Mobile Entertainment Issue 45, November 2008

MOBILE ENTERTAINMENT

M U S I C G A M E S V I D E O C O M M U N I T Y A D U L T NOVEMBER 2008 ISSUE 45

FOR EVERYONE IN THE MOBILE CONTENT INDUSTRY www.mobile-ent.biz

Second Japanese wavebreaks over Europe CAPCOM and Namco are leading afresh charge by Japanese mobilegames publishers into Europe.

Both companies have re-organisedinternally and committed freshresources to the continent, eachbelieving they can achieve a five percent share of a market that’s

dominated by Glu Mobile, Gameloft,EA Mobile and THQ Wireless.

The Japanese firms concede theirEuropean market shares arenegligible at present, but withuncertainty surrounding the likes ofVG Mobile, opportunities certainly

exist to grab some ground.Capcom has unified its

European and NorthAmerican

mobile

operations into onemanagement team, with asingle consumer-facing brand:Capcom Mobile.

Midori Yuasa, president ofCapcom Interactive, will lead

the team. She is confidentthat success will come in

Europe as it has in theUS. She told ME: “We

held back from re-entering theUS until 2006 and we were 62nd inthe market then. Now we’re aroundfifth or sixth. We’ve achieved this

by doing the basics right – balancedportfolio, good relationships withoperators, good distribution. I’m surewe can do the same in Europe.”

Namco Mobile is in the middle of asimilar transformation, and is set todouble its Euro workforce from 25 to50. The company’s newly-appointedEuropean president Barry O’Neillsaid: “To date we haven’t been

configured for Europe. Now we’regoing to be more proactive inmarketing, make sure our handsetcoverage is at least 85 per cent andwork closely with all partners,whether they’re operators, handsetcompanies or D2Cs.”

The moves confirm Capcom andNamco as the only major Japanesegames publishers with autonomousmobile operations in Europe; Segaand Konami licence their product toGlu, while Taito goes with EA.Nintendo, of course, has yet to doany mobile business at all beyond afew Mario wallpapers in Japan.

Although Capcom and Namco willcontinue to exploit their arcadeheritage via franchises such as Pac-man, Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Coach(both Namco), Resident Evil andStreet Fighter (both Capcom), theyare mindful of a need for local IP.Namco clinched the rights to X-Factor last month. Meanwhile, Yuasasays 50 per cent of Capcom’s USsales come from titles such as AreYou Smarter Than A FifthGrader? and WhoWants To Be AMillionaire?

REGULARS: PRODUCTS • JOBS • GAMES RELEASES • CHARTS • SHOWS • MARKETPLACE

You wait ages for Japanese publishers to make the trip, then two do it at the same time

Small country, big influence. The Israelimobile powerhouse in focus on page13...

MOBILE CONTENT: IT’S KOSHER!

Capcom’s Midori Yuasa believes doing thebasics right can deliver results

35 Product focus

36 Games spotlight

38 Shows

39 Databox

40 Charts

42 Network subs

53 Discontent

ISSUE 45November 08

www.mobile-ent.biz

News 1-6

Features

Reference Section

NEWS �

November 2008 3

Apple: We’re thirdbiggest vendorJobs heralds ‘remarkable’ success of iPhone and claimsApple is world’s number three handset maker by revenue

8 Language difficultiesWhy mobile ads need their own vocab

11 Shalom mobile!The white hot Israeli market in focus

15 Backs to front Progress in the ringbacks sector

19 Hip-hop on top The rise and rise of Urban World Wireless

21 Out and out managementThe drift towards managed services

24 One to watchPlayer One on competing with the big boys

37 Know it all-you-can-eatComparing data bundles across Europe

29 Happy clients?Nick Lane talks on-device portals

APPLE’s lifetime iPhone salesreached 13 million after ahugely successful quarter.

The electronics giant sold6.89 million handsets during itsfourth quarter endingSeptember 30th. This wassubstantially above analystexpectations of 4.5 millionunits, and pushed total salespast 13 million. It’s quite aresult – when iPhone waslaunched in June 2007, Appletargeted ten million sales by theend of 2008.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs saidthe performance of iPhone 3Gin particular has been“remarkable”, and insistedApple is now the third-largesthandset maker in terms ofrevenue after Nokia andSamsung. This is primarily dueto the relatively high rev sharesApple enjoys on tariffs andcontent. It generated $4.6billion from mobile, whichrepresents 39 per cent of thefirm’s total revenues. AppleApp Store downloads passedthe 200 million mark as MEwent to press.

In quick time iPhone hasapparently turned Apple into amobile company. The 6.89million units sold represent overhalf of all its hardware business;Apple sold 2.61 million Maccomputers and 11.05 million

iPods during Q4.It will be interesting to

see what effect the launchof HTC's Google-poweredG1 will have when thenext quarter’s numbers arereleased. G1 has now beenlaunched in the US by T-Mobile for $180 with a two-year contract and $400without. It was a predictablepre-release sell-out. In a bid togather vendor support, Googleand its partners in the OpenHandset Alliance made theAndroid source code availableto any third party.www.apple.com

PORTING specialist MobileDistillery will start a drive intothe UK market with two eventsplanned for later this month.

The French company will putthe focus on its Celsiusautomated porting suite and itsAlembic device database at adedicated business event and afree developer tutorial.

The first will serve as anintroduction to the twotechnologies, with a marketoverview, demos and partnertestimonials. Then, Java

developers will get a chance tosee how Celsius can tamehandset fragmentation at a freetraining day. This is part of aglobal developer roadshow thatfollows similar sessions in India,Singapore and the US.

The fifth version of Celsiuswill launch shortly. It uses‘parametric profiling’ to create asingle source code toautomatically port applicationsto over 1,000 devices, includingJava, BlackBerry, Brew,Windows Mobile and Android.

Meanwhile, Alembic holdsdevice characteristics for over1,000 handsets too.

Date and venue details forthe two events will be posted onthe Mobile Distillery web site atthe URL below.www.mobile-distillery.com.

Why does Steve Jobslook so pensive?

He’s sold 13 millionphones in less than

18 months

Celsius to heat up UKMobile Entertainment magazine –your direct link to the content biz

No other B2B mobile content news source hitsmore eyeballs. Here's why:

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AS he gets older fewerand fewer things makemy nine year-old son cry– Spurs losing atfootball (get used to it,son), a sharp blow onthe head, terrifyingnightmares. But recentlyI discovered a new

addition to the list: mobile games. Last month I was sent a memory card by

PNY Technologies with a link to a free EAGame. FIFA Street Soccer duly downloaded, Isent the boy on his way with my N95. Minuteslater he was sobbing his little eyes out.

Although a dedicated FIFA fan onPlayStation, he didn’t have a clue whichbuttons to press and kept clicking on the redbutton that reverts to the home screen. After

helping himthree or fourtimes tonavigate backto ‘menu’ then‘applications’ Iwas close totears myself.Now, in

mitigation, it should be stated that my sondoesn’t have his own phone so he’s unused tothe mobile UI. And I know there are plenty ofolder gamers who love FIFA on the mobile. ButI think the incident does reveal how muchmobile nous the industry expects of itsconsumers. This is a mistake if we want toencourage kids, OAPs and other non-coreusers into the space.

Happily the message does appear to begetting through. I was amused to read athrowaway sentence on an EA press releaseabout making the control system easier in itsforthcoming games – this within days of theGreen family weeping crisis. And it’s alsotelling that both Namco and Capcom (eachplotting a fresh assault on Europe – see coverstory) are now focusing as much on TV-basedquiz games as they are on their ‘hardcore’arcade brands.

Maybe next I’ll get the boy a copy ofCapcom’s Are You Smarter Than A 10 Year Old?.But if he beats me, it’ll be his dad and not hisphone that’ll give him something to cry about.

[email protected]

FORUM Nokia hascelebrated ten years ofdeveloper support by makingits top tier programmes freeto join.

Membership of invitation-only Forum Nokia Pro usedto cost E4,000 a year, but isnow free of charge. So isNokia Pro Accelerator, anew programme set up byNokia to assist the most elitehand-chosen developers inthe market. Other changesinclude reduction fromE800 to E300 in the annualmembership fee for thewider Forum NokiaLaunchpad programme.

The action signals anacceleration in Nokia’scommitment to developersupport after buyingSymbian in the summer andpromptly moving to makethe platform free and open

source. Tom Libretto(pictured), VP of ForumNokia, said: “Forum Nokiacontinues to honour itscommitment to provideworld-class developersupport, through the newprogramme, and throughbroader access and increased

benefits in Forum Nokia Proand Launchpad.”

The handset giantconfirmed that the ForumNokia community nowexceeds 3.7 million members(it was two million in 2005).They’re drawn from allcorners of the market andincreasingly includespecialists in webtechnologies such as Flashand Silverlight. Thegeographical complexion ischanging too. AlthoughEMEA developers stillcomprise the majority (51per cent), Asia Pac nowcontributes 35 per cent, ofwhich India and Chinasupply five per cent each.Collectively, members havecreated 9,000 commercialS60 apps, 45,000 Java apps,and 6,000 widgets. www.forum.nokia.com

Tears of a gamer

“After navigatingback to the gamethrough the phonemenu three or fourtimes I was close totears myself.”

A Forum free for all

4 November 2008 www.mobile-ent.biz

� NEWS

WAGS said 2008 would bethe year of the ‘craptouchscreen’; could 2009 bethe year of the good one?

It’s taken Apple’s twogiant rivals in the consumerand business sectors – Nokiaand BlackBerry respectively– a while to unveil theirtouchscreen ripostes to theiPhone. But now they have,and it’s making 2009 looklike an interesting year.

Last month Nokia finallyunveiled its greattouchscreen hope; the 5800XpressMusic. A littlenarrower than the iPhone, ithas 8GB of memory, 3.5mmheadphone jack and a 3.2inch display. It will also beavailable in a Comes WithMusic edition.

The two big claims for thedevice are a UI basedaround people/contacts, anda price point of E279, whichmakes it the cheapest

touchscreen in the world.Days later Blackberryconfirmed the Storm – theresult of a long-termstrategic alliance withVodafone, which will launchthe device exclusively inEurope, India, Australia andNew Zealand later thismonth. The BlackBerryStorm offers a tactile 3.25inch screen, the choice of

using QWERTY, SureTypeor multi-tap keyboard,portrait/landscape switchingwhen the handset is rotated,plus a 3.2 megapixel camera.

The Storm’s biginnovation is its ability topermit cut and paste ofdocuments – something notpossible on touchscreenphones before.www.rim.com

Two device giants reveal their touchsceen plans

Nokia and RIMpointing the finger

Nokia aims to keep developer community sweetwith reduced costs and open access to support

Wapple inRenderlandWapple reckons it's got50,000 handsets andsoftware combinationscovered within its newrendering service. The firmhas combined its Canvasmobile publishingplatform with its Exhibitdevice profiler to createwhat it says is the mostrobust mobile webrendering solution in themarket.

MoMac inthe pictureMoMac is to aggregateand manage downloads ofwallpapers and animationson the O2 Active portal.The service will enablecustomers to personalisegraphics and animations,gift image content forothers and createcustomised greetings. Aspart of the deal MoMac isaggregating all third partycontent from O2’s existingcontent partners, includingFonestarz, Disney, SharpCards and Mobile Streams.

PlayPhone’sItaly SplashUS-based PlayPhone haslaunched its Splash portalin Italy, following up itsJune European debut inthe UK. The Splashcontent portal has nowgone live with Vodafoneand TIM. Users of the weband WAP-based offeringwill have to pay €5 a weekfor three items plus onebonus item when joining.

MIA’s QuickreleaseMIA has launchedQuickSites, a mobileinternet toolkit to helpusers develop sites in-house. It features aWYSIWYG interface withdrag and dropfunctionality, compatibilitywith over 5,000 handsets,the ability to offer videos,ringtones, wallpapers andgames from the mobilesite, plus full reporting andanalysis tools.

LyricallyGracenoteMetroLyrics and Gracenoteare to make song lyricsavailable to mobile webusers. The firms agreed toextend authorised lyricslicensing services throughMetroLyrics' WAP site.The Gracenote databasecontains lyrics for morethan 500,000 tracks.

UIEVOLUTION and Movidiloare preparing the market for‘on-device portal 2.0’.

The two companies believethe ODP is set for a new leaseof life after a bad few months;the tech’s reputation sufferedwhen ODP pioneer ActionEngine made redundancies andwas bought by start-up MobUI.

UIE recently launchedBlender, a web-based platformthrough which brands canmobilise existing assets. It’seffectively transferred itspublishing expertise from theclient to the cloud. But UIEstill offers ODPs – and seespotential in apps for companiesoffering triple play services inPC, mobile and TV.

UIE’s CEO Chris Ruff(pictured) said: “We alwaysbelieved the industry would gotowards the network, so wemade our apps light. That wasa good decision. So wasworking with brands, when theoperators’ waiting rooms werevery full.”

Meanwhile, Spanish firmMovidilo is weighing up the

content market. It is asubsidiary of Ydilo, whichautomates call centre enquirieswith speech recognition.Movidilo believes this expertisecan translate to mobile richmedia. Martin Gossling, VP ofbusiness development atMovidilo, said: “Our coretechnlogy makes it easy forpeople to interact withdatabases, so I believe we canalso develop clients that makeit quicker for users to searchand browse for content usingspeech and other forms of UI.”

Elsewhere, MobUI will useAction Engine’s technologyand contacts to move it intothe Java space. It claims tohave deals with three brands.www.uievolution.com

Foxy Jamba

FIRST News Corp boughtall of Jamba and now it’s re-organising it, creating newentity Fox Mobile Group tomanage B2B relationships.

The media giant snappedup the 49 per cent of themobile content provider itdidn't already own fromVeriSign for $200 million. Itpaid $187 million for acontrolling stake in 2007.

