Roo Group Plans To Acquire Swedish Mobile Video Firm Kamera

Troubled online video firm ROO Group (OTCBB: RGRP) has announced another deal as it prepares to ditch New York for Dubai: The OTCBB-traded company says it has signed a letter of intent to acquire Kamera, a Swedish provider of mobile video. The firms have signed a content distribution agreement, and Roo has paid a $300,000 advance, giving it the right to acquire Kamera at some point in a specified period. The final purchase price has not been announced. Roo says it prizes Kamera's European operations, and argues that there are product synergies between the two companies. Kamera claims distribution partnerships with Vodafone (NYSE: VOD), MSN, Orange, Telefonica (NYSE: TEF), O2, Hutchinson and China Mobile. It was formerly a unit of World Television, but was bought out by management and outside investors in 2005.

-- Kamera did revenue of $2.9 million in 2007 and is predicting revenue of $5.6 million for 2008. It's still running at a "very small" operating loss.

Release

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Rising Star enjoys Wii chart success

No More Heroes debuts at four in Wii charts

Critically-acclaimed Wii release No More Heroes has made it to fourth in the Wii charts, according to Chart Track.

The result follows a concentrated PR campaign by publisher Rising Star Games and game designer, Suda51. The game, which received much acclaim from the specialist press, also made it into the top 20 in the All Format Charts.

"We are weeping with delight. Especially as sales should improve further with the TV campaign moving up a gear from tonight,” said Rising Star managing director Martin Defries. “It is a verification of all the posturing and ambitious claims made these past months.

New Steel PS3 heading to Japan

Yet another PS3 colour heads to the East, whilst original Metal Gear Solid is confirmed for PSN

Seemingly not content enough with the release of both Ceramic White and Satin Silver versions the PS3, Japanese weekly games magazine Famitsu reports that a new Steel version of Sony’s machine will arrive in conjunction of the release of Konami’s Metal Gear Solid 4.

The game, which will be released worldwide on June 12th, will retail in the region for YEN8,800 (around £45). The Special Edition will cost YEN9,800 (£50) whilst a bundle including both the Steel console and the Special Edition will cost YEN51,800 (£270), according to Kotaku.

Analysts question EC's DVB-H endorsement

Questions raised around spectrum policy and how adoption will be enforced.

The analyst community has not wasted any time passing judgement on yesterday's decision by the European Commission to endorse the Digital Video Broadcasting Handheld standard (DVB-H) for broadcast mobile TV.

While the move was widely expected following initial moves made by the EC towards DVB-H last summer, Ovum analyst Matthew Howett suggested it might be difficult to harmonise spectrum use for the technology across all territories.

He said: "Opting for a single standard is useless if there is no common spectrum available to deploy it. The UHF band, which is the most favourable band for DVB-H deployments, is due to be opened up once the digital switchover is completed around 2012.

"However, at the moment there is no consensus on what this band should be used for. This is a problem since given the nature of spectrum airwaves do not stop at national borders. Neighbouring member states will need to agree how this spectrum band should be used to ensure that interference does not occur.”

So far only Ofcom in the UK has set out its plans and decided not to reserve spectrum for particular uses. Howett's full discussion of the decision can be read by clicking here.

GameStop to open 600 new stores

Record financials prompt major expansion into ‘more immature European markets’

US specialist retail giant GameStop has reported sales and net earnings rises of 33 per cent and 82 per cent respectively, spurring on an ambitious target to open up to 600 new stores by the end of the year.

The world’s largest games retailer reported reported sales and earnings for the fourth quarter and the fiscal year ended February 2, 2008 today, and the company also issued guidance for fiscal 2008 and an outlook for the year to follow.

It noted that GameStop has become the world's fastest growing retailer in the Fortune 500 with sales of $7.1 billion for fiscal 2007, an increase of 33 per cent over fiscal 2006. It also boasts a 24.7 per cent increase in comparable store sales, the opening of 586 new stores and a 50 per cent increase in operating earnings.

