VantagePoint Venture partners has reportedly pulled its $20 million investment in mobile content firm 3Guppies Inc.-a rare move for a venture-capital firm-thereby apparently forcing 3Guppies to shut down its operations.Calls to 3Guppies were met with a prerecorded message indicating that the company is closed...
As ringtone revenues descend and full-track mobile music services spin their tires, ringback tones are quietly gaining steam. But they may not be quiet much longer.Ringbacks-audio content that a caller hears instead of a traditional ring before the person being called answers the phone-first...
Comverse Inc. said it is teaming with Jamba to power an off-deck ringback tone service for T-Mobile Germany.The carrier will employ Comverse's Fun Broker, an off-deck service that allows content providers to sell ringback tones directly through their portals. The move allows T-Mobile to...
Editor's Note: Welcome to a special edition of 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. In the coming weeks look for columns from Jupiter Research's...
Revenues from mobile games will grow to nearly $10 billion by 2009, driven by the increasing popularity of casual gaming and the larger variety of gaming-friendly handsets, according to a report from Juniper Research.The company predicts more than 460 million mobile users will download...
Motricity Inc. sees more than just a mobile search engine in InfoSpace's mobile business. It sees a kind of wrecking ball.The Durham, N.C.-based mobile content company is putting the finishing touches on its $185 million acquisition of InfoSpace's mobile operations, which was announced last...
We love pizza Finally, an application that Americans will embrace. The Associated Press reports that Louisville-based Papa John's International Inc. is offering a text-message ordering option at its 2,700 restaurants. Domino's Pizza is letting its customers place orders from Web-enabled mobile devices. And as...
Performing artists are increasingly looking to mobile to prop up flagging recorded music revenues. And record labels are increasingly being left out of the loop. Digital offerings such as ringtones and online, full-track downloads have failed to offset "freefalling CD sales," according to a...
Bango unveiled a link that allows users to send online content to their mobile phones.The Bango Button was created for blogs and social networking sites as a way to bridge the gap between computers and mobile phones. A user can place the icon on...
Hello!And welcome to our Thursday column, Worst of the Week. There's a lot of nutty stuff that goes on in this industry, so this column is a chance for us at RCRWirelessNews.com to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong way. We...
SAN FRANCISCO-Direct-to-consumer is going directly, well, nowhere.Approaching mobile users directly has long been seen as the path to riches for outfits too small-or too edgy-for placement on carrier decks. But the U.S. market for off-deck mobile content is shackled by inadequate billing systems, onerous...
Hello! And welcome to our Thursday column, Worst of the Week. There's a lot of nutty stuff that goes on in this industry, so this column is a chance for us at RCRNews.com to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong way....
Thumbplay said it signed an exclusive deal for ringtones and other mobile content across the AOL network. AOL is integrating Thumbplay's content through AOL Music, AOL Games, the AIM instant-messaging service, Winamp and Spinner.Thumbplay said its content also is integrated on the new AOL...
With ringtone revenues in decline and full-track downloads struggling to find an audience, carriers and third-party vendors are working furiously to breathe life into a withering mobile music industry.Ringtones for years have been the most popular type of content on (or off) carrier decks,...
Looking for a few good books for your smartphone? Motricity might be able to help.The content company said that its eBook customers will be able to purchase and receive eBooks over-the-air directly to their smartphones, and that its eReader Pro for Windows Mobile technology...
The direct-to-consumer mobile content space is being shackled by inadequate billing systems and an overall lack of traffic, content providers and mobile software developers said Monday.The market for off-deck mobile content was once seen as a kind of equalizer for publishers and brands too...
AT&T Mobility bolstered its mobile music offering with plans to offer over-the-air access to Napster's 5-million-plus music tracks beginning next month. The deal builds on the carrier's current side-loading deal with the music giant as well as its over-the-air downloading agreement with eMusic.The service,...
The worldwide mobile music market will more than double in the next few years, exploding from $13.7 billion this year to more than $32 billion by 2010, according to Gartner Inc.But splitting up all that cash won't be easy.While boilerplate agreements don't exist in...
Content for puckheads Airborne Entertainment Inc. and NHL Interactive Cyber-Enterprises L.L.C. announced the release of NHL Clubhouse, a mobile storefront that offers NHL-branded ringtones and wallpapers. The content is available exclusively to Verizon Wireless customers. The offering includes team-branded wallpapers and ringtones for each...
Editor's Note: Welcome to our Monday 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. In the coming weeks look for columns from Jupiter Research's Julie Ask, iGR's Iain...
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. In the coming weeks look for columns from Current Analysis' Avi Greengart, Jupiter Research's...
Record labels and carriers are looking for creative ways to keep the lucrative ringtone party alive. But a handful of startups have taken a cue from music group REM, asking, "Why don't we give it away?"Ringtones for years have been the most popular type...
Editor's Note: Welcome to Yay or Nay, a feature for RCR Wireless News' new weekly e-mail service, Mobile Content and Culture. Every week we'll review a new wireless application or service from the user's point of view, with the goal of highlighting what works...
In another move indicative of the music industry's increasing frailty, two of its largest players are trying some new twists: Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group last week announced a new format they're calling the "ringle."Each ringle will contain one ringtone bundled...
