3GSM Wire, Day 2: Mobile Games, Tickers, Flirting

–A new mobile game publisher has hit the scene at 3GSM, reports Modojo. Lbxgames launched four multiplayer titles and is working with third party developers. In other mobile games news Mobile Industry reports Eidos has some new appointments — Markus Schuetze as marketing manager and Ole Mogensen as producer.
Mobicomp has launched a mobile ticker product, Active Mobile Ticker, which runs along the bottom of the screen and links to content. Portugal’s largest mobile operator TMN, with 5 million customers, have signed up the service branded as TMN flash.
Jumbuck Entertainment has updated its Fast Flirting service to allow people to upload photos to private chat sessions, and plans for video uploads are underway. The e-mailed release claims that after it upgraded the service for its partners the number of unique users grew by 25 percent and data traffic has grown by an average of 15 percent each month.
–Hands On plans to bring Korea’s most popular mobile multiplayer game Hero’s Lore 2: The Knight of Frozen Sea to Europe. “Since its launch in November 2006, over 1.5 million network battles have taken place every week and an average of more than 25,000 passionate gamers play every day.” (release)
–RealNetworks has announced a series of deals at 3GSM. Telecom TV in London, TDF Group in Paris, DigiTurk in Istanbul and S-Telecom in Ho Chi Minh City have signed up to use RealNetworks technology. (release)
–iSuppli is warning that mobile subscriber growth will slow in coming years, writes Information Week. This is hardly surprising considering that there are a limited number of people in the world and a large proportion have mobiles. “The market research firm predicted that global mobile phone subscriber growth will decelerate to 12.8% in 2007, from average growth rates of 25% in 2004, 2005, and 2006. The decline is expected to continue in subsequent years, dropping to 9.6% in 2008, 7% in 2009, and 5.7% in 2010.”
ZDNet UK interviewed Phil McKinney, chief technology officer for HP’s network and service provider business unit, at 3GSM. It’s a pretty good read for his opinions on the near future of mobile communications, although his idea that telcos are throwing away revenue by not mining their user data will run into privacy issues.
–uVuMobile has launched a beta version of Mobilecasting, which offers interactive audio and vido based mobile applications. The first product is uVuRadio, a mobile subscription service that could include local radio stations and syndicated content, with instant messaging capabilities with radio personalities, integrated mobile commerce, SMS contests and promotions, real-time voting, community chat, and advertising support. (release)
–Sundance has shown five made-for-mobile short films at 3GSM, reports Hollywood Reporter. “We didn’t want to repurpose content for cell phones,” said John Cooper, director of programming for the Sundance Film Festival and creative director for Sundance Institute. “We wanted something specifically designed for a 2-inch-by-2-inch screen that included the artists in the work.”

Comments have been disabled for this post