry bible.

Mark Bookman CEO, MCN After good results in Japan with the major operators, MCN is now taking its ‘federated search’ concept into global markets. The novel approach, which aggregates results from various search engines, is now being expanded across Asia Pac, Scandinavia, the US and Turkey. MCN also offers an ‘Allwords’ ad bidding system.

Tom Daly Group manager, strategy and planning, The Coca-Cola Company One of the brands most committed to supporting mobile through banners, marketing and even advergames. Daly was recently made vice-chair of the MMA.

Javier Pérez Dolset CEO, Zed Russell Buckley VP of alliances, AdMob The public face of AdMob, which serves four billion ads a month across indie WAP sites. He’s moving to a global ambassadorial role soon, which ties in nicely with his work as chair of MMA Global.

Zed has always done things differently – developing products almost entirely in-house, and moving into community services ahead of most others. It should turn over around $850 million this calendar year, and has a huge credit line with which to keep expanding.

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TOP 50

Jay Emmet General manager, OpenMarket

Tim Harrison Director of marketing, EA Mobile

Amdocs claims to reach 98 per cent of US mobile subscribers, and runs the OpenMarket mobile commerce platform. Emmet joined in August from mBlox.

Fabuously well-connected in mobile gaming, which is hardly surprising since Harrison went from the juggernaut that is Vodafone to the EA behemoth.

Venetia Espinoza Group manager, mobile applications and partner programs, T-Mobile USA

Thomas Hesse, President of global digital business, Sony BMG

T-Mobile may be the smallest of the major US operators, but Espinoza’s plan to move its portal towards an ‘open’ App Store model could have huge ramifications.

Another towering figure in digital music, Hesse has presided over intriguing moves such as the JV with Italy’s D2C specialist Dada and the decision to join Nokia’s Comes With Music project.

Gerard Grech Director of strategy/biz dev, content division, France Telecom Grech is responsible for a huge range of products and services – especially with France Telecom committed to a triple play strategy. He also heads MEF Europe.

Barry Houlihan, MD, Mobile Interactive Group MIG keeps on growing, and is now a serious player in content, participation TV, mobile advertising and even ‘experiential’. Especially well connected with broadcasters, for whom it has all kinds of ideas in development.

Steve Jobs CEO, Apple Jobs claims Apple is the world’s third biggest vendor, with 13 million iPhone sales to date. What’s incontestable is the effect the device has had on UI and content retailing.

Emma Lloyd Head of mobile, Sky Sky has a formidable presence on operator decks, and has put marketing oomph behind products like 24-7 Football. Lloyd can expect a more rewarding time at Sky than she had at the doomed BT Movio.

Michel Guillemot CEO, Gameloft Gameloft has emerged from the consolidation in the games sector to share the top spot with EA. It’s achieved this via a vast distribution and developer resource.

December 2008

Sean Kane Global head of mobile, Bebo

Andrew Gilbert, President, Qualcomm Internet Services Gilbert moved from a European role to become the figurehead for Qualcomm’s internet services unit and propel the company’s ongoing drive into widgets, mobile TV and content distribution.

Pieter Knook Director of internet services, Vodafone Knook was a big money transfer from Microsoft, hired by Voda to design a new services strategy. It’s been a bit quiet since then, but ME understands that Knook is masterminding an audacious new direction for the giant operator.

Marcus Ladwig, COO, Peperonity

Third behind Facebook and MySpace, but with 45 million youthful users, Bebo is still a big player. It already has numerous carrier deals.

Germany’s Peperoni has been beavering away at mobile social networking for years. Its Peperonity network has approximately ten million unique users and half a billion page impressions per month.

Jay Kim EVP of APAC, WiderThan

KF Lai CEO, BuzzCity

WiderThan created the ringback tone and the successful music rental service Mel-on. Kim has overall control of WiderThan’s music strategy, and has served as a board member of MEF Asia.

BuzzCity’s myGamma social network service reaches 2.7 million users in 70 countries. Lai has used this as a base upon which to build an off deck ad network, and served 1.7 billion paid impressions in July 2008 alone.

Mitch Lazar MD of connected life, Yahoo! Europe Yahoo! has stolen quite a bit of business from the pureplay mobile search companies with its Go and OneSearch suite of services.It has also become a force in advertising. Lazar is a Yahoo! veteran with a big new job.

Rob Lewis CEO, Omnifone Had the vision to see the potential of subscription music for mobile through a rich media app. More importantly, he had the drive to make it happen. Now MusicStation is established with Vodafone and is going to LG and Sony Ericsson too.

Brandon Lucas Senior director of mobile business development, MySpace The sheer brand power of MySpace has made it the world’s most popular mobile destination after Google. Lucas’s decisions could have a dramatic effect on the whole biz.

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TOP 50

Jay McClary Director, mobile search and advertising, AOL

appointed to lead the newly merged Jamba/Fox entity last month.

The US has, probably unsurprisingly, taken to mobile advertising. McClary has quite a role to play, as AOL owns Third Screen Media (possibly biggest mobile banner ad agency in the US).

Tony Pearce CEO, Player X Under Pearce, the veteran games distributor has stealthily moved into video and also store management. It now runs games retailing for O2 with its 100% portal concept. Opened a testing lab in India too.

Mauro del Rio Chairman, Buongiorno

Midori Yuasa President, Capcom Mobile Yuasa was appointed in 2005 to head up Capcom’s mobile and interactive division. But her workload escalated when she was tasked to lead a fresh drive into Europe earlier this year.

Rich Miner Group manager, mobile platforms, Google Originally part of the Danger handset team, which pitched the idea of mobile to Google over two years ago. Now leading the unit behind the G1 Android phone, which has just launched with T-Mobile.

Alistair Mitchell VP, multimedia integration, RIM The handsets are getting sexier and there’s a new app store coming in March. Mitchell will use his experience as founder of digital music firm Puretracks to define a media direction for Blackberry.

Mauro Montonaro CEO, Fox Mobile After a messy two years since Jamba was bought by News Corp, all eyes are on Montonaro after he was

www.mobile-ent.biz

Buongiorno’s excellent recent results vindicated its decision to buy iTouch, move into marketing by acquiring Flytxt and invest in ‘mobile 2.0’ services such as Blinko and Bing. The company also has thriving B2B content outsourcing operation with networks worldwide.

Neeraj Roy CEO, Hungama

Vince Staybl CEO, Gofresh Staybl has thrown down the gauntlet to the web-based social networks with his pureplay service itsmy.com. Constant service innovation has gathered four million users. The next phase is an internal ad market.

Jed Stremel Director of mobile, Facebook Incredible year for Facebook. In mobile, the firm claims about ten million active users every month, with numbers doubling every six months. Its apps are increasingly being embedded by operators and handset vendors.

Under Sabharwal, Tanla Mobile began as a billing provider little known outside of India. But it can now offer its customers an array of payment and content services in Europe and North America.

Jon von Tetzchner CEO, Opera Software Tetzchner and his colleague Geir Ivarsøy conceived Opera when they worked for Telenor Research in 1995. The made-for-mobile browser Opera Mini now has 21 million enthusiastic users worldwide.

Are Traasdahl CEO, Thumbplay Anssi Vanjoki Executive VP and general manager of multimedia, Nokia ME’s ‘outstanding contribution’ award winner in 2008 has

Roy has an incontestable claim to be India’s premier mobile content ambassador. Hungama’s impeccable Bollywood connections make it the country’s foremost CP. It also has a flourishing marketing unit. Roy has just been appointed the new chair of MEF Asia.

Gautam Sabharwal Director, Tanla Mobile

masterminded Nokia’s move into content services with Ovi, Nokia Music Store, Nokia Maps and NGage. He was also behind the very successful Nseries device range, although he failed to convince the trade to call them ‘multimedia computers’. Got quite a year ahead.

Norwegian Traasdahl ensured Thumbplay was first into the embryonic US D2C market when it launched in 2005. Thumbplay now has deals with all major labels and s well-established among the US’s top off-portal players.

