SOCIAL NETWORKING
Intercasting Adds More Partners
By Monica Alleven
Given the fickle nature of social networkers, it would seem one's best strategy for staying alive is to diversify among many.
 That's what Intercasting is doing. OK, its business model would seem to demand that it do just so. The company, which has a system that puts social sites all in one spot on a handset, has struck more deals with social networks.
Last week, Intercasting announced a partnership with Bebo to allow Bebo's 40 million-plus members to produce and share content on their mobile phones. Intercasting also said it was working with Loop Mobile Limited to make the mobile community MOKO available to Anthem mobile operators.
This week, Intercasting added Xanga, dubbed the most visited social network in Hong Kong, and CSL, Hong Kong's largest mobile operator, to its roster.
As you might imagine, the latest deals are exciting for Intercasting. What's unique about the MOKO community is it's mobile from the get-go, rather than being an Internet destination going over to mobile. It is using Anthem to expand its mobile distribution, notes Sean Kane, general manager/International at Intercasting.
Bebo is one of the core social networks that carriers request from Anthem. "We've had many, many calls from Anthem carriers asking when they can get Bebo up and running," Kane says.
Some social networks are stronger in some countries than others, but what Intercasting is finding is while each social network has its core or core markets, they can each grow into additional markets and expand many times over. Bebo, for example, is growing in Canada and the United States from a strong position in the United Kingdom
Anthem partners include Sprint Nextel, Virgin Mobile, Boost Mobile, 3 UK, Bebo, MOKO, MTV TR3S, LiveJournal, Piczo, Vox, Rabble, Xanga and Community Connect.
Startup Brings "Second Life" to Mobile
By Monica Alleven
The world of Second Life soon will be available on 3G handsets via Vollee's streaming mobile games service.
No matter how good mobile handsets are becoming, they're still very under-powered compared with PCs, notes Julian Corbett, head of business development for Vollee. But with technology like Vollee's, consumers can play games that are full 3D, with complex physics. Vollee renders everything on its servers, so the handset doesn't need to be a super computer.
Vollee doesn't just bring Web content over to the mobile space; it adapts content to make it work better for the mobile medium. "The biggest reward for us is when we have people who love properties such as Second Life and they just get lost within our version of Second Life … without thinking about how this got there," Corbett says.
Beta trials for the mobile offering of the Second Life Grid platform will be open to those who pre-register at www.vollee.com/secondlife.
GAMING
Glu, Fox Sign ICE AGE Deal
By Wireless Week Staff
A lot of mobile game announcements were made at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco this week. Among them: Glu Mobile said it signed a multi-year agreement with Fox Mobile Entertainment to develop and publish mobile games and content based on the ICE AGE brand. Glu will begin by developing and  publishing the mobile-exclusive game ICE AGE: Mammoth Mayhem, scheduled for launch this summer.
Another game, based on Fox's ICE AGE 3 movie, is scheduled for release in 2009. The movie is due to come out as a theatrical release in July 2009.
The franchise apparently has been a successful one for Glu. ICE AGE 2: Arctic Slide was one of Glu's top-selling games worldwide for 2006. The company says the game's global marketing campaign rallied support from wireless operators in key new markets.
Glu Mobile also unveiled its roadmap of upcoming titles launching in North America in the first half of 2008. The additions to its portfolio include titles based on global brands from partners such as Microsoft and Warner Bros. Digital Distribution, casual titles from PlayFirst and Big Fish Games, as well as Glu original titles.
Study: No Deluge in Downloads
By Wireless Week Staff
It looks as though mobile game downloads could use a jolt. More people are playing games than ever before, but they're not downloading them at any greater rate.
That's a finding from M:Metrics, which discovered nearly three-fourths of the 98.4 million people in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States that played a mobile game in December did so via one found natively on the device. Some 38.5 million, or 8.8%, of mobile subscribers played a game they had downloaded and stored on their phone, a number that has been relatively flat compared with the year before, according to M:Metrics.
Only about 3.3% of mobile subscribers in the United States and Western Europe downloaded a game in December, versus 3.6% the year prior. Spain has the highest penetration of those playing a downloaded game and the highest rate of mobile game downloads. France lags all other markets.
There might be more opportunity in the area of smartphones. Smartphone owners are more avid users of mobile content, including games. In the United Kingdom, about 17% of smartphone owners played downloaded games in a month during Q4 2007 compared with just 9.8% of non-smartphone owners, M:Metrics says.
