VideoGameCentral to Bring Mobile Games to Mainstream

The Movaya team is excited to announce that popular gaming site, VideoGameCentral.com has added mobile games to their online destination at videogamecentral.mobi.

VideoGameCentral Mobile will be offering a platform chock full of mobile content from new & classic games to fan based items such as phone game wallpapers and video game ringtones.

"We acknowledge that gaming is a global platform & that there are many casual on-the-go gamers. Not everyone has the need to purchase portable game systems or home units to enjoy casual gaming. We are in a day & age that our cell-phones, blackberries & mobile communication devices have the robust ability to provide quality entertainment easily at a low price" said Dave Scarpitta, Marketing Director at VGC.

Just another example of the growing trend towards off-deck sales of mobile content here in the US. Look for other big online merchants to follow suit.

Economy Slows but not in Video Games

More bad news today about the US economy including the fact that U.S. employers cut payrolls for a third consecutive month in March and the jobless rate jumped to a 2-1/2 year high, adding more evidence that a housing downturn and credit crisis may have pushed the economy into recession. The Consumer Confidence Index is at a five-year low.

We often get asked what a slow down in the economy means for the mobile game industry here in the US. We don't really know the answer because we haven't been in this business long enough to have any meaningful data, but if you connect the mobile game industry to the overall video game industry, I don't think we have too much to worry about.

For support, read this article from CNN this week about Gamestop - the largest retailer of video games in the US.

Highlights:

- Times are good, with double digit growth expected for sales of games this calendar year as well as for the hardware that's used to play those games.

- Success for GameStop is "highly attributable to video game play attracting a mainstream audience," with the demographic expansion having much to do with "new consoles like the Wii, which pull back on the geekish complexity of typical content aimed at hardcore gamers."

We will keep you posted as we get more data.

Mpowerplayer Users Reach 12 Million Mobile Games Played

Mpowerplayer, the leading provider of online mobile game trial and merchandising for the wireless industry, announced that it has surpassed a milestone of 12 million mobile game demos played by over one million consumers. This rapidly expanding audience of worldwide mobile gamers has emphatically embraced Mpowerplayer’s PC-based try and buy storefront solution.

“We’ve brought the iTunes approach to mobile gaming,” said CEO Michael Powers. “Now everyone can easily find and try mobile games right from the comfort of their PC.”

Most mobile consumers’ exposure to mobile games is limited by short text descriptions, occasional screen shots, and slow browsing on their cell phones. Analysts agree that poor discovery and hassle-prone consumer experiences continue to hamper industry growth.

With Mpowerplayer, consumers browse and play mobile games on their PC prior to purchase. Users can share their favorite content with friends via email and the web.

“With unsurpassed ease of discovery and hands-on consumer interactivity, we remove the biggest obstacle to growing the industry,” Powers said. “We unleash the market for mobile games.”

Back from GDC

The Movaya team was in San Francisco this week for GDC. GDC Mobile took place Monday and Tuesday and then the broader games industry took over on Wednesday.

We were very busy over the three days we were there, with over 20 meetings so we didn't have any time to post news on the site this week, but we will try to backfill interesting stories over the next couple of days.

We didn't spend any time at the sessions but having talked to lots of folks, the general theme surrounding the mobile game sector is that alternative distribution channels are the new focus for the vast majority of mobile game publishers. Moconews posted an article earlier this week titled: "The End Of Carrier Control In Mobile Gaming May Be Near" and from the discussions we had, this is definitely moving from talk to reality.

Now, to be clear, Movaya's interests are 100% aligned with off-deck or non-carrier mobile content distribution, so we are certainly biased, but let me provide some color on what is happening in the US market and you can make your own conclusions.

Of the 15 or so mobile game publishers we talked to this week, the majority said "2007 was a challenging year". Why was it so challenging? Well, it is broadly known that over 90% of the mobile games purchased in the US are sold by the carriers directly, meaning 4 stores (Verizon's Get it Now, AT&T's Media Mall, T-Mobile's T-Zones, and Sprint's Game store) control nearly all the mobile game distribution. And when you are reliant on only 4 channels for distribution, your risks are significant.