Xbox 360 UK sales leap 36%

Price drop gives hardware a healthy pre-Easter boost; PS3 sales rise six per cent in same period

Official UK industry monitor ChartTrack has told MCV that Xbox 360 sales have risen 36 per cent since last Friday – when the platform holder sliced the ERP of the console to as little as £159.99.

The rise came in a period where other hardware struggled – with only PS3 enjoying a slight sales rise of six per cent, as every other console on the market dipped. Software sales also dropped week-on-week across the gamut of platforms – including 360.

The 360 jump couldn’t match the whopping 260 per cent rise Microsoft enjoyed after cutting the consoles price for the first time in August, 2007 – when it introduced the Elite model onto the market.

“During week 11, Xbox 360 enjoyed a 36 per cent jump on week 10, which is a nice refreshing uplift for the console” ChartTrack director Dorian Bloch told MCV. “That was just for the Friday and Saturday after the price cut. Microsoft will be especially pleased to see that the overall hardware market was down – that’s every format except PS3, which saw a very slight six per cent rise.

“We need to wait two or three more weeks to see if the 360 sales surge will carry on. I would predict that it will increase again over the Easter period. It’s a bit of an odd year for the industry – Easter is early, and doesn’t coincide with the end of Q1 – when publishers traditionally release very big games – like it usually does.

iPhone Owners' Content Consumption "Off The Charts": Report

Another study lauding the iPhone's ability to drive consumers to try out mobile content. Mobile measurement firm M:Metrics released a report today that found that the iPhone is the most popular device for accessing news and information on the mobile web, with 85 percent of iPhone users accessing news and information in the month of January, as compared to 58.2 percent of other smart phone users and 13.1 percent of the market average. M:Metrics senior analyst Mark Donovan said the iPhone was "delivering off-the-charts usage from everything to text messaging to mobile video." Other stats from the report include:

???Mobile TV or video: 30.9 percent of iPhone owners watched mobile TV or video as compared to the 4.6 percent market average, and more than double the rate for all smart phone users at 14.2 percent.

???Social networking: 49.7 percent of iPhone users accessed a social networking site in January--nearly twelve times the market average and more than double that of other smart phone users Twenty percent of iPhone owners accessed Facebook, versus 1.5 percent of the total mobile market.

???Music: iPhone users love music, with 74.1 percent them listening to mobile music in January, compared to 6.7 percent of the total mobile audience and 27.9 percent of smart phone users.

???Widgets Drive Content Consumption: Two featured widgets, YouTube and Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Maps, are extremely popular among iPhone users. 30.4 percent iPhone users accessed YouTube and 36 percent used Google Maps. In comparison, only one percent of all mobile subscribers accessed YouTube and 2.6 percent checked out Google Maps.

???iPhone Demographic: No surprise here. iPhone users tend to be in much the same demographic as other smartphone users. They are more likely to be: male, aged 25-34, earn more than $100,000 and have a college degree, than the average mobile subscriber.

More details on iPhone stats in the release.

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Mobile search revs to hit $4.8bn in 2013

But forecaster Juniper cautions against 'advertising overload' and security concerns.

Annual revenues generated by mobile search services are expected to reach $4.8 billion by 2013, according to a report from Juniper Research.

The report says that while revenue generated by data charges associated with mobile search is significantly higher than that generated by mobile advertising at the present time, the gap will close over the next five years.

However, the Juniper cautions that an 'advertising overload' might act as a disincentive to consumers and might ultimately limit adoption, while there are continuing public concerns over search engine usage of personal data.

BBC Podcasts To PSP, Mobile Devices; Plans Custom Subscriptions

The BBC has begun targeting podcasts at Sony (NYSE: SNE) PSP users and plans to offer customizable mobile podcasts comprised only of particular presenters, genres or guests. The PSP interface to the corporation's podcast directory - but Auntie has also rolled out a version for Nokia Nseries handsets and other mobiles, all of which work by calling up the main podcasts URL in a mobile browser. As a new N95 user, I can testify that the over-the-air podcast experience (in contrast to connecting my iPod to iTunes via a cable) is a delight. BBC Radio Labs' Simon Cross, in an interesting post, writes that imminent transfer of the podcasts directory in to the newly-pretty BBC Programmes catalogue will mean users can subscribe to custom casts based assembled from a range of meta data.

