It is everywhere… advertising, and escaping ads and marketing campaigns might just get a little harder. But this isn’t necessarily a bad thing either. Because, while Google may not have invented online advertising, its efforts certainly brought ads to sites that wouldn’t have otherwise been able to sell any sort of banner ads or generate other forms of revenue.

Now the mobile Web may begin to look a lot like the old Web. Google has announced the availability of AdSense for Mobile, a program that contextually targets ads to mobile Web site content. And there is money for those who serve up the ads too. The service allows ad partners to earn revenue from their mobile sites by placing the ads. AdSense for Mobile will be available to mobile Web site publishers in 13 countries including the United States, England, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Ireland, Russia, The Netherlands, Australia, India, China and Japan.

How successful this will be, still remains to be seen. For one thing mobile Web users don’t just tend surf the way that users do on a PC. Mobile Web users look for very specific content, so the ads will need to be even more compelling to get users to click-thru. But for developing nations where PC penetration is small the mobile Web could be very enticing. This could be a whole new game for Goggle.

Google Adsense

Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced today that the iPhone will be available to British customers on November 9 of this year. The O2 network has the exclusive carrier rights to the iPhone brand in the British Isles. As MobileCrunch reported last month, Apple to Share Operators Revenue, it is believed that other European carriers are working on exclusive licensing agreements for the iPhone brand. Apple is requiring the European carriers to pay Apple 10% of all revenues generated from iPhone data functions. Steve Jobs said that in the next quarter Apple will launch the iPhone in some more European markets.

The British 8-gigabyte iPhone will initially sell for 269 pounds ($536). Customers will have to sign an 18 month contract with O2. It wasn’t that long ago when Apple reduced the U.S. price of the iPhone from $599 to $399 a few weeks after its launch. It will be interesting to see if Europeans wait a couple of months before buying iPhones in the hope of a lowered price, or if people are willing to pay top euro to get their hands on the device before anyone else in the neighborhood.

Apple
O2

The last concert I went to was a Black Sabbath reunion at Oz Fest. When Sabbath came on stage lighters flickered in the night and the air was filled with the aroma of oregano incense. The crowd swayed to the music and sang along with the lyrics. Bras flew onstage and television cameras captured the perky woman bouncing on their boy friend’s shoulders. No one there could afford a mobile phone because the crowd had heavily invested in tattoos and leather. Now this old school bacchanalia may be replaced by instant text messaging artists during a concert.

Pocketfuzz announced today the launch of a free new service that allows fans to send instant messages to performers during a concert. This new text-to-screen visualization system brings real time text and picture messaging capabilities that, until now, were only available to the largest acts in the world. At concerts, fans can communicate with their favorite artists, and with each other, using their mobile phones. These messages can be projected onstage or anywhere else in the concert venue.

Pocketfuzz’s new service was demonstrated at the Denver Post Underground Music Showcase in August, and was considered a hit with audience members, artists, record labels and promoters. It engaged hundreds of concertgoers, giving them a chance to interact with each other and provide the artists an easy to maintain archive of show highlights driven on user generated content.

One of the participating record labels, Morning After Records, was
particularly pleased with the service. “We were proud to be the
official beta-tester for PocketFuzz’s Visualizer,” remarked Dan
Rutherford, owner of Morning After Records. “The crowd response was
great and it allowed us to see how the show was received by fans. We
are excited to use this technology at all of our future events.”

A good concert has some level of audience participation, which varies with the type of music being performed. Most Italian Operas don’t have audience members flinging their underwear on stage for the fat lady to sniff. So some concerts may be able to utilize Pocketfuzz to enhance audience participation. But I see this type of service as more of a distraction, not an attraction, to concert going. It’s supposed to be about the music, every thing else should be on the periphery. If I’m busy sending text and pictures to Ozzy, I’ll probably miss that communal experience that a good concert provides.

