Bidding passes the $4.6 billion threshold

The wireless spectrum auction is reaching an interesting stage: After 18 rounds of bidding that began one week ago, bids for the “C block” of nationwide spectrum reached $4.7 billion today. This means that the FCC’s open access rules for part of the spectrum will now come into play, something Google (NSDQ: GOOG) had been pushing for.

Fellow Blogger MobHappy calls it a "Big Day for Mobile in the US" and we couldn't agree more.

We all knew Open Access was going to come, the big question has always been; When? Now, granted, this is not going to happen overnight, but the next few years are going to very exciting in the mobile space.

And to back up this point, you need to look no further than a couple of news items today involving Garmin and Dell.

Garmin (NSDQ: GRMN) announced its entrance into the mobile phone market with the nuvifone, an all-in-one, sleek and slim, touchscreen device that combines a premium phone, mobile web-browser, and cutting-edge personal navigator.

Dell (Nasdaq: DELL), on the other hand, has not made any formal announcements but they are likely building their own mobile phone as well.

The impact to you and me, of course, is as the walls come down, consumers will have a better selection of products, lower prices and increased functionality as more and more manufacturers enter the mobile space.

iPhone data usage soars in Europe, US

Movaya loves the iPhone and its users' consumption of bandwidth. Say what you will about the device, the functionality, the bugs, the whatever. The point that makes us giddy is the amount of time users spend surfing the internet and interacting with the web just like users do on their PCs (or Apple Macs).

Data Points:
...according to René Obermann, CEO of Deutsche Telekom AG (NYSE: DT). He says the device is driving up average wireless data usage as much as 30 times higher than on other phones...the average Internet usage for an iPhone customer is more than 100 MBytes. This is 30 times the use for our average contract-based consumer customers... [from Unstrung]

Matthew Key, chief executive of O 2 Europe, is excited about how iPhone customers are turning out to have a big appetite for data services. About 60 per cent are sending or receiving more than 25MB of data a month, which is the equivalent of sending 7,500 e-mails. By comparison, only 1.8 per cent of O 2 's other mobile customers on monthly contracts are consuming more than 25MB a month...[from Financial Times]

AT&T has stated that iPhone data usage has blown away their predictions, with data usage at twice the projected number.

The gist of the situation: users are no longer tethered to their carrier portal and the goods that are sold there. iPhoners are using their iPhones for data access just like desktop computer users, allowing for exposure to all sorts of websites (not just the 4 carrier portals they typically look at today). Therefore, the ability to sell mobile content from a wide variety of storefronts will be the norm. And Movaya will be there powering a large percentage of the mobile content ecommerce transactions.

Useful Mobile Site - PhoneFavs

MobileInfocenter unveiled a new mobile web portal back in early December and we've been meaning to tell you about it. Created specifically for smartphones and mobile devices, PhoneFavs is the first social bookmarking system completely designed and optimized for mobile phone users. The free service enables users to keep an always-available list of bookmarks for web sites that can be easily viewed on a mobile browser.

With PhoneFavs, users can store, organize and share bookmarks and access them on any device, anywhere. PhoneFavs' simple homepage serves as a gateway to PhoneFav's three main services: online bookmarks or Favs, a handpicked mobile link directory, and a "mobilizer" which automatically adapts standard web pages for improved viewing on smaller screen devices.

Visit on your phone at: pfavs.com, and you will immediately get access to over 300 bookmarked mobile sites across a number of categories including News, Tech/Biz, Movies, Shopping Weather, Local, and Fun & Leisure.

You can find some pretty interesting mobile sites including Funontherun where you can read Tongue Twisters, find new Jokes and see funny pictures, all optimized for the small screen.

In addition, through a partnership with Movaya, you can now find and buy games for your phone through the PhoneFavs portal as well.

Next time you're on the mobile web, point your phones browser to pfavs.com and have a look around.

CEOs @ Davos: Adding Fuel to the Mobile Fire

Year of the mobile game? How about 'Year the Mobile Phone Takes Over?'. Movaya has been spending a lot of air time preaching about 2008 as the year mobile gaming really takes off. But, it may be that gaming is just one node of the mobile juggernaut that will be unleashed on the world in 2008. In fact, 2008 may be the year that the mobile platform becomes solidified as the top platform in the world for content, news and entertainment, surpassing the usage of TV, Internet and movies combined.