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Atari not prepared to give up on boxed product business

Online focus won’t affect Atari’s distribution and publishing business, says UK boss

Atari’s UK managing director Jeremy Wigmore has told MCV that the company still has great faith in its boxed product business – despite all of the media speculation surrounding Phil Harrison’s new online project.

Ever since their respective appointments at the firm, Harrison and new Infogrames CEO David Gardner have been very keen to talk of Atari’s prospects in the casual games market – and its intentions with web-based content.

However, Wigmore told MCV: “The online business will be very exciting, even though David and Phil haven’t confirmed exactly what it will be. That’s a fascinating development, it’s where we should be and it’s where we’re looking to grow our business.

“But what we can’t forget is the distribution strength we have around the world – and the boxed game reputation we enjoy as a publisher.

LiveWire buys Groove Mobile for $14.5m

Ringback specialist acquires full-track mobile music platform provider in unexpected swoop.

Under terms of the acquisition agreement, LiveWire Mobile acquired all the outstanding shares of Groove Mobile, which powers mobile music services for 12 operators including Sprint, 3 UK and Bell Mobility.

NMS-owmed LiveWIre says the deal means its personalisation products and services are now deployed across 42 operators globally, with 15 million active subscribers.

LiveWire says it will hire most of the Groove Mobile employees and the two companies will consolidate office locations.

How do we revitalize mobile music?

For the past few months I've heard many content firms bemoaning the flattening of ringtone sales. Clearly ringtones couldn't sustain the high growth curve that the industry enjoyed for the past several years, but this leveling off seems to be catching some by surprise. Yankee Group says the reason for the flattening (or even decline) in ringtones is market maturity, pricing barriers (the price of a ringtone is high when you compare it to the price of a full-track download) and technology (there is software that enables consumers to make their own ringtones). Clearly the industry is in need of a mobile music renaissance.

I doubt over-the-air full-track downloads will bring the much-needed revitalization. OTA downloads have experienced lackluster growth whether priced as a subscription or a la carte. According to Yankee Group, only 3 percent of consumers download music to their mobile phones. 

Are ringbacks the next sure thing? IDC predicts 40 million worldwide will be subscribing to ringback tones in 2010. But that figure seems a bit high to me. Yankee Group estimates that only about 8 percent of U.S. subscribers have ringback tones. Of course, ringback tone vendors estimate that figure is more in the 15 percent to 20 percent range. about how I think ringback tones lack visibility in the market. I still think that's true.

Perhaps the key to revitalizing mobile music doesn't lie in one service but instead in the entire portfolio. Instead of selling these services individually and in silos, operators need focus on merchandize music to the consumer in an easy and intuitive way. I have seen some progress in this area but it's a long way from perfect. It's time to figure out this market and drive innovation.  -

ALSO NOTED: MySpace Mobile officially launches; MobiVentures acquires Move2Mobile; and much more...

> MySpace Mobile officially launches.

> MobiVentures acquires Move2Mobile.

> Obopay introduces mobile money transfer.

And finally…Statistics show people don't trust statistics.

SPOTLIGHT: Quid pro quo

How freebies impact consumer acceptance of mobile advertising.

SendMe Mobile receives $15 million in Series C

Mobile media provider SendMe Mobile announced the completion of a $15 million Series C growth capital financing round led by new investor GrandBanks Capital, with contributions from existing investors True Ventures and Spark Capital. SendMe will earmark the financing to extend market share for its SendMeMobile.com, SoLow.com and mBuzzy.com brands; the company adds it will also focus on adding new premium and community-generated content, services and applications as well introduce new brands to support its connected portfolio strategy. SendMe presently boasts content deals with EMI Music, Gameloft, Sony Pictures Television and The Orchard.