Pocketfuzz

T-Mobile announced today that it will pay cash and assume the debt of SunCom Wireless, a company that T-Mobile is using as a roaming partner. The merger will cost T-Mobile $2.4 billion in cash and assumed debt. Under the agreement, sanctioned by both boards, SunCom shareholders will receive $27 per share. This purchase price represents 22.7% over the closing price of SunCom common stock on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday, September 14. Large shareholders like Highland Capital Management and Pardus Capital Management, who together own over 50% of SunCom’s issued common stock, have committed to vote in favor of the buyout.

SunCom has market share in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. SunCom operates a GSM/GPRS/EDGE network and has provided roaming service to T-Mobile in these markets since 2004. T-Mobile expects this acquisition to expand its U.S. nationwide coverage (excluding roaming) from 244 million potential customers to 259 million. T-Mobile also expects to realize synergies with a net present value of approximately $1 billion through reduced roaming and operating expenses. T-Mobile also hopes for growth in the newly acquired market areas.

Robert Dotson, president and chief executive officer of T-Mobile USA, said, “The strategic fit of the SunCom operations will make this a near-perfect acquisition. It will round out our domestic footprint, allowing us to serve 98 of the top 100 markets, and will significantly benefit our financial position by reducing roaming expense. Furthermore, it will add a talented group of employees that will enable us to serve more than one million new SunCom customers with industry-leading national products and services available under the T-Mobile brand.”

As mobile phone service starts to reach the saturation point in developed markets, it is only natural that companies will continue to merge as the competition for market share becomes more difficult. Cost cutting moves, like T-Mobile’s buying of a roaming partner, will make bottom lines blacker and services sleeker for customers. The downsides to such movers are a loss of jobs and the potential for less competition as fewer mobile phone providers control the airways and infrastructure that keeps us connected on-the-go.

T-Mobile
SunCom

Juniper Research, a company that assesses the current and future status of mobile user-generated content, predicts that revenue from mobile dating and chat room services are expected to surpass $1 billion worldwide by 2010. As the world population increases, it looks as though people are being choosier with whom they date. Mobile phones are a perfect platform for dating services. If a match is looking good, a call is only a few keys away.

Around 40 million people use mobile and chat room dating services in 2007. This number is expected to increase to 260 million by 2012. Much of this future increase is predicted to come from emerging markets, like that of India. 60 million sub-continent daters are expected to look for hook-ups by 2012.

Those of us without a match are willing to pay a mobility premium for services such as Match.com and Webdate. The human drive to find a companion will fuel the future of mobile dating. While it may be hard to break into the online dating service business, new companies that create cross-platform services may find a lucrative niche.

There are limits to how much someone is willing to pay for mobile dating services. The Juniper Report warns that excessive and confusing data pricing, especially pricing attached to prepaid customers, continue to act as a disincentive for regular usage and more widespread adoption. Mobile phone dating services aren’t the only way to find that perfect match. Mom may know somebody who is available, no fees required.

In the year 2007, Japan and India are the largest mobile dating markets. It is predicted that India will increase even more as mobile phones become more available to people. In this market people aren’t just looking for a date, but are looking for marriage. If mobile dating in India leads to matrimony such services are sure to explode in popularity.

It is difficult to predict how mobile dating services will fare in developed places like Europe and North America, with China quickly becoming a more mobile place. But as long as people continue to search for soul mates, mobile dating services will remain a good resource in the quest.

Juniper Report

As a frequent business traveler – actually a little less frequent these days – flying is seldom fun. I’m not the kind who likes to make small talk with the passengers around me, and watching the in-flight movie on a lousy six-inch 4×3 screen is not my idea of entertainment. And listening to other passengers talk turns even a short flight into an epic journey to the most inner circle of hell. Therefore I have mixed feelings about the idea of in-flight use of mobile phones.

On the one hand I could catch up on calls, and gab it up with friends to make the time pass. Of course I’d hate to have to ever be seated next to a guy like me! But the newly announced deal between Virgin America and AirCell sounds interesting. This will allow guests onboard Virgin America’s newest airline to access the Internet through their Wi-Fi enabled devices, including gaming devices, laptops PDAs and Smartphones; or through the Red In-flight Entertainment system in every seat. Considering that I was told to turn off my Treo on a recent flight, even though the phone functionality was already off, this is enough to make me jump from my normal carriers.