Point #1 - Carrier Game Business

- Verizon's business was great for just about everybody as their technology platform works well and they have made some minor investments to improve merchandising, etc.
-AT&T was generally flat from 2006 to 2007 because, although their subscriber base increased significantly, their technology infrastructure is inferior and they had a whole bunch of new customers who love to play games but couldn't buy anything (iPhone).

-T-Mobile continues to plug away but they experienced significant organizational restructuring which caused different issues for publishers.

-Sprint is cratering; they are losing subscribers and employees by the minute and no one's paying attention to the store. I heard one significant publisher say: "Focusing on Sprint right now would be a waste of resources".

So, what does all this carrier info mean? Well, if you have a good relationship with Verizon you probably did OK in 2007. In fact, someone told me that Gameloft generated 50% of their US revenue from Verizon.

Point #2 Cutting the number of partners

All of the 4 major operators in the US made significant cuts to the number of direct partners they would work with moving forward. Rumor has it that AT&T went from 25 or 30 direct partners to 6 "premier partners" and 6 additional partners. This means that roughly 20 companies lost their direct relationship with AT&T. Ouch. This does not mean that their games won't show up on-deck but the path to that deck just got more complicated and more expensive.

If you don't have a direct deal with the carrier, your new process for getting your game carried means working through one of the direct publisher partners or one of the certified aggregators. Both of these routes create issues for the non-direct publishers.

- Aggregators: these are intermediate third party companies that sit between the game publishers and the carriers. Their job is to "pitch" the game concept to the carrier and then run interference between the carrier and the publishers for accepted games. They generally make 15% of the revenue for their efforts. The potential value of these aggregators is understood. Carriers can't manage hundreds of independent partners; they simply aren't resourced appropriately. The aggregator can take on a lot of the operational tasks and filter out the lousy developers. Unfortunately, at least what I hear, is that none of the publishers like the current aggregators. I'm sure there is a certain amount of sour grapes here but hearing the stories of failures in what I would call basic tasks is brutal. Furthermore, the aggregators are providing very little value (technical or sales) to justify their 15%. Bottom line: if you're a publisher who used to work direct, but now works through an aggregator, your revenue just got cut by 15%, while your costs stayed the same and your control is diminished significantly.

- Other Publishers: Mobile game publishers like iPlay have now gotten into the business of aggregating games from other publishers. If you have even half a brain you can probably quickly understand the challenges with this model. Although the game publishers are most likely way better operationally than the aggregators and their knowledge and ability to sell into carriers is superior, you have a major conflict of interest here. Let's say iPlay is going to release 12-15 games this year. Their primary focus is to get these games placed on deck and get these games sold. That in itself is no easy challenge, and now they are going to effectively get other publisher s games highlighted as well? Not to mention the fact that now one of your competitors has access to your sales reports? Sounds risky to me.

Now, most game publishers have no choice. If they want to stay in business and not completely bleed cash, they will determine which path to the carrier deck makes the most sense and work that channel to keep the lights on. But, in parallel, all of these companies are either already investing in alternative distribution or are actively investigating their options. In a later post I will discuss the off-deck distribution options for mobile game publishers in more detail but here are some of the quotes we heard from publishers this week:

1. "Our focus in 2008 is on direct-to-consumer. We know this business is small today but we have to start investing today to be ready when this market matures."

2. "Our focus in 2008 is to broaden our distribution by making web based versions of our mobile games. By making web based versions, people can play our games online, and then we can provide a path to purchase the game for their phones."

3. "Our focus in 2008 is moving from a mobile game publisher to a digital lifestyle brand. Mobile will continue to play a big role but the broader web is critical to achieve the growth we need."

Furthermore, Movaya measures the growth of the off-deck business by watching the number of content developers and merchants who sign up to our service and are seeing very strong growth month-to-month here. (We'll have more to report on this soon as well.)