Report: Smartphones Stand Out for Entertainment
By Wireless Week Staff
In another announcement from GDC this week, users of mobile entertainment products on smartphone devices responded overwhelmingly that smartphone devices provided a superior entertainment experience than traditional feature-phone handsets.
That was the upshot of a market research survey released by Magmic Games and Information Solutions Group (ISG). Like the M:Metrics research cited above, this survey also indicates that playing games on smartphone devices is becoming the dominant method of gaming for those users compared to other gaming platforms. The survey results represent more than 3,750 consumers that have purchased games, themes, music and other entertainment products for BlackBerry devices or other smartphones.
Key findings of the survey:
- 90% of respondents who play games felt that gaming on a BlackBerry device or other smartphone device was a superior experience to that of a traditional feature-phone device.
- 91% of respondents who prefer playing games on a BlackBerry device or other smartphone device said they would be unlikely to switch back to a traditional feature phone for entertainment products, citing the better image quality, larger screen size, easier controls and easier product downloading all as important factors.
- More than half (51%) of respondents said they played games on their BlackBerry device or other smartphone device more than on any other type of gaming platform/hardware (computer, console, handheld, arcade, etc.); among women only, this figure was 60%.
- 83% of respondents fell within the 22-49 age segment
MUSIC
Virgin Mobile Tallies Ringbacks
By Wireless Week Staff
Ringback tones are hot. Virgin Mobile USA and partner LiveWire Mobile say more than 5 million Virgin Mobile customers currently have access to more than 10,000  songs within LiveWire Mobile's Ringback Service.
Virgin Mobile customers average two ringbacks per customer. The most popular tones are in the hip-hop and R&B categories. Some of the top tone titles are: "Shawty Is A 10" (The Dream); "Bed" (J. Holiday); "Heaven Sent" (Keyshia Cole); "Crank That - Tell 'Em/Ne-Yo Chorus (Soulja Boy); and "Apologize," (by OneRepublic featuring Timbaland).
NMS Communications announced LiveWire Mobile in December. It's a division of NMS committed to delivering mobile personalization services to operators. LiveWire's ringback service is deployed with more than 30 operators worldwide.
Other carriers working with LiveWire include Cricket, Rogers, 3 and Vodafone.
PRICE PLANS
Flat-Rate Price Plans: From One to Many
By Wireless Week Staff
What's all the fuss about the nation's biggest carriers coming out with all-you-can-eat price plans?
Verizon Wireless kicked it off on Tuesday when it introduced its game-changing voice and data plans, including one for $100 a month. AT&T followed with a $100 monthly unlimited plan of its own, and T-Mobile USA also announced a $100 unlimited plan that includes SMS and picture messaging.
But Cellular South points out that it has offered an unlimited nationwide plan for voice and data services since October 2007. Its plan includes voice, data and text services for $80 for phones and $100 for PDAs and smartphones.
Cincinnati Bell Wireless also said it has been offering an unlimited rate plan in the greater Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio, areas since 2004. The carrier says its postpaid and prepaid plans are competitive with the national carriers' recent announcements. Unlimited calling plans start at $100 with the option of adding unlimited text and data/mobile Internet for $15 a month or unlimited BlackBerry Internet for $30 a month, according to the company.
Flat-rate providers such as MetroPCS and Leap Wireless International/Cricket have been offering flat-rate plans for years at far lower prices, although they are regional in nature and don't include roaming.
How many consumers would benefit from unlimited $100 monthly plans? The industry average revenue per user (ARPU) is in the $50 range, after all. Tom Pepe, CEO of Validas, which evaluates consumer's bills, figures 3% to 4% of users he sees would be better off with an unlimited plan because they're heavy users. The typical family on a family plan probably uses 2,100 minutes and pays $139 a month, he says.
COUPONS
Cellfire Marks Progress
By Wireless Week Staff
Mobile coupon usage has increased by 119% over the last six months at Cellfire. Some findings the company recently announced:
- California tops the list of areas with the highest per capita usage of mobile coupons.
- 70% of mobile coupon redemptions were from shoppers under 34 years old, but redemption by consumers over 34 years old tripled in the last six months and now represents 30% of mobile coupon users.
