Mobile Content Bits: eBuddy on LG; New Boost Stores; Nokia Map APIs; $16B Ads By 2011

imageeBuddy In Asia: LG Electronics (SEO: 066570) will pre-install the eBuddy Mobile Messenger (J2ME) on a minimum of 1.5 million handsets across the Asia Pacific region, including India, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, New Zealand and Australia. The IM client lets people log onto AIM, Facebook, ICQ, Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Talk, Yahoo! (NSDQ: YHOO) and MSN Windows Live Messenger with the one interface. The mobile client has been downloaded 20 million times and currently has 5 million unique users. It launched on the Android platform last week.

Boost Stores: Sprint’s prepaid division Boost Mobile will open 50 exclusive retail stores in major metropolitan areas across the nation by the end of the year. The idea is to give customers a unique, Boost Mobile-branded shopping experience. Boost is already sold in 20,000 stores across the US, including major retail stores and Sprint (NYSE: S) stores, so this effort is probably intended to attract people in Boost’s target market who don’t shop in those places.

Nokia (NYSE: NOK) releases Map update: Nokia said today that it has released the Ovi Maps Player API, which opens up the Ovi Maps service and technology to third parties wishing to add maps to their websites, such as lonelyplanet.com or social networking sites. The new offerings also will allow people to add personal location-based content to the maps. Release.

$16 Billion Mobile Ad: The Asia-Pacific region leads the world in mobile marketing and advertising, and the market there will grow to nearly $7.7 billion by 2011, with the global market growing to more than $16 billion globally according to an e-mailed release from ABI Research. Spending on mobile marketing and advertising in 2009 worldwide is flat this year compared to last year, which compares very well to the percentage change of ad spending in other media.

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