If we did miss you at GDC, please drop us a line or we can plan to get together at the next tradeshow - CTIA Wireless (Las Vegas, April 1-3, 2008).

Mobile Gaming Moving Beyond the Deck

Good news for folks in the mobile game industry. According to a new report from Parks Associates titled "The New Frontier: Portable and Mobile Gaming", off-deck sales of mobile games will grow from less than 10% in 2007 to nearly 30% in 2012.



This move to off-deck will enable the mobile game market in the US to grow from $700M in 2007 sales to $1.7B in 2011.



“Off-deck marketing and distribution, combined with new business models such as mobile game advertising, episodic content delivery, and micro-payments, will rekindle industry growth," said Yuanzhe (Michael) Cai, director of broadband and gaming at Parks Associates.

The article from eMarketer highlights how off-deck sales help the mobile gaming market grow in a few ways:

- Independent developers and publishers who don't have to have their games approved by carriers can potentially offer a wider range of game types, bringing in more gamers.

- Off-deck transactions could also mean more money to game publishers by reducing the carriers' cut. Similarly, such transactions could lower prices for consumers, prompting more sales.

This is music to Movaya's ears as we plan to help power a significant percentage of that $600M in off-deck game sales in the US in 2012.

Gameloft's 2007 results

French mobile game developer Gameloft (EPA:GFT) announced details of the company's sales results for Q4 2007 and for all of 2007. For the quarter, Gameloft had sales of EUR25.8 million, up 19% from the previous year. Full year sales increased by 40% compared to 2006, reaching EUR96.1 million.

The sales of downloadable games, which are the company's core business, reached EUR90.2 million during 2007, a 45% increase over 2006.

Europe represented 44% of sales for full-year 2007, North America 34% and the rest of the world 22%. The sharpest growth took place in the rest of the world, up 86%.

"The market shares gained by the company in 2007 are due to the strong performance of Gameloft's back catalog, which continued to account for more than 70% of the Company's downloads, and also investments in R&D made in 2007," said a Gameloft representative. "These investments allowed us to release more games than our competitors on more handsets across more countries. To date, Gameloft's catalogue includes 200 mobile games adapted to over 1,200 different handsets and sold in over 80 countries via direct distribution agreements signed with more than 180 carriers."

Gameloft is the biggest "pureplay" mobile game publisher in the world, and they are either #2 or #3 in market share for mobile games worldwide behind Electonic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS).

Glu Mobile (NASDAQ:GLUU), the other #2 or #3 in market share, will issue its earnings release for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2007 after the market close on Monday, February 11, 2008.

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.

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.

Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader Number Two on Verizon

The Mobile Phone Blog congratulates Capcom Interactive on their tremendous success with their mobile game, “Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?”. The game has climbed to the number two slot on Verizon Wireless, displacing perennial bestsellers that have remained at the top of the mobile gaming charts for several years. The game, based on the popular Fox TV series, debuted as a top-ten-seller on several major U.S. carriers including Verizon Wireless, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint.

"I'm very proud of the way we were able to quickly bring a high quality top-seller to market. With our internal development assets, Capcom Interactive is able to maintain a highly-maneuverable organization that can respond quickly to licensing and partnership opportunities as they arise," said Midori Yuasa, President, Capcom Interactive, Inc.

The amazing performance of the game is the latest in a series of successes for Capcom Interactive, which has seen its sales grow by an astounding 62% over the same year-ago quarter.

Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader? mobile incorporates all the charm, humor and deceptively difficult questions of the wildly popular FOX game show from Mark Burnett Productions in a portable format optimized for the mobile experience. As in the show, the mobile game asks a series of questions ranging from subjects like U.S. history, math and social studies. If a player performs well they can work their way to the $1 million question; however if they falter they're forced to utter the unenviable phrase, "I am not smarter than a 5th grader."

You can buy the game by clicking here or on the link on the right hand side of the blog. It's fun, give it a shot.