Lee Williams Executive director, Symbian Foundation The second life of Symbian, as an open source organisation, will be led by Williams, who switched from a similar role at Nokia Series 60 in October. Tero Ojanperä EVP, entertainment and communities, Nokia Ojanperä is the public face of Nokia in the entertainment and social media spaces. He’s made a lot of presentations in the last 18 months, and in 2009 he’ll start to find out whether they were all worth it.

Yingbo Zhu VP, China Mobile Everyone wants to cosy up to China Mobile, with its continent-sized user base. It’s not easy, and the operator remains quite inscrutable. Zhu is its representative in overseas markets.

Ralph Simon Chairman Emeritus, MEF Americas Still roving the world and getting inordinately excited about interesting new content ideas. Simon received ME’s ‘outstanding achievement’ award in 2007 – and quite right too. He’s the industry’s man in Hollywood, Silicon Valley and even Capitol Hill.

How annoyed are you? There’s nothing like a top 50 list to inspire pride in those nominated and contempt among those who think the compilers are misguided idiots. It’s not all our own work – we do poll dozens of industry figures to assemble the list. Still, if you’re in the wounded camp, target your rage at tim.green@intentmedia.co.uk.

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MOBILE ADS ROUNDTABLE

Serves you right Saffron Digital convened a group of executives from across the value chain to discuss video and mobile advertising. Tim Green chucked in a few questions and compiled this report… Tim Green: How do you sum up the health of the mobile ad space?

Nicolas Wheeler: It’s just due process, it always takes time.

David Fieldhouse: Right now, mobile is a poor version of online. We still don’t have the measurement. Buying a banner on MSN mobile is less accountable than buying one on MSN online. That’s the reality.

Alex Rahaman: On the web you don’t have a privacy issue, because Comscore does a panel to tell you about typical uniques on a site. Until someone can do the same on mobile, there will be no way to know the difference between sites, and until then, why would you buy mobile ads?

Shashi Fernando: Ultimately, though, you’ve got to remember that online advertising took 20 years to get where it is now. Nicolas Wheeler: We need to provide demographics and data that advertisers can get from other media. If we can do this, we’ll be better than everything else. I mean, you buy an ad on TV and you don’t now whether someone’s watching or making a cup of tea. With mobile we can guarantee that engagement.

Neil Andrews: This is what we’re doing with the GSMA. Alex Rahaman: Off portal too? Neil Andrews: We’re looking at that. The GSMA is meeting twice a month on a proof of concept to take data, aggregate it and feed it back to brands. It will be actual data, not panels, with the basic info free and the rest in packages.

With TV ads you don’t know if someone’s watching or making a cup of tea. With mobile we can guarantee engagement. Nicholas Wheeler, ITNOn David Fieldhouse: Right – one device, one person, one location. Tim Green: So, are legacy systems in the operators the barrier to getting these metrics out? Shashi Fernando: I don’t think so, not now. We can plug our platform in and it aggregates the data and knows a person’s behaviour and location. Neil Andrews: The issue is more one of privacy. Everyone is being very cautious. Our primary business is the network. Trying to turn that round will take a while.

www.mobile-ent.biz

Ben Tatton-Brown: We shouldn’t get away from the fact that there is a market now. In four months, we’ve booked $1 million of advertising. It’s about direct response for our clients. I agree we don’t have metrics, but it’s still a market that demonstrates to a client that they can generate X amount of subs or sales and it works for them. That makes it quite a big industry in itself. Tim Green: But aren’t the advertisers mostly mobile companies. Aren’t we just talking to ourselves? Ben Tatton-Brown: I don’t disagree

The participants: James MacDonald................................................................... O2 (Europe) Neil Andrews .........................................................................................3UK Tim Hussain ......................................................................................BSkyB Matt White .........................................................................................Yahoo David Fieldhouse .......................................................................Mediacom Nicolas Wheeler ...............................................................................ITNOn Joe Braman .................................................................Turner Broadcasting Alex Rahaman ..............................................................................Unaminis Ben Tatton-Brown .............................................................Ring Ring Media David McDonald ..................................................................Saffron Digital Shashi Fernando ..................................................................Saffron Digital

December 2008 13

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MOBILE ADS ROUNDTABLE

mobile in ways that can’t be imagined yet. We have to sell that vision to the young lad in the agency.

with that. Obviously we’d like to encourage more brands, and for that we do need more transparency and metrics.

Joe Brahman: Right. The key will be to convince people at the lower end of the organisation. The guys at the top, they just see the margins that are so high on TV.

Matt White: The big banks were starting to spend, till their budgets got slashed. They’re close to committing. For the most part, mobile is great for branding and mobile consumable goods right now. The truth is, David [Fieldhouse] is only one of ten major agencies dedicated to mobile.

Tim Green: In terms of inventory, where’s all the traffic going – especially with mobile video? Shashi Fernando: People should be able to watch video anywhere, but if operators let that happen, then they cut themselves out of te chain. If they lose out that’s bad for everyone.

Tim Green: Is mobile advertising still too expensive? David Fieldhouse: CPMs have been very high, ludicrously high. Matt White: They are, but having said that pre-roll video gets you access to bigger budgets because agencies are making 30 second spots on other channels and you get access to their budgets. I was getting campaigns worth £30,000 from the TV boys – a relatively small amount for them, but it was my whole spend for one client.

David Fieldhouse: The networks have a billing relationship though. That’s different to AOL and the ISPs. Tim Hussain: No, it’s we that have the billing relationship. We’re processing 2.2m credit cards a month. But we don’t take 40 per cent of the revenue from our partners. I still think there’s a lot of similarity between operators now and ISPs early in the decade. It’s difficult for them. I was at AOL, so I’ve been through the walled garden, through making it hard and then easy for people to get off-portal, and finally having to sell that bit of the business. But I’m interested in what is good for the consumer.

Alex Rahaman: The iPhone has made people realise they can watch video and that there are opportunities to advertise either side of it. Generally we’re waiting for some industry standards to emerge, just like with web buttons and banners. The market needs to be commoditised. David Fieldhouse: The reality is 25 year-old buyers in agencies are being offered 23 millon people online at £15 CPM with cookies and so on, while mobile charges three times the amount for ‘we can’t tell you much’. So, yes, we have done mobile campaigns with major brands, but only where they tell us ‘we don’t care, we just want to try it.’ We’ll get there, though. The mobile internet will be huge, we all know that. I’ve been in 15 client meetings planning for 2009 and they’re all interested in mobile. Implementing it – that’s the dark art. Tim Green: Are we seeing more creative ideas for mobile advertising and video? David McDonald: We’re working with customers on mobile video overlays, and click to video from banners. We’re getting up to seven

www.mobile-ent.biz

Ultimately though, you have to remember it took online advertising 20 years to get to where it is today. Shashi Fernando, Saffron Digital per cent click throughs. We have to over-impress media buyers to make up for lack of data. David Fieldhouse: We’ve got clients looking at video campaigns using viral bluetooth. The location based Terminator app was the best I saw. 20:20 London took it really seriously and it worked brilliantly. But will every client do it? No. Will they take a 30 second TV ad and compress it. Probably. Shashi Fernando: We can serve the same advertising campaigns across

different channels, and do time sensitive ads… David Fieldhouse: That’s interesting to me, and if you explained it to my clients, they’d probably love it. But it feels like cart before horse. It’s three years away. 3G at minimum needs to be there. You’ve got to have the installed base. Nicolas Wheeler: It was the same with radio, but then they made it sexy, created awards and so on. And it became a great creative medum. I realy think we can be creative in

Shashi Fernando: And that’s free data, surely. Tim Hussain: Well, it’s never free. You always pay someone for access. Shashi Fernando: But it’s a tricky one. All operators face issues of capacity, latency, affordability for them and everyone else. They have to find a business model that works. I don’t think they’ve found it. Alex Rahaman: The trouble is that the 80 per cent of users not on flat rate data plans end up being penalised. David Fieldhouse: Right. The core consumer is on pre-pay in most territories, so it’s most expensive of all for them to access what we have to offer. You can be in meetings with clients and the minute they know you’re going to charge consumers, you’ve lost them.