For more on the SendMe Mobile financing:
- read this

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LightPole debuts end-to-end publishing solution

Mobile application service provider LightPole announced the release its LightPole Publishing System, a solution promising publishers, bloggers and other content providers the tools to distribute content to mobile devices and engage subscribers in two-way communication. According to LightPole, the service enables subscriber access to real-time, location-based mobile information while supporting a variety of business models including subscriptions, transactions and advertising; publishers may also configure their content to enable reader comments, link sharing and online dialogue. LightPole launches its mobile infrastructure with third-party solutions from partners including Yahoo, Yelp, Platial and MappyHour--the service also supports hundreds of devices from AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile. LightPole also announced the completion of a Series A financing round led by Alloy Ventures.

For more on the LightPole Publishing System:
- read this

Report: iPhone traffic flattened in February

iPhone traffic flattened a bit during February, according to mobile advertising marketplace AdMob's monthly Mobile Metrics Report. The report, based on mobile browser data acquired via each advertising request received by AdMob during the month, states Research In Motion's BlackBerry 8100 dominated February smartphone usage, generating 34 percent of worldwide traffic; Nokia's smartphones followed at 29 percent, with Motorola smartphones accounting for just 1 percent. AdMob credits the iPhone traffic plateau to the theory that consumers use new devices more actively in January, but taper off during the months that follow.

The Mobile Metrics Report additionally tracks differences between international markets: While the BlackBerry continues to lead U.S. mobile traffic at 39 percent, Nokia dominates overseas, claiming 89 percent market share in India and South Africa, 86 percent in Indonesia and 67 percent in the U.K. The Motorola KRZR remains the top device in the U.S., with the SonyEriccson K800i on top in the U.K.

For more on AdMob's latest Mobile Metrics Report:
- read this

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Madonna goes mobile via Vodafone exclusive

European telecom giant Vodafone announced an agreement with Warner Music International to exclusively distribute and promote music and content from newly-minted Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Famer Madonna's upcoming Hard Candy to its worldwide mobile subscribers in advance of the album's April 28 retail release. Vodafone will launch its Madonna mobile campaign April 21, releasing a total of seven Hard Candy tracks at a rate of one per day; each cut will remain available for download for 24 hours before it is replaced by the next preview track. Vodafone customers in Spain, Portugal, Germany and Belgium will also enjoy exclusive mobile access to the new Madonna single "Four Minutes", available now--subscribers in all participating territories will have access to a Vodafone live! Madonna mini-site featuring exclusive ringtones, ringbacks and SMS tones. Madonna was unavailable for comment, but let's just pretend she said something about mobile content while speaking in a fake British accent.

For more on the Vodafone/Madonna deal:
- read this

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LiveWire Mobile acquires Groove Mobile for $14.5M

Managed mobile personalization services provider LiveWire Mobile announced it will acquire mobile music solutions provider Groove Mobile for $14.5 million. According to LiveWire Mobile, the acquisition will enable the firm to meet its operator partners' demands for managed services including ringtones, ringbacks, full-track music and video downloads. Groove Mobile brings with it a dozen global mobile operator customers including Sprint, 3 UK and Bell Mobility as well as relationships with major labels EMI, Sony BMG, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group--with the acquisition, LiveWire now boasts service deployments with 42 international operators, with 15 million active subscribers.

"LiveWire Mobile now delivers the industry's most complete suite of personalization services, spanning the traditional service silos that exist today," said LiveWire president Joel Hughes in a prepared statement. "Through our fully managed and integrated service offering, we can empower operators to cross sell and up sell personalization services while delivering a better mobile experience, resulting in higher levels of service adoption, usage and operator profits."   

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Vodafone Gets Exclusive Advance Access To Madonna's New Album Hard Candy

Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) has struck a deal with record label Warner Music to give the operator's customers early access to music and mobile content from Madonna's new album, "Hard Candy," before its April 28th general release. Vodafone customers around the world will get the content???seven music tracks???a week early. Beginning on 21 April, one track will be released each day of the week and will remain live for 24 hours for download before it is replaced by the next track.