LimeLife Releases Top Chef Challenge

Mobile content publisher LimeLife announced the launch of Top Chef Challenge, a new mobile game inspired by cable network Bravo's reality series Top Chef. Set behind-the-scenes of a fictional new restaurant, Top Chef Challenge enables players to customize their own characters--beginning as an entry-level dishwasher, they advance to chef status via a series of mini-games and kitchen drama test reflexes. Bravo will debut the mobile game tonight (9/8c), in conjunction with its Top Chef Holiday Special broadcast.

This is the first we've heard from Limelife in awhile - they bill themselves as the only company which specializes in publishing mobile content for women. They have put out some decent titles in the past including Girls Night Out Blackjack, but they haven't made much noise in the mobile gaming space recently. More pointedly, we are anxious for them to commit to the off-deck marketplace. There certainly is an audience wating for their games in places they may not have considered (womengamers.com and grrlgamer.com come to mind).

We (Movaya) will try to find some time to play Top Chef Challenge, which certainly is targeting a solid genre of mobile gaming. Game play is similar to Diner Dash and CakeMania, both of which have done well in mobile, and I imagine this was very intentional. Stay tuned, if the game blows us away we will report back. Hopefully I won't get fired for publishing an average review if it is called for :)

Capcom Interactive is Revving Up Off-deck Mobile Game Sales

Capcom Interactive, the mobile division of Capcom (makers of the legendary Street Fighter series, for one), has launched an advertising campaign on IGN.com's WIRELESS section to promote it's latest mobile game blockbuster 'Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?'.

Capcom uses the Movaya PlugNPlay service (the free mobile content distribution service our company has) to sell its game off-deck.

It is fair to say we are very excited about this campaign, as off-deck mobile games sales are a small fraction of the overall market. However, Capcom is eager to increase the volume in this channel, as are most other mobile game publishers. The fact they are launching a major campaign such as this is a big indicator of their position on whether or not off-deck matters.

Company plug: We (Movaya) are positioning ourselves to help all mobile game publishers succeed off-deck, and currently we are promoting the fact that we are here to help the entire industry move forward, which means opening up distribution for game publishers, helping merchants with the technology they need to sell games off-deck, and raise the overall awareness of the mobile gaming industry in the eyes of consumers.

Movaya Releases PlugNPlay 2.0 for Mobile Content Distribution, and Welcomes Casual Game Merchants

Seattle, WA (PRWEB) November 15, 2007 -- Movaya (www.movaya.com), a leading provider of mobile content distribution software solutions, today announces that it has released PlugNPlay 2.0, the newest edition of its Mobile Game and Application distribution and management platform.

With PlugNPlay, Movaya enables online merchants, casual game merchants and anyone with a website, blog or forum to create a store for selling mobile games, mobile applications or any type of mobile content. From the website to the sales page, everything that the customer sees can be branded with the company's logo, style and formatting.

Version 2.0 of PlugNPlay introduces three new, key components:

• Instant WAP store that allow any PlugNPlay client to have a mobile version of their store
• FLASH Interfaces provide the easiest way for clients to get online
• XML Feed for advanced programming.

"The ability to use the PlugNPlay XML Feed has allowed Capcom to build a custom web application and sell our games directly to consumers," said Matt Gillis, Senior Vice President of Publishing, Capcom Interactive, Inc. "This has created an additional revenue stream for us with little to no risk to the company."

With these new features in place, and more games in the system (currently over 400 titles from companies such as RealNetworks, Capcom, COM2US and more), Movaya readily welcomes Casual Game Merchants to use its system to add Mobile Game sales to their existing stores.

"Movaya is focused on developing the most complete, flexible, easy to use system for off-deck distribution," said Phil Yerkes, CEO of Movaya. "And this includes distribution of mobile games not only via websites but WAP sites as well. By taking advantage of the flexibility of our mobile game distribution platform, anyone can expand into mobile game and application sales."