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BLACKBERRY CONTENT

Specific

RIM

With the launch of its Storm and Bold devices, and the imminent roll-out of a developer app store, Blackberry is stepping up its push into the consumer market. Tim Green found out more… n the middle of 2007, with the industry still reeling from the shock of iPhone, Nokia’s Anssi Vanjoki made headlines when he candidly remarked that Nokia wasn’t afraid to see a good idea and nick it. Not his exact words, but you got the gist. Since then plenty of others have reacted with speed and flexibility to the best that Steve Jobs had to offer. Few better than RIM. True, Apple might have eaten into its enterprise business, but the Canadian company has been on a rapid upwards curve

begin submitting apps for inclusion from this month. As with the Apple App store, developers will set their own prices for content and retain an 80 per cent rev share. Free content will be part of the proposition too. Intriguingly RIM is working with PayPal to provide consumers with a convenient way to pay for apps from the device. One would assme that not all operators will appreciate this, but RIM stresses it’s working with carriers to provide customised ondevice app centres too.

With the app store, RIM is going head to head with Apple, Google, Nokia and others in the content retail space. for four years, and it wasn’t about to let new market ideas deflect it. In truth both Apple and RIM have grown at the expense of longer established firms like Motorola. In the last two months RIM has demonstrated its agility by unveiling an elegant touchscreen device, the Blackberry Storm (exclusively with Vodafone) and – more significantly for the ME audience – confirming plans to launch its own app store with on-device portal. It means RIM is now going head to head with Apple, Nokia, Microsoft and Google in the mobile content retail race. The storefront will launch in March 2009, with developers able to

www.mobile-ent.biz

It’s all very exciting, but it’s not just pressure from Apple and G1 that’s prompted the app store move. At the time Mike Lazaridis, president of RIM, reflected that more consumer-friendly BlackBerry features had helped generate thousands of lifestyle oriented downloads, and that this is the next stage. Indeed, RIM claims that more than 70 per cent of its enterprise customers have deployed BlackBerry apps beyond email, while a survey by Magmic Games and ISG said 65 per cent of BlackBerry or smartphone users purchase a mobile entertainment product at least once every three months.

Magmic’s Nicholas Reichenbach believes the halo effect of the app store will help all Blackberry content distributors

At present, content is offered to consumers through embedded links in the device that route to operator stores (generally managed by partners such as Sprite Interactive, which works with Orange for example), Blackberry’s own portal (at mobile.blackberry.com) or to third party portals run by Handmark, Handango, Magmic and others. Clearly RIM takes content seriously. Rory O’Neill, director of solutions and alliances at RIM (EMEA) says: “We’ve got ‘alliance partners’ in every region and they work with 340 carriers in 140 countries to customise

December 2008 17

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BLACKBERRY CONTENT

Touch and go RIM’s first touchscreen device surprised observers expecting a hurriedly-developed wannabe. ME had a play with the Storm...

RIM’s president Mike Lazaridis has moved Blackberry stealthily into the lifestyle market

the offering. They can either host the content or push it to partners.” In the last year, there’s been an acceleration in content and services for Blackberry. Puretracks launched a DRM-Free music store while QuickPlay Media brought free video streaming to BlackBerry Pearl users in the US and Canada. Then there was the Facebook client, which shifted over one million months after launch at CTIA in October 2007. Meanwhile lifetime sales of Magmic’s Texas Hold’em King game have exceeded five million.

demand for apps – and that has to be good for everyone.” But Magmic has publishing and distribution agreements with just about every major games firm (except Gameloft), so isn’t it possible that these partners could go it alone on the app store instead? “It’s possible. But we have some exclusive agreements and our library is very extensive. Again, I think the store is a great shop window for us.” Magmic’s future is also insured to a degree by the complexity of Blackberry app files. The file size

There’s been an acceleration in Blackberry content... the Facebook app alone has shifted over one million in months. The question for Blackberry content vendors such as Magmic must now be how to prepare for the ‘app store’ era. Nicholas Reichenbach, EVP of publishing for Magmic Games, is optimistic even though it’s feasible the store could take traffic from Magmig’s bplay store. He says: “We’re working with RIM on this and see the app store as a destination for our content. It can only improve the discovery process and increase overall

December 2008

deters some operators from offering their own OTA stores; the billing systems can’t handle them. This is why Verizon, for example, re-directs users to the ‘bplay’ deck where content is bought with credit cards, and a third of apps are sideloaded. 2009 will be a breakthrough year for the smartphone market. With its new devices and app store, Blackberry is loosening its tie, shedding its business image and jumping in.

RIM’s first touchscreen, the Storm, is the impressive result of a long term strategic alliance with Vodafone, which helped design it from the ground up. Indeed, one of the most striking facets of the device is the re-invented Vodafone Live client. It looks nothing like the standard WAP deck, with scrolling colourful pages representing each major component of the portal. There are an impressive range of preloaded apps too. Unsurprisingly YouTube, Flickr, Facebook et al take pride of place here. But the most remarked-

upon element of the BlackBerry Storm is the screen. Yes, it’s big and impressively hi-res, and yes it has portrait to landscape switching. It can even do cut and paste – a first on any touchscreen. But it’s the input method that impresses most. The screen uses double tapping to activate commands. Crucially though the Storm’s screen floats a fraction to give a physical click too. This is important given the use of the BlackBerry as business tool. RIM can’t afford a dodgy UI with email such a priority, and it’s succeeded elegantly here.

Inside the head of the Blackberry user 65 per cent of BlackBerry or smartphone users purchase a mobile entertainment product at least once every three months 45 per cent earn $100,000 or more 63 per cent describe themselves as business executives 60 per cent enjoyed puzzle games most 41 per cent play games during their workday Source: ISG online survey for Magmic Games

RIM financials 2Q 2009 revenue 2Q 2009 revenue breakdown

2Q 2009 shipments 1H 2009 shipments 2Q 2009 subs Total BlackBerry subscribers

$2.58 billion, up 88 per cent year on year 82 per cent devices 13 per cent services 3 per cent software 2 per cent other 6.1 million devices 11 million devices 2.6 million 19 million

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SALARY SURVEY

Pay day his time last year, we published the results of the first IMR Executive ‘Mobile Content Salary Survey’. What a different world it was then. The study made great – or horrifying – reading depending on how the salaries compared to your own remuneration. But just 12 months later, it’s just nice to have a job, no matter how well-paid or generous the pension scheme is. It’s interesting that the background information contained in the study describes average bonuses for industry executives, detailing how they range from 10 per cent of salary to 100 per cent. A perfectly acceptable observation to make when the

You have to wonder how many mobile execs are doubling their salaries with bonuses in the current financial climate.

Was that bloke you met at a conference really earning as much as he said? Get an idea from perusing the IMR’s content industry salary survey…

ENTERTAINMENT SERVICES

MOBILE CONTENT GAMES

report was written. But you have to wonder how many execs are doubling their salaries with bonuses in the current climate. Anyway, if you are lucky enough to be in gainful employment, here are the stats for your edification. Please bear in mind that the figures given are representative of basic salary, and do not include bonus schemes or benefits translated into monetary form. These can make quite a difference to the package. IMR Executive is a UK-based recruitment specialist, which focuses on digital industries. Find out more at www.imrexective.co.uk

December 2008

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Robert Dotson, President and Chief Executive Ofﬁcer, T-Mobile USA

9 #;.1>@ ;@?;: 85B1 - ;.581 521 What does “mobile life” mean to you?