After a turbulent 18months in which the seniormanagement all left, NewsCorp is ushering in a freshstart. Within the newstructure, Fox Mobile Groupwill manage three distinctbusiness units:

� Fox MobileDistribution will handlecontent distribution throughvarious consumer brands.

� Fox MobileEntertainment will managelicensing of Fox products tothird parties for mobile.

� Fox Mobile Studiosunit will develop originalmobile content.

The Jamba/Jamster nameswill continue, but only in aconsumer-facing setting. Inaddition, Fox Mobile alsoopened an office in

Singapore to address Asianmarkets and developoriginal made-for-mobile IP.

Fox Mobile Group will beled by Jamba CEO MauroMontanaro. He told ME:“There’s still mileage in thesubscription model indeveloping markets, but wewant to build a broadercontent business based onnew demographics andpartnerships with brands.”

Montanaro alsoconfirmed that Fox Mobilewill launch a newconsumer-facing brand inthe US next year. www.fox.com

New client winHas the time come for a new kindof ODP? Two companies think so

THE new Fox in townappears to have killed off aCrazy Frog.

Yes, Mauro Montanaro,CEO of newly formed FoxMobile, has confirmed toME that the Crazy Frog isno more. “He’s dead. Well,we’re not marketing himany more,” he said.

The industry will havemixed feelings about thedemise of Jamba’s legendarymobile content amphibian.In 2006, he became a globalsensation, and even a charttopping pop star. Peoplehated him, but he did bringrecognition to the contentmarket with his revvingsounds and his tiny penis.www.jamba.de

Mobile navigationis going places

MOBILE is already eating thedigital camera and MP3 player.Will SatNav be next? Yes, ifNokia and Sony Ericsson haveanything to do with it.

Nokia is expanding thenumber of devices pre-installedwith GPS and is ploughinghuge resources into itsdownloadable Maps navigationproducts. The firm hasconcluded a deal with Phones4U, which will see the UKretailer offering ‘over-the-counter’ Maps licences for£6.99 or a 12-month option for£54.99. Before now, Mapslicenses in the UK had to bebought from the device itself.

Meanwhile, Sony Ericssonexpanded its deal withWayfinder to put SatNav appsinto its handsets. Now, phones

including the W760 Walkman,C702 and C905 will featurethe Wayfinder Navigator app,which enables consumers todownload Tele Atlas-basedmaps for 70 countries. www.sonyericsson.com

Handset giants keep the acceleratordown on mobile SatNav services

All change at News Corp � NewFox Mobile unit in charge of B2B

www.mobile-ent.biz November 2008 5

Crazy Frog nolonger revving

Montanaro: Preparing Fox andJamba for the new D2C era

INDIAN games powerhouseJump believes it can join thetop tier of global publishersin 2009 with a mixture ofrapid organic growth andacquisitions.

The company, whichannounced itself to theworld with the big moneypurchase of the ManchesterUnited mobile IP earlier thisyear, has just set up aLondon office to co-ordinateits European assault,appointing former Infospaceand Medio exec RogerDavies as VP for Europe.

Jump also plans to set upoperations in Asia Pacific(Singapore) by early nextquarter, and will continuerecruiting in the US,

where it has alreadyestablished a presence inChicago headed by AmitKhanduja.

The firm is also in themarket for acquisitions –especially given the financialuncertainty in Westernmarkets. It certainly has thecash. Jump is a division of

Reliance ADA group, one ofIndia’s top private businessgroups, with a marketcapitalisation of $47 billion.

Salil Bhargava, CEO,Jump Games, said: “Withour new business channelswe will now have a presencelocally in key internationalmarkets. We are committedto scaling our globaloperations as well asaggressively bidding for localgame licenses.”

Without doubt, theimmediate focus of theexpanded operation will bethe Manchester Unitedbrand, with WORD IT! thefirst title to emerge from theagreement.www.jumpgames.co.in

www.mobile-ent.biz

� NEWS

BUONGIORNO hasdeepened its commitment toemerging markets in acomprehensive agreementwith Orange Africa.

The Italian firm will fullymanage the Orange World

content portals in the IvoryCoast, Kenya, Mali,Equatorial Guinea, Niger,Senegal and RCA. It willprovide technological,operational and marketingexpertise, as well asapplications and content.The portals will offer localAfrican music, news, sportand graphics, from bothBuongiorno’s own catalogueand third-party providers.

Buongiorno CEO AndreaCasalinin said: “As we arewitnessing a time ofconsolidation in the AfricanTelecom sector, businesspartners such as Buongiornothat can offer economies ofscale due to their size, are

very well positioned tocapture the opportunityof this emergingmarket.”

With this move,Buongiorno consolidatesits position as a B2Boutsourcing partner inaddition to operatingfamiliar D2C serviceslike Blinko and the Bingsocial network. www.buongiorno.com

Jump ready to pounceAcquisitions and organic growth to put Jump up there with EA, Glu and Gameloft

Buongiorno’sAfrican Orange

iPlayer protectionThe BBC has tightened upsecurity on iPlayer, as thehugely popular PC servicegoes mobile.

It’s signed withCoreMedia, CLMA andIntertrust to protect mobileprogramme downloads. The

move means that the appcan use OMA DRM 2.0compliant measures toprotect content downloadedto handsets.

The BBC is alreadybundling iPlayer with NokiaN96 handsets shipping in the

UK, but has rubber-stampedrelationships with the DRMspecialists for a wider roll outof the service. iPlayer TVprogrammes are available fordownload to the N96 forseven days after broadcast.www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer

Thumb a lift in EuropeUK distributor ThumbstarGames is targeting NorthAmerican and Asia-Pacpublishers that want to geta foothold in Europe.

The Liverpool-basedstart-up, which waslaunched in August, alreadyhas a reach comprising 25

operators and portals. Itbelieves the consolidatinggames market, and recentupheaval in the aggregatorsector, make now a goodtime to launch intodistribution.

Martin Kitney, COO ofThumbstar, said: “We feel

there’s strong demand foran open and honestdistributor that can givepartners the focus theyneed in terms of marketing,reviews and reporting. Wecan provide that, and that’swhy we launched.”www.thumbstargames.com

Jump CEO SalilBhargava is preppingEuro assault

� IPHONE ADS


At the Mobile Web Europeconference, I attempted are-enactment of the veryfirst TV advertisement

ever shown, to the ‘intentional’boredom of the audience, I’m sure.Here’s why. The first TV ad was forthe Bulova watch company, whichpaid $9 for a slot before a baseballgame in 1941. It went like this:

� The audience is shown a staticpicture for 10 seconds.

� A deep voice boomed reallyslowly: “America… runs… on…Bulova… time.”

� The picture is shown again insilence for five more painful seconds.

� Fade back to the game.Riveting. It didn’t tax my acting

skills very much, but you should haveheard my American accent.

When a new media channelemerges, it tends to borrow frommedia that came before it. Only laterdoes it develop into a style andformat that is recognisably unique.The Bulova ad borrowed from radio,and singularly failed to exploit TV’spotential. And yet, within a decadeor so, TV ads had become a virtualart form.

So it will be with mobile. Untilnow, ads on mobile have beenborrowed from PC banners andshrunk to a smaller screen. Nothingwrong with that per se; the techniquehas proved hugely successful. But weneed to develop our own formats. Assomeone with a vested interest in theevolution of the mobile ad medium,I’ve been waiting for this moment tocome along.

Well, I think it’s arrived – thanksto the iPhone. The superb UI of thedevice, combined with fixed rate dataand plain good timing has driven vastamounts of traffic. Not just to ournetwork, though. The searchcompany JumpTap recently said thatwhile the iPhone accounted for twoper cent of all handsets, it drove 50per cent of all mobile searches. Suchresults explain why we launched aseries of ad formats just for iPhone a

few weeks ago. These are uniquelymobile, allowing users to touch abanner to watch a movie trailer, or goto the Apple App Store, or click tocall. Early results show phenomenalpromise in terms of interaction withthe consumer too, who are votingwith their fingers.

Some brands are already creatingimaginative ad-funded mobile appsthat really exploit mobile’suniqueness across all handsets.Golden Gekko’s Lynx deodorantmobile app (part of BBH’s awardwinning campaign), gave its youngmale users a bunch of sound effectsthey could use to amuse women.Later, the brand launched a mobileapp replicating the farting chipmunk– and an amazing 500,000 peopledownloaded it. See, downloads canbe measured too.

Golden Gekko also found thatmany consumers were happy tosideload these apps to their phones.This isn’t just a result of the AppStore, although I suspect this factorwill popularise the method evenmore. Having said that, I still believeit’s preferable to run ads on themobile web: apps only have a placewhen you really can’t achieve thesame effect from browsing.

It’s still too early to say if theiPhone will be a long-term winner, orjust a very important influencer ofthe market. But it’s certainly a majormilestone in the fields of mobileadvertising and search.

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ISRAEL PROFILE �

EUROPEAN football fansdon’t think twice aboutseeing Israel compete in theEuro Championship

qualifiers. It always has. Yet Syriadoesn’t. Neither does Lebanon – andthey’re both closer. But then Israel isdifferent. Politically, economicallyand culturally it behaves more like aEuropean country than its closeneighbours. And in mobile, it’s agenuine global powerhouse, home tosome of the industry’s mostinnovative and influential companies.

Israel has produced game changingcompanies in Amdocs (billing),Comverse (networks), M-Systems(memory cards), Infogin(transcoding), Celltick (idle screen)

and many more (see box). Accordingto Invest In Israel, the country had70 companies listed on the Nasdaq in2006 – more than any other countryapart from the US.

This from a 60 year-old country of

7.3 million people. So what is itabout Israel that makes it such aforce in mobile. The military is onefactor. Israel’s brightest all get fast-tracked into the military’s technologyoperation when they do nationalservice. And this support iscomplemented by governmentinitiatives such as the $400 millionprovided annually by the ChiefScientist’s Office. Indeed, in 2007, it’sestimated that 462 Israeli high-techcompanies raised $1.76 billion fromlocal and foreign VCs.

Such factors act as a cradle for aentrepreneurial spirit that isabundant in a population ofimmigrant Jewish Europeans,Americans and Russians.

7.3 million people, 9.2 million mobile subs and a base of companies thathelped to mould the industry we know today. What’s so special about Israel?Tim Green endeavours to find out...

Israel’s Chief

Scientist’s Office

ploughs $400

million into R&D

annually.

Cradle ofmobilisation

November 2008 13www.mobile-ent.biz

� ISRAEL PROFILE


And, of course, success breedssuccess, so many of the peopleemployed by Amdocs, Comverse andthe rest go on to create their ownstart-ups. Meanwhile, the relativelysmall size of the domestic opportunityforces a global outlook on thesenascent businesses.

Eyal Reshef, CEO of the IsraelMobile Association, certainly believesthis. He says: “I recently met aGerman start-up and everything itdid was focused on the Germanmarket. Israeli companies can’t dothis, so they think big and globalfrom the beginning.”

Having said that, the Israeli mobilemarket can be a fine test bed forinteresting content ideas. It’s home tothree evenly matched operators inCellcom, Orange and Pelephone,each running different network types(TDMA, GSM and CDMA2000respectively). However, 35 per centof subscribers use 3G and 70 per centare post-paid, which points to apopulation that’s affluent and opento rich mobile services.

This consumer advancement is

why Cellcom is now embarking on amajor initiative to prepare itself for aconverged communications era. It’sworking on various ideas to maximiseits ‘three screen’ offer across web,mobile and TV, such as its video-on-demand joint venture withBlockbuster Digital. Adi Cohen, VPof marketing at Cellcom, says: “We’refortunate to have a population that’svery advanced while being locallyoriented.”

Mobile advertising is aparticular focus forCellcom, whichlaunched aservice called‘Time Is Money’in September that

gives free minutes to consumers thatwatch ads on a PC. It also signed adeal with local specialist Media Layersto use the latter’s SMART system topower ‘Time Is Money’ and toinsert ads in real time into allits rich media contentchannels. SMART is afine example ofIsraeli

innovation, using predictive modellingtools to deliver ads in real time. Thisgives brands and operators the kind oftargeting possibilities that are the holygrail of mobile advertising. It’s alreadybeing used by German contentdistributor Arvato Mobile.

Assaf Katan, VP of marketing andbusiness development at MediaLayers, says: “SMART can usehundreds of parameters to target adsaccording to user profile, usagehistory, content and live parameters.It can also use learning algorithms tofine tune the targeting of a campaignin real-time. This is what advertiserswant, and the fact that it’s done inreal time reduces the costs involved.In one project we used an operator’sexisting database with our technologyand increased reponse rates by threeand a half times.”

The innovative spirit of the Israelioperators is unsurprising in a marketwith relatively small off-portal sector.Although the D2C space ispromising enough for one ofits protagonistsUnicell to

Media Layers’ marketing VP Assaf Katan (left) and Israel Mobile Association CEO EyalReshef (right) say a global outlook is essential for local companies

The local

mobile market is a

fine test bed for

interesting content

ideas.

Facts and operator statsTHERE are 7.3 people in Israel, but over nine million subscribers. And there are four operatorscovering every possible network standard from iDEN to UMTS. It’s a dynamic and competitivemarket alright. Here are the basics:

� The subscriber base in Israel will increase from 9.18 million in 2008 to 9.70 million in 2010.� In 2010, the average ARPU in Israel will be $40.52 per month, with Partner’s $45.83 ARPUthe highest in the Middle East.� As of September 2006, there were 70 Israeli companies on the US Nasdaq.� In 2007, 462 Israeli high-tech companies raised $1.76 billion from local and foreign VCs.

Operator Network type Subs (millions)Pelephone CDMA2000 (UMTS from 2009) 2.5Cellcom TDMA, GSM and UMTS 3.1Orange (Partner) GSM and UMTS 2.86MIRS iDEN ESMR 0.41Source: Invest In Israel

ISRAEL PROFILE �


eBizThis transactions specialist set outto create an m-billing solution thatwould make trusted smallpayments available to the millionsof subscribers unwilling or unableto use credit cards. Its OneTouchplatform works across mobile andweb, and offers participatingvendors a 77 per cent revenueshare compared with around 45 to55 per cent for PSMS. eBiz is nowlooking to establish OneTouch as a

global brand. It has already beendeployed by numerous thirdparties and is available from allstores affiliated to France’sMediaPlazza.