Vodafone has also created a Madonna mini site on its Vodafone Live! Portal which will give subscribers access to exclusive mobile content, including ringtones, ringback tones and SMS tones. Starting immediately, Vodafone customers in selected markets including Spain, Portugal, Germany and Belgium will get exclusive mobile access to Madonna's new single "4 Minutes." In November, Nokia (NYSE: NOK) struck a deal with EMI's label Parlaphone to sell Kylie Minogue's album "X", five days ahead of its general release. But it will be interesting to see if Vodafone's tactic of dripping out a song a day, and limiting the time it's available will boost sales. (release).

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BlackBerry leads smartphone ad requests

New stats from AdMob reveal smartphone share of mobile ad requests.

RIM’s BlackBerry 8100 smartphone had the greatest share of worldwide ad requests from smartphones in February at 34 per cent, according to AdMob.

Nokia’s smartphones followed in second with a 29 per cent share of ad requests, while Motorola’s Smartphones came in last with just one per cent.

In the US, iPhone traffic flattened slightly during the month of February. AdMob says this is consistent with the theory that people use new devices a great deal in January, only to have traffic slow down in the following months.

New director joins Trilogy Board

Lisa Derbyshire appointed as trading director by upcoming distributor

Trilogy Logistics has recruited Lisa Derbyshire to its Board as trading director.

Derbyshire has a wealth of experience within distribution having worked with Deluxe, before running her own firm, consulting for the likes of Sony DADC, 2entertain and Tesco.

“We are very pleased to have such a well established person join the Board of Trilogy,” said the distributor’s managing director Matthew Allen. “Lisa’s background in distribution is second to none and will help us considerably going forward”.

New recruit Derbyshire added: “There is a clear vision for this business, and it’s a vision I intend to share with existing and prospective partners”

Vodafone Axes 450 In Senior Management; Plans To Hire More Data Retail Staff

http://www.moconews.net/entry/419-vodafone-axes-450-in-senior-management-plans-to-hire-more-data-retail-s/http://www.moconews.net/entry/419-vodafone-axes-450-in-senior-management-plans-to-hire-more-data-retail-s/Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) is slashing the troops. Reuters reports that it is cutting 450 jobs within UK management, but plans to recruit a similar number of new hires in data retail and other sales roles. The mobile operator, the world's largest by revenue, said the move would allow it to help boost data sales???including texts, photos and music???which has been a growth area for it in Europe. It will hire 330 "retail advisers" to staff its stores to push its data products, as well as another 130 for other sales and service jobs. It will also add staff to its online sales and customer services, with 30 new hires. http://www.moconews.net/entry/419-vodafone-axes-450-in-senior-management-plans-to-hire-more-data-retail-s/http://www.moconews.net/entry/419-vodafone-axes-450-in-senior-management-plans-to-hire-more-data-retail-s/Vodafone has been pushing hard in mobile data, which it singled out in its third quarter earnings ending December 2007 as having boosted revenues. In Europe, data revenue in the third quarter was up 35.5 percent. Earlier today, the operator announced its tie-up with Warner to give its subscribers a week's exclusice advance access to Madonna's new album "Hard Candy." Most of the redundancies???which represents a 20 percent cull of senior management--will affect its Newbury head office.

Related

• http://www.moconews.net/entry/419-vodafone-axes-450-in-senior-management-plans-to-hire-more-data-retail-s/http://www.moconews.net/entry/419-vodafone-axes-450-in-senior-management-plans-to-hire-more-data-retail-s/Vodafone To Launch Madonna's New Album One Week Early


• http://www.moconews.net/entry/419-vodafone-axes-450-in-senior-management-plans-to-hire-more-data-retail-s/http://www.moconews.net/entry/419-vodafone-axes-450-in-senior-management-plans-to-hire-more-data-retail-s/Vodafone Interim Results Boosted By Emerging Markets And Mobile Data

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Voda secures Madonna content

Selected tracks from upcoming album Hard Candy will be available first on Vodafone live!

Vodafone has inked a global deal with Warner Music International to offer songs and other content related to new Madonna album Hard Candy.

Starting on April 21st a total of seven tracks will be released at a rate of one a day counting down the week before the album is available in stores on April 28th.

Each track will remain live for 24 hours for download before being replaced by the next one.

In addition, Vodafone customers in selected markets including Spain, Portugal, Germany and Belgium will get exclusive mobile access to the newly released single 4 Minutes, effective immediately.