;.581 8521 5? @41 ?;8A@5;: @; - 9;01>: >1-85@E ;.581 8521 -/7:;C81031? @4-@ A:8571 E1->? -3; 2>51:0? -:0 2-95851? ->1 A:85718E @; 85B1 5: @41 ?-91 @;C: %45? ?1<->-@5;: 4-? />1-@10 - />-B5:3 2;> -88 ;2 A? @; .1 9;>1 /;::1/@10 C5@4 @4;?1 C4; 9-@@1> 011<8E %41 ?<1/@-/A8-> 5::;B-@5;:? ;2 >1/1:@ E1->? 5: @41 9;.581 C;>80 4-? 9-01 ?4->5:3 8521 ? 1B1:@? 9;>1 <1>?;:-8 >5/4 -:0 599105-@1 %4-@ 9-71? -88 ;2 ;A> 85B1? 9;>1 >1C->05:3 What is your primary business goal for 2009?

%; /;:@5:A1 ;A> =A1?@ @; .1/;91 91>5/- ? 81-05:3 ?1>B5/1 /;9<-:E .E 19.>-/5:3 @41 :1D@ C-B1 ;2 5::;B-@5;: 5: 0-@- ?1>B5/1? %4-@ >1=A5>1? A? @; ;<1: A< ;A> .A?5:1?? 9;018 @; .>1-7@4>;A34 @45:75:3 -:0 :1C >18-@5;:?45<? (1 ->1 8;;75:3 @; 19.>-/1 @41 9-35/ @4-@ /-: /;91 2>;9 4534 @1/4 ?@->@ A<? ;> @41 /;88131 0>;< ;A@ @5:71>5:3 5: 45? 3->-31 88 ->1 C18/;91 How does attending CTIA WIRELESS 2009 help you meet that goal?

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Mobile Life! Lif

†

March 31, 2009 April 1-3, 2009

h Partner Seminars

† Exhibit Floor, Keynotes, Sessions & Partner Conferences

Las Vegas Convention Center www.ctiashow.com

Las Vegas, NV, USA

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MOBILE ADS

Ads subtracting Mobile advertising is not living up to expectations. It should stop copying online and exploit communication to get its mojo back, says Direct2 Mobile’s Nick Lane... sense of reality is sweeping across the world of advertising on mobile. After much hype, this can only be good news. Yet confusion remains. What is mobile advertising? In order to answer that question, it makes sense to ask: what is mobile? To most people, the phone remains a communication device. And despite their recent foray into content, the operators – with their data bundles and their broadband dongles – seem to think so too. Carriers are focusing again on communication as the driver of new data revenues, positioning social networking as another form of dialogue on mobile, for which they charge a hefty monthly tariff. It makes perfect sense. This is an interesting development for the mobile ad sector. Why? Because it represents a move away from the idea of seeing mobile as a new media channel – a screen to succeed the TV, PC and so on. This might alarm some in the advertising community. But I’d argue that there are some ad execs who are more than happy to see mobile as communiation – and it is they who will develop the industry the furthest. When Blyk launched, its research (albeit based on the youth demographic) showed that the three

most popular mobile services were voice, messaging and alarm clock. Blyk’s inventory is messaging, and there are examples of companies creating inventory around voice. But as yet, there are no companies targeting the mobile alarm clock.

Mobile is fundamentally different from the other six channels of media. Why not? If mobile advertising is all about volume, then here is an alarmbased opportunity: “This wake-up call is brought to you by Starbucks. Pop in-store on your way to work to receive your 15 per cent discount.” It could work. We simply do not know enough about the consumer to be sure. It’s worth remembering that the world’s three billion mobile users are also three billion individuals. In an industry that continuously stresses the importance of personalisation, a dramatic change of mindset is required. Mobile advertising is not

one-to-many like TV – it’s about communication to the individual. And this makes it fundamentally different to the six channels of media that have gone before it. Unfortunately, it’s easier to ignore communication and slap a load of banners on mobile sites, even though the mobile internet has a maximum 18 per cent penetration in every market outside of Japan and South Korea. In truth, most mobile ads have been modelled on online ads, and this association explains why early forecasts were so inflated. Only now is a sense of realism and heightened visibility coming into play. At the start of 2008 Direct2 Mobile forecast the UK mobile advertising market to top £60 million by the end of the year. But our research reveals today’s actual figure is closer to £25 million, with messaging

commanding about 70 per cent of spend. Undoubtedly this is partly due to a shortage of inventory, which will restrict growth and keep diverting campaigns back to the resurgent messaging channel. Nevertheless, it’s still a significant drop on expectations, and we are discovering similar shortfalls in mainland Europe. But let’s be honest, these are not shortfalls, just the reality of an emerging market.

ME Research: Now open for business ARE you looking for targeted research into a specific area of mobile? Got a business plan to prepare? Maybe a speech? These are the kinds of projects that ME Research can help with. Mobile Entertainment has teamed up with Direct2Mobile to deliver targeted intelligence into the content space. Projects are carried out by Nick Lane and his

www.mobile-ent.biz

team. Interested? Send a mail to: meresearch@intentmedia.co.uk

December 2008 23

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RECRUITMENT

Category

Guitar Hero 3 Mobile (One time Purchase)

Action/Arcade

Texas Hold'em King 3

Cards/Casino

Golden Tee® Golf Mobile Edge

www.mobile-ent.biz

Publisher

December 2008 31

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SOURCE: CHARTS

charts Check here every month for the best selling games, ringtones and mobile apps from across the market...

Tagging

Ringtones

Ringtones & games

Ringtones.com top Euro music tones, Nov

Artist

Jamster UK games, 15 Oct - 15 Nov

Infinity

Guru Josh

Game

Publisher

I Kissed A Girl

Katy Perry

Monopoly

EA Mobile

Let You Love...

Bellamy Brothers

The Game of Life

EA Mobile

All I Ever Wanted

Basshunter

James Bond

OST

Disney Solitaire Master

Living Mobile

Closer

Ne-Yo

All Summer Long

Kid Rock

FF Streets 3D

I-play

Disturbia

Rihanna

The Good, The Bad...

OST

Beijing 2008

Glu Mobile

Mountains

Biffy Clyro

Rihanna

Disturbia

Spore Origins

EA Mobile

Give It 2 Me

Madonna

Back In Black

AC/DC

South Park Imagination Land Mr. Goodliving

Crazy World

J. Majik & Wickaman

Star Wars

OST

Pictoplay Plus

Digital Chocolate 8

Pjanoo

Eric Prydz

Viva La Vida

Coldplay

Bubble Popper Deluxe

Digital Chocolate 9

I Love You So

Schnuffel Bunny

Space Invaders Anniversary Edition EA

No Air

Jordin Sparks

Source: Mobilestreams 1

Who The Hell’s Ringing? Peter Kay

Full-Length Spider Pig

Simpsons

007 text Imminent

James Bond

Good Afternoon...

Fonejacker

Let Me Begin

SAW

Can You ‘Ear Me?

Peter Kay

Pick Up The Phone Chav Gansta Hamster

My Name Is Maximus

Give Me The No. For 911

The Simpsons

Am I Bovvered?

Kathrine Tate

Song

Artist

Clint Eastwood

Gorillaz

Insane In The Brain

Cypress Hil

Smells Like Teen Spirit

Katy Perry

Source: Jamster

USA realtone soundalikes, Nov

South Africa realtone soundalikes, Nov

Zed top truetones, Nov

Artist

I Kissed A Girl

Music

Ringtones American Boy

Song

Movies

Source: Mobilestreams

Mobile

Source: Jamster

Ringtones.com top Euro voicetones, Nov

Estelle Nirvana

All I Ever Wanted

Basshunter

Apologise

One Republic

Baby Rave

n/a

Back To Life

Soul2Soul

Castles In The Sky

Ian Van Dahl

Do You Really Like It?