Platinum Studios, an entertainment company that specializes in developing and adapting comics and graphic novel content to other media, has gone online with a website for mobile content sales, PT78Mobile.com. Additionally, with the new features of PlugNPlay 2.0, Platinum was able to instanly add a WAP store. Using your cell phone you can visit m.pt78mobile.com.

An example of the PlugNPlay Flash Interface can be seen at PhonePimp.com.

About Capcom
Capcom is a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment. Founded in 1983, the company has created world-renowned franchises including Resident Evil®, Street Fighter®, Mega Man®, Breath of Fire®, Devil May Cry® and the Onimusha® series. Headquartered in Osaka, Japan, the company maintains operations in the U.S., United Kingdom, Germany, Tokyo and Hong Kong. More information about Capcom and its products can be found on the company's web site at www.capcom.com.

Since its establishment in November of 2005, Capcom Interactive, Inc. has published several mobile games based on Capcom’s celebrated intellectual property, including 1942, Ghost n' Goblins, Mega Man and Resident Evil®: The Missions, to commercial and critical acclaim. For additional information on the company and its offerings, please visit www.capcommobile.com.

About Platinum Studios:
Platinum Studios is an entertainment company that specializes in developing and adapting comics and graphic novel content to feature film, television, animation, games, the Internet, and other media. Our independent library of comic characters is the largest in the world and contains more than 3,800 characters that have appeared in hundreds of millions of comics in 25 languages and more than 50 countries. Simply put, we create, produce, and distribute comic-based content, and lots of it.

About Movaya:
Movaya is a Seattle-based technology company focused on creating the premier E-Commerce Solution for Mobile Software Publishers and Online Merchants.

"Powering the Next Generation of Mobile Content Distribution"

Since its founding in 2006, Movaya has been dedicated to the development of its revolutionary mobile-content management and distribution software platform; a platform that has created a new distribution channel for mobile publishers and enables any one to sell and distribute mobile-content such has video games, applications, music and videos.

Etch A Sketch Game Coming Online and to your Mobile Phone

In case you need more support for the coming convergence of gaming across platforms, Player X announced today that they have partnered with online games developer FreezeTag to co-launch the latest version of the classic family toy Etch A Sketch across online and mobile games.

Addressing the industry need for convergence across casual games, the mobile game of Etch A Sketch will be available in December and the online game will be released a month later.

“Etch A Sketch is an ideal example of how a traditional toy can cross over into casual online and mobile games. By launching the mobile game at the same time as the online version, we are ensuring the audience has an opportunity to play wherever they happen to be,” said Tony Pearce, Player X CEO.

“With Etch A Sketch’s extraordinary brand recognition, we are confident that kids and adults alike will enjoy these new Etch A Sketch games,” said Craig Holland, CEO of Freeze Tag.

The mobile version received a Bronze Award from Pocketgamer after they reviewed it last month.

Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?

Capcom Interactive has launched Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? mobile game.

Based on the hit show, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? brings all the charm, humor and deceptively difficult questions to the mobile platform.

Players are asked a series of up to 11 questions ranging from subjects like U.S. history, math or social studies. Perform well and you can work you way to the $1 million question. Choke and be forced to utter the unenviable phrase “I’m not smarter than a 5th grader.”

The game features more than 800 questions covering 12 different subjects. Simulated students provide “peek,” “copy” and “save” assistance just like in the TV show. And sound effects from the TV show complete the experience.

This game is selling very well on the carrier decks and it is a fun game for consumers of all ages. And just to eliminate any perceived subjectivity, you can read IGN's review here.

And the best part, is that if you want to buy the game, you don't have to dig through the store on your phone to find it. Simply click here and use Capcom's slick phone downloader tool to buy it. (Note: Verizon users are not supported yet, but rumor has it that this will change soon.)

Gameloft - Making $$ in Mobile Gaming

One month after announcing they had sold over 100 million mobile games worldwide, Gameloft has announced record sales of 24.4 million euro for the third quarter.