OK, so you can’t make calls – which is actually a good thing – but you can check and send Web e-mail through Red’s TALK, and use popular instant messaging services such as MSN, Google talk, Yahoo!, Skype and AIM/

“We believe that broadband connectivity on our planes will help enhance the inflight experience for our guests,” said Charles Ogilvie, Virgin America’s Director of Inflight Entertainment & Partnerships. “Whether it’s IMing with your friends, updating your blog, getting a stock quote, sending photos from your trip to friends, watching a movie or sending a work email, we plan to make it all available on a Virgin America plane.”

This service will be up and running next year on select Virgin American flights. Let’s see what the other carriers have to say about this feature.

Virgin America
AirCell

Meez, an avatar (which literally means a descent of a Hindu god in visible form) service and Vringo, a company which specializes in video ringtone sharing, announced today an alliance to fully integrate Meez 3D avatars into Vringo’s video ringtone service. The gods are pleased; though appear much smaller than in stories past.

Nearly 3 million people around the world have created their own unique Meez avatars from over 4,500 digital choices. Virtual clothing, accessories, hairstyles, tattoos, physical attributes and 3D animations allow a customer to create an avatar even Vishnu would be proud of.

With the help of Vringo, mobile phone users can load their 3D Meez avatars onto their mobile handsets. And it’s free. Free is always an attention getter. When a call is made, the animated avatar appears on the receiver’s phone screen as a Vringo, the name given to a video ringtone from Vringo. Every time a person updates his or her avatar with Meez, the Vringo will automatically be updated. Users can also personalize their handsets with avatar wallpaper.

“Vringo’s video ringtone technology helps fulfill the long-awaited promise of avatars in the mobile world,” said Sean Ryan, Meez CEO. “Meez avatars make great wallpaper, but what our users really want is the ability to share their animated avatars with friends. Now they’ll be able to put their Meez on display whenever they make a call.”

The partnership between Meez and Vringo allow users to easily deploy their avatars on a variety of mobile phones, including those made by Nokia, Motorola, SonyEricsson and Samsung. Now Meez avatars that users post as digital IDs on their favorite social media Web sites and instant messenger services can be shared on yet another screen, the mobile phone screen. Gods and goddesses around the Universe are pleased.

“When we developed Vringo, we knew there was extensive graphic content on the Internet that wasn’t being utilized to its fullest extent,” said Vringo CEO Jon Medved. “By taking Meez avatars and blending them with Vringo, we’re able to deliver additional value and widen the audience.”

Meez
Vringo

Each week MobileCrunchArcade compiles the biggest news from the world of mobile gaming.

This Week’s Headlines:
Gameloft Dealt In; Greystripe Allows Gamers to Get Hands-On Titles; Pandemonium at Eidos; I-play Plays It Casual, Glu Sticks To Inc 5000

Read More

The Federal Communications Commission (Commission) last night adopted a Report and Order (Order) which clarifies that wireless carriers must meet the Enhanced 911 (E911), Phase II location accuracy requirements at the Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) service-area level. To accomplish this, the Order requires carriers to meet interim, annual benchmarks over the next five years in order to ensure that they achieve PSAP-level compliance no later than September 11, 2012.

The Commission’s adoption of this Order further ensures that E911 service meets the needs of public safety and the American people. The primary objective of today’s Order is to advance policies, rules and initiatives that support the efficient and reliable transmission of meaningful automatic location information from wireless 911 callers to PSAPs to better ensure rapid emergency response and save lives. And the Commission’s action has received widespread support from the public safety community.

To ensure that carriers are making progress toward compliance with the location accuracy requirements at the PSAP level, the Commission has established a series of interim requirements. These annual benchmarks include interim progress reports, as well as requirements to measure the Commission’s accuracy requirements on progressively smaller geographic levels until the PSAP-level is met. This includes:

• Fulfilling the Commission’s location accuracy requirements within each Economic Area in which a carrier operates by September 11, 2008;
• Satisfying the location accuracy requirements within each Metropolitan Statistical Area and Rural Service Area that the carrier serves; and demonstrating significant progress toward compliance at the PSAP-level, including achieving this requirement within at least 75 percent of the PSAPs the carrier serves, by September 11, 2010; and
• Achieving full compliance with the PSAP-level location accuracy requirements by September 11, 2012.

