Mocapay and eNational Payments formed a strategic partnership that calls for eNational Payments merchants and retailers to be able to use Mocapay's secure mobile payments solution and mobile marketing engine to reach customers in real time. eNational Payments provides financial services, including check warranty...
Editor's Note:This article is an excerpt from RCR Wireless News' March Special Edition, "The Perfect Storm – A Focus on Mobile Messaging, Marketing, Content and Apps." The 80-page special edition is now available at RCRWireless.com.
In recent years, mobile advertising has gained good...
Editor's Note: Welcome to our weekly feature, Analyst Angle. We've collected a group of the industry's leading analysts to give their outlook on the hot topics in the wireless industry.With 150+ million wireless subscribers today, Brazil has become one of the largest wireless markets...
FOR NOW, AT LEAST, Verizon Wireless has stepped away from plans to tack on a drastic 3-cent fee to each vendor-generated message on its network. But there's little doubt that some significant changes are in store for nearly every player on the business-to-consumer text...
Two weeks after swallowing the rest of the Crazy Frog, News Corp. is reorganizing its mobile business.Rupert Murdoch's media giant this week will unveil Fox Mobile Group, a three-pronged operation created to leverage its immense portfolio, content-creation capabilities and distribution channels. The company also...
Carriers are beginning to use carrot-and-stick strategies to bring their third-party content partners to heel. And both the carrot and the stick are made of cash.Sprint Nextel Corp. earlier this year became the first U.S. carrier to formally tie revenue shares to business practices,...
Sprint Nextel Corp. hopes to clean up the direct-to-consumer content business by hitting wayward partners where it hurts.The carrier last month told off-deck content aggregators that it will be "strictly enforcing" new revenue-share penalties for vendors who violate Mobile Marketing Association guidelines. Partners who...
Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum said a $2.6 million settlement was reached with AT&T Mobility in connection with consumers billed for wireless content advertised as free.The state's CyberFraud Task Force also announced it will investigate other major cellular carriers to ensure subscribers are safeguarded...
The field of mobile content aggregators has seen more casualties than a "Terminator" movie. For the few remaining players, though, there's still plenty of money to be made in going directly to consumers with goodies like games, wallpapers and - believe it or not...
Buongiorno, a mobile content provider, responded to a request for comment on the story on page 11 of this issue after that page had already been sent to the printer.Following is the company's response: Buongiorno said it "will vigorously defend our business and the...
Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum sued Buongiorno S.p.A, accusing the Italian mobile content giant of blatantly deceptive practices and cramming charges onto consumers' cellphone bills. "For too long, not enough attention has been paid to the manner in which unscrupulous companies were conducting business...
Buongiorno S.p.A. forecasts it will bring in revenues of $462 million to $476.5 million for the year, as well as also predicting continued growth in 2008, forecasting $484 million to $513 million in revenues.By the close of next year, the Italian mobile content and...
The field of mobile marketing startups continued to winnow as Atlanta's Air2Web and Germany's MindMatics agreed to merge.Terms of the deal were not disclosed.Air2Web launched years ago as a wireless messaging and technology firm, but has morphed into a firm that executes mobile marketing...
Buongiorno S.p.A. stepped up its spending spree, agreeing to acquire U.K.-based content provider iTouch plc for $192 million.The Italian mobile content and advertising behemoth said it will pay $176 million to iTouch shareholders and absorb $16 million of the company's net debt. The combined...
NEW YORK-There was, of course, no shortage of hype at last week's Mobile Marketing Forum in New York. But that enthusiasm was tempered by a surprising amount of restraint.EJL Wireless Research predicts mobile advertising will generate $9.5 billion worldwide by 2011, with the U.S....
The Internet is rapidly evolving from a desktop experience into a multi-platform phenomenon available on the go and around the world. Carriers, publishers and marketing firms are just hoping advertising doesn't get lost in translation. The wireless Web remains a nightmarish territory, fraught with...
Third Screen Media Inc. finally found a well-heeled suitor, agreeing to be acquired by Time Warner's AOL Internet division for an undisclosed sum. The question now is, who's next?Third Screen was snapped up for a rumored $80 million and will operate as a subsidiary...
Buongiorno S.p.A. expanded its mobile marketing business with the acquisition of U.K.-based Flytxt Inc.The Italian content behemoth said it will spend $5.4 million for the 7-year-old Flytxt, which powers text-to-win campaigns and other mobile marketing efforts. Flytxt's operations will be integrated with Buongiorno's technology...
Buongiorno S.p.A. reported a net profit of $16.2 million for 2006, more than doubling its bottom line from the previous year.The content aggregator said it generated $253 million in revenue last year, up 41 percent from 2005, selling 1.4 billion pieces of content to...
MonsterMob Group plc booted its three top executives after Spanish content aggregator LaNetro Zed took a 52-percent stake in the ringtone provider.Zed, an 11-year-old Spanish firm, will spend $66.8 million for the majority stake in MonsterMob, which operates ringtone businesses around the world. Chinese...
Mobile content aggregator Buongiorno SpA said it will spend $5.6 million to acquire HotSMS BV, an Amsterdam-based mobile advertising firm.HotSMS works with traditional advertising agencies and claims to have deployed more than 1,000 mobile campaigns for clients including Coca-Cola, Heineken, McDonald's and Universal Music....
Mobile content behemoth Buongiorno Vitaminic is expanding its video offerings with the $1.3 million acquisition of Inventa, a London-based mobile video production agency.Buongiorno, which operates a host of direct-to-consumer storefronts around the world under the Blinko brand, hopes to target U.K. users with original...
Mobliss Inc. made its exit from mobile messaging official, selling off its assets in the space to digital company New Motion Inc. for an undisclosed sum.Mobliss, a subsidiary of Japan's Index Holdings, gained substantial traction in the early days of text messaging in the...
Buongiorno S.p.A., one of the leading multinational conglomerates in the mobile content market, announced it entered the Chinese market by way of its acquisition of eDongAsia. The acquisition occurred through Buongiorno Hong Kong Ltd., the company's joint venture with Mitsui & Co. Ltd.The firm...