During the first nine months of 2007, the company had sales of 70.2 million euro, up 51% from the same period last year. In addition, Gameloft has reiterated its annual sales target of 95 to 100 million euro.

Europe accounted for 44% of sales during the first nine months of 2007, North America 35% and the rest of the world 21%. Over this period, the strongest growth took place in the rest of the world, up 82%.

Gameloft said that it intends to release approximately 25 titles between the end of September and December 2007, including Heroes, CSI: Miami (pictured), Assassin's Creed, Prince of Persia Classics and Beowulf.

This is great news because there has been a lot of talk about limited growth in mobile gaming over the last year. Perhaps it's possible that Gameloft is simply taking market share from other mobile game publishers but I highly doubt this accounts for all of the 51% growth in the period.

Glu, another big mobile game publisher, is scheduled to announce their most recent quarter results on Thursday, so we'll report on that later this week.

Cake Mania Mobile - Huge Success!

Top developer and publisher of casual and family-friendly games Sandlot Games, and leading digital entertainment services company RealNetworks, Inc. last month announced the continued success of the smash hit casual game Cake Mania – this time on the mobile platform.

“Over the last few months, Cake Mania has been one of the most downloaded mobile games in the U.S.” said Matt Turetzky, Vice President at Real. “With its success on the PC, we anticipated a similar performance for the mobile version. Those expectations were surpassed and we’re proud to have teamed with Sandlot to deliver this hit casual title to gamers on their mobile handsets.” At the end of second quarter, RealArcade Mobile moved into the top ten ranked mobile publishers by downloads, in part due to the success of Cake Mania.

Originally developed by Sandlot Games for PC and online play, Cake Mania became the best-selling casual game of 2006 and was voted Yahoo’s 2006 Casual Game of the Year. In March 2007, Sandlot partnered with RealArcade Mobile to bring the hit title to the mobile handset.

“As a runaway hit on the PC, Cake Mania was a prime candidate for conversion to the mobile platform” said Daniel Bernstein, founder and CEO of Sandlot Games. “Gamers continue to get hooked on the challenging and unique elements that make Cake Mania such a fun experience, and by partnering with Real we were able to extend this hit game to the mobile community.”

Cake Mania is a time management game in which players help young entrepreneur Jill open her own bakery, bring in customers and earn enough money to re-open her grandparents' troubled business. The mobile version allows fans and new players alike to play a hit game in small sessions of easy mobile play, without losing the favorite elements of the original.

If you are an AT&T, Sprint or T-Mobile subscriber in the US, you can buy this game at BustedThumbs by clicking HERE.

R4 Mobile and Movaya Partner to Bring Interactive Marketing to Mobile Applications

Movaya-Powered Websites Now Able to Leverage Ad-Sponsored Mobile Content

SEATTLE, WA AND SAN DIEGO, CA - October 18, 2007 - R4 Mobile, a leader in interactive mobile marketing and merchandising solutions, has announced a partnership with Movaya, a leading provider of mobile content distribution software solutions. R4 Mobile provides tools and services for mobile applications to drive discovery and consumption of premium content. Configurable modules include dynamic sponsorship capabilities, in-application advertising, content licensing, interactive consumer feedback interfaces, up sells, cross sells, and viral functionality. Movaya will leverage R4 Mobile within its Platform M™, a complete web-based ecommerce software platform for mobile content transactions. Movaya will now be able to offer ad-supported content within its suite of mobile content distribution offerings, including its PlugNPlay system.

"We are always looking for innovative solutions to drive more revenues for our merchant and content publisher partners," stated Phil Yerkes, CEO and Co-founder of Movaya. "Given the uniqueness and scalability of their solution, we selected R4 Mobile to be our partner to provide interactive marketing and merchandising services. In addition to new revenue models, the R4 Mobile solution provides our customers insights regarding consumer behavior not previously available."