DJ Pied Piper

Source: Zed Zed games, Nov Game

Publisher

Jungle Balls

Zed

Pinball Rocks

Zed

Brain Coach

Zed

Caveman Evolution

Zed

Dr. Sex And You

Zed

Extreme Rally

Zed

Fruitboy

Zed

Shazam Tagging Nov 1 Infinity 2008 Guru Josh Project 2 Live Your Life Rihanna 3 Let Your Love Flow The Bellamy Brothers 4 Day ‘N’ Nite Kid Kudi 5 Love Lockdown Kanya West 6 If I Were A Boy Beyonce 7 Spotlight Jennifer Hudson 8 Human The Killers 9 Dangerous Kardinal Offishall 10 Up The Saturdays Source: Shazam

Spotlight

Jennifer Hudson

Libe Your Life

If I Were A Boy

Beyonce

Hot N Cold

Katy Perry

When I Grow Up

Pussycat Dolls

If I Were A Boy

Beyonce

Sweet About Me

Gabriella Cilmi

Whatever You Like

Forgive Me

Leona Lewis

So What?

Pink

Beggin

Madcon

Womanizer

Britney Spears

Disturbia

Rihanna

I’m Yours

Jason Mraz

Womanizer

Britney Spears

Miss Independent

Jay Z

The Man Who...

The Script

Gotta Be Somebody

Nickelback

7 Things

Miley Cyrus

Mrs Officer

Lil Wayne

Melodi Media

Rihanna

Melodi Media

Video & wallpaper Fonestarz top videos, Nov

Fonestarz top wallpapers, Nov

Laughing Baby

Wii Fit Girlfriend

Grumpy Fish

Sexy Cam

World of the Wild – Bengal Tiger

Kiss Me Kwik

Animated Liverpool Crest – Anfield

Ice Cream Girls

You make Me So Happy

The Pussycat Dolls – When I Grow Up

Yours Forever

Violent Veg – Banana v Blender

Skeleton Raver

Glamour Girl Greetings

I Love You

Neon Heart

Life Is A Fiesta

Zed

Street Basketball

Zed

Rihanna – Disturbia

3D man Utd Logo

Bubble Boom Challenge

Zed

He-Man – I Have The Power

Tammy In A Bikini

Source: FoneStarz

Source: Zed

Jamster UK realtones, 15 Oct - 15 Nov

Song 1

December 2008

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U.S. CHARTS Tones

Games

Wallpapers

Titles

Publisher

Titles

Artist

Wheel of Fortune Deluxe

Sony Pictures

Sexy Can I

Ray-J ft. Yung Berg

Quantum of Solace

Titles

Category Bond

MTV Cribs

Real Networks

Can't Believe It

T-Pain Featuring Lil Wayne

Bloo Screen

Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends

Snoop Dogg Cruisin'

Sony Pictures

Hot N Cold

Katy Perry

New Orleans Saints Winning Attitude

New Orleans Saints

Fast & Furious: Fugitive

I-play

And I

Ciara

Skull Pattern

Pink Frosty

God of War - Betrayal

Sony Pictures

The Business ft Casha

Yung Berg

Being Cool

Fulep

Hangman Deluxe

LemonQuest

Butterfly

Corinne Bailey Rae

Mickey and Minnie Holding Hands Disney

South Park: Imaginationland

Real Networks

Addicted

Saving Abel

Jack Skellington Helliday Plan The Nightmare Before Christmas

James Bond: Top Agent

Sony Pictures

Love In This Club Part II

Usher ft. Beyonce & Lil Wayne

Adios and Ciao Ciao

Tokidoki

NYC Urban Golf

I-play

Bleeding Love

Leona Lewis

VB Skull Logo

Venture Bros.

Diner Dash 2

Glu

Need U Bad

Jazmine Sullivan

The Battle Within

Spider-Man 3

Penguin Fever

Infusio

Suffocate

J. Holiday

Haters Make Us Famous Pink Frosty

Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer

Hands On

Viva La Vida

Coldplay

Riley Mugshot

The Boondocks

Deal Or No Deal

Mobliss

I Got A Thang For You

Trina/Keyshia Cole

Speed Limit 69

Pink Frosty

Braveheart

Artificial Life

Thriller

Michael Jackson

Red Devil Woman

Adam Black

World Series of Poker Pro Challenge Glu

When Can I See You

Babyface

Bar Code

Slipknot

I Got It From My Momma Pink Frosty

Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas Disney

Cyclone (T-Pain Verse)

Baby Bash

Gravity Blast

Hudson Entertainment

Take You Down

Chris Brown

Kiss My Attitude

Fulep

3D Formula Racing

Celander

Never Would Have Made It

Marvin Sapp

Retro Skulls

Pink Frosty

America's Got Talent

PlayerX

Hit The Dance Floor

Unk feat. Baby D

I Love Obama

Vivendi

Marco Polo

Bow Wow ft.Soulja Boy Tell 'Em

20 Butterfly Abstract

20 Crash of the Titans

Barack Obama Cool Designs

The PlayPhone featured content listing is created and compiled utilizing download data results from strong sellers, fast movers and top-rated mobile content available across PlayPhone Web and WAP mobile destinations. (c) PlayPhone, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All other phone images, trademarks, logos and copyrights are property of their respective owners.

34 ME46_final:networks

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SOURCE: OPERATORS

NETWORK SUBS Key operator subscriber numbers from around the world Country

Operator

Subscribers

Country

Western Europe UK

Spain

France

Israel Netherlands

Ireland

Sweden

Norway

Germany

Denmark

Belguim

Poland

T-Mobile (PTC)

12,800,000 5,267,000

16,800,000

TMN

6,004,000

4,445,000

Optimus

2,280,000

Virgin

4,115,100

Orange

13,900,000

18,878,000

Switzerland

Orange

1,510,000

Orange

15,642,000

Eastern Europe

BT-Mobile

360,000

Czech Republic

T-Mobile

5,300,000

5,186,000

18,510,000

T-Mobile

23,008,000

Vodafone

2,751,000

Megafon

36,970,000

15,700,000

Mobile TeleSystems

77,970,000

23,056,000

VimplelCom

41,800,000

Kyivstar GSM

23,711,000

Ukrainian Mobile (MTS)

19,811,000

1,500,000

Optus

7,100,000

Telstra

2,400,000

Vodafone

3,573,000

China Mobile

332,000,000

Orange

11,091,000

Vodafone

16,210,000

Orange Vodafone 3

8,184,000

Wind

15,600,000

TIM

35,000,000

Asia Pacific

Orange

24,315,000

Australia

SFR

18,800,000 9,256,000

Bouygues

Greece

Subscribers

Vodafone

Movistar

Italy

Portugal

Operator

Russia

Ukraine

Vodafone

5,438,000

Cosmote

6,280,000

Wind (Previously-Qtelecom)

4,500,000

China Unicom

162,491,000

Orange

10,354,000

Tibet Telecom

957,000

Movistar

22,800,000

2,515,000

Cellcom Israel

3,073,000

Pelephone

2,400,000

China

Hong Kong India

Smart tone

1,108,000

Bharti Airtel

64,268,049

Vodafone

4,360,000

BSNL

40,790,000

T-Mobile

4,889,000

Idea Cellular

24,002,000

KPN

8,800,000

Tata Indicom

24,330,000

Vodafone

2,247,000

Japan

NTT DoCoMo

53,400,000

1,688,000

Philippines

Globe Telecom

22,700,000

3 (includes UK)

4,445,000

Meteor

962,000

3 (includes Denmark) Telenor Tele 2

3,118,000

Djuice (Pannon) Telenor

Smart

30,000,000

AIS

21,089,000

945,000

Dtac

12,000,000

2,856,000

True Move

11,200,000

Singtel

2,570,000

3,401,000

StarHub

1,750,000

2,856,000

MobileOne

1,554,000

Celcom

6,404,000

Thailand

Singapore

Malaysia

Netcom

1,577,000

Tele2

441,000

Digi

6,409,000

Vodafone

35,295,000

Maxis

8,500,000

T-Mobile

38,400,000

North America

13,576,000

Canada

Bell

6,260,000

E-Plus

13,600,000

Rogers

6,200,000

Debitel

13,200,000

Telus

5,656,000

Victorvox (Drillisch)

2,236,000

Sprint

51,900,000

3 (includes Sweden)

945,000

T- Mobile USA

31,500,000

TDC

3,000,000

Verizon Wireless

67,178,000

Sonofon

1,680,000

Alltel

13,170,134

Mobistar (Orange)

3,590,000

US Cellular

6,200,000

BASE

2,600,000

AT&T

72,900,000

Belgacom Mobile

4,620,000

Vodafone

2,642,000

Orange

13,900,000

December 2008

USA

Source: Mediacells was established in 2004 to assist clients in making more money out of mobile. The company provides accurate and actionable intelligence to the mobile, media, retail, research and information sectors. www.mediacells.com

www.mobile-ent.biz

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FEATURES

Feature

The definitive guide to ME’s main editorial preoccupations in 2009. Should keep us busy...