This past week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, there was a panel entitled 'The Future of Mobile Technology'. Panelists included Google (Public, NASDAQ:GOOG) CEO Eric Schmidt, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, Sony (Public, NYSE:SNE) CEO Sir Howard Stringer, NBC Universal (owned by General Electric) CEO Jeff Zucker, SK Telecom (Public, NYSE:SKM) CEO Kim Shin-Bae and China Mobile (Public, NYSE:CHL) CEO Wang Jianzhou.

Quotes and feedback that got us excited:
Schmidt on the 'tipping point' of mobile phone usage: "It's the recreation of the Internet, it's the recreation of the PC (personal computer) story and it is before us — and it is very likely it will happen in the next year"

Stringer thinks that mobile will be the “platform for everything”

NBC's Zucker was the only panel member with reservations, noting that mobile will not have a huge impact on NBC. This is not surprising, as members of the music, TV and movie industries are still reluctant to fully embrace digital content in any form. We call these firms dinosaurs.

China Mobile adds 6 million subscribers a month to its base of 317 Million. Note that this means China Mobile is adding the equal to ATT each year. Oh, and their market cap on the NYSE is over $300 billion USD now, trailing only GE and some oil companies in size. This means that, roughly, each subscriber is worth $1000 USD to China Mobile, and by the middle of 2009 they will be the worlds largest company.

Now, back to the business of selling mobile games and applications.

Namco and Big Fish launch Atlantis Sky Patrol

Casual game publisher Big Fish Games had their first mobile game hit the market this week thanks to their partnership announced last July with Namco Networks.

Inspired by the online PC hit game, Atlantis Sky Patrol is an addictive, action-driven puzzler with more than 100 levels. In the game, players must knock out and destroy doomsday devices by shooting and matching chains of colored marbles moving through a track before the chain reaches a detonation core.

The game launched on Verizon last week and can be found in the What's New, Puzzle, and Exclusives categories of the game section of Get it Now. The game is scheduled to launch on other operators soon as well.

This is the first of a number of Big Fish titles to hit the mobile market. In October, Big Fish announced a partnership with Glu (NASDAQ: GLUU) to bring Mystery Case Files: Agent X to the market later this year as well.

Nokia on Fire

Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) shares jumped more than 14% Thursday as the world's top mobile phone maker reported record profits and growth in the fourth quarter, selling more handsets than its three closest rivals combined.

Strong sales in emerging markets helped boost net profit 44% in the period and saw the Finnish company capture more than 40% of the global handset market — an all-time best and long-term goal.

Nokia's revenue grew 34% to $22.9 billion as Nokia sold a record 133.5 million handsets — up 27% from the same period in 2006.

Chief Executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo described the quarter as "excellent."

"Mobile phones are a necessity for a growing number of people worldwide," he told reporters. "In this sense, the market is everywhere."

Nokia's strong performance was in stark contrast to that of its rivals.

Motorola Inc.'s (NYSE: MOT) shares plunged 23% Wednesday after new CEO Greg Brown said the recovery of its ailing handset division will take longer than expected.

Nokia said its biggest growth in the period — of 52% — was in the Middle East and Africa, followed by 43% in the Asia-Pacific region and 38% in China.

In all Nokia sold 437 million handsets last year, 26% more than in 2006.

I was one of those 437 million , having recently picked up a Nokia N75. I will be providing a review soon but I can tell you that so far, I am VERY HAPPY with the device.

Mobile Web Site Growth

According to a new report from JupiterResearch titled: “Mobile Web Sites: Designing for Mobility”, 40% of U.S. companies with annual revenue of $50 million or more offer mobile web sites, and an additional 22% plan to do so in the next 12 months.

The number of mobile web sites—which today focus on consumer experience first and monetization second—is growing because mobile phones are becoming more powerful tools, mobile web browsers are better than ever, and wireless networks are transmitting data much faster, says Julie Ask, vice president and research director at JupiterResearch and lead author of the report.

“As mobile phones and the mobile web experience improves, more consumers are using the mobile web,” Ask says. “Now consumer expectations go up: They have some good experiences with mobile sites and soon they are expecting standard web sites of other companies to offer a mobile experience.”