ME launches mobile service

ME's mobile site is live, so now you can get all your news on the move.

Readers simply bookmark http://mobile.mobile-ent.biz into their handsets. Stories are updated throughout the day.

"We now provide news wherever you are and whenever you like," said Mobile Entertainment magazine publisher and Intent Media boss Stuart Dinsey. "ME is the clear leader online as well as in print. We have the most relevant trade website for the mobile content industry, Blackberry-friendly email news services and now a bespoke site for browsing via mobile."

He added: "We continue to set the pace with our integrated approach to news and information in this market.

EA extends Massive agreement

New deal to let advertisers reach EA’s audience on Xbox 360 and PC

Electronic Arts has extended its agreement with video game advertising network, Massive.

Massive is a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft, and the new deal allows advertisers to engage with EA’s audience through its roster of games on Xbox 360 and PC.

EA games that will be available in the Massive network includes the next iterations in the Madden NFL, NBA Live, NHL and Nascar franchises.
 
 “EA strongly believes that dynamic in-game advertising is an important growth area for our business, and is one of many opportunities we are pursuing in growing the advertising market,” said Kathy Vrabeck, president of the casual entertainment label at EA.

New EA Sports IP inbound

EA’s sporting head Peter Moore says an announcement is due in ‘a couple of months’; eight titles are in development for Wii

Speaking on his brand new blog, EA Sports boss and former Xbox head Peter Moore has said that gamers can expect an announcement about a new EA Sports IP pretty soon.

“I’ve seen speculation the past few days about the comments we’ve made recently about new IP coming this year from EA Sports,” he wrote.

“While we’re still a couple of months away from any official new game announcements, I’m encouraged by the interest and excitement. As I’ve said many times over the past few months, as EA Sports looks to expand our brand and capture new audiences, developing new intellectual property - such as FaceBreaker and future unlicensed titles - will be a key component of that strategy.”

US: Smash Bros is Nintendo's fastest selling title

New Wii outing becomes the quickest selling release in the firm’s history in North America

Having shifted a considerable 1.4 million units since its release in the territory on March 9th, Wii title Super Smash Bros Brawl has officially become the fastest selling Nintendo game ever in North America.

A huge 874,000 copies of the game were sold on its first day at retail, and apparently the game has gone on to sell two copies every second since then.

“Super Smash Bros Brawl has made the leap from video game to cultural phenomenon,” Nintendo of America’s Cammie Dunaway said in a statement.

Vodafone To Launch Madonna's New Album One Week Early

Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) has struck a deal with record label Warner Music to give the operator's customers early access to music and mobile content from Madonna's new album, "Hard Candy," before its April 28th general release. Vodafone customers around the world will get the content???seven music tracks???a week early. Beginning on 21 April, one track will be released each day of the week and will remain live for 24 hours for download before it is replaced by the next track.

Vodafone has also created a Madonna mini site on its Vodafone Live! Portal which will give subscribers access to exclusive mobile content, including ringtones, ringback tones and SMS tones. Starting immediately, Vodafone customers in selected markets including Spain, Portugal, Germany and Belgium will get exclusive mobile access to Madonna's new single "4 Minutes." In November, Nokia (NYSE: NOK) struck a deal with EMI's label Parlaphone to sell Kylie Minogue's album "X", five days ahead of its general release. But it will be interesting to see if Vodafone's tactic of dripping out a song a day, and limiting the time it's available will boost sales. (release).

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Data Pulled From Ad Network Lists Popular Handsets; Says iPhone Web Traffic is Flat: Report

Worldwide the Motorola (NYSE: MOT) RAZR V3 ranked as the most commonly used phone, while the BlackBerry 8100 ranked highest among smart phones, according to an untraditional report that evaluated market share by determining which handset models viewed text and banner mobile ads during the month of February. The numbers were released by AdMob, a San Mateo company which serves about two billion mobile ads every month. AdMob said after releasing the data for the first time in January, it continued to get requests for the information to be updated. Still, this is a one vendor data, so take it as such???