As part of their efforts to achieve compliance with the interim benchmarks, wireless carriers must account for only those PSAPs in their service areas that are capable of receiving E911, Phase II location data.

The Wireless Association President and CEO Steve Largent responded this morning with the following statement:

“The wireless industry is proud of its comprehensive efforts to bring Enhanced 911 service to American consumers. To date, billions of dollars have been invested so that consumers can wirelessly contact public safety in their time of need. America is safer for it.

“CTIA – The Wireless Association® and the wireless industry are committed to improving location accuracy. Today’s action by the Commission will hamper that important effort.

“In addition to today’s item being procedurally flawed, I am concerned that the Commission’s action may lead to unrealistic – and potentially harmful – consumer expectations. I had hoped the Commission would move forward in a collaborative effort involving experts from industry, public safety, and government. I am sorry to see that is not the case.”

Wireless Association
FCC

The famous, and seldom attributed quote “I don’t know art, but I know what I like” probably holds true for most of us. I run into very few professional art critics in my daily grind, but everyone and their brother will tell me why opinion on art is wrong. But in fairness I’m more likely to head to the Arms and Armor Gallery at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art than just about anyplace else. And I’ve never been to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, because it sounded a tad… boring.

But today I found out what I was missing. I didn’t visit the museum or even their Web site, but rather heard about the launch of the MFA Mobile program, which is the first of its kind in the United States. It was developed by communications agency Hill Holliday and allows users to wirelessly download museum masterpieces to their mobile handsets. Want a Claude Monet water lily or Egyptian sculpture in the palm of your hands, now you can get it!

“We’re thrilled to be the first museum in the country to initiate a Mobile Wallpaper program, enabling users to carry a Museum masterpiece with them, wherever they go” said Kim French, Deputy Director of Communications at the MFA. “The MFA continues to explore opportunities to broaden the distribution of its encyclopedic collection of art through new technologies.”

A single wallpaper is priced at $1.99, while users may also choose an MFA Mobile subscription for $4.99 a month, which includes up to five wallpapers a month, plus the option to choose a bonus special wallpaper of the month.

OK, so some art fans may find this sharing of significant works or art to be just another way of diminishing their importance, but it is actually allowing people who might otherwise not visit the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston appreciate these pieces. And if it puts a smile on someone’s face then the art is truly doing what it was intended to do in the first place.

MFA Mobile
MFA Mobile WAP

ESPN’s Cricinfo, the world’s largest cricket content source, has hired the mobile advertising network AdMob to turn its Internet traffic into gold. Unlike the unsuccessful attempts by alchemists of old to make gold out of base metals, AdMob has a proven track record of turning Internet traffic into advertising money.

AdMob will deliver ads globally for Cricinfo, while allowing advertisers to reach users in local markets using sophisticated targeting. This partnership is one of the first global and local mobile advertising ventures. AdMob will serve ads on Cricinfo pages, connecting its advertiser base of hundreds of brands to the Cricinfo demographic.

Cricinfo is popular in India, North America, the U.K., Australia, and other cricket playing nations. Because a cricket match can take days to play, those interested in the sport require constant updates of scores and statistics when not able to watch a match.

“Cricket is a sport that lends itself perfectly to mobile coverage,” said Anil Nair, Head, Wireless Media, Cricinfo. “The length of time over which the game is played means many consumers cannot watch broadcasts of entire matches and want anytime, anywhere access to the latest news and results.”

Cricinfo has already launched AdMob ads for the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa, which is expected to draw millions of fans searching for information on their mobile devices from around the world. This is a potential boom for advertisers who want to get their messages out to the cricket loving public.

“The challenge is reaching our five core geographic markets of India, North America, the UK, Australia and South Africa with a relevant and effective advertising campaign that truly reaches cricket fans,” Nair said. “The AdMob Marketplace has proven to be effective at filling ad inventory with quality advertisers worldwide and we are excited to be working with them.”