25% of mobile phone users in the U.S. browse the Internet from their phones, with 16% doing so frequently, the report says. As adoption and use grows, the importance of web sites suitable for small screens is growing in importance, it adds.

This is great news and at Movaya we have seen a growing number of companies contact us to discuss how we can help them work on the second part of their mobile site focus - the monetization of these mobile sites.

Since our release of PlugNPlay 2.0 last October, we now offer a turnkey solution to add premium mobile games to mobile sites or you can even create a mobile game store from scratch. Desktop websites have gotten tremendous value out of adding casual game downloads to their portals as a way to increase traffic and stickiness and drive additional revenue outside of advertising and our solution allows mobile site owners to do the same.

If you want to check out one of these mobile game stores, point your phones browser to www.bustedthumbs.mobi.

If you've launched a mobile website and want to discuss how we can help, drop us a line.

Grey's Anatomy Mobile Game

Fans of Grey's Anatomy who like to play games will be excited to hear that Gameloft, a top publisher of mobile games, is bringing Grey’s Anatomy: The Mobile Game to casual gamers and fans alike.

I tried to buy the game today by texting “GREY” to shortcode 82174, but unfortunately it's not available for my Samsung ZX-10. (Note: I know my phone is old. I am anxiously awaiting a new device that is supposed to show up next week.)

So, I haven't played it yet, but Gameloft's release has this to say:

Featuring rendered environments that faithfully replicate the set of the show, Grey’s Anatomy: The Mobile Game will allow players to live through the series’ most intense moments and see them through the eyes of the characters. Play as Meredith and meet Izzie, George, Cristina or Alex and experience their storylines in an adventure especially created for you to enjoy in the palm of your hand.

This is not the first "TV game" published by Gameloft. They've also developed mobile games for TV shows, Heroes and CSI Miami. Other mobile game publishers have followed their lead, including Limelife with Top Chef Challenge and RealArcade with The Apprentice.

I haven't seen any reviews of Grey's Anatomy: The Mobile Game, but Gameloft's products are usually well done, so if you're a fan of the show, check it out.

Double the Battery Life!

Now here is something to get excited about. For as much as I love mobile phones, I'm still frequently annoyed by the (lack of) battery life of mobile phone batteries.

We have dozens of phones at our office that we use to test mobile games and other applications and it feels like we are constantly charging the damn things. To make matters worse, all the chargers are different and inevitably, the one phone you need to show a demo is out of batteries. Argh.

So, needless to say, I was very excited to hear at CES that Angstrom Power recently completed trials of a fuel cell system that effectively doubled talk time and the overall battery life in mobile phones.

The trial involved a Motorola SLVR L7 and a fuel system that fit inside the phone without modification. The Micro Hydrogen platform uses a new fuel cell architecture, micro-fluidics and a refillable hydrogen storage tank to provide power. Angstrom believes the technology could be built into phones as early as 2010.

Stuart Robinson, Director of Handset Component Technologies at Strategy Analytics Ltd, had this to say about the results:

"Our research shows that insufficient battery run time ranks as one of the leading considerations in the adoption of handheld devices with rich multimedia functionality. Development of Lithium batteries is too slow to meet the growing energy demands of cellular handsets. Angstrom's achievement, the world's first successful integration of micro fuel cell technology into a standard mobile handset, demonstrates the potential of micro fuel cells to provide a better solution for demanding mobile energy applications."

The addressable market for Angstrom's technology is estimated to exceed a billion units annually by 2010.

I had never heard of Angstrom before. Founded in 2001, and based in Vancouver, BC, Angstrom Power raised $18 million of private equity financing led by VantagePoint Venture Partners in late 2006. There are certainly other firms competing in this space, with one local Seattle company, that I had heard of, Neah Power Systems, looking to crack the same code.

Let's hope these guys get this figured out quickly. I'm often at a loss trying to explain to some non-techie why it's possible for people to deliver TV to mobile phones but they can't figure out how to improve the battery life.

Mossberg Reviews the Voyager

According to a December report from Compete, the LG Voyager from Verizon was the most popular handset in November for online shoppers.

Compete tracks the number of page views a handset's webpage gets on carrier sites. You can see the Top 10 handsets in the chart we've posted here as well.

You'll notice that it even surpassed the iPhone (listed as #4) on the list. The Voyager got a lot of buzz when it was first announced as an iPhone competitor.