Here are a few of the report's findings:

-- In February, AdMob found that 17.3 percent of worldwide ad requests came from smart phones. While RIM's (NSDQ: RIMM) BlackBerry 8100 was the highest ranked at 34 percent, Nokia (NYSE: NOK) smart phones came in at second with 29 percent of the traffic. From there, numbers dropped off dramatically with Palm (NSDQ: PALM) coming in at 7 percent; Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) and HTC tied at 6 percent and Motorola at 1 percent.

-- When smart phone data is broken down market-by-market, Nokia is the clear winner with the highest percentage of users in every market but the US. In the US, RIM had 39 percent; in India, Nokia had 89 percent; in the UK, Nokia had 67 percent; in South Africa, Nokia had 89 percent; and in Indonesia, Nokia had 86 percent.

-- In the U.S., iPhone traffic flattened slightly during February, consistent with the theory that people use new devices after receiving one as a present, only to have traffic slow in the following months.

-- The top overall devices in both the feature and smart phone categories remained the same in AdMob's top five markets compared to January. The Motorola KRZR in the US; the Nokia 6030 in India, the Motorola v360 in South Africa, the Sony (NYSE: SNE) Ericsson (NSDQ: ERIC) K800i in the UK and the Nokia 660 in Indonesia.

Disclaimer: AdMob is a sponsor of this site.

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SendMe Mobile Raises $15 Million in Funding

SendMe Mobile, an off-deck provider that sells ringtones and wallpapers and hosts mobile sweepstakes, plans to announce today that it has secured $15 million in a third round of capital. New investor GrandBanks Capital participated along side existing investors True Ventures and Spark Capital. SendMe has now raised $25 million in total, and has about 45 employees.

The San Francisco-based company said it will use the financing to market its three brands???SendMeMobile.com, SoLow.com and mBuzzy.com. In the past year, the three-year-old company acquired off-portal community mbuzzy.com, and launched the mobile sweepstakes site SoLow.com. SendMe also has partnered with an impressive list of content companies, including Corbis, EMI Music, Glu (NSDQ: GLUU), Telcogames, Gameloft (EPA: GFT), Sony (NYSE: SNE) Pictures and others.

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Two Sprint Nextel Directors Won't Seek Re-election; Were Criticized By Analyst

Sprint (NYSE: S) Nextel said today that two of its directors have notified the company that they won't stand for re-election at its annual shareholders meeting in May. The directors faced criticism by an analyst last month who called for their removal, along with two others. Director Keith Bane notified the company on March 11 stating personal family medical circumstances, and director Linda Koch Lorimer told Sprint three days later that business commitments and schedule conflicts prohibited her from serving again, according to a SEC document filed today.

In a well-distributed research note, Pali Research Analyst Walter Piecyk offered harsh criticism of Sprint's board, and gave an extensive list of reasons why four directors in particular should be considered for dismissal. He wrote: "This Board needs to change. Dan Hesse needs help. Ralph Whitworth needs help. There are two very obvious choices for removal: Irvine Hockaday and Linda Koch Lorimer. We also believe Gordon Bethune and Keith Bane should be targets...We believe that Hesse, Whitworth and one or two other board members (that we actually have faith in) will be able to bring in value-added fresh blood upon the departure of these weak board members."

Piecyk said the primary reason is that they oversaw a host of bad decisions, including:

-- Acquisitions totaling $30 billion that were written down significantly.


-- Gary Forsee's turnaround plan in early 2007.


-- The appointment of Forsee to Executive Chairman of the Board.


-- Forsee's pre-mature announcement of WiMax.


-- The rejection of a private equity deal that would have brought back former Nextel CEO Tim Donahue and injected $5 billion into the company.

Piecyk reserved the most criticism for Hockaday, who runs a greeting card company, and served on four other boards while Sprint was falling apart. Piecyk said he was violating a rule that limits directors who chair the corporate governance committee to a certain number of boards. There's no word on whether Hockaday or Gordon Bethune will run for re-election. Separately, on Feb. 27, director Frank Drendel notified Sprint he will not stand for re-election because of a business conflict. He serves as chairman and CEO of CommScope, which acquired Andrew Corporation, a major supplier of wireless equipment to Sprint.