Logia MobileLogia Mobile is well-known in theIsraeli market for being the officialmanager the Cellcom contentportal, but it also has dealsoutside its home country, withVodafone and Airtel. Logia is part

of a group that comprises fellowmobile units such as Volas (videomanaged services) Streetunes(D2C content), TheCellFreak (ad-funded content portal), 8hands(social networking client) andmore. The company is currently ona new business drive acrossinternational markets.

Vringo Vringo has been trying to makevideo ringbacks work since it

launched in 2006. It recentlytweaked its business model tobase the service less aroundlicensed content than acommunity ethos in which usersshare video, images and content –with friends when they call. Vringois fuelling the community withlicensed IP from TV, video andmusic, which it turns into‘vringos’. Early to say whether itwill work, but it’s making a lot ofnoise all over the world.

Innovation nation: three to watch

Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Core businessAdamind. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Inter-operability solutionsAmdocs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BillingAmobee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mobile ad platformBeeContent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Content aggregation/D2CCellAdmin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . UGCCelltick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ticker-based informationClip in Touch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rich media messagingChooz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Original made-for-mobile IPComverse . . . . . . . Network services (messaging, ringbacks, avatars)eBiz.mobility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Billing Emblaze . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HandsetsEmoze. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Push-email Hingi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Integrated broadcast/music downloads Infogin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Web to mobile transcodingInner-Active . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Embedded content adsLogia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Content managementMedia Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mobile advertisingMobilitec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Content delivery platformMobixell Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Content delivery systemsModu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DevicesM-Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SIMs and storageNareos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P2P content servicesOlista . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Data services efficiency managementPontis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mobile personalisation platformPudding Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ad-funded content servicesRadvision. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Video servicesSiano . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mobile TV chipsSpin3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GamblingTargetise. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mobile search and discoveryTippcom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Content aggregation/D2CUnicell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Content aggregation/D2CUnipier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Content management systemsVollee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mobile game developerVringo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Video ringbacksZlango . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Messaging/graphics777 mobile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gambling

Israeli contentspecialists

acquire rival TippCom for around $2million last year, most observers givethe on-portal market 98 per cent ofall content revenues in Israel. This atleast makes the territory easy tomanage for mobile entertainmentpublishers. In games, for example,Glu and Gameloft go direct into thecarriers, while most of the rest workwith local aggregator RayFusion,which says Israelis buy around350,000 game downloads a month.

RayFusion was acquired inSeptember by Connect2Media, the

recently formed content publisher.Can the deal help RayFusion to forgeoperator deals beyond the Middle

East and into EMEA, Asian andLatin America? Well, it wouldn’t

be the first Israeli firm to do so.Take InfoGin for example. The

company has almost single-handedly changed the way

operators approach themobile internet by offering

a transcoding solutioncalled the Intelligent

Mobile Platform. Quitesimply, the solution

performs real time‘web to mobile’

contentadaptation, so

that users cansurf the

regular web

without being presented with pagesthat don’t work on the small screen.

The transcoding approach hascaptured the imagination ofoperators, many of which have usedit as the basis of ad campaignsalerting their subscribers to thepossibility of visiting sites such asYouTube from the handset. InSeptember, Infogin closed a huge dealwith Telefonica and now claims over20 million people are served webpages from its platform globally on adaily basis.

Infogin is now firmly in the frontranks of Israeli companies on theworld stage. Maybe, like memoryspecialist M-Systems (bought for $1.6billion by SanDisk in 2006) it willbecome a target for acquisition.Maybe it will flourish independently.Either way, the innovation willcontinue because the entrepreneurialspirit is apparently hardwired into theIsraeli DNA.

M-Systems itself is a case in point.Shortly after its purchase, founderDov Moran launched a new companycalled Modu to develop the idea of atiny mobile handset which slotsinside other consumer devices to givethem connectivity. Crazy idea. Butthen so was USB when Moraninvented that; Modu was theundoubted hit of last year’s MobileWorld Congress.

Israelis buy around 350,000 mobile

game downloads from operator and off-deck

portals each month.


RINGBACK TONES �

Answering back?

Avery astute man (actually

it was Suds Sarronwalafrom Soundbuzz) oncetold me that all this talk

of mobile personalisation products isa bit ill-conceived. Personalisation iswhat we do when we decide whatshortcuts to put on our homescreens. What we’re really doingwhen we buy a ringtone or awallpaper is not personalisation, butself-expression. ‘This is who I am,’our phones cry out. ‘Please identifywith me’.

He’s right, of course. And theultimate in self-expression has to bethe ringback tone. Here’s a productthat you, the consumer, never evenconsume yourself. Only your friendsand acquaintances get to enjoy it.Although, if your chosen tune isRonan Keating or Dido, I hesitate touse the word ‘enjoy’.

Ringbacks have been around since2002 when the Korean carrier SKTelecom rolled out the world’s firstservice. Within nine months it hadsix million customers. Today,ringbacks have been launched allover the world and a thriving ‘new’market segment has been established.According to IDC, the inherent

advantages of the ringback tonewill take its market value past

the ringtone in 2010. Sowhat are these inherent

advantages? Here are thefour big

ones:

� No storage issuesA ringback is network-centric so

the user doesn’t have to worry aboutthe storage capacity of a phone.

� No piracyFor the same reasons of network-

centricity, operators don’t have toworry about users making their owntones or nicking them.

� No handset de-fragmentationUnlike so many other mobile

content products, ringbacks can beoffered by and heard on any device.

� Personalisation optionsCustomers can change their tones

for different times of day and eventweak them for individual callers.

What an opportunity. But, as withmost mobile services, it’s not thatsimple. A ringback requires a serviceprovider to hijack the network,intercept a call, inject the tone andcut it as soon as the call isconnected. That said, providers likeComverse, WiderThan and othersshould have the process nailed bynow. Trickier, perhaps, arebusiness models. A simplesubscription can work, but viablealternatives include paying for aminimum number of tracksand so on.

Then there’s thehairy oldmarketingissue. Afterall theseyears,many end-users still

don’t know what a ringback is, andthe industry doesn’t help by callingthem callertunes, color rings,answertones and so on. So how doyou explain what the offer is? IMIMobile, which supplies ringbacks forIndian operator BSNL among others,says it has had great success withsimple outbound SMS marketing. Italso promotes from within the serviceitself, providing users with the optionto acquire the ringback they’relistening to by pressing ‘*’.

Vish Alluri, CEO of IMI Mobile,says: “It’s a very good way of

marketing the service andgenerating new

subscribers, but you dohave to be careful.

We’ve found thatsome users getconfused andpress staranyway, then

That ringbacks don’t sell in Europe is one of the great clichés of the content business. Is it true? And canmoving the market off-portal change things? Tim Green delved further…

After all these

years, many end-

users still don’t

know what a

ringback is.

Alicia Keys’ song No Onesold 500,000 ringbacks inthe US alone

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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.

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RINGBACK TONES �

are shocked to find that they’ve paidfor something. So not every operatorwants this option.”

Of course, ringbacks are no longerjust about entertainment. Thecaptive audience element has alsoalerted advertisers to the space. Alsoin India, local provider OnMobilerecently launched Ad RingBack(AdRBT) Tones. They present callerswith audio ads, personalised to theirprofile. Intriguingly, the platformallows users to respond to the ad witha key press, although one wonderswho would interrupt a call to do so.Arvind Rao, CEO of OnMobile, says:“AdRBT is a disruptive evolution in

mobile advertising which so far hasbeen limited to SMS or WAPbanners. With users receiving anaverage of ten calls per day,advertisers can reach a large anddiverse audience”.

Although the market’s powerhouseremains in Asia, there have beensome successes in the West too.Virgin Mobile USA recentlyconfirmed that its service, poweredby LiveWire Mobile, quickly gatheredover 100,000 subscribers paying$1.49 a month for access. Critically,the service was made flexible so userscan designate individual tracks forfriends. In August, LiveWire addedthe ability to purchase ringbackbundles that play in rotation,charging $3.50 per month on top ofthe monthly fee.

Despite these isolated successes,the anecdotal evidence suggests thatringbacks are yet to take off fully inthe West. Observers suggest average

Euro penetration is two per cent,against up to 45 per cent in Korea.Why? Richard Jackson, businessdevelopment director of Muzicall, hassome ideas. “It’s not cultural, for astart” he says, dismissing a commonlyheld belief that Europeans andAmericans have someanthropological resistance. “It’s moreto do with our fragmented market –lots of networks, lots of languages,operators that switch betweenbuilding local then global servicesthen back again.”

Jackson believes the market willnever flourish while operators andservice providers remain in charge of

the store. What’s needed, hecontends, is an intermediary that cantake different cross-network offeringsto expert consumer-facing brands, bethey D2C firms like Zed andBuongiorno or even enterprises.

Jackson adds: “Operators are goodat tariffs; they’re not so good atservices. Despite their efforts, 70 percent of content sold in Europe is off-deck. Operators need to startworking with off-portal specialists.”

Muzicall plans to help them. Italready works with Vodafone, andclaims to have more deals imminent.Its strategy appears to be part of ashift that already has momentum.Earlier this year, Jamba launched aservice called Fun Broker, powered byringback powerhouse Comverse, andoffered via T-Mobile Germany.

Just a few years ago it seemedcounter-intuitive that D2Ccompanies could ever offeringringbacks. Now, it looks inevitable.

Ringbacks will never flourish while

operators and service providers remain in

charge of the store.


Everyone and No One- a US success storyTHE biggest selling ringback in Western markets is Alicia Keys’ No One,which sold 500,000 in the US alone. Much of its success was due to theimaginative retailing of Verizon, which uniquely bundles music services.When users buy a ringtone they’re offered the ringback tone too. Serviceprovider RealNetworks/WiderThan says this kind of bundling can boostsales by a third.

Ringback volume going upAS EVER, the analysts disagree on the detail, but the story is broadly thesame: ringbacks are getting louder. While ringtones continue to besqueezed and the full-track mobile market struggles to establish itself,ringbacks remain the significant growth area in mobile music.Consumer behaviour monitor M:Metrics has reported that the numberof users purchasing a ringback increased 69 per cent in the year toFebruary 2008, while ringtones and wallpapers remained flat. Thisenthusiasm has no doubt informed the prediction of MultiMediaIntelligence, which believes the market will triple to $4.7 billion by 2012.

Ringback tone pioneers (left to right): OnMobile’s Arvind Rao, Muzicall’s Richard Jacksonand IMI Mobile’s Vish Alluri

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URBAN CONTENT �

In the highly corporate world ofmobile content, what a raredelight it is to hear a successfulCEO ascribing his considerable

success to pimps, bitches and hos.No, Andrew Bud hasn’t had apersonality-changing bump on thehead. This is Mike Johns, founder ofUrban World Wireless. Johns almostsingle-handedly created the marketin ‘urban’, predominantly African-American targeted, mobileentertainment when he launched thefirm in 2001. Today, Urban WorldWireless remains a potent force inthe US and beyond. It even has aspin-off digital label, Udubmusic….

How did it all start?I’d been working for a hip hopmagazine called Rap Page, and itseemed obvious to me that the bestway to get news to fans was via thephone. Kids in urban areas couldn’tafford PCs and only had access toemail if they were in college. At thetime, lots of rappers were keen ongetting blinged up with mobile – wehad front covers where they’d beusing pagers and so on, so we startedto send out alerts to those Motorolatwo-way pagers that everyone wasusing back then. It just grew real fast,and we ended up with a big database– 50,000 by 2003.

What was your business plan?There was no business plan! Wenever gave a thought to monetisingthe service. We just wanted to getthe news out.

How did you recruit subscribers?Mostly word of mouth. We signed upmembers in person. We’d even signup their whole contacts list at thesame time. Meanwhile, radio stationswere catching on to what we weredoing and they’d read out our newsand plug what we were doing.

How did this turn into acommercial service? Well, the record companies saw thatwe had valuable community and theystarted adding text tags to our newsround-ups. Soon we had live eventsadvertising too, and the thing juststarted to grow. By 2001, the ringtone

market was taking off and we beganto record our own voicetones. We gotlots of distribution, but the big dealfor us was when T-Mobile replacedthe Motorola pager with theSidekick, which became a seriouslypopular phone with our community.Although everything we did wascreated in-house, soon the labelsstarted using us to distribute theircontent too.

What were the highlights of thatphase?We sold this ‘Pimptone’ product bythe comedian Katt Williams wherehe would shout: ‘You have a ho on

the line.’ That went triple platinumfor us.

Have you noticed a squeeze onringtone sales?Oh yeah, the ringtone and voicetonemarket has definitely been damaged.No doubt about that. But it’s justmoved us in new directions. Welaunched a digital music label calledUdubmusic because we know somany artists who want to move inthis direction. They trust us to helpthem. We’ll offer ringtones, full-tracks, videos… and we already have60 artists signed up. The way themarket is changing has also led us tore-invent what we did at the start,with the news service. We’re now liveon the Apple App store with Udubnews, but it’s ad-funded and featuresricher content like video clips.

So you’ve kind of come full circle.I have big ambitions for Urban Worldin the news space. During HurricaneKatrina it was clear African-Americans don’t have a news servicethat speaks to them. I want to takeour news all over the world, usingentertainment as the candy.

Tell us about ‘Google me, bitch’.That was just a phrase we startedusing, so we had some t-shirts printedand took them to CTIA. Ourattorneys weren’t sure about it, buteveryone wanted one – even Googlepeople. I was in the UK recently andsent one to the Queen. I never foundout whether she wore it.

Rap portalThe hip-hop ‘community’ loves mobilecontent – something Urban WorldWireless spotted first. Tim Green spoketo its founder Mike Johns...