The Mobile Phone Blog was certainly skeptical that LG could produce anything close to the iPhone and our doubts were validated last week when Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal reviewed the Voyager.

The title of his article?: "Verizon's New Voyager Looks Like the iPhone, But Software Is Inferior"

The whole review is worth reading, but a couple of the highlights (or lowlights depending on your perspective).

Voyager advantages over iPhone:

- runs on a fast, 3G data network
- $100 less expensive ($299 vs $399)
- has GPS and thus provides real-time navigation
- can receive live TV programs
- has a physical keyboard for typing

Voyager disadvantages as compared to iPhone:

- is bulkier - about 50% thicker and 40% larger overall
- lacks the ability to use Wi-Fi hot spots and home networks
- has only about half the battery life
- has a smaller, lower-resolution screen
- has just a fraction of the internal memory

Mossberg goes on to discuss the significant software disadvantages of the Voyager and ends the article with the following:

"Verizon is promising to improve the Voyager, but right now it's a classic example of how the leading cellphone makers are going to have to step up their games, especially in software, to match Apple's upstart device."

Top Posts of 2007

Hard to believe another year of blogging is in the books. Here's a look at the Top 10 most read posts on the Mobile Phone Blog from the past year. Thanks for reading.

- Free MONOPOLY game from McDonalds
- Deal or No Deal Mobile Hits One Million Downloads
- Product Review - Mobile ecards from AmericanGreetings.com
- Very cool new product - Rocketshotz
- New Mobile Game: Castlevania: Order of Shadows
- Verizon Wireless Unveils Holiday Lineup
- Premium SMS Statistics
- Mega Man II - mobile game
- HACKED - iPhone unlocked; 17yr old genius
- Best Selling Mobile Phones Of The Third Quarter

Mobile 2.0, a follow up to the Year of the Mobile Game

As a follow up to our post on 2008 being the year of the Mobile Game, we would like to revisit a great article from ReadWriteWeb that outlines their definition of Mobile 2.0, and its comparison to Web 2.0. This is really important to us here at Movaya, because it really makes clear why our business model is spot-on, and that the mobile world is indeed opening up here in the US.

Mobile 2.0, according to our definition, closely matches what you will read below. But the bottom line is that mobile 2.0 will be reached when mobile websites are ubiquitous and meet or surpass the visitation numbers of regular websites. It will be at this point that electronic commerce conducted on mobile web sites will be significant.

From ReadWriteWeb: What we mean by 'mobile 2.0' is another (r)evolution, already started, that will dramatically change the web and the mobility landscape that we currently know. The idea is that the mobile web will become the dominant access method in many countries of the world, with devices that become more hybrid and networks that become more powerful - everywhere in the next decade to come. (www.readwriteweb.com, Dec 11. 2006)

Further, the article outlines the main components of mobile 2.0. These points were made in December of 2006, so we have added our comments in BOLD face to show the progress:

1) Openness: open standards, open-source development and open access - creating more options for the user, not enclosing them in the walled gardens currently (still) used by operators. Google's Android, Verizon's new effort to open up, ATT's claim as the 'most open' network. All three of these announcements have happened in the last 6 months.

2) The context of accessing the network and associated web services needs to be a positive user experience. For example for mobile search, the context includes: browser type, different device functionalities, security issues, display on a small screen, how to insert ads, etc. Associated with this is the usability experience of the devices, applications and services - and other components. For a more detailed analysis of context and the mobile web, see this article I wrote for gotomobile. The iPhone proves all of this correct, and now all the OEMs are racing their iPhone slayers to market. The ability to experience the 'web' on a phone is going to rapidly improve in 2008. Soon, there will be no WAP, it will all be Web.

3) Affordable pricing to use the network to access content and services. Data plans are becoming cheaper, and wireless carriers are now offering 'all you can eat' plans for as little as $20/month. Prices should continue to drop.

4) More user choice in the ways to communicate and share experiences with others (social interaction). Social Networking is all the rage on mobile devices, with numerous start-ups entering the race. Facebook and MySpace are now mobile. Devices are now made to order for all types of communication: voice, email, SMS, instant messaging, faxing.