If ESPN’s Cricinfo is able to show good revenue numbers from its partnership with AdMob, in the future other global sporting events may follow ESPN’s lead. Updated mobile information on events like World Cup Soccer and the Olympics could create a potential for advertising revenue that is both global in reach and local in specificity.

AdMob
Cricinfo

We’re no stranger to Veeker, the mobile multimedia messaging technology. A new version of Veeker, fittingly called Veeker 2.0 is able to have a beta launch next Monday.

Veeker 2.0 will enable users to create video, photo and TXT messages with their mobile phones, Web cams and digital cameras and almost instantly deliver these messages to friends’ phones or send via e-mail to Veeker accounts including profile pages and blogs. This new platform further will code and embed media from the phone to e-mail.

This sounds like an interesting option, but it will be interesting to see whether users can opt out of receiving these embedded messages. The last thing a cynic like me might want is more user generated content sent to me. Some of this stuff can be cool yes, but I don’t have friends that are that creative. Oh, they think they’re creative but they’re not.

Still for those imaginative types that enjoy sending and receiving this Veeker 2.0 could be onto something. Just as long as they don’t send it to my phone!

Veeker

A recently published study exploring the effects of frequent mobile phone use on the brain claims long-term exposure slows brain functions. But at the same time, frequent mobile phone users showed better focused attention. No conclusions can be drawn as to whether these effects are adverse to health or not, but data has been collected from more that 20,000 people to replicate this study and further investigate health risks. What is a brain to think?

In the September issue of the International Journal of Neuroscience a study will be published on the long term effects of mobile phone use on brain function. Past studies have investigated the acute effects of mobile phone use on brain function. But this study employs an epidemiological approach to investigate the long-term effects of mobile phone use on brain function.

In this study 300 people were broken into three groups of 100. A third were ‘frequent mobile phone users’, a third ‘intermediate users’ and a third ‘non-mobile phone users’. Brain activity was measured using Quantative EEGs. Neuropsychological functions such as attention, memory and executive function were measured. Personality traits were also assessed.

Frequent mobile phone users tended to be more extraverted. The study considers the extraversion to be a cause for using mobile phones more, not an effect from using mobile phones. But the study did find that frequent use of mobile phones trains the brain to be more focused. Making calls in busy environments increases attention by training the brain to filter out irrelevant environmental information while talking on the phone.

Unfortunately, the brain activity from frequent mobile phone users shows more slow activity (increased Delta and Theta) and a slowing of the Alpha Peak Frequency, interpreted as a general slowing of brain activity. Slowed brain activity could not be explained by personality traits or environmental conditioning.

“In Alzheimer’s dementia you also find a severely slowing of brain activity. However, the slowing found in this study, with mobile phone users, can still be considered within ‘normal’ limits” according to Martijn Arns, the main investigator. “The frequent mobile phone user group used their mobile phone – at the time of data collection – only 2.4 years on average which can currently be considered as a short time. Therefore, it is to be further investigated whether the observed effects in this study are more severe with prolonged mobile phone use” according to Martijn Arns.

If this study proves to be accurate, in the future psychiatrists may prescribe mobile phone use instead of drugs. If a child has Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) what better medicine than daily phone calls from a noisy mall to friends? Exercise that brain to concentrate, don’t medicate. Maybe people with a sleeping disorder could call up soothing music and place the phone on the pillow for some brain downtime.

Of course, all these studies about the effects on the health of mobile phone users may be meaningless. Remember how a few months ago mobile devices were being blamed for the disappearance of honey bees? It turns out they caught a virus. It is too early to panic about the dangers, or brag about the benefits, of the effects of mobile phone use. That’s what a brain is to think.

International Journal of Neuroscience

Research from Sybase 365 finds that Americans aren’t yet convinced that mobile banking is as safe and easy as internet banking. Many Americans are highly conscience of bank account numbers, with over 70% being able to quote their bank balances to the nearest $200. To keep numbers up-to-date, U.S. consumers check their balances frequently. 61% admit to checking their bank balances every few days. Hardcore customers, numbering 29%, require daily updates. (Only 3% have no idea how much they have in their accounts). Most of this account reassurance is done on-line but not on-the-move.