Top: Udubmusic act 40glocc. Bottom: Urban World CEO Mike Johns (left) with DJ Juice

� MANAGED SERVICES


There’s one theory of theuniverse which proposesthat the big bang is followedby a big crunch, when all

matter comes back together, only tobe followed by another big bang andso on for perpetuity. Makes your headspin, doesn’t it? Well, you can argue asimilar pattern is being produced bythat other great cosmic force – themobile operator. First it swells its ownoperation by trying to build teamsaround content services, then itrealises how unwieldy and wasteful itall is, so it trims down andoutsources. Later it re-considerssurrendering all that power topartners and brings everything in-house again.

This pattern has been pursued tovarying levels by the networks sincethe first WAP portals appeared in2002. Back then, content wasperceived as the next big growth areaafter voice and text topped out. Itwas a nice idea. But, as we all know,data services can be horribly difficultto build and sustain when yourexpertise is in network infrastructure,billing and High Street retail. Allsorts of new challenges presentthemselves, such as: how to respondto failed downloads; how to giverefunds; how to bill for ‘events’ ratherthan purchases; subscriptions;refunds; customer care; marketing.On and on it goes. It’s not easy whenyour expertise is in selling minutes.

So on came the outsourcinglightbulb. Let someone else do theheavy lifting for a fee or, even better,a revenue share. This first wave ofcontracting out was largely based ontechnical needs, with companies likeEricsson stepping in to run networksfor companies like Hutchison 3G. Butin 2006 a landmark was reachedwhen T-Mobile Internationaloutsourced its entire premiumcontent business to Qpass (sincebought by Amdocs). Qpass hadalready built T-Mobile’s contentdelivery platform, but this deal added

its ‘Digital Commerce Solution’ to themix, effectively ceding day-to-daycontrol of content aggregation,delivery and merchandising for the t-zones portal.

A flurry of similar deals soonfollowed, such as when Virgin UKappointed Infospace to provide mediadownloads and power all mobile dataservices and transactions. These

providers began launching brandedplatform ‘products’ to capitalise onthe new thinking. Germany’sMaterna, for example, developedMACS as a management tool forhandling all manner of entertainmentservices. It is still being used by O2,Sunrise and others.

In parallel with this infrastructuralshift, operators were also appointing

third parties to handle some contentaggregation too. Thus companiessuch as Player X, AMS and Selatrabecame the intermediaries for allnon-direct games accounts, just asBuongiorno and Jamba handledringtones and Fonestarz didwallpapers. Inevitably the role ofthese partners grew over time toencompass more technical issues.

A good example of this comes fromFilmnight, which was launched tosupply movie-related content intooperators. In 2006 it launched a spin-off agency, Saffron, to provide amanaged platform not just to carriersbut to all brands looking at mobile. Itquickly picked up contracts such themanagement of VoD for T-Mobile.And Saffron proved its worth when itdeepened the service to allow, forexample, the pausing of video onmobile and its resumption on a PC.

It can be argued that this kind ofinnovation happens faster and morefrequently when a specialist is incharge than when such things are leftto operators. Sven Halling, VP ofmarketing at End2End ContentServices, which works with Vodafone,Orange and others on gamingservices, sees this happening moreand more. He says: “It’s interestingthat many of our existing customersthat previously only wanted theplatform are asking us to take onmore responsibility for the completeservice, including sourcing, retailingand even marketing.”

This kind of thinking led O2 tohand the keys to its gaming store toPlayer X, which built the 100%Mobile service and filled it with allkinds of retail flourish, like flexiblepricing and try before you buy.

But while the move towardsoutsourcing vertical content offeringsmay drive sales in these individual‘silos’, it’s not the perfect answer.Why? Because consumers don’talways shop by product type. If youlike Coldplay, chances are you’dprefer all your Chris Martin content

Platform tooSelling entertainment seemed like a great idea in 2002, when operator portals were born. But it was sohard. Tim Green investigates how and why the carriers are handing over the keys to their storefronts…

Clockwise from top: Mobile Interactive Group’s Anthony Nelson, James Patmore ofAmdocs and Graham Rivers of WIN


in one place. Having a differentprovider managing videos, ringtones,screensavers can preclude this.

James Patmore, VP of the ACEDivision (EMEA) at Amdocs, says:“The vertical model organisedaround content silos creates twomajor problems. Firstly it leads to adisjointed customer experience,requiring the customer to visitmultiple storefronts in search ofcontent. These storefronts do notnecessarily share the same look andfeel, resulting in customerconfusion and frustration.Secondly, it prevents operatorsfrom employing powerful toolslike cross-media bundling andrecommendations. And yet thesemethods are used by the sameonline retailers that the operatorsoften compete with.”

The desire to address these issuescan lead to a second layer ofoutsourcing. This occurred recentlywhen MoMac was recruited by O2and Sony BMG to build mobilemicro-sites around artists such asThe Ting Tings and The Script.Sham Careem, MD of MoMac UK,says: “O2 already uses Napster formusic, Mobix for video andBuongiorno for ringtones, so we hadto build a platform to sit on top oftheirs in order to offer bundlesaround artists from one storefront.”

The decision by Sony BMG to goahead with its own mini portalsindicates the next big growth area inoutsourcing: consumer brands. Withdata prices falling and handsetscreens becoming brighter, mediacompanies are looking hard at mobilesites. And the last thing they want isto manage them. Meanwhile,operators grow more attuned to theidea of forwarding traffic to theseservices from their portals.

Michael Tomlins, commercialdirector of Infomedia, which workswith Tesco, NME, Man Utd andmore, says: “We run microsites on O2and Orange. The operators just linkto them and know that we’ll keep thecontent refreshed, merchandised andproactively retailed to ensure therevenues are maximised. As a resultwe can upload content and publish itreal time on the brand owner’s D2Csite as well as on Orange and O2.”

For all the progress made withoutsourcing, there’s always the riskthat operators will panic, do a ‘big

crunch’ andbring content in-house again.However, most specialists believe thechances are slim. WIN works with T-Mobile Germany, AOL, SonyEricsson Play Now and others. ItsCEO Graham Rivers says: “It couldhappen, but it’s unlikely. T-Mobileblew a huge sum on t-zones, which

it will never get back. I thinkoperators recognise they can’t be asdynamic and responsive as specialists.And with voice revenues falling, theyhave to look at cost reduction.”

And so we come back to thateternal question: is the operator a

dumb pipe? Mostpeople interviewed for

this feature seemed toagree with the emerging

consensus that, as long as theyhave a CRM and billing relationship

with customers they will never be‘dumb’, even if they do have to forgetabout being entertainmentcompanies.

Anthony Nelson, businessdevelopment director at MIG, whoseMIDAS platform manages the portalsof O2, ITV and Five, summed up thegeneral feeling: “The internet doesnot have barriers and soon themobile operator won’t either. But thething to remember is that mobileoperators will always have strongmicro-billing relationships with theircustomers, which means they caneasily launch services with a billingwrap around it.”

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Paint us a picture of Player One as2008 draws to a close…During the last two years we’ve beenworking hard to establish thefranchises that deliver for us, andthat’s been doubly difficultconsidering we operate in the sportsvertical. But I believe we’ve gotourselves to the point where weknow what our winning line-up is.And, as a publisher, we’re very luckyto have a long-term developmentagreement in place with ShadowlightGames, which is an incrediblyaccomplished studio. Our investmentin them is now bearing fruit.

How can a company like PlayerOne flourish alongside huge multi-national rivals?For starters we’re in control of ourroadmap and committed to launching20 games in 2009, having published13 so far this year. The industry is notthe Wild West it once was. The toppublishers are all about market share.Below that there a group ofcompanies that I think are involvedin too many areas by trying tocombine publishing with distributionand aggregation.

Then you have companies likePlayer One. We know our corecompetencies and we’ve nailed ourcolours to the mast. The opportunityis not just flogging a £5 game on anoperator portal. If you have asuccessful franchise, you have to askwhat else can you do with it.

What are these opportunities?iPhone is clearly one possibledestination and by luck or byjudgement I think that store is goingto do for games what it did for digital

music in terms of pushing it into themass market.

But the meritocracy of the AppStore and Apple’s own qualitycontrols mean that content has to betop notch. We started our iPhoneroadmap back in March and we’vegot a launch schedule of eight gamesover the next three or four months,including Ernie Els, Bass FishingMania, Table Tennis, Pokermillion,Ronnie O’Sullivan Snooker andPDC Darts.

The other part of where we thinkthe market’s going is Wii Ware, XboxLive Arcade and other digital

distribution channels. For a smallerpublisher like us it’s a big opportunity.The creative processes for an iPhoneand Xbox game are not dissimilar.Xbox is certainly no more arduous,again as long as the quality is therefor the game to rise above the rest.Put simply, mobile will always be ourmain focus, but we’ll head off intodifferent areas when we havefranchises that we think will work.

Tell us about your distributionagreement with THQ Wireless…That arrangement takes Player Onefrom being a predominantly UK-focused publisher to sending ourproducts out around the world. Itmakes our pitch to licensors evenmore compelling. Suddenly we canpromise much wider geographicalreach. We’ve launched three gamesalready with THQ in the US and bythe middle of next year we’ll havelaunched another eight. That’s eightmore US releases than we’ve everhad before without increasing ourcost base.

Do you think more publishers willbe entering similar partnerships?I think publishers outside of the toptier will have to follow a similarroute. The challenge to everyone ishow to squeeze all kinds of genresinto a portfolio without becoming anaggregator – it’s really difficult to dowithout losing identity. The flipside

for us is trying to sell prducts wespecialise in – sports – to operatorswho sometimes don’t understandthem. THQ Wireless is great as itknows our own products as well as itknows its own. In fact I’d like tothink it’s absolutely a complementaryrelationship. I think 2009 is going tobe a big year for both of us.

Games publisher Player One is gunning for the US and iPhone, with serious backup in the form of THQWireless. ME sat down with MD Pete Russell…

� PLAYER ONE Q&A

Wow what a player

We are in control of our roadmap...

we know our core competencies and we

have nailed our colours to the mast.

� DATA TARIFFS

The approach of operators tomobile data charging may wellbe the most debated and

vexatious of all industry subjects.Happily, the barrier that onerous datapricing erected in front of bothconsumers and the content businessis finally coming down.

In the last 18 months, mostEuropean operators have launchedall-you-can-eat plans that reduceprices for users and remove the fear

of billshock (unless ‘fair usage’ isexceeded). They have alsoexperimented with maximum dailyrates to entice pre-pay users intopain-free downloading.

It can’t be easy for the contentproviders to keep up with who’scharging what. But it’s a hugelyimportant issue, and it promptedNetsize to conduct and publish a 45-page study of operator strategies in 20countries. It makes for interestingreading. On the plus side it’s

encouraging to see that virtually allnetworks have addressed the issue.Against this, wild differences betweencountries still exist – even betweenoperators in the same country.

The Italians get hit hardest. Mostof the operators still don’t offer flat-rate packages, choosing instead tocharge by time. At TIM the mostexpensive monthly tariff costs €44,while at Vodafone an hour’s data usecan cost €6. Meanwhile, prices for a

flat rate data bundle varyconsiderably across the rest of thecontinent. A 100MB datasubscription costs €8 in Hungary and€33 in Denmark, for example. Andwhen there’s no limit on megabytesused, the fees spiral upwards. Allthree Norwegian operators (Tele 2,Netcom and Telenor) charge around€ 60 for all you can eat – three timesthe rate paid by their Swedishneighbours. Here are some selectedfindings...

Tariffying newsConsumers all over Europe are being cured of billshock thanks to flat rate data packages. But, says anew Netsize report, the cost of browsing depends very much on where you live…

The charts below show how much it costs (in euros) to download 1MB of data in small,medium and big packages. Cheapest and most expensive shown for each country

Country Price ConditionsFinland €10 to €35 Depends on download speedNorway €60 UnlimitedSweden €21 Unlimited (three operators of four)Denmark €8 to €53 for 15MB to 1GB respectivelyUK €9.4 Between 120MB and 1GB

depending on networkPortugal €7.5 100MBGermany €5 to €35 20MB to unlimitedSpain €15 to €39 200MB to 1GBFrance €25 to €79 60GB to unlimited

Selected data tariff comparisons

� The Netsize report covers 500 package variations, for postpaid andprepaid payment models. It’s available to Netsize clients but can alsobe purchased directly at http://www.netsize.com for €995 ex. VAT.

It’s encouraging to see that nearly all

networks are addressing the issue of mobile

data pricing and tariffs.

Medium packages

Small packages

Big packages


ON-DEVICE PORTALS �


The on-device portal wasonce seen as the key tounlocking the vast potentialof mobile entertainment

revenues. This was because of thedirect link it provided betweenconsumer and content. But asoperators shifted away from one-offdownloads to bundled services, theon-device portal had to evolve too.Surfkitchen refers to this new breedas ODP 2.0. Whereas the originalODP concept directed consumers todownloadable content, this updatedwidget-based framework providesdirect access to content on themobile internet. It’s a kind of uber-bookmark.

But even if the ODP has changed,discoverability remains an issue.Surfkitchen claims that up to 80 percent of subscribers will use the ODPif it’s on the idle screen, comparedwith 50 per cent via the softkey and30 per cent on the device menu.Clearly, placement is key to bringingin the mass market and therebyhelping consumers discover themobile internet.

So it’s not surprising that mobileinternet adoption dominatedSurfkitchen’s recent roundtable eventin London. It says that all markets –excluding Japan and Korea – fallshort of the magic 20 per centadoption figure. So the main question

addressed was whether the medium isfundamentally flawed or if adoptionwill merely take time as hurdlestumble one by one.

The consensus was that the pricingbarrier is definitely falling, thanks toflat-rate and daily billing. Apple isalso making a difference, not just forits own users, but also for the wider

consumer base. Jag Minhas, head ofgroup technology (products anddevices) for Telefonica O2, said theiPhone is driving footfall into O2’sretail outlets, even if this does notalways translate into an iPhone sale.