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Mobile Music Firm Groove Mobile Sells NMS For $14.5 Million

This wasn't what I was expecting, but Groove Mobile, the mobile music player, has finally been bought: LiveWire Mobile, a subsidiary of NMS Communications has bought the Bedford, MA based firm for $14.5 million, which seems low. In December 2007, NMS announced the creation of LiveWire Mobile as a separate division delivering mobile personalization services to operators, and Groove fits in well there. LiveWire Mobile will hire most of the Groove's employees and the two companies will consolidate office locations.

Groove Mobile has 12 mobile operator customers including Sprint (NYSE: S), 3 UK and Bell Mobility as well as relationships with music labels including EMI, Sony (NYSE: SNE) BMG, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group (NYSE: WMG). It generated over $7.5 million in revenue during 2007, and it currently expect LiveWire Mobile to exit 2008 with a revenue run rate in excess of $30 million. Also, NMS expects to take a restructuring charge of approximately $400,000 to $600,000 in Q108 in connection with the Groove acquisition.

More in the release here.

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Updated: EU Officially Endorses DVB-H; Does TDtv Have a Chance?

Updated below: European telecoms commissioner Vivian Reding has been pushing hard for DVB-H as the EU standard for mobile TV, but while it may be the officially backed standard, it doesn't actually preclude EU states from pursuing other technologies. Case in point: in the UK, Orange and T-Mobile are backing TDtv and this summer will start a trial to offer 24 television channels to several thousand people in West London.

TheTimes.co.uk has an article noting that the summer promises to give mobile TV a huge boost, what with all of the sporting events going on, such as Euro 2008, the Olympics and Wimbledon. British operators are eager to use TDtv, since all of them except Vodafone (NYSE: VOD), were actually given TDD spectrum when they bought their 3G licenses in 2000 for a collective ??22.5 billion. Moreover, operators can use their existing infratructure with TDD. But DVB-H has been used throughout Europa and Asia, and is proven commercially with at least two years headstart on TDtv. Plus TDtv isn't supported by that many handsets and isn't great passing through thick walls. Still, some analysts have argued that TDtv offers a cheaper way into mobile TV services, especially at a time where many operators are still struggling to get their mobile TV services to pay.

Robert adds: The European Commission today officially endorsed the decision to use DVB-H across the continent, a decision taken in July, saying: "Member states will be required to encourage the use of DVB-H." Telecoms commissioner Viviane Reding argues DVB-H will give mass-market scale to TV services and roaming TV packages to consumers. She said Euro 2008 and the Olympics made '08 "a crucial year for mobile TV take-up in the EU". She told last week's DVB World Conference in Hungary tech stakeholders should work on open-standard DRM for DVB-H transmissions. And she said the next step was to allocate spectrum from digital dividend auctions to the new services.

Related

• "I Decide, And That's It": Reding On Mobile TV Standards


• DVB-H To Become EU's Official Mobile TV Standard


• Orange and T-Mobile To Trial Mobile TV Service in UK

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Qwest Wants New Wireless Partner But Won't Buy Sprint Or Alltel

It's been no secret that Qwest has been on the lookout for a new wireless partner, but Qwest's CEO Edward Mueller said today buying a wireless company is not an option. In an interview with GigaOm's Om Malik, Mueller said one of the projects that has been keeping him busy since replacing Richard Notebaert in August is looking at replacing Sprint (NYSE: S) Nextel as the wireless service it resells to its customer base. Om asked Mueller if Qwest would consider buying a wireless company instead of partnering???maybe Sprint or Alltel? Mueller: "We are not looking to buy a wireless company at this time, and frankly buying Alltel (NYSE: AT) and Sprint will be a reach for us. All we want to do is partner with a national wireless player where we can rebrand and remarket their service to our customer base. We are ambivalent about the technology but we want a partner with retail presence."

In February, Mueller first said he was re-examining its partnership with Sprint Nextel, and, as Bloomberg reported, the company has since admitted to talking to both Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ) and AT&T (NYSE: T).

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