Banking in the United States is done in versatile ways, with 76% of customers using Internet banking to check up on bank account numbers. A surge in Internet banking is attributed to the convenience electronic banking gives people. But while 57% of Americans feel secure using Internet banking services like moving money between accounts, only 24% consider mobile banking to be secure. This insecurity may be due to the newness of mobile banking technology. 59% of Americans don’t even know if their bank has mobile services, which suggests that banks have to get the word out that mobile banking is available and safe.

Sybase 365 believes that despite poor numbers, in the near future the United States will embrace mobile banking services.

“Online banking is currently the number one way consumers check their account, but it didn’t become mainstream over night. Mobile banking is well on its way to gaining the same wide-spread popularity among consumers,” said Marty Beard, president, Sybase 365. “Consumers are already dependent on having many conveniences at their fingertips, and eventually that will expand to include banking abilities. Financial institutions will soon have to meet consumer demands and market mobile offerings to remain competitive.”

Sybase 365

Excel Fortune Holdings announced that Europe’s largest mobile phone recycling facility will be built in Wales, UK. Excel has committed GBP (Pounds) 6million for the venture with an estimated total start-up investment, including capital turnover, of GBP15million. A 120,000 sq ft facility will become Excel’s European hub and headquarters. Once finished, the complex will be able to recycle 500,000 mobile handsets per month.

“With Europe currently contributing around 125 million phones per year to a growing stockpile of unused goods, the need to convert them into reusable stock has become increasingly urgent, “commented Mike Bandeira, CEO Excel Fortune Holdings Ltd.

“At our new facilities based in Wales, to be opened in November, we will offer a complete end-to-end solution for the collection, recycle, re-use and distribution of phones that are currently surplus to UK user needs.”

He added, “The service will have a significant impact on the way mobiles are re-used and re-introduced to the market, and as an organization we also hope to help bring about a behavioral change amongst consumers, regarding the reuse of handsets.”

Recycled mobile phones will be refurbished and sold to developing countries like China, India, Dubai and Bolivia. Excel currently has contracts with these countries to supply recycled phones at 60% of the cost of a new phone. Europeans will be encouraged to recycle old hand sets with cash based on the age, model, and condition of the device.

Excel Fortune Holdings

Going once, going twice, sold to the company with the highest bid. On January 16, 2008, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will sell the rights to the spectrum that American analog T.V. broadcasters have used for years. This lucrative spectrum will revert back to the government in 2009. Minimum bids start at $4.6 billion. According to Business Week, Apple may jump into the wireless provider pool.

The FCC considers the analog T.V. spectrum to be beachfront property in the airways over American heads. These signals, broadcast at the 700 MHz spectrum, can provide faster Internet access than today’s cellular or Wi-Fi networks. 700 MHz signals can easily pass through buildings and bad weather providing better connectivity.

Apple will be up against bidders such as Google, DirecTV and eBay. A portion of the spectrum needed to create a national network is estimated to sell for around $9 billion. Apple has nearly $14 billion in cash reserves, so money to win a bid isn’t a problem. But Apple has to decide if it wants to put up the capital needed to create a national network, with all the problems that could cause. Traditionally, Apple is a company that focuses on creating innovative computing devices. Running a mobile network would be a major turn in corporate strategy.

If Apple does buy its own spectrum, it could provide all the services for the iPhone and its other wireless devices. One drawback to the iPhone is the two year contract a subscriber has to make with AT&T. If Apple built its own network, these subscription prices could be lowered. Apple could get a slice of money from all the applications that future mobile phones are expected to generate in the near future.

Apple hasn’t announced it is going to join the auction. It has only studied the issue. It is easy to see how creating a network would be a good fit for Apple. The company has been good in the past at creating innovative computing, so an innovative network is a tempting dream. But many stockholders may not agree and want some of that $14 billion in cash paid out as dividends.