Planner2009 JANUARY2009

APRIL2009

JULY2009

OCTOBER2009

Game development: overview How games codeshops are coping in a post-consolidation world Animated screensavers Are screensavers the future of image personalisation? Will Flash help? The next-gen ringtone They started it all. But how can they evolve to stay relevant?

CTIA special issue We’ll be in Las Vegas as an official event partner. So will our mags DVB-H mobile TV progress The hype’s gone quiet. What about the signals? Off-portal adult video focus Tracking the drift away from nervous operators Music ID services The spontaneous key to driving mobile full track sales?

Eastern Europe market focus Casual mobile games focus Mobile web site transcoding

Editorial deadline: Dec 4th Advertising deadline: Dec 8th

FEBRUARY2009 Mobile World Congress special issue ME is an official media partner, so we’ll take thousands of copies to Barcelona. Pure-play mobile communities The start-ups outmaneouvreing MySpace et al Tickers and idle screen The new info and ad channel intriguing big brands all over the world The coming of mobile Flash Browser based, fragmentation solving… but is it widespread enough? Video ringbacks Piracy proof, rich and sexy – but only if users embrace video calling Editorial deadline: Jan 12th Advertising deadline: Jan 14th

Editorial deadline: March 9th Advertising deadline: March 9th

MAY2009 BREW and Java focus A focus to co-incide with the Brew2009 and JavaOne shows Original made-for-mobile video production Who’s putting money and craft into original content for the smallest screen? Mobile traffic analytics services Mobile is uniquely personal. But if you can’t mine the data, so what?

India market focus Recruitment special Massively multi-player gaming Editorial deadline: July 13th Advertising deadline: July 15th

SEPTEMBER2009

NOVEMBER2009 Age certification systems Embedded mobile content ads Mobile comics and animation Editorial deadline: Oct 12th Advertising deadline: Oct 14th

DECEMBER2009

ME Awards preview Mobile internet site building Enhanced messaging

Top 50 content execs Pureplay mobile search City guides, travel aids…

Editorial deadline: August 10th Advertising deadline: August 12th

Editorial deadline: Nov 9th Advertising deadline: Nov 11th

For more information about advertising opportunities around these features, please call Tom Roberts on +44 (0) 1992 535647 or email tom.roberts@intentmedia.co.uk For all editorial queries contact Tim Green at tim.green@intentmedia.co.uk or call +44 (0) 1992 535 646

JUNE2009

Location-based search The great monetisation hope in an era of mobile GPS Barcodes and QR Coming of age now that technical issues are being solved Brazil market focus Putting the B into BRIC, and growing to a samba beat Editorial deadline: Feb 9th Advertising deadline: Feb 10th

Editorial deadline: May 11th Advertising deadline: May 13th

www.mobile-ent.biz www.mobile-ent.biz

AUGUST2009

Editorial deadline: Sep 14th Advertising deadline: Sep 16th

Editorial deadline: April 13th Advertising deadline: April 15th

MEM show preview The MEF’s big showcase returns to London Porting, testing & certification Handset fragmentation endures. We examine the testers and the porting specialists Memory card content The role of the SD card in driving content sales One year of the Apple App store Examining the impact of the iPhone retail centre after 12 months

MARCH2009

Editorial deadline: June 15th Advertising deadline: June 17th

CTIA special issue US market focus Top 30 US content execs Google Android – one year on

December 2008 35

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MOBILE MARKETPLACE

MOBILE

PUBLISHING PLATFORM

MARKETPLACE

MARKETPLACE INDEX 26 CONTENT............................................+49 9547 870 120 www.26content.com ABSOLUTE QUALITY ...............................+44 141 220 5600 www.absolutequality.com BANGO...................................................+44 08700 340 365 www.bango.com DIALOGUE COMMUNICATIONS ..............08700 790 300 www.dialogue.net DYNAMO...............................................+44 (0)1382 348635 www.dynamogames.com ELITE ........................................................+44 01543 268826 www.elite-systems.co.uk END2END.......................................................+45 7222 7222 www.end2endmobile.com FLUID PIXEL STUDIOS ...........................+44 01642 384336 www.fpstudios.com GAMELION ................................................+48 606 101 500 www.game-lion.com GENIE .........................................................+44 844 415 5531 www.broadbandgenie.co.uk/mobile INLOGIC...................................................+421 904 628 889 www.inlogic.eu NETBISCUITS GMBH .............................+49 631 303 1400 www.netbiscuits.com

GAMES DISTRIBUTOR

PARTNERTRANS..................................+49 (0)2104 172660 info@partnertrans.com SELATRA .......................................................+353 21 483270 www.selatra.com SPIEL STUDIOS .......................................info@spiel-s.com www.spielstudios.com SPLASH .......................................................+1 310 8212 666 www.splashnews.com THUMBSTAR ..............................................+44 151 231 4832 www.thumbstargames.com UNIVERSALLY SPEAKING....................+44 (0)1480 210621 www.usspeaking.com WAPPLE..................................................+44 (0)1527 558247 www.wapple.net XIAM ............................................................+353 1 483 2000 www.xiam.com

The Mobile Marketplace offers a complete marketing package of print, online and editorial visibility, allowing companies to maintain contact with readers each month without the cost of full display advertising. The Mobile Marketplace and its associated online version has also been designed to offer readers a directory of all products and services in the content industry. A presence in this section ensures that your company's details are easily found, keeping you one step ahead of your competitors.

Want unrivalled SALES, MARKETING and PR for your titles? Then join the only distributor that gives you all three to maximise your revenue! Contact: www.thumbstargames.com info@thumbstargames.com

Our distribution network covers operators and portals throughout Europe, the Americas and Asia. Thumbstar Games prides itself on excellent relationships with developers and business partners.

Thumbstar Games is a leading global distributor of mobile content. Our primary focus is games, but we also have an extensive range of wallpapers, screensavers, applications and videos.

The standard package includes: 1/4 page advert in each issue Regular editorial coverage in the dedicated column Company details listed in the online directory with web link and marketplace index

To get your company featured here contact tom.roberts@intentmedia.co.uk t: +44 (0) 1992 535647 www.mobile-ent.biz

ÂŠ 2008 Thumbstar Games Limited. All Rights Reserved. Thumbstar, Thumbstar Games and the Thumbstar Games logo are trademarks of Thumbstar Games Limited. All other copyrights, trademarks and trade names are the property of their respective owners.

December 2008 37

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MOBILE MARKETPLACE INTERACTIVE MOBILE SOLUTIONS

CREATIVE STUDIO

Need a mobile site? Dialogue’s Mobile Site Builder offers you the full end-to-end solution to publish your mobile site - all you need is the content. Mobile site builder allows you to: • • • • • • •

Promote & expose your business Sell content through a trusted payment service Run viral marketing campaigns Include marketing subscriptions Drive traffic to sites with text-to-browse campaigns Generate Revenue Monitor user behaviour

Visit: www.dialogue.net/mobilesitebuilder.pdf Email: info@dialogue.net Tel: 08700 790 300

GAMES DEVELOPER

CONTENT SERVICES

On one side

BAFTA award winners DYNAMO GAMES are celebrating their FIFTH BIRTHDAY in style with their latest games excelling in the market:

you can go through all the hassle and dazzle of content sourcing and deployment, hosting, retailmanagement, billing and settlements yourself...