While there is no direct correlationbetween the iPhone and the increasein internet traffic, research byDirect2 Mobile reveals that in keyiPhone markets, such as the US andUK, there has been phenomenaltraffic growth over the last 12months. The iPhone appears to be

the catalyst in pushing mobileinternet consumption beyond thatelusive tipping point.

But this in itself is raising newconcerns. No sooner have mobileoperator walled gardens collapsed,than OEMs raise new ones. As DaveEvans, CTO at Surfkitchen, notedduring the event, the iPhone andNokia’s Ovi are themselves creatingfresh walled gardens. This begs thequestion of whether OEMs can adopta standard way of developing apps orbookmarks to reach the mass market.

The iPhone has proved successful

because its user interface is intuitiveand its ‘widgetisation’ of the mobileinternet is a simple concept to grasp.While not all companies can delivera similar UI, the ability to widgetise isa given. Nick Allott, chief technicalofficer of the Open Mobile TerminalPlatform, said at the roundtable thatwidgets integrated into the core userinterface have the potential toaugment sites, such as Facebook, todeliver rich apps to the consumer.That’s exciting. But it will onlyhappen with proper discoverability;ODP 2.0 must now be thinking idle.

ARE you looking for targetedresearch into a specific area ofmobile? Got a business plan toprepare? Maybe a speech? Theseare the kinds of projects that MEResearch can help with. MobileEntertainment has teamed upwith Direct2Mobile to delivertargeted intelligence into thecontent space. Projects arecarried out by Nick Lane and his

team. Interested? Send a mail to:[email protected]

ME Research: Nowopen for business

The future is idleCan ‘on-device portal 2.0’ nudge mobile internet adoption past a tipping pointand into the mass market? Nick Lane, of Direct2 Mobile, opines….

No soonerhave walled gardenscollapsed, thanOEMs raised newones.

The Surfkitchen roundtable sawlively debate on the future role ofODP in the market...


As if it wasn’t growing fast enough,Mobile Interactive Group has hiredRACHEL PRICE as biz dev manager.She arrives from Rhythm NewMedia, where she handled mobilevideo campaigns for Coca Cola,Nivea and others. Elsewhere in theMIG empire, 4th Screen Advertisingadded MARK ANGELL and ANDYBEAMES as director of strategicsales and account managerrespectively, while digital agencyJigsaw hired CHRISTINEMOESSNER and LINA HALLEN,both as account managers.

SCOTT KELLIHER has joined AOL-owned ad agency Platform-A ascategory sales director for telecomfrom Virgin USA, where he wasdirector of mobile media services.Platform-A is the new entity forservices supplied by Third ScreenMedia.

Movidilo has appointedMARTIN JAMES GOSSLING as VPof business development in Europe.He will drive internationalexpansion for Movidilo, a US start-up that provides numerous mobilemedia services like ads, search andm-commerce.

ALEX CHAPMAN has joinedentertainment focused law firmSheridans. He’s a computer gamesindustry expert, having worked atCreative Assembly, SportsInteractive, Blitz and others.

JOSE ZAVALA has moved fromVivendi Games Mobile toFox/Jamster where he will becomedirector of global communications.

UK-based apps developer Masabihas recruited FRED METZGEN tobe its new CEO.

� RECRUITMENT

India’s Jump Games hires Roger Davies to plot Euro charge... Recruitment Specialists

www.aspire-mobile.com +44(0)207 297 2060

Davies hops to Jump

Sponsored by

Jump Games has set up a Euro office in London and appointed ROGERDAVIES to run it. The new VP of Europe is a well-known face in mobile,having worked for RealNetworks, Riot E, Infospace and Medio.Reliance-owned Jump made waves last year when it picked up mobilerights to Manchester Utd.

3rd Floor, 54 - 62 Regent Street, London, W1B 5RE

Please email CV and covering letterto [email protected]

No agencies

Mobile Marketing ManagerThe Challenge: get our new range of products into the hands of everyone in the UK with a compatible mobile.

Can you get our products distributed via the major Mobile Networks and High Street Stores, advertise in all the right places and work

with our offline team on stimulating and fun promotions? Prior Mobile experience most definitely required. Gambling sector experience

an advantage.

Mobile Games AssistantWork with our Mobile Product Owner and gaming specialists to help develop and promote the very best new games on the market.

Interest in mobile and gadgets, common sense, willingness to learn and work hard essential. Mobile and Gambling sector experience is

NOT a pre-requisite.

Mobile QAGot an eye for detail and a mind to ensure quality? Test the latest and greatest in mobile gambling games. Product development technical

experience required, including SQL, familiarity with bug tracking systems, rigorous testing and QA processes, and testing tools.

Gambling sector experience is NOT a pre-requisite. Prior mobile experience a real advantage.

Competitive salaries + exciting benefits

Gamesys Group is a multi-award winning developer and operator of online bingo, casino and slots games based in central London. We have recently expanded into Mobile Gaming and are now looking for new talent to join our team. For anybody wishing to make the move over to mobile gaming (gambling)? We have three great opportunities available:

Great Mobile Gambling Opportunities

RECRUITMENT �

Capcom Mobile has unified itsEuropean and North Americanoperations under a singlemanagement team led by its currentpresident MIDORI YUASA.Meanwhile, MATT GILLIS (executiveVP of publishing) will leadcommercial activities, andMANABU SEKO (head of studios)will lead R&D functions.

Zed has a new country manager forits home turf of Spain andneighbour Portugal. He’s RAFAEL GÓMEZ-GAYOSO, who willbe based at Zed´s headquarters inMadrid and will report to IñakiMartín Velasco, the regional directorof Western Europe. Before joiningZed, Gómez-Gayoso worked withSpanish cable operator ONO.

November 2008 31www.mobile-ent.bizwww.mobile-ent.biz

Apply via email with CV and reference number to:[email protected]

+44 (0)20 7440 [email protected]

www.propellondon.com

Recruiters from digital, recruiting for digital

Mobile Marketing Manager, Online Gaming, London£Neg + excellent bonus (JT14079)A leading provider of entertainment-branded online games is currentlyexpanding their mobile proposition. You will be tasked with maximisingstrategic opportunities within the entertainment space, as well as devisingand implementing a mobile marketing plan. Gaming experience preferable.

Agency Sales Manager, Mobile Agency, London£30k Basic + great bonus (JT13391)One of the longest established mobile marketing agencies now requiresan agency sales manager to join their team. You will build a new base ofaccounts, manage existing clients and account execs, and with yourstrong client services skills you will have the ability to build lastingbusiness relationships.

Head of Sales, EMEA Mobile Agency, London£50k + Bonus (JT13785)One of the leading mobile marketing agencies based in London is lookingfor a Head of Sales. You will speak directly to brands to offer the deliveryof highly-sophisticated multi-channel services that optimise responseacross SMS, mobile internet and voice channels. You have to be aforward-thinking mobile specialist with a strong passion for the industry.

digital marketingcreative services

technical developmentmobile

i-Gamingsupport services

Capcom’s Midori Yuasa (left) and Zed’s Rafael Gomez-Gayoso

Mobile Entertainment& Digital Content

Moco Connect Limited are the true specialistswithin the Mobile Entertainment Industry.

+44 (0)1273 221 080 or e-mail us on [email protected]

Call us now on

New Business Development ManagerMobile Content & Applications, New MediaLondon £Market Rate – Base + OTE + Benefits Hardware Engineers/Product Managers/Project Managers Mobile Handset Manufacturer UK & International £Market Rate R & D Engineers Mobile Handset ManufacturerUK & International £Market Rate Advertising Account Executive Mobile Marketing London£30,000 – £40,000 + Bonus + Benefits Product Marketing Manager – Music Mobile Handset Manufacturer London£Market Rate

� RECRUITMENT

Propel Londonon fast forwardA commitment to knowledge sharing and a purefocus on new media employers and applicantshas made Propel London a recruitment force...


Propel claims to be the UK’s leadingindependent player in digitalrecruitment and works across theentire spectrum from mobile toonline. The agency was establishedin 2001, and has helped place thepeople that are now shaping thedigital industry.

The firm’s motto is ‘knowledgeand delivery’ – an ethos it has triedto weave into its corporate dealingsince its inception and instil in itsteam. Indeed, Propel has a firmbelief in the quality of its staff,employing consultants that arebright, ambitious and fun – just likethe industry they serve. It divides itsconsultants into specialist divisionsthat cover design, search andaffiliate marketing, technicaldevelopment and sales. The team istherefore able to offer advice aboutprospective employers, careerdevelopment, salary expectationsand overseas relocation.

Because Propel believes sofervently in sharing knowledge, itmaintains a number of blogs on itswebsite that are designed to helpprospective applicants keep up todate with industry events andthereby optimise their CVs for thebest possible results.

In terms of client relationships,Propel is committed to supportingfirms from across the value chain,of all sizes. It therefore works withsuper brands, mediafirms and designagencies as well aspureplays and start-ups. These firmsinclude Agency Republic,AutoTrader, eBay, Glue and Outrideramong others.

With job opportunities rangingfrom graduate-level to board-levelmanagement positions, Propel cangenuinely serve clients andapplicants of all ranges. It can alsooffer bespoke recruitment solutionsto job seekers and prospectiveemployers. The firm’s independenceallows for maximum flexibilityregarding payment structure, itsestablished relationships with keyadvertisers help it quickly spreadthe word, while its team of trainedhead-hunters ensures that the rightperson fits the right position.

Major brandshave already

employed Propelfor new media

recruitment

SOURCEStuck for a stat or just looking to expand yourmind? Find everything you need right here...

Numbers. We love them. Youlove them. And they’re all herein Mobile Entertainment

magazine’s reference section. It’s aone-stop shop for all the content-based numerological and statologicalinformation you can possibly imagine.

Our run-down of key operatorsubscriber numbers is here again. Asusual, our Games Spotlight pagesfocus on the hot new titles coming outsoon. We also have a round-up of allthe latest industry research, acomprehensive show and conferenceguide, and a run down of best sellercharts from across the mobile content market.

There’s also the Product Focus,which picks out a selection of thecontent, hardware and services eitherjust launched or coming to market.

What’s more, every month MobileEntertainment magazine publishes theMobile Marketplace, a invaluabledirectory of key product and serviceproviders in the space. Put simply,there’s something here to satisfy everynumber cruncher and any Powerpointpresentation.

If you have any queries about thedata, or would like to submitinformation for any of the pages in thissection, just send an email to:[email protected].


INDEX

MEMORY CARDS

CONTENT PROVISION

DUPLICATION

LABELLING

PACKAGING

Making Mobiles come alive!

Peak offer a range of exciting Music, Film,Game and Software titles pre-loaded ontoMemory Cards and ready for use in the latestmulti function Mobile Phones. We can doas little or as much as you require, fromsupplying the raw cards and fully licensedcontent to duplication, labellingand packaging.

Peak Development is the pioneering Memory Card distributor at theforefront of the Content Revolution.

tel: 01489 796979email: [email protected]

www.peak-uk.comRET 22.10.08 - ME

PRODUCT FOCUS P35Best of this month’s content, hardware and services

GAMES SPOTLIGHT P36Hot new titles coming out soon

EVENTS P38Conferences, exhibitions, seminars and networking

DATABOX P39We love stats, you love stats

CHARTS P40All the movers and shakers

NETWORK SUBS P42Key numbers from key operators

MARKETPLACE P45Mobile content product and service providers

SOURCE: PRODUCT FOCUS �

Mobile Marketing 2.0 (Inmobia)Available: Out Now

Peperoni.com

INMOBIA’s Mobile Marketing 2.0gives users the opportunity todevelop and distribute their ownadvertising. It offers the toolsrequired to run a mobile campaignand provides businesses of anysize an easy and inexpensivemarketing solution.

The suite centres on Inmobia’sMedia Portal Manager 3.0 platformand includes an array of associatedservices such as technicalassistance and training, statisticalevaluation and unique user IDs.

With the Media Portal Manager3.0, Inmobia claims it has takenmobile content management to the‘next level’, with a product suite

that will track and target customerneeds through data minedmessages and CRM-basedcommunication.

Users can create banner ads, textlink ads, portal hosted videocontent and SMS/WAP pushmarketing based on data minedinformation.

In short, Mobile Marketing 2.0provides a method of creating adcampaigns across multipleterritories, offers access to a largelibrary of content and comes withrich targeting designed to helpraise brand awareness andcustomer loyalty.www.inmobia.com

PEPERONI has been a pioneer ofthe user-generated content sectorand can claim to have inventedmobile site building back in 2001.Its WAP service, Peperonity.com,allows end-users to create and hosttheir own personalised websites.

After redesigning its homepagein September this year (refreshingthe Peperonity service with largevirtual buttons, self-explanatorysymbols, a more intuitive menuand updated handset compatibility)Peperoni says it boasts the world’slargest mobile social networkingservice.

With over eight million user-generated pages created so far,Peperoni is now welcomingadvertisers to its site, which itclaims generates ten million unique

visitors every month. As one of thelargest players in the Europeanmobile industry, Peperoni supportsCPM, CPC and CPA businessmodels and can offer advertiserstargeting capabilities, sponsorships,and external links.

Peperoni has long-termexperience in white labellingcommunities and their componentsto network operators, portals andcontent owners. Mobile sites can becreated, edited and viewed in anyregular Internet browser as well ason WAP-enabled mobile phones,the iPhone and on PDAs.

Among the range of availablecomponents are personal sites,blogs, chatrooms, quizzes, forumpages, profiles and guest books.www.peperoni.com

Available: Out Now

November 2008 35

IN A NUTSHELL: The original mobile webcommunity reckons it just got a bit better.

IN A NUTSHELL:Mobile marketingsolution withsignificant reach in toEuropean, African,Middle Eastern andAmerican markets.

A selection of new content, hardware and services...