5) Intelligent 'aware' applications and devices that know where you are; location 'aware' applications seamlessly integrated. Location based services (LBS) are being installed on all new devices, and applications utilizing this tech will hit critical mass this year.

6) New business opportunities coming to market, which may or may not connect to operators networks; think RSS feeds, alerts to SMS, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi Entertainment download zones and access spots, Podcasting to your mobile, Streaming Videocall to TV, Moblogging, Video blogging and media sharing applications, Click to Call (a phone number tagged into a mobile web or WAP page), Mobile Search, and last but not least VoIP tools & services. All of the above are coming true as more and more devices utilize WiFi and/or 3G networks. And, numerous companies big and small are getting in on mobile TV, movies, streaming video, blogging and more. And all of this started up in 2007.

All six points made by ReadWriteWeb are dead on, and provide a great foundation for the definition of mobile 2.0.

Leave your comments to discuss further, and as always, feel free to email us here at MobilePhoneBlog.

Broadband Penetration

The Movaya team has been heads down on 2008 business planning the past week so we haven't had much time to spend on blog posts but one announcement this week that is important to our business and the overall mobile content space, was T-Mobile USA's CEO Robert Dotson announcing that the carrier will spend about $10 billion between 2007 and 2009 for 2G and 3G network deployments.

For those of you not familiar with the terms "2G" and "3G", these stand for Second Generation and Third Generation wireless networks. First generation (1G) were analog while 2G and 3G networks are digital. 3G technologies enable network operators (wireless carriers like AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile) to offer users a wider range of more advanced services while achieving greater network capacity. Services include wide-area wireless voice telephony and broadband wireless data up to 5-10 Mb per second.

T-Mobile is the last of the four big US carriers to deploy 3G. AT&T Wireless was the first to roll out a true 3G network in the US back in 2004 and today Sprint, Verizon and AT&T have (pretty much) nationwide 3G services.

Why is broadband wireless important? Well, if you're currently on a broadband connection on your desktop, you probably already know the answer. If you're still on dial-up at home, one analogy I can use is to think of highway traffic. As a Seattelite, we experience some of the worst traffic in the country. Dial-up is like driving in traffic during rush-hour where it is not uncommon to take over an hour to go under 10 miles on our highways. Broadband, however, is like driving on the same highway in the middle of the night when there is no traffic.

In the US, the total number of homes with wireline broadband has grown to over 70 million over the last 6 years. This broadband adoption has been one of the biggest drivers of the Internet growth. Companies and websites like Youtube, Real.com and iTunes would have a tough time existing without broadband.

So for companies like Movaya, that are in the mobile content space, wireless broadband adoption is an important component. Without broadband, downloading games and applications to your cellphone would be painstakingly slow and consumers simply wouldn't do it.

So, in the US, what are the numbers for 3G adoption? Take a look at the chart we put together at the top of this post. The blue bars represent the number of wireline broadband subscribers in the US and the red bars represent the number of wireless broadband subscribers in the US.

There are approximately 250 million total wireless subscribers in the US (at the end of 2007) and an estimated 50 million of them are already on 3G. So in the 3 years since 3G was first deployed in the US, you already have almost as many wireless broadband subscribers (50 million) in the US that you had after six years in the wireline broadband space (70 million). Fast forward a few years out and you'll have hundreds of millions of US consumers with a broadband connection with them wherever they are.

The Movaya team is ready to take advantage of this HUGE opportunity. If you want to discuss your plans to take advantage of this, drop us a line.

ESPN's Mobile Site Has More Traffic Than Its PC Pages

For those of you that still doubt whether the mobile web has arrived, I would suggest that you read this article from Advertising Age.

You can probably determine the news by the title of this post, but basically multiple times this season, ESPN's mobile NFL content outdrew its PC NFL content.

"We're having extraordinary growth on ESPN.com's NFL pages, but we're also seeing extraordinary usage with mobile devices as well," said Ed Erhardt, president-ESPN ABC Sports customer marketing and sales, calling mobile "a big part of the future as it relates to how fans are going to consume sports."

This is the kind of news that puts a smile on my face.