CRYSTAL MAZE: Retro Classic - Best selling mobile game in June, Mobile Game FAQ's - 82% - Gold Award CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER MOBILE SERIES: Winner of a prestigous BAFTA award. Five versions and counting. 98% - MobileGameFAQ's, 9/10 PocketGamer Gold Award If you are looking for high-quality mobile game development by an experienced player, look no further: G J2ME development G BREW G iPhone Development - Approved Developer G Handheld Console development for DS and PSP Check out our new company website:

www.dynamogames.com and get in touch.

On the other you can choose to let us run the content retailing on your portal, and you will benefit from our vast experience, superior technology and efficient service. We have the tools to deliver effective retailing and a great user experience, let us grow your content revenues while you save on total cost! Contact End2End today and work smarter tomorrow!

www.end2endmobile.com

December 2008

www.mobile-ent.biz

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MOBILE MARKETPLACE PUBLISHER

COMPANY SPOTLIGHT

DIALOGUE

GAME DEVELOPMENT STUDIO

www.mobile-ent.biz

Dialogue Communications is a service aggregator specialising in mobile messaging, billing and payments, along with the development of value added services such as marketing, advertising and SMS communications. The UK company offers a number of services and provides an array of tools for various aspects of the mobile sphere. These tools allow for the creation of web portals and the deployment of content management, SMS, email and interactive features such as voting and competitions. Customers have included MSN, for which it created a connectivity toolset to enable two-way messaging. This connected MSN’s 140 million users through their mobiles. The MSN service was launched on the Vodafone and O2 network to nearly 50 per cent of the UK mobile market.

Dialogue also developed an SMS communications system for Xerox, which enabled direct communications between central office and engineers to give the latter the information they needed to complete a job. This included the type of call out, customer postcode, telephone number, contact and even the serial number of the machine requiring attention. This meant that engineers were able to receive information without being interrupted on a call and without having to contact a call centre operative. However, Dialogue’s core business is in the creation of mobile applications portals and billing and payments. Its leadership in this area is exemplified by the firm’s work on the UK PayForIT mobile transactions solution. The changes to WAP billing in recent months have seen the abandonment of models such as Premium SMS as all additional charges are now made through the customers’ phone bill. Dialogue is one of only five companies to be an accredited payment intermediary using the new unified system and the system has been fully integrated into Dialogue’s site builder tools. Always at the forefront of technology, Dialogue recently released its new ‘single click’ PayForIT option, a system that lets users make mobile purchases with one button push. This significantly reduces the ‘cold feet’ factor, leading to a considerably higher conversion rate. December 2008 39

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MOBILE MARKETPLACE MOBILE MARKETING & ADVERTISING

GAMES AGGREGATOR

BRINGING INDIVIDUAL CHOICE TO YOUR USERS PROVEN DISCOVERY & RECOMMENDATIONS SOLUTIONS FOR MOBILE

DISCOVERING CHOICETM

WWW.XIAM.COM

LOCALISATION

VIDEO/PICTURE AGGREGATION

Splash News TV - the Paparazziâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own TV Channel. Unique ready-for- mobile Snack TV shows from the streets of Hollywood voiced in any language. Our short form clips are already streamed over a million times daily. Available for easy download or push. Raw video, images and text feeds also available. We have a global network team of over 1000 photographers shooting pictures of A-List stars Whatever your mobile needs entertainment Programming, wallpaper, text alerts and mobile video - the largest paparazzi archive with more than 20,000 videos, over 2 million images and a comprehensive daily text feed is at your disposal.

To discuss licensing our content or partnering with us on portals contact us: Phone: Jessica Townsend on +448709342666 Email: jtownsend@splashnews.com or mobile@splashnews.com Blog: www.splashnewsonline.com Web: www.splashnews.com Video: www.splash-video.com

December 2008

www.mobile-ent.biz

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MOBILE MARKETPLACE SOFTWARE DEVELOPER

COMPANY SPOTLIGHT

XIAM TECHNOLOGIES ADULT CONTENT

www.mobile-ent.biz

The Ireland-based firm Xiam is a major provider of software solutions for the marketing and personalisation of mobile content and services through its MPOS (My Personal Offers System) discovery and recommendations system. It describes its core business as aiding ‘content discovery’. In practice what this means is that the users can enjoy a personalised mobile web experience without having to manually search through portal sites for the content they want. Instead, the system throws up options based on their browsing behaviour. It was towards this end that MPOS was developed. The system was primarily developed as a tool for personalising content for users. It analyses various quantifiable factors such as browsing, purchasing patterns and demographics to individually tailor a website towards the user’s preference; this brings personalised content directly to the consumer. But, critically, it also makes it easier for portal owners and operators to sell to their customers. As a result, MPOS straddles the divide between content aggregators, who want to present the right products to the most amenable audience, and advertisers, who want to reach a particular demographic with

targeted content, websites, advertising and sales. “People carry their mobile devices around with them all the time,” says Xiam’s marketing manager, Martin Clancy. “We see mobile as such a personal channel that it is a waste not to serve up personalised content to it. The element of personalisation allows content distributors and advertisers to reach their target audience with far greater ease.” In March of this year, Xiam’s profile and resources were increased considerably when it was acquired by the US chipset and content services giant Qualcomm. Soon after the purchase, MPOS was integrated into Qualcomm’s BREW software proposition. Xiam sees this move as a huge endorsement of its technology and one that makes the firm an established centre of excellence while still allowing the company to market its services as a standalone enterprise. Xiam has capitalised on its new status by winning deployments with major industry players such as Orange UK, which uses the MPOS system to serve personalised realtime recommendations on its Orange World portal. Another convert to the system is Vodafone Ireland, which has deployed MPOS ito manage the technical and commercial inventory of its mobile advertising proposition. December 2008 41

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MOBILE MARKETPLACE SOFTWARE DEVELOPER

MOBILE ANALYTICS

YOUR AD HERE Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a of

LOCALISATION

MOBILE BROADBAND

Specialist Games Services Localisation • Global network of games specialised linguists • Translators to cover all genres of games • All languages covered • In game, scripts, paper parts and marketing translations

Quality Assurance • All platforms (Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, PC and Mobile) • Localisation QA • Compliance checks for TRC, TCR and LOT approval • Functionality QA

Audio • Voice overs across all languages • Full casting service • Pre and post production including lip synching • Highly experienced voice directors and engineers

Universally Speaking Priory Chambers, Priory Lane, St Neots, Cambs, PE19 2BH, UK Tel: +44 (0)1480 210621 info@usspeaking.com www.usspeaking.com

December 2008

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MOBILE MARKETPLACE TESTING AND LOCALISTION

COMPANY SPOTLIGHT

BANGO

DEVELOPER

www.mobile-ent.biz

HARD TO believe UK-based Bango is coming up to its tenth birthday. The company launched in 1999 with a vision of making the mobile web as open and user-friendly as its wired equivalent. It remains wedded to the cause, although this commitment has led it into many new and interesting areas. Bango is still rightly regarded as a champion of the offportal space, but is now deeply involved in processing payments, advising operators all over the world on off-deck strategy and even devising tools to track WAP advertising and traffic. The foundation of the Bango proposition remains its ability to establish a mobile presence for brands and even individuals quickly and affordably. It offers a range of options, varying in sophistication, with which to build mobile internet sites and monetise digital content with all the payments processing handled in the background by Bango. This expertise has made the company a pioneer of WAP billing, particularly the cross-network UK initiative PayforIt, which launched in September 2007. Indeed, just mnths ago Bango processed its three millionth PayforIt transaction on behalf of content providers including The Sun, Gameloft and Sony BMG. Bango’s deep knowledge of mobile traffic led it to launch a highly acclaimed service addressing network traffic earlier this year. Bango Analytics gathers information about users of WAP sites to help mobile marketers

accurately identify, track and build a profile of each unique visitor, rather than simply measure the number of visits. This in turn helps them assess which mobile advertising campaigns and traffic sources are delivering the highest conversion rates. Bango developed a persistent, reliable and unique user identification system – the digital fingerprint – which is invaluable in tracking visitors. The company uses this to capture mobile specific data about the users’ country, network and handset, whether they have visited before and, for example, if the last ten visits were from one individual or ten new visitors. The service is already building a loyal base of partners. Earlier this year, for example, Bango signed a deal with mobile ad network Admoda, which serves one billion ads per month globally, to offer its advertisers key metrics on their mobile campaigns.