NEW STUFF

� SOURCE: GAMES SPOTLIGHT

The Finnish games developerGamelion has achieved successand international recognitionthrough its Global Sportsfranchise, mostly thanks to theGlobal Cricket and Global Racetitles. Now it’s made a deliberatetilt at the US market with GlobalBaseball.

The game features full 3Dgraphics, a robust achievementsystem and a tutorial walkthroughof all major game mechanics.Players of the game can take partas one of the top ten nationalteams in a ladder tournament forworld championship.

Gamelion always approaches itsgames with the same easy to play,difficult to master ethic. Soalthough the game’s control

scheme is set up for quick play byany baseball enthusiast, hittingthose home runs and perfect shotsis not easy. Players can also makestrategic decisions during thematch, choosing whether to attackthe next base or not.

One of the additional features ofthe game is support for the ‘try &buy’ model. It can be downloadedstraight from Gamelion’s websitefor a choice of license fees that fitdifferent budgets.

The game is out now, andGamelion is currently looking for apublishing partner across all theusual platforms.

Developer expandsits ‘Global’ brandwith US franchise

Well-loved US TV show franchise getsthe mobile gaming treatment

A little feud for thought from Glu

Glu Mobile is the most acquisitiveof all games specialists when itcomes to IP. It has deals in placewith partners such as Sega, Sonyand others – but its latest releaseFamily Feud marks the first fruit ofits partnership with TV productionhouse FremantleMediaEnterprises.

It’s a mobile version of one ofthe US’s’ best known and longestrunning game shows. Family Feudenjoys over 1.5 million dailyviewers and has spawned localformats across the world,including the UK’s FamilyFortunes.

The game itself is a faithfulreproduction of the TV format andincludes familiar features such asthe ‘Fast Money Round’ (or the‘Big Money Round’ as UK fanswould know it) as well as cheesymusic from the show. Additionallyplayers will be able to create their

own family look and name tocustomise the gaming experience.

The answers in the game aredrawn from genuine surveysconducted across the phonenetwork ensuring that, asquestions and content are beingcontinually updated, players willnever answer the same surveyquestion twice. It’s up to mobileplayers to try to avoid some of themost idiotic answers given bygenuine contestants.

Glu’s Family Feud is nowavailable on all major carriers inNorth America.

TITLE: Global BaseballGENRE: Casual SportsRELEASED: Out nowPUBLISHER: GamelionFORMAT: Nokia S60, BREW,Windows Mobile, iPhone

www.mobile-ent.biz36 November 2008

New Gamelion title hasall its bases covered

TITLE: Global BaseballGENRE: Casual SportsRELEASED: Out nowPUBLISHER: GamelionFORMAT: Nokia S60, BREW,Windows Mobile, iPhone

WWW.MOBILE-ENT.BIZ

Mobile Entertainment and Direct2 Mobile have teamed upto create a new service, ME Research, to provide bespokeintelligence on industry topics with turnaround times from48 hours. ME Research can help with anything from keydata to support an urgent market report to editorial contentfor a speech or case study. It can also produce long-term research with detailed industry forecasts.

Each project is handled by Direct2 Mobile’s team, which isled by former Informa analyst Nick Lane.

MOBILE INTELLIGENCE FOR ALLNeed industry research? Need it fast? You’re in luck.

Email: [email protected] now!

November 2008

November 5th-7thMobile Internet Services andWeb 2.0Barcelona, Spainwww.metelecoms.com

With voice revenue in decline,this event will address the options available to the mobilebiz from the mobile web andconnected services.

November 6thMeet-UpLondon, UKwww.mobile-ent.biz/meet-up

A night of networking with MEmagazine and WIN Plc.

November 12thLicensing Asia 2008Tokyo, Japanwww.licensing-asia.co.jp

November 15thAustin Game DeveloperConferenceAustin, USAwww.austingdc.net

November 17th-19thMobile MultimediaAdvertising and MarketingForumLondon, UKwww.metelecoms.com

An exploration of theopportunities for brands andtelcos in mobile advertising.

November 18th-20thMobile Asia CongressMacauwww.mobileasiacongress.com

November 18th-21stMobile ContentLondon, UKwww.iir-events.com

Case studies and panelsessions on the tools needed toboost revenues from the mobilecontent industry.

January 2009

January 8th-11thCESLas Vegas, USAwww.cesweb.org

Kick off 2009 with a show thatcovers every kind of gadget anddongle you can think of.

January 21st-22ndMobile Games ForumLondon, UKwww.osneymedia.co.uk

The original mobile gamesconference returns for its sixthyear in London.

February 2009

February 16th-19thMobile World CongressBarcelona, Spainwww.mobileworldcongress.com

More than 55,000 attended theGSM Association’s showpieceevent in 2008. We’ll be backthere in 2009 as an officialmedia partner.

March 2009

March 23rdGDC 2009San Francisco, USAwww.gdconf.com

The biggest developer event in

the world returns for yet

another stab at bringing

together the game development

community.

March 24thGame Connection America2009San Francisco, USAwww.game-connection.comGame Connection returns againto provide game developersand service providers thechance to exhibit their wares

March 30th-April 3rdMipTV ft. MiliaCannes, Francewww.miptv.com

The global content market forcreating, co-producing, buying,selling, financing anddistributing entertainmentacross all platforms.

April 2009

April 1st-3rdCTIA Wireless 2009Las Vegas, USAwww.ctiawireless.com

Mobile Entertainment magazinewill once again be a mediapartner for the foremost tradeevent in North America.

June 2009

June 2nd-4thLicensing International 2009Las vegas, USAwww.licensingexpo.com

More than 525 exhibitors with6,000 brands and properties -all in just three days – but thistime it's in Las Vegas.

June 2nd-5thJava One 2009San Diego, USAjava.sun.com/javaone

Sun Microsystems’ annual Javadeveloper conference alwaysplaces mobile high on theagenda.

June 3rd-5thBrew 2009San Diego, USAbrew.qualcomm.com

Qualcomm’s annual developerand partner conference. The2008 event covered everythingfrom Brew game developmentthrough to mobile TV andcontent discovery.

June 23rd-24thMobile EntertainmentMarketsLondon, UKwww.m-e-f.org

MeM is the MobileEntertainment Forum’s officialannual event, produced inpartnership with Informa.

2008-2009 CALENDAR

� SOURCE: EVENTS

THIS MONTH’S HIGHLIGHTSNovember 5th-7thMobile Internet Services and Web 2.0


CTIA Wireless 2009 – The big US event brings key audiencessuch as enterprise users, solution providers, content owners andmobile distribution channels together to form strategicpartnerships, service industry needs and create new innovationsin wireless data. Takes place in Vegas, April 1st-3rd.

The GSMA Mobile World Congress (Feb 16th-19th 2008) has adesignated conference stream and exhibition for Mobile Mediaand Entertainment. It will allow you to meet with leadingexecutives and experience the technologies that will drive mobilemedia and entertainment into the next decade.

November 12thLicensing Asia 2008

November 15thAustin Game Developer Conference

November 17th-19thMobile Multimedia Advertising and Marketing Forum

SOURCE: DATABOX �

US electronics giant RadioShacksays brand awareness rose from15.8 per cent to 24.2 per centamong consumers who used aGreystripe-powered mobile in-game ad campaign it ran earlierthis year. The campaignoutperformed norms for unaidedbrand awareness by 2.2 per cent.

databox

User-generated mobile content will generate $7.3billion in 2013, according to Juniper. The researchalso predicts that social networking will overtakedating as the largest revenue generator by 2009.Advertising, which is forecast to account for nearlya third of UGC revenues will gross more than halfof mobile social networking earnings.

UGC worth $7billion in 2013

MIG is UK’s fastestgrowing tech firmMobile Interactive Group has taken top spot inThe Sunday Times' Tech Track 100 list, whichprofiles the UK's fastest growing technologycompanies. With just under 100 staff, theLondon-based mobile billing, apps, ads andservice company is said to have grown 422.3per cent in terms of annual sales growth andrecorded £35.9 million in 2007/8 sales.

US consumersswitching foriPhone


There will be four billion mobile subscriptionsglobally at the end of 2008, according to InformaTelecoms & Media. However, the pace of the riseis set to slow, with Informa suggesting the fivebillionth subscription won’t be signed up until4Q11. At this point, worldwide penetration willexceed 70 per cent. Only in Africa will penetrationat the end of 2011 be below 50 per cent.

Mobile substo hit 4 billionthis year

In-game adsfuel brandawareness

Thirty per cent of people whopurchased iPhone between June andAugust switched from other networksto join AT&T. NPD said the figurewas seven per cent above the averageswitchover rateduring theperiod. Of thosecustomers whoswitched, 47 percent camefrom VerizonWireless,while 24 percent switchedfrom T-Mobile.

US subs hit 262.7mThe number of mobile phone users in the US hasreached 262.7 million, equivalent to a penetration rate of86.4 per cent. It’s impressive, but it is still below the 100per cent seen in many Western European countries.Wireless data service revenues in the US during 1H08increased by 40 per cent year-on-year to $14.8 billion, anddata now accounts for 20 per cent of all revenues.

Mobile TV to sweepLatin AmericaLatin America will have21.3 million digital TVhandsets in use in 2013,says TVTelco Latam. Theresearch predicts thatthere will be 1.56 millionmobile digital pay TVsubscribers in addition tothose customers using 3Gor WiMax networks.Related advertisingrevenues for the regioncould reach $96 million.

A selection of stats from across the mobile industry...

Ringtones

Music

Video & wallpaper

Ringtones & gamesJamster UK realtones, 15 August - 15 Sept

Song Artist

1 I Kissed A Girl Katy Perry

2 All I Ever Wanted Basshunter

3 Closer Ne-Yo

4 Disturbia Rihanna

5 Mountains Biffy Clyro

6 Give It 2 Me Madonna

7 Crazy World J. Majik & Wickaman

8 Pjanoo Eric Prydz

9 I Love You So Schnuffel Bunny

10 No Air Jordin Sparks

Source: Jamster

Tagging

Shazam Tagging

Oct 08

1 Infinity 2008

Guru Josh Project

2 Spotlight

Jennifer Hudson

3 Beggin’

Madcon

4 Paper Planes

M.I.A.