Top Mobile Games on Verizon for 2007

This week is the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. There will be lots of news coming out of the show that we will try to report on. One headline today came from Verizon Wireless, who announced the 10 most successful mobile games the company introduced in 2007. The top-ranked games of the past year include:

1. Tetris by EA Mobile (New 2007 version)
2. Smarter Than A 5th Grader? by Capcom Entertainment
3. Guitar Hero III by Hands-On Mobile
4. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare by Glu
5. Need for Speed ProStreet 3D by EA Mobile
6. Diner Dash 2 by Glu
7. Assassin's Creed by Gameloft
8. Madden NFL 08 by EA SPORTS 3D by EA Mobile
9. The Simpsons by EA Mobile
10. God of War: Betrayal by Sony Pictures Digital

Tammy Robinson, manager of broadband, wireless downloadable content for Verizon Wireless, noted, "We are constantly adding new games to a variety of categories -- including sports, action and strategy games -- because Verizon Wireless customers have demonstrated they have a healthy appetite for mobile games."

Congrats to Com2uS

Two of Korean publisher Com2uS' mobile games have been listed in the Best of 2007 category on the AT&T Media Mall site. Role playing game Tower Defense was named Best Strategy Game of the year, and Super Action Hero was named the Most Visually Innovative game of 2007.

IGN gave Tower Defense a solid review in December and Super Action Hero was reviewed by IGN back in October. Both games can be downloaded directly from the Com2uS by clicking here.

"Capturing two of the top 15 categories in the Best of 2007 from AT&T is further proof of how games like Super Action Hero and Tower Defense can be both creative and innovative and still be widely appealing," said Don Lim, general manager, Com2uS America. "Some of the best is yet to come with a full line-up of innovative new titles from Com2uS in 2008."

Mobatech Selects Movaya to Power Direct-to-Consumer Mobile Content Distribution and Commerce

Movaya has inked another deal with a mobile application publisher, Mobatech. Below is the press release announcing the relationship. This is a significant moment for Movaya, as it now has proven successful at partnering with a Mobile Application Publisher. Please contact us with any questions.

Movaya PlugNPlay Platform Streamlines Transaction and Delivery Processes Making Best-Selling Mobatech Personal Productivity Applications Even More Accessible to Consumers

Bloomfield Hills, Mich. – January 8, 2008 – Mobatech, a developer of leading edge personal productivity software for cellular phones, today announced it has selected Movaya’s PlugNPlay solution to power the direct-to-consumer commerce and software distribution for its best-selling mobile lifestyle applications.

Movaya PlugNPlay provides a complete solution for the distribution of mobile content, including an all-inclusive software platform that enables web-based business-to-consumer transactions for wireless applications. Under the terms of the agreement, Movaya will handle content management, billing and delivery of Mobatech applications to consumers, while Mobatech will remain focused on its core business which includes software application design and development.

Mobatech customers will benefit from a seamless transaction experience that takes place directly from the Mobatech site. The Movaya solution also enables transactions to appear on the customer’s next monthly cell phone bill by simply including their carrier information and cell phone number, removing the need for credit cards or other forms of payment.

"Movaya will serve as a key strategic business partner, enabling Mobatech to maintain focus on its core business of software development, while still extending our offerings to the growing mobile applications marketplace," said Greg Schwartz, CEO, Mobatech. "We are impressed with Movaya’s ability to offer a single point of integration between the Mobatech Website and our customers’ mobile devices. Our customers will benefit from fast, simple and secure transactions that take place in a matter of seconds."

"Mobatech has done a tremendous job working directly with wireless operators and select Websites to make its industry-leading applications widely accessible to consumers to date," said Phil Yerkes, CEO, Movaya. "We’re excited to help the company redefine their direct-to-consumer mobile experience and further increase off-deck transactions by leveraging our comprehensive PlugNPlay platform."

Since its inception in 2003, Mobatech has been dedicated to developing high quality mobile solutions that customers will find easy to use and that integrates seamlessly into their everyday lives. Its Mobile Checkbook and Mobile Bartender applications have shared lengthy stints as the industry’s best-selling applications for cellular phones in the personal productivity category.

About Movaya
Movaya (www.movaya.com) is a Seattle-based technology company, whose mobile-content management and distribution software system allows mobile content publishers and online retailers to effortlessly extend their businesses to the growing off-deck mobile content marketplace. Movaya PlugNPlay is the company’s flagship product, which brings together Mobile Game and Application Publishers, Online Retailers and consumers in one marketplace for Mobile goods. Movaya is powering the off-deck, mobile industry.