December 2008 43

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MOBILE MARKETPLACE SOFTWARE DEVELOPER

COMPANY SPOTLIGHT

XIAM TECHNOLOGIES ADULT CONTENT

www.mobile-ent.biz

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DISCONTENT We take content extremely seriously in Mobile Entertainment. But not here...

(Dis)content Memories of Over 200 industry revellers descended on the Sugar Reef bar in central London last month in search of a little networking and some 'refreshment'. Thanks to WIN for supporting another fabulous night out...

Make friends and introduce peopleâ&#x20AC;Ś at Meet-Up Meet-Up brings together hundreds of industry execs from across the value chain: your colleagues, partners and customers. These events represent the perfect opportunity to cement business relationships and start new ones. You really should sponsor one. For a relatively modest outlay, you get:

Extensive promotion before and after event in the magazine Multiple email alerts to our 12,000 strong list Full on-going coverage on the ME website Branding at the event

Please email tim.green@intentmedia.co.uk if you would like to know more about Meet-Up sponsorship

www.mobile-ent.biz December 2008

www.mobile-ent.biz

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Send your pictures and gossip to tim.green@intentmedia.co.uk

favourites Charles Cohen, CEO, Probability Games

Which phone do you currently own? A W880i that doesn't like being dropped much. And an iPhone 3G for personal use. What’s the best phone you’ve ever had and why? Motorola StarTac. It looked like a Star Trek communicator and had a funky retractable flagpole aerial. It was my first mobile and it changed everything. Current ringtone? My phone is always on silent. Ringtones are so 2006. Wallpaper? One of my kids; I change it regularly to avoid favouritism accusations. Favourite mobile game? Blackjack. Favourite mobile Internet sites? My selection would be like thumbing through your dad's record collection, so I'd rather draw a veil over it. Anything you’d gladly pay for on a mobile that you can’t currently get? Next week's lottery numbers. Which content company do you most admire? I thought they'd all gone bust.

what was that about? N-Gage If you travel faster than the speed of sound and go far enough into space, you can still hear the howls of derision that greeted the first N-Gage phone back in 2003. Nokia's first assault on the

www.mobile-ent.biz

handheld gaming market, and on ‘weaklings’ such as Nintendo, came in the form of an innovative taco-style 'deck' with the mouthpiece on the side. It made users look like they'd grown a huge metal ear with

Nokia written on the side. Meanwhile, games were stored on memory cards that fitted in a slot conveniently located under the battery. It wasn't a success.

What's the worst idea you've seen in mobile? Ringbacks. Is it: "That tune is dreadful. You sad loser. I don't want to talk to you now I know what kind of music you like"? Or is it: "I was rather enjoying that. Why did you pick the call up"? Life is complicated enough. Ban them.

December 2008 45

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DISCONTENT

Send your pictures and gossip to tim.green@intentmedia.co.uk

Coke addict

Mmmm, bendy

ME had a chat with Simon Buckingham when the Mobile Streams boss flew into the UK last month. Simon, you recall, is a keen collector of Coke bottles, and he was slavering over the European Coke Zero cans cruelly denied to him in NYC. Alarmingly, he told us that his missus is not so keen on his hobby. C'mon Mrs B, give the guy a break. He's minted.

ME's been an enthusiastic audience for Trixcell's mobile magic tricks before. We just got a preview of a new spoon bending app. Just think of one of the items of cutlery on the screen and wait for it to bend. It's amazing and coming to a phone near you soon.

A Short ding a ling

The Naked and the Dead (Sea)

Rome nearly trashed in a day

Mike Short wants you to play with his ding-a-ling. Let us explain. Chuck Berry had a huge hit song with this innuendopacked song in 1972 – and the whole thing was recorded live at the Coventry Lanchester Polytechnic in England. If you listen to the bit where the crowd join in the chorus you might be able to hear the departing chair of the Mobile Data Association, who was a student at the time. Listen really carefully and you may hear the bit where he improvises a new verse about NFC and developing markets. Good choice of song, really. My Ding A Ling – that’s a ringtone isn't it?

Four years ago ME's Tim Green went to Helsinki and within hours of exchanging business cards with Nokia execs found himself stark naked with them in a sauna. He never thought he'd repeat the experience. But then he went to Israel for a Cellcom conference. This time it was kit off for the floating Dead Sea experience. SExecs like AT&T's Jordan Berman (pictured) and Tag's Ted Cohen have no secrets from ME.

The Nokia Games Summit in Rome nearly killed 300 people. Nokia gathered the trade at the top of the Castel Sant Angelo when the worst storm in 100 years was brewing. The marquee was torn apart, glasses were smashed and patio heaters were flinging themselves across the marble. The weather was so bad, poor old Peter Parmenter from EA had to fly into Naples and take a 200 euro cab all the way to Rome. Expense that.

MOBILE ENTERTAINMENT

Executive Editor: Tim Green Tim.Green@intentmedia.co.uk Online Editor: Stuart O’Brien Stuart.Obrien@intentmedia.co.uk Managing Editor: Lisa Foster Lisa.Foster@intentmedia.co.uk Staff writer: Matt Grainger Matt.Grainger@intentmedia.co.uk

O’Brien

Green

Advertising Sales Executive: Tom Roberts Tom.Roberts@intentmedia.co.uk

CONTACTS

Design: Rebecca Almond Rebecca.Almond@intentmedia.co.uk

EDITORIAL: +44 (0)1992 535646 ADVERTISING: +44 (0)1992 535647 FAX: +44 (0)1992 535648

Production Manager: Abigail Fanger Abigail.Fanger@intentmedia.co.uk

Mobile Entertainment is published 12 times a year by Intent Media ~ Saxon House, 6A St. Andrew Street, Hertford, Herts SG14 1JA, England

Publisher/Managing Director: Stuart Dinsey Stuart.Dinsey@intentmedia.co.uk

December 2008

Subscriptions Manager: Hannah Short Hannah.Short@intentmedia.co.uk

SUBSCRIPTIONS UK: £50 Europe: £75 Rest of World: £90 If you or one of your colleagues would like to request a subscription to Mobile Entertainment, please email mob.subscriptions@ccms.com or call 01580 883848 Please note that this is a controlled circulation title and subscription criteria will be strictly adhered to.

Intent Media is a member of the Periodical Publishers Association.

Total average monthly net circulation per issue for January 1st 2007 to December 31st 2007 was 8,012. © Intent Media 2007. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior permission of the copyright owners. Printed by Pensord Press, NP12 2YA

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ARE YOU BILLING EVERYTHING YOU SHOULD BE? If you are using mobile messaging the platform you are using will ultimately determine your success. How quickly it processes messages (especially important in services where speed of response is critical) and how many of the messages it bills. This is fundamental but often taken for granted whilst focus is given to less important features. Oxygen8 has recently launched its new gateway in the UK. The platform has been running in Ireland for 3 years, where Oxygen8 is the biggest aggregator, and in Australia for two years, where Oxygen8 has increased its business by 200%.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;When we were looking for a global billing partner, Oxygen8 was a natural choice. Extensive billing options for SMS, Voice and WAP together with billing and statistics have made it easy to support split billing and affiliate programmes and made the choice even easierâ&#x20AC;? Scott, itelebill.com

Improve your profits today Call 0808 206 0808 Email sales.uk@oxygen8.com Text PLATFORM to 65065

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