5 In This City

Iglu & Hartly

6 Miss Independent

Ne-Yo

7 Sex On Fire

Kings Of Leon

8 Love Shy

Platinum

9 So What

Pink

10 Live Your Life

T.I. ft Rihanna

Source: Shazam

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

Fonestarz top videos, Oct

1 Wii Fit Girlfriend

2 Laughing Baby

3 Brand News Sexy Cam

4 Kiss Me Kwik

5 Violent Veg – Banana v Blender

6 Ice Cream Girls

7 Glamour Girl Greeting from Natalie

8 Mobbett Love Messages

9 Mr. Patel’s Sexy Summer

10 Scooby Doo – Scooby The Strong

Source: FoneStarz

Fonestarz top wallpapers, Oct

1 I Love You Balloon

2 Disco Bones Raver

3 Neons At Night Bikini Body

4 Animated Liverpool Crest – Anfield

5 Googly Eyed Pets – Chimp

6 Funny faces I Love You

7 Cheryl Cole

8 3D Spinning Man Utd Logo

9 I Heart You

10 Snuffle Bear – I Love You So Much

Source: FoneStarz

� SOURCE: CHARTS

www.mobile-ent.biz

Ringtones.com top Euro music tones, 15 Sep-15 Oct

Song Artist

1 Sex On Fire Kings Of Leon

2 So What? Pink


4 All Summer Long Kid Rock

5 Angel In The Night Bass Hunter

6 Disturbia Rihanna

7 Miss Independent Ne-Yo

8 Girls Sugababes

9 Paper Planes M.I.A.

10 So What? Pink

Source: Mobilestreams

Ringtones.com top Euro voicetones,15 Sep-15 Oct

1 Who The Hell's Ringing? Peter Kay

2 Full-Length Spider Pig Simpsons

3 Baby Laughing Sound FX

4 Fools And Horses OST

5 Drink Feck Arse Father Ted

6 Lovely Jubbly Fools And Horses

7 Drink Feck Arse (edit) Father Ted

8 I Don’t Believe It Victor Meldrew

9 Gummi Bears OST

10 Am I Bovvered? Kathrine Tate

Source: MobilestreamsSouth Africa realtone soundalikes, Sept

1 When I Grow Up Pussycat Dolls

2 Sweet About Me Gabriella Cilmi

3 Black And Gold Sam Sparro

4 7 Things Miley Cyrus


6 Viva La Vida Coldplay

7 All For One High School Musical 2

8 Shake It Metro Station

9 Shes Like A Star Taio Cruz

10 Mercury Bloc Party

Melodi Media

Jamster UK games, 15 August - 15 Sept

Game Publisher

1 Monopoly EA Mobile

2 The Game of Life EA Mobile

3 Disney Solitaire Master Living Mobile

4 FF Streets 3D I-play

5 Beijing 2008 Glu Mobile

6 Spore Origins EA Mobile

7 South Park Imagination Land Mr. Goodliving

8 Pictoplay Plus Digital Chocolate

9 Bubble Popper Deluxe Digital Chocolate

10 Space Invaders Anniversary Edition EA Mobile

Source: Jamster

40 November 2008

USA realtone soundalikes, Sept

1 So What Pink

2 Can’t Believe It T Pain Ft Lil Wayne

3 Whatever You Like TI

4 American Boy Estelle Ft Kayne west

5 Hot N Cold Katy Perry

6 I’m Yours Jason Mraz

7 Paper Planes MIA

8 Swagga Like Us Jay Z

9 I’m Yours Jason Mraz

10 Viva La Vida Coldplay

Melodi Media

RingtonesZed top truetones, 15 Sep - 15 Oct

Song Artist


2 The Pretender Foo Fighters

3 Hyper Speed SMS tone

4 Knob Jockey SMS tone

5 We Made It Busta Rhymes

6 Goodbye Mr. A The Hoosiers

7 Teenagers My Chemical Romance

8 Minger Alert Warning tone

9 Borat Nice

10 She’s So Lovely Scouting For Girls

Source: Zed

Zed games, 15 Sep - 15 Oct

Game Publisher

1 Life is a Fiesta Zed

2 Brain Coach Zed

3 Island Quest Zed

4 Bubble Boom 2 Zed

5 Street Basketball Challenge Zed

6 Allied Heroes Zed

7 Snowboard Fury Zed

8 Block Twist Drop Zed

9 Bubble Boom Challenge Zed

10 Dr. Sex & U Zed

Source: Zed

charts

Games Tones WallpapersTitles Publisher

1 Collapse! Chaos Real Networks

2 Wheel of Fortune Deluxe Sony Pictures

3 3D Pool Urban Hustle I-play

4 Snoop Dogg Cruisin' Sony Pictures

5 Bounce Out Real Networks

6 God of War - Betrayal Sony Pictures

7 Fast & Furious: Fugitive I-play

8 Call of Duty 4 Glu

9 Q*Bert Sony Pictures

10 Win At Texas Hold'em I-play

11 Diner Dash 2 Glu

12 Jeopardy! Deluxe Sony Pictures

13 Jewel Quest® II I-play

14 Hoyle Solitaire Glu

15 2008 Weakest Link I-play

16 Spider-Man 3 Sony Pictures

17 Garfield Bowling Vivendi

18 Super Breakout Glu

19 1942 Air Combat LemonQuest

20 Family Feud Deluxe Mobliss

Titles Artist


2 Sexy Can I Ray-J ft. Yung Berg

3 Hit The Dance Floor Unk ft. Baby D

4 I'm So Hood DJ Khaled feat. T Pain

5 And I Ciara

6 Talkin Out Da Side Of Ya Neck Dem Franchize Boyz

7 Suffocate J. Holiday

8 Marco Polo Bow Wow ft. Soulja Boy Tell 'Em

9 Kiss Kiss Chris Brown ft. T-Pain

10 Cyclone Baby Bash

11 Bleeding Love Leona Lewis

12 Take You Down Chris Brown

13 Love In This Club Part II Usher feat. Beyonc & Lil Wayne

14 No Air duet with Chris Brown Jordin Sparks ft. Chris Brown

15 I'm N Luv T-Pain

16 Need U Bad Jazmine Sullivan

17 Pocketful of Sunshine Natasha Bedingfield

18 I Won't Tell Fat Joe ft. J. Holiday

19 When You Look Me In The Eyes Jonas Brothers

20 Single Again Trina

Titles Category

1 James Bond Sony Pictures

2 Bloo Screen Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends

3 Keep Hatin Pink Frosty

4 Stoneteller Baeg Tobar

5 Queen Pink Frosty

6 Blessed not Stressed Christian

7 Dolphins True Love Romance

8 White Tiger Fun

9 Naughty But Nice Pink Frosty

10 Haters Make Us Famous Pink Frosty

11 Riley Mugshot The Boondocks

12 Jesus Cross Christian

13 Skull Pattern Pink Frosty

14 Dark Rain Spider-Man 3

15 Dragon Glow Artwork

16 Butterfly Abstract Cool Designs

17 Bulletto tokidoki

18 I Got It From My Momma Pink Frosty

19 Dolphin Fantasy Artwork

20 ATHF Action Now! Aqua Teen Hunger Force

U.S. CHARTS

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.

Country Operator Subscribers

� SOURCE: OPERATORS

NETWORK SUBS Key operator subscriber numbers from around the world


Country Operator Subscribers

Western Europe

UK Vodafone 18,510,000

T-Mobile 16,800,000

3 4,445,000

Virgin 4,115,100

O2 18,878,000

Orange 15,642,000

BT-Mobile 360,000

Spain Movistar 23,008,000

Orange 11,091,000

Vodafone 16,210,000

Orange 15,700,000

Italy Vodafone 23,056,000

3 8,184,000

Wind 15,600,000

TIM 35,000,000

France Orange 24,315,000

SFR 18,800,000

Bouygues 9,256,000

Greece Vodafone 5,438,000

Cosmote 6,280,000

Wind (Previously-Qtelecom) 4,500,000

Orange 10,354,000

Movistar 22,800,000

Israel Cellcom Israel 3,073,000

Pelephone 2,400,000

Netherlands Vodafone 4,360,000

T-Mobile 4,889,000

KPN 8,800,000

Ireland Vodafone 2,247,000

O2 1,688,000

3 (includes UK) 4,445,000

Meteor 962,000

Sweden 3 (includes Denmark) 945,000

Telenor 2,856,000

Tele 2 3,118,000

Djuice (Pannon) 3,401,000

Norway Telenor 2,856,000

Netcom 1,577,000

Tele2 441,000

Germany Vodafone 35,295,000

T-Mobile 38,400,000

O2 13,576,000

E-Plus 13,600,000

Debitel 13,200,000

Victorvox (Drillisch) 2,236,000

Denmark 3 (includes Sweden) 945,000

TDC 3,000,000

Sonofon 1,680,000

Belguim Mobistar (Orange) 3,590,000

BASE 2,600,000

Belgacom Mobile 4,620,000

Poland Vodafone 2,642,000

Orange 13,900,000

T-Mobile (PTC) 12,800,000

Portugal Vodafone 5,267,000

TMN 6,004,000

Optimus 2,280,000

Orange 13,900,000

Switzerland Orange 1,510,000

Eastern Europe

Czech Republic T-Mobile 5,300,000

O2 5,186,000

Vodafone 2,751,000

Russia Megafon 36,970,000

Mobile TeleSystems 77,970,000

VimplelCom 41,800,000

Ukraine Kyivstar GSM 23,711,000

Ukrainian Mobile (MTS) 19,811,000

Asia Pacific

Australia 3 1,500,000

Optus 7,100,000

Telstra 2,400,000

Vodafone 3,573,000

China China Mobile 332,000,000

China Unicom 162,491,000

Tibet Telecom 957,000

Hong Kong 3 2,515,000

Smart tone 1,108,000

India Bharti Airtel 64,268,049

BSNL 40,790,000

Idea Cellular 24,002,000

Tata Indicom 24,330,000

Japan NTT DoCoMo 53,400,000

Philippines Globe Telecom 22,700,000

Smart 30,000,000

Thailand AIS 21,089,000

Dtac 12,000,000

True Move 11,200,000

Singapore Singtel 2,570,000

StarHub 1,750,000

MobileOne 1,554,000

Malaysia Celcom 6,404,000

Digi 6,409,000

Maxis 8,500,000

North America

Canada Bell 6,260,000

Rogers 6,200,000

Telus 5,656,000

USA Sprint 51,900,000

T- Mobile USA 31,500,000

Verizon Wireless 67,178,000

Alltel 13,170,134

US Cellular 6,200,000

AT&T 72,900,000

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

FEATURES

JANUARY2009

� Game development: overviewHow games codeshops are copingin a post-consolidation world� Animated screensaversAre screensavers the future ofimage personalisation? Will Flashhelp?� The next-gen ringtoneThey started it all. But how canthey evolve to stay relevant?

Editorial deadline: Dec 4thAdvertising deadline: Dec 8th

FEBRUARY2009

� Mobile World Congress specialissueME is an official media partner, sowe’ll take thousands of copies toBarcelona. � Pure-play mobile communitiesThe start-ups outmaneouvreingMySpace et al� Tickers and idle screenThe new info and ad channelintriguing big brands all over theworld� The coming of mobile FlashBrowser based, fragmentationsolving… but is it widespreadenough?� Video ringbacksPiracy proof, rich and sexy – butonly if users embrace video calling

Editorial deadline: Jan 12thAdvertising deadline: Jan 14th

MARCH2009

� Location-based searchThe great monetisation hope in anera of mobile GPS� Barcodes and QRComing of age now that technicalissues are being solved� Brazil market focusPutting the B into BRIC, andgrowing to a samba beat

Editorial deadline: Feb 9thAdvertising deadline: Feb 10th

APRIL2009

� CTIA special issueWe’ll be in Las Vegas as an officialevent partner. So will our mags� DVB-H mobile TV progressThe hype’s gone quiet. What aboutthe signals?� Off-portal adult video focusTracking the drift away fromnervous operators� Music ID servicesThe spontaneous key to drivingmobile full track sales?

Editorial deadline: March 9thAdvertising deadline: March 9th

MAY2009

� BREW and Java focusA focus to co-incide with theBrew2009 and JavaOne shows� Original made-for-mobile videoproductionWho’s putting money and craftinto original content for thesmallest screen?� Mobile traffic analytics servicesMobile is uniquely personal. But ifyou can’t mine the data, so what?

Editorial deadline: April 13thAdvertising deadline: April 15th

JUNE2009

� MEM show previewThe MEF’s big showcase returnsto London� Porting, testing & certificationHandset fragmentation endures.We examine the testers and theporting specialists� Memory card contentThe role of the SD card in drivingcontent sales� One year of the Apple App storeExamining the impact of theiPhone retail centre after 12months

Editorial deadline: May 11thAdvertising deadline: May 13th

FeaturePlanner2009

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

For more information about advertising opportunities around thesefeatures, please call Tom Roberts on +44 (0) 1992 535647 or [email protected]

For all editorial queries contact Tim Green at [email protected] call +44 (0) 1992 535 646

JULY2009

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

Editorial deadline: June 15thAdvertising deadline: June 17th

AUGUST2009

� India market focus� Recruitment special� Massively multi-player gaming

Editorial deadline: July 13thAdvertising deadline: July 15th

SEPTEMBER2009

� ME Awards preview� Mobile internet site building� Enhanced messaging

Editorial deadline: August 10thAdvertising deadline: August 12th

OCTOBER2009

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

Editorial deadline: Sep 14thAdvertising deadline: Sep 16th

NOVEMBER2009

� Age certification systems� Embedded mobile content ads� Mobile comics and animation

Editorial deadline: Oct 12thAdvertising deadline: Oct 14th

DECEMBER2009

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

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


What does “mobile life” mean to you?

What is your primary business goal for 2009?

How does attending CTIA WIRELESS 2009 help you meet that goal?

March 31, 2009 Partner Seminars

April 1-3, 2009 Exhibit Floor, Keynotes, Sessions & Partner Conferences Las Vegas Convention Center Las Vegas, NV, USA

www.ctiashow.com

h††ı

h

ıÂLifeMobilehh

LifLif !

Robert Dotson,President and Chief Executive Offi cer, T-Mobile USA


MOBILE MARKETPLACEPUBLISHING PLATFORM

MOBILE ANALYTICS

MOBILEMARKETPLACE

26 CONTENT............................................+49 9547 870 120www.26content.com

ABSOLUTE QUALITY...............................+44 141 220 5600www.absolutequality.com

BANGO...................................................+44 08700 340 365www.bango.com

DIALOGUE COMMUNICATIONS ..............08700 790 300www.dialogue.net

DYNAMO...............................................+44 (0)1382 348635www.dynamogames.com

ELITE ........................................................+44 01543 268826 www.elite-systems.co.uk

END2END.......................................................+45 7222 7222www.end2endmobile.com

FLUID PIXEL STUDIOS...........................+44 01642 384336www.fpstudios.com

FROGGIE...................................................+34 954 98 08 48www.froggie-mm.com

GAMELION ................................................+48 606 101 500www.game-lion.com

INLOGIC...................................................+421 904 628 889www.inlogic.eu

MOBIVENTION.....................................+49 2203 906 0210www.mobivention.com

NETBISCUITS GMBH .............................+49 631 303 1400www.netbiscuits.com

PARTNERTRANS..................................+49 (0)2104 [email protected]

SELATRA .......................................................+353 21 483270 www.selatra.com

SPLASH .......................................................+1 310 8212 666 www.splashnews.com

SPIEL STUDIOS .......................................info@spiel-s.comwww.spielstudios.com

TAG GAMES ..............................................+44 1382 220 925www.tag-games.com

UNIVERSALLY SPEAKING....................+44 (0)1480 210621www.usspeaking.com

WAPPLE..................................................+44 (0)1527 558247www.wapple.net

XIAM ............................................................+353 1 483 2000www.xiam.com

MARKETPLACE INDEX

The Mobile Marketplace offers a complete marketing package of print,online and editorial visibility, allowing companies to maintain contact withreaders each month without the cost of full display advertising.

The Mobile Marketplace and its associated online version has also been designed tooffer readers a directory of all products and services in the content industry. A presencein this section ensures that your company's details are easily found, keeping you onestep ahead of your competitors.

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 [email protected] t: +44 (0) 1992 535647

On one sideyou can go through all the hassle and dazzle of content sourcing and deployment, hosting,retailmanagement,billing andsettlementsyourself...

www.end2endmobile.com

On the otheryou 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!

CONTENT SERVICES

DEVELOPER

MOBILE MARKETPLACE


GAME DEVELOPMENT STUDIO

Need amobile site?Dialogue’s Mobile Site Builderoffers you the full end-to-endsolution to publish your mobilesite - 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: [email protected]: 08700 790 300

INTERACTIVE MOBILE SOLUTIONS

MOBILE MARKETPLACE


COMPANY SPOTLIGHT

India’s Spiel is a global gamedevelopment, publishing andoutsourcing studio that hasdeveloped mobile titles includingRoadster, Top Dartz, Evil Sudokuand Ten Pin Bowling. It has alsocreated a number of productsaimed at the Indian market such asIndia World Cup 2007.

In 2006, the company signed adeal with Bollywood action starArshad Warsi to create anddistribute games using his name.The first release was Arshad’s FightClub, which was nominated for‘Best Mobile Game’ at the FICCIBAF Awards and was a finalist inMotorola’s ‘Motodev’ GameDeveloper Challenge.

The accolades continued whenSpiel was approved by Sony Europeto develop games for the Playstationand PSP, and earlier this year itbecame one of the only Indiancompanies to be endorsed as anauthorised iPhone app developer.