R4 Mobile's Interactive Marketing and Merchandising Platform™ is the industry leading white-labeled solution for carriers and portals to rapidly and effortlessly unlock the richness of advertising and merchandising uniquely available from within mobile applications. R4 Mobile solutions provide an array of mobile sponsorship modules, innovative real-time campaign management tools, and compelling insights into consumer behavior and preferences. For the first time, R4 Mobile's partners will have access to content preferences, usage patters, and explicit demographic and psychographic information which can be leveraged to dramatically increase the value of mobile advertising campaigns and targeting capabilities.

"At R4 Mobile, we created a highly scalable solution that brings interactive marketing and merchandising to mobile applications with no developer integration required," said Mark Munoz, COO of R4 Mobile. "We are pleased to be working with a leader such as Movaya who will make this solution available to its portal customers. For Movaya, its partners, and us, advertising is not the only objective. Rather, R4 Mobile makes it easy to engage with end users and drive purchases of premium content. We believe sponsored applications will drive content awareness and increase consumption of premium content to the benefit of all parties."

Movaya has partnered with several leading game publishers and online merchants such as Capcom Interactive, GameZone.com, Freezetag, GOSUB 60 and COM2US. Through its Platform M™', Movaya provides end-to-end mobile content storefront enablement from storefront creation, catalog management and over-the-air delivery of content and billing.

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

About R4 Mobile, Inc.
R4 Mobile is the leader in mobile marketing and merchandising solutions. Based in San Diego, California, R4 Mobile provides highly scalable, rapidly deployable mobile marketing and merchandising solutions for carriers, portals, and content publishers to grow consumption of premium mobile content and drive marketing revenues. For consumer brands, R4 Mobile provides turn-key, innovative marketing services that raise brand awareness, consumer relevance, interaction and acquisition. For additional information, email info@r4mobile.com.

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R4 and R4 Mobile are trademarks of R4 Mobile, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.


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Press Contacts:
Movaya: John Calian, 206-527-2920
john.calian @ movaya.com

R4 Mobile: Mark Munoz, 858-459-2135
mark@r4mobile.com

More info on ringtones for Movaya and Phonepimp.com

comic strips movaya is leading the market in developing comic
strip services on mobile devices. information services commonly consumed in print and broadcast media are already appearing on mobile
devices. text, audio, and audio/video news, sports, and weather have established inroad to wireless markets.
considering the youthful demographic of active consumers and the need for fun entertainment in the space movaya is confident in the service. we seek partners from the comic markets to help define the product. Our road map has room for stand alone and episodic comic strips. phase two roles in animation.
image ration is limited to a small frame size, ranging from 174x144 to 128x128. common file types are supported such as gif, jpg and png. the trend in new devices is for larger screens.

more information
for inquiries and terms contact movaya's product development. it all starts with an email.

Broadcasters
movaya seeks partnerships with t.v., radio, and IP broadcasters

today movaya offers unique promotional opportunities in the wireless/mobile space. tomorrow movaya looks to deepen its broadcaster relationships in developing wireless markets.

the offer
movaya offers broadcast partners free ringtone downloads of station ids, jingles; custom ringtones. station access downloads free of charge from one of movaya's storefronts.

use case
how a station uses it's ringtone is limited only by it promotion department's imagination. the most common use case is a variation on bumper stickers. listeners download the station's ringtone. then, if a when designated station employee hears the ringtone the listener wins blah prise.

what's a ringtone? ringtones are the ring sound a phone makes when indicating an incoming call. more to the point, there are basically three ringtone types, monophonic, polyphonic, and ture tones. monophonic and polyphonic are midi (musical instrument digital interface) based. monophonic allows for one midi voice, instrument sound. polyphonic allows for more than one voice. true tones are standard digital audio types such as wav, mp3, aac; amr.
movaya supports most all phones on the market. we try to support all phones, but in the multi-standard space universal support is a moving target.

making ringtones movaya converts
your content to the various formats. if you don't have content to use as a ringtone, we can produce custom ringtones.

more information
for inquiries and terms contact movaya's
product development. it all starts with an email.