- The majority of discounts were redeemed on Tuesdays, Sundays, Wednesdays
Top cities in America that are mobile coupon super savers include:
1. Sacramento/Stockton/Modesto, CA (previously #2)
2. Dallas/Fort Worth, TX (previously #4)
3. San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose, CA (previously #7)
4. Atlanta, GA (previously #10)
5. Monterey/Salinas, CA (previously #14)
Cellfire raised $12 million from new investor Silver Creek Ventures and existing investors, including Menlo Ventures and Storm Ventures. Proceeds will be used to expand the company's sales and marketing efforts, as well as increasing product functionality, business development and partnership activities.
Cellfire says it is available on all U.S. wireless carriers; its list of merchants includes Hardee's, Hollywood Video, Taco Bueno, Wienerschnitzel and other local merchants across the country. Cellfire also recently announced partnerships with 75 Supercuts stores in New England and various Extreme Pita U.S. locations.
MULTIMEDIA
AT&T Rolls Out Palm Centro
By Wireless Week Staff
 AT&T and Palm announced the availability of the Palm Centro from AT&T for $99.99.
The Centro offers voice, text messaging, instant messaging, e-mail and Web access. It is the first Palm OS product to launch with AT&T services such as XM Radio Mobile, push-to-talk and MusicID.
Initially, the Palm Centro from AT&T is available in new "glacier white" with green keypad accents, and, in about one month, AT&T will debut a second color — "obsidian black."
Centro from AT&T is the first Palm smart device to offer XM Radio Mobile. For $8.99 a month, XM Radio Mobile gives AT&T consumers 25 XM Radio channels, featuring commercial-free rock, hip-hop, country, jazz and more. A free 3-day trial is included with Centro. Customers also get a free 3-day trial of MusicID, which identifies songs, with their Centro.
News Briefs for week ending Feb. 22, 2008
Companies in this issue's briefs: Vivendi Games Mobile, SendMe, Independent Online Distribution Alliance, Rave Wireless, Seven, Palm, AT&T, NPD Group, EA Mobile, Mobile Entertainment Inc., Thumbplay, Sony BMG, Penguin Books India, Mobifusion
• Vivendi Games Mobile announced that the nostalgic lovable loser, Leisure Suit Larry, from Sierra Entertainment's franchise by the same name, is back and on mobile phones. Leisure Suit Larry: Love for Sail is now available on mobile carriers worldwide.
• SendMe has teamed up with the Independent Online Distribution Alliance (IODA) to deliver its entire mobile catalog of independent music to SendMeMobile.com.
• Rave Wireless upgraded its Rave Guardian product, a personal safety tool that lets students use their mobile phone to instantly share location and critical safety information with campus security. With the new release, available later this spring, Rave Guardian will become accessible to all students at participating universities, on any cell phone or service provider of a student's choice. The new Rave Guardian uses location information from various sources, including GPS data when available.
• Push e-mail software provider Seven says its mobile e-mail solution is now available on more than 20 smart devices in AT&T's device portfolio, including the Palm Centro. AT&T Xpress Mail, powered by Seven, provides 1-click access directly from the home screen to personal and business e-mail.
Mobile phone sales to consumers in the U.S. reached 146 million units by the end of 2007, according to The NPD Group. NPD estimates total 2007 consumer sales of $11.5 billion after rebates and promotions.
• EA Mobile announced the availability of Tetris Blockout, a new addition to the Tetris franchise. According to Nielsen Mobile, Tetris was the most downloaded mobile game in 2007.
• China's Mobile Entertainment Inc. says it accumulated more than 4.7 million cell phone game subscribers throughout 2007. Mobile Entertainment's cell phone game subscribers increased 213%, from 1.52 million in January 2007 to 4.75 million in December 2007.
• Thumbplay signed a digital distribution agreement with Sony BMG Music Entertainment to add more than 7,000 pieces of content from Sony BMG's artists to Thumbplay's mobile entertainment content catalog. Through the relationship, Thumbplay's more than 4 million unique consumers will be able to access ringtones, music videos, wallpaper, voice clips and mobile games from Sony BMG's artist rosters.
• Penguin Books India entered into a partnership with Mobifusion to make a range of content available to mobile customers. The partnership first will focus on the Indian consumer base and then will look toward a global rollout.
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With the current economic climate, wireless operators face shrinking marketing budgets and reduced consumer spending.
Globally, the credit crunch is very much alive, and operators will be tightening their belts into the foreseeable future by putting off capital purchases.