[Via: Business Week]
Apple

Berg Insight, a company that provides analytical services and business intelligence to the telecom industry, predicts growth in mobile navigation services. These services are to be driven by GPS-technology in smartphone handsets and the bundling of navigation and map content with mobile devices and service plans. Revenue from subscriptions and advertisement is expected to grow at nearly 40% over the next ten years.

The number of mobile subscribers accessing maps and downloading routs using their mobile handsets in Europe and the U.S.A. is around 4 million. Over the next ten years the number of map subscribers is expected to increase at a compound annual growth rate of 61% to reach 43 million users in 2012.

Big names in the mobile industry are gearing up for mobile phone navigation. Nokia launched its GPS-enabled N95 for the European market this year. The U.S. has evolved further with GPS being a standard in all CDMA-handsets. Sprint Nextel and Verizon Wireless have attracted millions of subscribers to navigation services. Google and Yahoo! are extending their existing search and map propositions with Mobile Web 2.0 applications.

Andre Malm, telecom analyst, Berg Insight says, “Record shipments of PND devices in Europe and the US have introduced the benefits of GPS for motorists. Now the major players in the mobile industry are in hot pursuit of delivering the same experience for pedestrians, commuters and travelers on the handset display.”

Berg Insight predicts that ad-funded services will account for an increasing share of the mobile navigation market. Local search applications can open the door to new ways for businesses to target consumers. MobileCrunch reported last month that more Americans are taking their mobile devices along on vacation to access map technology. See: Unexpected Surge in Google Mobile this Summer. Advertisements for restaurants or other attractions could be sent to users who access a local map area.

Having access to GPS service or other map applications is appealing. If you ever get lost or need the quickest rout somewhere while on foot, you can find your way with the press of a few keys.

Berg Insight

This week’s mobile gaming news has E-A M-O-B-I-L-E making a big score with SCRABBLE, which is now available for download in North America and Europe. The EA Mobile version is officially licensed from Hasbro, Inc., and brings the classic board game of wordplay to the mobile phone with simple controls and challenges for all skill levels.

“”SCRABBLE is one of the world’s most recognized board games and is a great compliment to our top-selling casual games,” said Travis Boatman, VP Worldwide Studios at EA Mobile. “This new mobile version of SCRABBLE lets players choose from three fun game modes – short quick-play for a fast SCRABBLE fix, pass-and-play with a friend, or play against the computer’s dictionary for the ultimate vocabulary challenge.”

Considering that this game has always been about showing up your friends (associates and colleagues) with you large (copious and abundant) vocabulary and lexis of words, we’re not certain that this game will have the same appeal for wordplay know-it-alls. Then again, we just like showing off sometimes.

EA Mobile

Two Konami Mobile titles have received gold National Parenting Publications Awards (NAPPA) from Parenthood.com and United Parenting Publications. Of 79 entries only seven received the Gold status, including Professor Fizzwizzle and Frogger 25th. Frogger… really?

“The mobile game market can be confusing for parents who are looking for family-friendly content they can trust,” said Joe Morris, vice president of mobile content, Konami. “Konami Mobile is very proud to receive two gold status NAPPA from independent judges who are experts in identifying products that are innovative, age appropriate and of exceptional and lasting educational and entertainment value.”

Professor Fizzwizzle is a game where players must control the not-so-mad scientist and solve a series of increasing challenging puzzles across 30 levels. So that one makes sense that it would be an award winner, but frankly we’re scratching our heads about Frogger 25th. While the game is true to the original game, we don’t see why a parenting award is in order – this game doesn’t do much except teach you that crossing the street can be dangerous! Then again George on the hit 1990s sitcom Seinfeld was a Frogger champ… and look where he ended up!

Both games are available on major carriers in North America including AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon.

Konami Mobile

Hudson Entertainment announced this week that it had scored big, and has obtained the license from game publisher Midway to bring the football game Blitz: The League to mobile handsets later this fall. The game will be available on both Brew and Java platforms.

“With its no-holds-barred, anything goes gameplay, Blitz: The League is an innovative alternative to the typical football simulation gaming experience,” said John Greiner, President and CEO of Hudson Entertainment. “Due to its success, we thought it was high time to bring the action to mobile, and we’ve done so with stunning results.”

