Yesterday when my Nokia 6620 was running on fumes and I realized my back-up battery was at the hotel, Chris Pfaff came to my rescue with a loaner charger. Quite some time later, he realized that two people who’d been trying to arrange an interview virtually had just met each other and clued me in. Upshot: I not only returned the charger but got to meet his client, Are Traasdahl, CEO of ThumbPlay.com this morning — a win-win all around.
Traasdahl’s wireless content portal, ThumbPlay, is launching in the U.S. next week with a direct-to-consumer two-click model for ringtines, games and images that works through carriers instead of around them. Traasdahl dismisses the idea of providing multiple purchase options. “We’re never going to do credit card. It complicates the process so much for the consumer,” he explained. ThumbPlay has a couple of other characteristics that stand out:
— two sub models: 1 ringtone, 1 game or 1 animation in any combination per week at $.99 or 2 in any combination for $1.99 a week.
— the marketing campaign will emphasize ownership rather than rental.
— Offerings include European content (Swedish bikini models is the example offered.)
The company got Series A money from i-Hatch Ventures (lead investor) and Redwood Partners. Series B is slated for 3-6 months out; Traasdahl says they have one-third committed but won’t offer figures for either round.
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