Moderati fakes it with new services

Moderati is expanding beyond ringtones with a series of offerings designed to ward off pesky suitors or impress potential dates.
The content provider launched Mobile Faker, which is available to Sprint Nextel Corp. Vision subscribers. Offerings include fake incoming calls that prompt a user to simulate conversations; false phone numbers that send rejected would-be lovers to a voicemail greeting telling them they’ve been spurned; and “Get a Life,” which offers wallpaper downloads of pseudo pets, vacations or significant others.
With Mobile Faker, Moderati becomes the latest startup to try monetize content designed to dupe or create excuses. SMS.ac, a San Diego-based content and messaging company, gained considerable attention with clubs that provide excuses, for instance, to cheating lovers and absent employees, while New York’s Kargo Global Inc. has marketed background noise to simulate violent storms and traffic jams.
Mobile Faker is available on Sprint’s deck for $4 a month.
“Most of us at Moderati have been faking it since 2001,” joked Cindy Lundin Mesaros, Moderati’s vice president of marketing. “Not everyone has time to read a zillion blogs, chat up record-store clerks and strategize how to rid oneself from unwanted admires. Luckily, we know people who do.”