Because this game has no official NFL tie-in or license (as is the case with the console version of Blitz) don’t expect to see real world teams or any superstars of the gridiron. This game is firmly based in fantasy, and not the fantasy football type of fantasy. This football game is more over-the-top than rival series including Madden, and the gameplay focuses on seven on seven action, along with a whole 12 game season. Whether this will score will fans as a result will need to be seen.

Hudson Entertainment

Cellufun has announced that it has expanded on its Mob Hill Casino, and has introduced a new Video Poke title for its collection of Las Vegas style mobile phone games. The company will also be rolling out (no pun intended) Black Jack and Slots, both free for consumers to download from the Cellufun WAP site.

“Casino games are a great fit for the mobile platform,” said Arthur Goikhman, CEO of Cellufun. “They are a little taste of Vegas while you have a few minutes to kill. Sharing the bank across all of our casino games and including connected features such as progressive slots really enhances the experience of playing the games our users already know and love.”

The digital currency that you win (or are just as likely to lose) can’t be actually used for anything in the real world, but nor does it cost anything; however it can be used across all the casino games from Cellufun. So you can score big at Slots and go bet your roll at Video Poker.

Cellufun
Cellufun WAP

Mobile operators are spending billions of dollars to provide the infrastructure and new technology necessary to provide customers with mobile phone video capability. But a recent report from In-Stat says that competition from other mobile device video providers may cut deeply into the cellular providers’ expectations of huge video profits. In-Stat’s report could portend another bust cycle for telephone providers.

“Cellular operators may find that consumers won’t be as interested in their video offerings once other types of service are available,” says David Chamberlain, In-Stat analyst. “Of the five methods of mobile video delivery studied in a recent In-Stat report, two operate outside the current cell phone ecosystem, and a third—out-of-band video—seems to be allied to mobile operators for commercial convenience, not technological necessity.” All three, Chamberlain says, could bypass mobile operators altogether.

Some of the new competition sounds intriguing. In the future, current broadcasters could provide free video for mobile devices. Television is still broadcast over the airways for free and this could be done for mobile device consumption. The Japanese already do this with Japan’s 1-Seg.

A provider’s walled garden can be breached by in–time and place-shifting services like Orb and Sling Media. A walled garden is like the wall around the Garden of Eden, but without angles guarding the gate. A walled garden is a closed set or exclusive set of information services provided for users. It is a way of creating an information monopoly or a method of securing an information system. I prefer angles with flaming swords.

In-Stat research also shows that U.S. mobile phone users are apathetic towards video provided in an operator’s walled garden. Who can blame them? Suppose you get locked in a walled garden and there’s nothing but Apple iPhones to eat.

Video can also be delivered over 3G networks, which Verizon Wireless does. Or local cable operators can deliver video, like Sprint’s Pivot service. If the mobile phone video business gets lucrative, anything that delivers video anywhere will figure out how to get the video to mobile phones. But competition is a good thing. Consumers get better service for less money and technological wonders keep on the move.

In-Stat

The publication of a recent Google patent has industry insiders speculating that Google is working on a mobile phone-based payment service. The service is being called GPay until Google announces or denounces this rumor. In tandem with GPay, there is growing speculation that Google will sell a low-cost internet enabled handset dubbed the GPhone.

The GPay system differs from other payment services as far as the user is concerned. The patent suggests that a user wouldn’t have to keep an account with GPay. GPay takes money from the user’s bank account and transfer it to the payee. It is unknown what type of fee would be incurred.

And nothing goes better with GPay than a GPhone, or so the rumors say. There has been a lot of chatter about a Google phone that is internet enabled and could sell for as little as $100. And in keeping with Google’s corporate culture, I doubt the GPhone will be locked to one carrier like the iPhone.

Caveat: this is all speculative. Just because a company files for a patent doesn’t mean the patented item will come to market. The Patent Office is full of designs for perpetual motion machines that no one bothered to produce.

[Via: TimesOnline]
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