With offices in the US, UK andIndia, Spiel Studios has theresources and technology todevelop and deploy to almost anydevice. These resources include a

multi-disciplinary cross-skilledteam comprising of gamedesigners, concept artists, 2D and3D graphic artists, modelers,programmers, project managers,game testers, and creative writersat its Mumbai production studio.

This makes Spiel set up to portgames as well as develop them. Ithas particular experience with theApple iPhone, T-Mobile Sidekick,Android and J2ME, and is adept atusing web formats like Flash, Flex,Shockwave and Silverlight. Spielcan also handle game testing andquality assurance for all platforms.

Spiel Studios is now establishedamong India’s premiere gamedevelopment and publishingcompanies, providing all gamingservices at an affordable pricewithout sacrificing quality anddelivery timeframes.

It says that as a result of itscustomer feedback andsatisfaction, Spiel is fast becomingthe first point of call forinternational developers andpublishers wishing to get theirmobile game developmentrequirements fulfilled.

SPIEL STUDIOS

CREATIVE STUDIO

PUBLISHER

MOBILE MARKETPLACE

LOCALISATION

TESTING AND LOCALISTION GAMES AGGREGATOR

Splash News TV - the Paparazzi’s own TV Channel. Unique ready-for- mobile Snack TVshows from the streets of Hollywood voiced inany 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 photographersshooting pictures of A-List stars

Whatever your mobile needs - entertainment Programming, wallpaper, text alerts and mobile video - the largest paparazzi archive with more than20,000 videos, over 2 million images and a comprehensive dailytext feed is at your disposal.

To discuss licensing our content or partnering with us on portals contact us:

Phone: Jessica Townsend on+448709342666

Email: [email protected] [email protected]

Blog: www.splashnewsonline.com

Web: www.splashnews.com

Video: www.splash-video.com

VIDEO/PICTURE AGGREGATION


MOBILE MARKETPLACE

ADULT CONTENT

SOFTWARE DEVELOPER


COMPANY SPOTLIGHT

Glasgow based Absolute Qualityclaims to be one of the world’sleading providers of testing,technical support and contentlocalisation services to theinteractive entertainment industry.

Incorporated in 1996 by fivemembers of Microprose Softwarewho recognised the industry’s needfor sophisticated outsourcingoptions in multimedia softwaretesting, the company quicklyexpanded its services to includetechnical support, leveraging theproduct knowledge that its teamhad acquired through its rigoroustesting processes.

As a result, Absolute Qualitybecame the preferred outsourcingoption for the major gamesdevelopers and publishers at thetime: Hasbro Interactive, VirginInteractive and Broderbund amongothers.

In August 1999, the firm openedits European headquarters inGlasgow – the call centre capital ofEurope – allowing it to serve thecontinental markets from the heartof call centre technology. This wasfollowed in May 2004 by thelaunch of a localisation division inMunich, which allowed theintegration of translation, contentlocalisation and voice-over in to acomprehensive range of supportservices for games developers andpublishers.

Since then Absolute Quality hascommitted substantial investmentto high-tech infrastructure, evidentin its state-of-the-art call centrethat offers technical support viamultiple live and self-help

interaction channels. The companyhas also developed the Bug CityDiagnostic Application, a softwareprogramme that it uses internallyto find, track and report problemsin the software products that ittests. This programme is alsoavailable for download from thecompany’s website.

Absolute Quality’s lab performstests on a broad variety ofplatforms: for desktops andconsoles, the company providesfunctionality testing, compatibilitytesting, console pre-cert testingand testing for massively-multiplayer games. It providesgames testing for the mobilesegment as well as submissionmanagement and provides cross-platform content localisation,translations and voice-overs forgames and software.

Today, Absolute Quality employsover 400 highly trained employeesworldwide, based in Glasgow,Baltimore, Bangalore and Munich,many of them fluent or nativespeakers of at least two Europeanlanguages, providing softwaretesting, localisation and technicalsupport solutions to companiesaround the world in ten languages.

The company is capable oframping up capacity very quickly totake on high volumes of test work.With sophisticated systems, backup facilities, networked andphysical security systems thatsupporting high-end technologyand platforms, Absolute Qualitycan provide state-of-the-art globalservices to the games, multimediaand software industries.

ABSOLUTE QUALITY

MOBILE MARKETPLACE

LOCALISATION

Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the

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SOFTWARE DEVELOPER

BRINGING INDIVIDUALCHOICE TO YOUR USERS

PROVEN DISCOVERY & RECOMMENDATIONSSOLUTIONS FOR MOBILE

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MOBILE MARKETING & ADVERTISING

Specialist Games ServicesLocalisation

• 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 SpeakingPriory Chambers, Priory Lane, St Neots, Cambs, PE19 2BH, UK

Tel: +44 (0)1480 210621 [email protected] www.usspeaking.com


BAFTA award winners DYNAMO GAMES are celebratingtheir FIFTH BIRTHDAY in style with their latest gamesexcelling in the market:

CRYSTAL MAZE: Retro Classic - Best selling mobilegame in June, Mobile Game FAQ's - 82% - Gold Award

CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER MOBILE SERIES:Winner of a prestigous BAFTA award. Five versions andcounting. 98% - MobileGameFAQ's, 9/10 PocketGamerGold Award

If you are looking for high-quality mobile game development by an experienced player, look no further:

� J2ME development � BREW � iPhone Development - Approved Developer � Handheld Console development for DS and PSP

Check out our new company website:

www.dynamogames.com and get in touch.

GAMES DEVELOPER

MOBILE MARKETPLACE

SALES AND MARKETING

CONTENT PROVIDER


COMPANY SPOTLIGHT

Scots firm Dynamo Games, whichcelebrated its fifth birthday thisyear, is a specialist mobile gamesdeveloper that’s probably bestknown for mobile ChampionshipManager series. The original titlewas a genuine landmark in PCgaming that was beloved (still is)of millions for footy fans.Dynamo’s mobile version wasclosely scrutinised, but ended uphighly praised and very successful.The company is particularly proudof the ‘Best Interactive’ ScottishBAFTA that Championship Manager2007 won last year.

Each successive title for Dynamohas been an award-winner and hasscored at least 90 per cent in end-user reviews across the board.Other games to draw particularlyhigh praise include the mobileversion of hit game showsCountdown and The Crystal Maze,to which Dynamo acquired therights this year. The latter

performed extremely well thissummer, claiming the number onespot on T-Mobile, Orange, O2 and3 in the UK. In August, Dynamobecame recognised as an approvediPhone games developer and thefirm is confident that its first appwill be out before Christmas.

However, Dynamo is not just agames developer. It has createdmobile utilities such as the Mobi-Medic guide for emergencysituations (which can be viewed atMobi-Family.com). It contains anumber of standard first aidprocedures and utilises user inputto advise which action to take. Asimilar programme, Mobi-Mechanic, deals with standardmaintenance and recoveryprocedures after a breakdown.

Dynamo’s team of designersshares a passion for sports gamesand for mobile development ingeneral, and this drive explains whyit continues to win awards for itsproducts. The studio hasexperience with projectmanagement and the legal issuesthat can surround gamedevelopment, while maintainingthe skills to get the job done. Smallwonder that O2UK named Dynamoas one of the 50 ‘Ones to Watch’in 2007.

DYNAMO GAMES

CASUAL MARKET, SERIOUS SALES AID

Casualgaming.biz serves a targeted database of 18,000 retail and industryprofessionals sourced from MCV, Develop & Mobile Entertainment.

WWW.CASUALGAMING.BIZEditorial enquiries: [email protected]

or [email protected]

Advertising enquiries: [email protected]

(Dis)contentWe take content extremely seriously in Mobile Entertainment. But not here...

FUN STUFF �

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

favourites

Which phone do you currently own? N95 8GB

What phone would you like next? The same, but smaller

Current ringtone? Kate Perry: I Kissed A Girl

Wallpaper? A photo of my friends on summer vacation

Favourite mobile game? Tetris and, lately, Lumines. It’s very basic butaddictive. I was popular auntie thissummer when my phone was hijacked by asix year-old to play FIFA08

Favourite mobile Internet sites? Telenor's 'Entry', some local news sites,Facebook, Djuic Musikk, plus I have alsobookmarked the ME site!

Anything you’d gladly pay for on a mobilethat you can’t currently get? The ability to buy tickets for the tube andbus using small cash amounts.

What's the worst idea you've seen inmobile? Any application that needs ten clicks topost something on a WAP site.

Telenor is a Nordic mobile operator

Sissel-Henriette Larsen, Director of Content, Telenor

Next Meet-Up event – November 6th

Mobile Entertainment magazine is delighted to present its next Meet-

Up party at the very trendy Sugar Reef bar in central London. The

sponsor for the evening is the content management and mobile

transactions specialist WIN.

where: Sugar Reef, 42-44 Great Windmill Street,

London W1D 7NB, UK

when: from 6pm on Thursday, November 6th

rsvp: [email protected]

IF YOU’RE reading this, youwork in the content biz. And ifyou work in the content biz youneed to come to a Meet-Upnetworking event.

Meet-Up brings togetherhundreds of industryprofessionals from across thevalue chain: your colleagues,partners and customers. Theevents are a chance to cementbusiness relationships and startnew ones. And drink beer.

Meanwhile, Meet-Up sponsorsderive tremendous value for a

modest outlay. This is aneffective tool for promoting yourcompany, product or service.Benefits include:

� Extensive promotion beforeand after event in the magazine

� Multiple email alerts to our12,000 strong list

� Full on-going coverage onthe ME website

� Branding at the eventBut don’t just take our word

for it. Here’s what James Kaye,director of marketing, Hands-OnMobile, said about his special

Guitar Hero Meet Up: “It was afantastic success in every respect.The value of the coverage wereceived from MobileEntertainment was superb and theeditorial team could not havebeen more supportive. The eventitself was fantastically wellattended due to all the pre-promotion. I think sponsoringthe Meet-Up should be a fixturein any marketing plan.”

If you would like to knowmore about sponsorship, email:[email protected]

Make friends and introducepeople… at Meet-Up

Online Editor: Stuart O’[email protected]

Executive Editor: Tim Green [email protected]

Managing Editor: Lisa Foster [email protected]

Staff writer: Matt Grainger [email protected]

Advertising Sales Executive:Tom [email protected]

Design: Rebecca Almond [email protected]

Production Manager:Abigail [email protected]

Subscriptions Manager:Hannah [email protected]

Publisher/Managing Director:Stuart Dinsey [email protected]

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

Intent Media is amember of the Periodical

Publishers Association.

Mobile Entertainment is published 12 times a yearby Intent Media ~ Saxon House, 6A St. AndrewStreet, Hertford, Herts SG14 1JA, England

Total average monthly netcirculation per issue for January1st 2007 to December 31st2007 was 8,012.© Intent Media 2007. No partof this publication may bereproduced in any form or byany means without priorpermission of the copyrightowners. Printed by PensordPress, NP12 2YA

If you or one of your colleagues would liketo request a subscription to MobileEntertainment, please [email protected] or call 01580 883848Please note that this is a controlledcirculation title and subscription criteriawill be strictly adhered to.

UK: £50 Europe: £75Rest of World: £90

SUBSCRIPTIONS

O’Brien Green

MOBILE ENTERTAINMENT

� FUN STUFF


Everyone knows theiPhone marked Apple’sentry into mobile,right? Wrong. Itactually dipped its toein 2005 via Motorola’sROKR E1. What ahorrible experience forall. The handset was fatand hideous. So was

the user interface. But,what the heck when thephone would integrateseamlessly with iTunes.Well, er, yes, as long asyou were happy with amaximum of 100songs. Critics were alsoaghast as the inabilityto download over the

air, even though thatremains the case todaywith iPhone.

Needless to say, theE1 was a disaster.When the nextMotorola ROKRemerged, Applewas nowhere tobe seen.

what was that about?

Mother ‘n’ Daws Massive news! Player One’s Gordon Dawson’smother in law is the mega-celeb Judith Chalmers.She’s an institution in the UK, with her homelyniceness and perma-tan, and now Daws is set tojoin her on a special edition of Celebrity FamilyFortunes. The show asks contestants to guess thepublic’s answers to easy questions. Let’s hopeDaws can do better than this genuine answer froma previous show: “Something that flies without anengine?, A bicycle with wings...”

Will: I Am off messageNokia’s Comes With Music has now launched. MEhas tried it and the good news is it works, it didn’tcrash our PCs and only took a few minutes to set up.The ad campaign is building nicely too (great to seethe perimeter at a recent England football matchrotating Comes With Music and Pukka Pies). Asever, Nokia laid on a superb launch party. Starspeaker Black Eyed Peas’ Will I Am was veryeloquent on the subject of digital music. But he didgo a little off-message when he talked with equalpassion about iTunes and how great it is. Oops!

Content is rich, but not kosherThis month’s ME has a focus on Israel, which isarguably the most influential content market –pound for pound – in the world. But not all Israelisare so enamoured. Its ultra-Orthodox communityhas started using ‘kosher cellphones’, which cannotsend or receive text messages, browse the internet ortake photos – all of which could lead to ‘immodest’results. All the operators are now offering thesechaste handsets. Not much of a business opportunitythere for Cherrymedia, we think.

One hundred and Ogilvy!ME was pleased to visit the mobile innovationlab set up by ad agency OgilvyOne’s new mobilechief Scott Seaborn. What a happy chap he is, ashe wrote to Ogilvy in 2002 explaining his mobilevision. It only took them six years to offer him ajob! Anyhow, one of the attractions in the lab isa dartboard that you take aim at, then take aphoto of, and finally forward your pic to ashortcode. There’s a free beer if you get the bull.It’s spot the ball for the mobile generation. Wegot a creditable 20. Close, but we’re still thirsty.

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W H E R E I D E A S N A V I G A T E

Mobile Entertainment Issue 45, November 2008

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Transcript of Mobile Entertainment Issue 45, November 2008