About Mobatech
Mobatech is dedicated to designing and developing leading edge software for cellular phones. Mobatech focuses on creating high quality personal productivity applications that customers will find easy to use and beneficial to their everyday lives. Mobatech's products have been sold in over 70 countries worldwide and are distributed by some of the world’s largest mobile providers.

Vertu; Exclusively Crafted Handsets for Individuals Who Only Accept the Best

For those of you looking to truly impress your friends and colleagues with your wealth and status, you might want to familiarize yourself with Vertu.

This British subsidiary of mobile phone giant Nokia makes phones costing from $6,500 to $72,500. Even the lower-priced models boast fine materials such as Italian leather and 18-carat gold, while top-of-the-line units are studded with hundreds of diamonds and other precious stones.

The market for such luxury is bigger than you might think. Parent company Nokia doesn't disclose sales figures, but Neil Mawston, associate director at the British telecom consultancy Strategy Analytics, estimates that Vertu sells about 200,000 handsets a year at an average price of $8,000. That works out to $1.6 billion, nearly 3 percent of Nokia's $58 billion revenues.

Says Mawston, "Vertu is Nokia's version of Ferrari. It creates a warm luxury feeling for the rest of the phone line."

Vertu's president, Alberto Torres, says sales are on track to rise 120% this year. That follows 140% growth in 2006 fueled by booming sales in Russia, China, and the Middle East. "From what we've seen, the creation of a multibillion-dollar market in luxury phones over the next few years is very possible," Torres says.

According to Vertu's Torres, sales in Russia already outstrip those of any country in Western Europe, while the Mideast market should clock triple-digit growth until 2010. Demand is strong in more developed countries, too, with U.S. sales up 200% last year.

Other companies competing in this market include Switzerland's GoldVish and Russia's Gresso, who both offer handsets that run into the thousands of dollars. The prize for the most expensive phone, though, goes to Russian data-protection company Ancort, whose platinum-covered, diamond-studded Crypto smartphone sells for $1.3 million.

We had previously posted on the fact that luxury watchmakers such as Tag Heuer have announced plans to enter the luxury mobile phone market, too.

As for where you can buy Vertu phones, unfortunately there are no locations in Washington State so I'm out of luck right now. But if you happen to be in San Francisco, there are two locations:
European Designs on Townsend Street and Tourneau on Market Street.

2008 - The Year of the Mobile Game

The Mobile Phone Blog, powered by Movaya, predicts 2008 will be the Year of the Mobile Game.

Here at the MPB, we pay close attention to the daily barrage of blog posts, industry analysis, insider rumors, and of course to our business at Movaya. And everything we know adds up to 2008 being the year that the Mobile Game busts out of the shadows and into the hand of the average American.

Some of the reasons why:

• Mobile gaming growth rate stronger than console (XBOX, PS, Wii) and handheld (think portable playstation) games; trails only casual games today (MobileIndustry article)
• Mobile game publishers are embracing off-deck solutions, as witnessed by the GLU financial statements, EA's quarterly statements and the general traction Movaya is getting from game publisher sign ups (including Capcom, Com2uS, Machineworks Northwest, PlayerX, Superscape and more).
  
• Verizon opens up: Introduces 'Any app, Any Device'. No off-deck yet, but it is on the way, and Verizon is clearly starting to think outside 'the walls'. Read more here
  
• iPhone users are proving that games matter, since 6 out of the top 10 applications used today are games (Apple iPhone Apps Countdown) - this says a lot about the usefulness of advanced devices and their ability to play games.
  
• Google releases Android, the open-source mobile OS, suggesting a future of customer-centric devices made for advanced gaming
• Overall, the mobile-game market in the United States is worth more than $675 million a year - and has grown 24 percent in the past 12 months, according to Nielsen Media Research. Some analysts expect it to double in revenue next year, thanks to shows like Top Chef Challenge that target new demographics.
• The international market is also projected to double - topping $10 billion by the end of next year, with 920 million mobile users downloading games, according to a report issued last month by Jupiter Research, a global leader in high-tech communications research.

Help Movaya make 2008 a great year in Mobile Gaming and Applications, and let us help you by making our platform better, send us your ideas for the new year: Email the team

Happy New Year Everyone.